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‘Before you go any further, I’m in noon a podiu me a lecture’

Faced with such a blunt, arrogant dismissal of what she had been about to say, Heather’s mouth dropped open, and Leo took that as immediate and obedient closure on a subject about which he had little interest He walked past her towards the kitchen but she caught his wrist It was like being zapped with a very powerful electric charge, and it took all her will power to stand her ground and not cower She suspected that this was afear

‘I think we should talk before you get your son, Mr West’

‘The name’s Leo; I think we can dispense with the for you’re apparently an honoraryhis wrist and then back to her face ‘And I guarantee that whatever you have to say is going to be of little interest to me So why not spare yourself the sermon?’

‘I don’t intend to give you a sermon’

‘Wonderful! Then what exactly is it you want to talk about?’ He glanced at his watch ‘But you’ll have to make it short, I’m afraid It’s been a hellish trip up here, and I have work to do when I get back to the house’

Heather took a deep breath ‘Okay I am a little annoyed’

Leo made no effort to conceal his impatience In that rarefied world in which he lived, people didn’t get annoyed with hi, so he shrugged He would let her have her say, and then he would clear off with his son ‘Okay Spit it out’

‘In the sitting room I don’t want Daniel to hear us’

She led the way, acutely conscious of hi at each other like combatants in an arena, she said in a controlled voice, ‘I don’t think you realise how disappointed Daniel was that you didn’tdeal at the school, and he’d been practising for weeks’

Leo flushed guiltily Of course he had known that this would be flung at hier had the brazenness to stand there, staring at hi, critical eyes

‘That, as I explained to ot that off your chest, I think I’ll leave with my son’

‘Why was it unavoidable?’ Heather persisted ‘Don’t tellyour son come first in the hundred-metre sprint?’

‘Actually, I don’t have to tell you anything,’ Leo infor myself to anyone, least of all sohly fifteenyour name in any of the conversations I’ve had with her’

That came as no surprise to Heather Daniel went to the local private school He stayed in the house with Katherine, and occasionally, over the past eight ned to visit, usually on a Sunday; a full weekend presumably was just too much for him More often than not, he i his driver to collect the them back to the country promptly on the Sunday afternoon

Anyone would think that a man who had lost his son for years, when his ex-wife had disappeared off to Australia, would have wanted to spend asup for the wasted time!

Clearly not thein front of her

Katherine would not have mentioned Heather because her son would have had zero interest in finding out about the people who figured in his leaned, Leo West was an utterly selfishmachine

‘I realise I don’t have any right to tell you how to lead your life,’ Heather said, doing her best to be fair, ‘but Daniel needs you He would never say so because he’s probably scared of you’

‘Has he told you that he’s scared ofbizarre He had expected to be greeted by a motherly lady, maybe to be offered a cup of tea, which he would, naturally, have refused; to leave with his son in tow, any sullenness over his absence at the wretched Sports Day to be forgotten when he presented hiht It was the very latestbar washing the dishes and cooking the meals

Instead, he was being held to account by a twenty-soed sense of dress who had probably never set foot out of the village

‘He doesn’t have to I can tell He doesn’t see enough of you I know it’s none of my business, but relationships have to be worked on Daniel’s a very vulnerable little boy, and he needs his father Especially now He’s suffered the loss of his h’