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But Harford Hall was a world away froly deluxe aparted to do so

She shifted her weight fro at herto pay attention to the conversation She had no idea who the couple speaking to her were, but presumably the husband was some kind of businessman as useful to her father, for her father, Flavia knew, only ever invited people who could be beneficial to him That was the way he divided up the population of the world—people he could use, and people he could toss aside She, his daughter, counted as

both

For most of her life it had been the latter—sonored and discarded The way he’d done herher, once she’d found herself pregnant But that had only, Flavia no, been because her grandparents had gifted him a substantial sum of ether, but in reality, Flavia was grimly aware, it had been a bribe and an inducehter

Her father had done well out of her ot had helped provide the capital he had needed to build his business empire What he had not needed was a wife and child, and barely six months after Flavia had been born her father had packed them both off back to Dorset and taken up with another woman A wealthy divorcee, as it happened She had not lasted long, however Once she’d provided ain

It was a pattern he’d continued to repeat as he progressively alinted sourly in Flavia’s eyes Although these days the woer, and her father was the one providing thefor hi the best, and his wealth had provided it lavishly

She glanced around This Regent’s Park apartiven its pre lavishness of its décor It was only one of his properties, however There was also a house in Surrey’s stockbroker belt, an apartment in Paris in one of the best arrondissements, a villa in Marbella’s Puerto Banus, and another on the beachfront on Barbados

Flavia had been to none of them, and wouldn’t have wanted to Nor did she want to be here But three years ago her noed grandmother had needed a hip replacement operation, and her father had been ruthlessly blunt

‘The old bat can have her operation privately, but theup when I want you to chat and s and delightful and well-bred you are, and anyone who thought I was too nouveau bloody riche to sill think again!’

She’d longed to tell hiet lost, but how could she have done when the National Health Service waiting list had been so long, and her grandmother, not only in severe pain had also been frustrated by her growing incapacity And her increasing poverty Harford Hall, the greystone Georgian house Flavia had been brought up in, was a e, old houses, and rand income from stocks and shares There were no spare thousands left over to pay for a private operation

So, despite her deep reluctance to be indebted to her father, Flavia had succumbed to his offer, and now, three years later, she was still paying him off in the way he had demanded

Suhter, dressed to the nines, and chit-chatting, exchanging social nothings with people she couldn’t care less about but whom her father either wanted to impress or wanted to do lucrative business with She was playing a role just as e A role she hated for its falseness and hypocrisy, with her father treating her in public as if she were the apple of his eye, doting and devoted, when the truth was completely different

Now, though, it was even h successful, her grandmother had started to deteriorate mentally, and for the last two years her de her even for a few days, as she was doing now, randularly to help relieve Flavia for an hour or two so that she could drive into the localand other essentials done, was staying with her, it didn’t stop the anxiety nagging at her But her father had been particularly insistent she come up to London this week

‘No bloody excuses!’ he’d fuet yourself on the next train I’ve got people coood!’

Flavia had frowned—and not just at the sue to her father’s voice that was new A note of strain Cynically, Flavia had put it down to discord between her father and his latest girlfriend, Anita, who a fortune around her neck She was a derate

The i under new tension had been intensified when Flavia had arrived at the apartment He’d been shorter with her than ever, and clearly preoccupied

But not so uests started to arrive

‘I’ve got soht, and I want you to keep hiot it?’ Her father’s cold eyes had flickered over her ‘You should be able to hold his interest—he likes his wo you’re good for! But lose all the damn barbed wire around you—why the hell you can’t be more approachable, I don’t know!’

It was a fanored She was polite, she was civil, and she was sociable to her father’s guests, whoever they were—but never more than that There were limits to how much of a hypocrite she would be …

‘Approachable like Anita?’ Flavia had suggested sweetly, knowing how irlfriend’s predilection for openly flirting with other men

Annoyance had flared in his face, but he’d snapped back, ‘Woet results! They kno to et what they want You don’t ht you’d better Like I said, it’s important’