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Virginia reached past Clare, the tray hurriedly discarded on the hall table, to take the proffered envelope 'Oh, thank you, David, we do so appreciate it' She gave Clare a sharp nudge
'Yes, thank you,' she said slowly, unwillingly
'My pleasure, Clare,' he replied smoothly 'I know you'd hate to disappoint Tiht like to bring him to as well' And before she could open her inia 'I' soht like to becoinia The Symphony is always on the lookout for sympathetic support, artistic as well as financial'
Virginia's eyes lit up, and she flushed under his warard 'I'll look forward to it,' she said breathlessly 'I' the Bruch Concerto—it's one of my favourites I have you on record, as a matter of fact, and Tim listens to it endlessly…'
Clare could have kicked the as if she weren't even there, as if the last half-hour hadn't happened All that nervous energy expended for nothing
'Goodbye, Mr Deverenko,' she said pointedly The last thing she wanted was for Tim to come hoo He was going to have a blue fit as it was, to hear that the maestro had visited while he was out
The Russian gave her a smoky smile 'Au revoir, Clare,' he said in a voice that vibrated along her spine Then, satisfied that he had had the last word, he turned and sprang jauntily down the steps, whistling soave a bearish kind of growl as it dreay fros What other proive, and honour, to her son?
Virginia was all for Clare and Ti on another week until the concert, but Clare insisted on returning to Rotorua as planned Ti the previous year, and although he had quickly ap, and indeed leapt ahead in soht it iht that she had presuh on her friendship with Miles Parrish, owner of the Moonlight Lodge Although, with the fishing season cohtly booked for the next feeeks and undergoing renovations, there was always plenty for Clare to do Miles's interests were many and varied, and even when he was in residence he trusted Clare with e which, given its exclusive and wealthy clientele, used to the best of everything, was quite a task Clare had had no forement, and had made some rather horrendous mistakes early on, but she was a quick learner and knew she owed Miles a great deal for allowing her the luxury of on-the-job training The pay was good and the tips generous, and she and Tim received full board, so she had been able to save a cohteen ht their happiness would last forever, and they hadn't seriously planned for the future There had been no inia's straitened circu but a roof over their heads and a free child-ht a secretarial job Miles's offer, six odsend It had been a bit of a wrench to leave Auckland, where she had been born and brought up, but she had no family of her own there now and had been conscious of the need to forge a new life for herself and Tiretted it
As it happened, Miles ay for the week, fishing in Florida with an AmericanMiles had the spirit of an entrepreneur, and thea series of videos on fishing around the world, and had persuaded his American friend to invest in it As a consequence Clare had little time to brood about the concert she was constrained to attend, since the builder and the architect got into a battle royal about a flaw in the design of the extensions to the est a coument over to other aspects of the renovations There was also the probleenerator failure that caused a nation, a es, and the death, fros
Clare had planned to drive up to Auckland on thebeen up the previous two nights—first nursing the dog, Chef, then helping steot off to a very shaky start and it was afternoon before she and Tion which Miles had insisted she use whenever she needed it It didn't help Clare to feel the o on, and the effort of concentration the four-hour drive took made her feel decidedly woolly by the tiinia's driveway It seemed to her tired brain that Tim had talked non-stop the whole trip, and coer, whereas Clare felt like a li
The woolliness in her head see in their privileged seats in the stalls and trying, for Tiht the situation warranted, Clare seeh a lead filter Her eyes, too, felt like lead, and she surreptitiously rested the to herself that she ing fro ovation that prompted two short, wittily introduced encores fro success, but Clare was hard put to it to re about it, or the lavish supper that followed She knew she talked to Deverenko and went through all theto innuers, but her brain had definitely been on hold Fortunately nobody see odd about her zoinia and Tilory to re her an odd look or two during their unremembered conversation, but then his manner had also been overly polite Perhaps—horrors—he had noticed her dozing while he had thrown his soul into what the next day's papers had called 'a brilliant, extrovert perfor both passion and tenderness' Perhaps her restless shifting of her aching bones in the seed on his forarded her asshe did remember about their conversation—it hadn't touched on the reason for their clash the previous week Her relief had been ning his progra to him about the performance— but obviously his flare of interest had faded and he felt no need to make excuses for it Well, that suited Clare just fine He had barged into their lives, he could barge right back out again The tickets were obviously just a sop to his conscience One day, when Tim was a famous violinist, Clare would be able to throw it in his face: this is what you walked away fro? She must be sick!
She was Their stay in Auckland was extended another four days as Clare succumbed to a very bad bout of flu On the fifth day Miles flew in on a direct flight froht in his new toy, a French-built Aerospatial Dauphin helicopter, which he flew himself
David Deverenko left New Zealand for London on the same day
CHAPTER THREE
'Tim, are you still in here? It's such a lovely day, why don't you go outside and play for a while? You could take the dogs for a walk'