was no time for self-congratulation; Sayre Baxendale was looking every bit as tough as she’d heard he could be. ‘Mrs Edwards, Mr Cummings’s daughter, is your PA?’ she questioned.
He didn’t deign to answer. Straight-to-the-point-Baxendale, Astra dubbed him. ‘We were speaking of Ronald Cummings and the extremely bad advice you gave him.’
‘Bad advice!’ she echoed, staring at him disbelievingly.
‘Not to say bordering on the criminal,’ Sayre Baxendale didn’t flinch from accusing.
‘Criminal!’ Astra exclaimed, and as anger stormed through her at such a heinous accusation she flared hotly, ‘I very much hope you can substantiate such a remark.’ My stars! This man was the end! ‘Neither my company nor I will put up with such defamation…’
‘I’m sure Yarroll Finance will be delighted to know that their representative is far more interested in earning a fat commission than in…’
‘That’s outrageous!’ Astra flew, rising furiously to her feet and glaring at the objectionable man who stared back at her, imperturbable, when she felt angry enough to hit him.
‘It would be, if it were untrue,’ he replied, rising to his feet and staring down at her. ‘However, I’ve seen for myself the Porsche you drive—which takes quite a chunk out of your income in monthly repayments, I suspect…’ What impertinence! The car was paid for! ‘…and that suit you’re wearing would put most women back three months’ salary.’
There was so much Astra could have said in her defence to such a charge. For one, that she had bought her car with only a part of an inheritance from her paternal grandfather. For another, she could have told Sayre Baxendale that her father insisted on paying considerable sums into her bank account from time to time. In fact, she could have told Baxendale that, if the truth be known, she had not the smallest need to work at all. As for the commission she’d earned on the Ronald Cummings package—and, recalling the way the man had dithered and constantly changed his mind, oh, my, how she’d earned it—commission had been the last thing on her mind throughout the whole transaction.
But she said none of those things, and indeed did not so much as attempt to defend herself. Very much to her own surprise, she had to admit, she heard herself actually bluntly enquire, ‘You’ve seen my car?’
If he too was surprised that she chose to enquire rather than defend, he didn’t show it, but told her equally bluntly, ‘Veronica Edwards drew my attention to you getting out of your car the other day when we were in Great Portland Street on business.’ That was a week ago! Astra recalled she had been in Great Portland Street a week ago. ‘Where I saw you and your car is incidental,’ Sayre Baxendale stated, clearly not prepared to waste any more of his precious time. ‘I’ve seen all the papers relative to the deal you put together for Ronald Cummings; the near criminal investment you calculated for him—forgetting completely to mention that he stood to lose his home, his property if he…’
‘I would have told him that!’ Astra exclaimed hotly—it would have been second nature to do so. ‘I…’
‘Where?’ Baxendale demanded. ‘It’s not written anywhere!’
Wasn’t it? She couldn’t remember. ‘You have the advantage over me, you’ve seen the paperwork recently. I’ll have to check…’
‘And when you do check also that there wasn’t a better deal you could have sold him.’
How dared he? Putting financial deals together was her job! What did he know about it? ‘You’re saying you know that there is?’ she challenged, angry sparks flashing in her wide green eyes.
Sayre Baxendale stared at her for long moments before he crisply replied. ‘I wouldn’t presume to know anything of the sort.’ Though, before she could take any comfort from that, he was going on toughly, ‘According to my finance people, not only have you advised this man extremely badly, you have also overlooked the fact that, though not yielding such a handsome commission, but bearing in mind the full knowledge you have of the man and his circumstances, there was a much more suitable package you could have sold him.’
Astra stared at him in disbelief, that offensive ‘handsome commission’ remark barely touching her. Without question, Baxendale’s finance people would be on top of the job, but… ‘I doubt very much that your finance section have all the details,’ she defended bravely—of course they had all the details; Veronica Edwards was the man’s daughter; she’d have shown them completely everything. ‘But I’ll check it out.’
‘Good!’ Baxendale retorted. ‘And when you’ve checked perhaps you’ll come back and tell me what you intend to do about it.’
Astra read three distinct messages in that last sentence. One, she had just been dismissed from this interview. Two, this man was convinced that he was right and that she was wrong. Three—and there was a threat there—that if she didn’t check it out he would be on to her employers, the highly respected Yarroll Finance Company, tout de suite.
To that, Astra added a fourth. She did not take kindly to being threatened. Nor did she take kindly to the way this man had spoken to her. Never had any man spoken to her the way Baxendale had. Her pride was up in arms. My word, had she been right to wonder why he had asked to see her in connection with some private finance—all too clearly, that had never been his intention!
She stared once more into those dark, dissecting eyes, and tilted her chin a proud fraction. Then, without saying another word, she caught hold of her briefcase and headed to the door. Four—if that swine of a man was waiting for her to come back and report to him, would he have one hell of a long wait. She hoped he held his breath!
CHAPTER TWO
ASTRA’S anger against Sayre Baxendale was still on the boil when she reached her office. Oh, how she was going to enjoy sending him the sweetest of business letters telling him how she had re-checked on what was suited to Mr Cummings’s circumstances at the time of their negotiations, but she could only confirm that her advice to her client had been first-class. If Mr Baxendale would care to check himself, or perhaps get his finance people to do so—she liked that line; it suggested, politely of course, that Baxendale was brain-dead in the figure department—they would see that Mr Cummings could not have been better advised. So put that in your trumpet and blow it!
She realised she would have to itemise certain details of Ronald Cummings’s current finances, and to include such confidential matter went against all her instincts. But, since the man’s daughter had obviously already fully discussed her father’s financial standing with Sayre Baxendale and his finance department, she didn’t think it could be termed as breaking client confidentiality.
Nothing if not thorough, Astra found the Ronald Cummings file on her computer, did a cursory scan and then printed out everything she had. That done, she surrounded herself with facts, figures and details of any scheme that might be even vaguely relevant to her client’s circumstances. She then went back to her very first note in her dealings with him. From there, methodically, she carefully worked her way through page by page, note by note.
It had not been one of her easiest of negotiations. The man had dithered, changed his mind a number of times. She had a note to say she had suggested to him that perhaps he might like to leave it for a short time while he thought over the several options she had suggested.
She also had a note to say no, he was adamant, he would be fifty-one in November,
