‘Thanks.’
But instead of leaving, George threw himself down in the visitor’s chair on the other side of the desk and flicked through the pages. ‘I see you’ve changed the specifications for the storm water drainage system,’ he said, then he glanced up at my face. ‘What?’ he said.
‘Nothing. I was just...surprised.’
‘What, you thought I couldn’t read a report?’
‘Of course not.’ I tugged at my shirt front. The truth was that I had assumed that he was too laid-back to pick up on the details of the report. ‘You don’t strike me as a details person, that’s all.’
A faint smile curled his mouth. ‘I can pay attention when required,’ he said.
‘Right.’ I cleared my throat. ‘Well, as you’ve noted, I’m putting in a different kind of underground chamber to store the rainwater run-off. I think this one is a better design.’
‘More expensive though,’ George commented, flicking through to the figures.
‘It is, but we’re saving money with a better deal on the glass wool cavity insulation slabs. If you look at the last page, you’ll see we’re still on target to stick to the budget.’
‘Good. We can’t—’ George broke off as a disembodied voice started shouting:
HEY, YOUR PHONE IS RINGING! PICK UP THE PHONE! YES, YOU, IT’S YOUR PHONE. DON’T EVEN TRY AND IGNORE IT! PICK IT UP RIGHT NOW!
He laughed at my expression. ‘Good, isn’t it?’
Embarrassed at having jumped so obviously, I smoothed back my hair. ‘Hilarious,’ I said, watching as George extracted the still-squawking phone from his pocket. I always leapt to answer my phone, but George only studied the screen in a leisurely manner, apparently able to ignore the noise it was making.
‘It’s Roly,’ he said. ‘Wonder what he wants?’
ANSWER THE PHONE! PICK UP THE PHONE! It wasn’t often that I found myself in agreement with an object.
‘Crazy idea, I know, but you could try answering it and find out,’ I suggested acidly.
George only grinned as he pressed the answer button. ‘Yes, my lord?’ The comment at the other end made him laugh. ‘I understand I’m not showing you enough respect,’ he explained, waggling his eyebrows at me. I tucked in the corners of my mouth and refused to respond.
Irritably, I began straightening the already immaculately aligned files set out in order of priority. I had phone calls to make of my own, but how could I concentrate when George was leaning back in the chair, tipping back dangerously as he yakked on to Lord Whellerby?
‘Who?’ he said suddenly, letting the chair crash forwards in his surprise. ‘You’re kidding! What’s she doing there?’ A pause as he listened, his eyebrows climbing towards his hairline. ‘Yes... Yes, it is... Her what?’
I shifted uneasily as the blue eyes focused on my face. ‘You’re kidding!’ he said again, looking at me so strangely that I mouthed What? at him. ‘Yes...yes...I’ll tell her. See you in a bit.’
George snapped the phone back and stared at me.
‘What?’ I said out loud.
‘You’ve heard of Saffron Taylor?’ he said conversationally, and a dreadful feeling of foreboding stole over me.
‘Omigod,’ I said in a sinking voice.
‘Adored daughter of charismatic tycoon Kevin Taylor? The ultimate IT girl? Darling of the celebrity circuit?’
‘Omigod,’ I said again.
‘She’s crying in Roly’s private sitting room.’
I stared at him, aghast. ‘Omigod!’ It was all I could say.
‘And she says she’s your sister.’
I dropped my head in my hands. ‘Please tell me this is a joke! Saffron can’t be here. She gets disorientated if she leaves Knightsbridge!’
‘Saffron Taylor is your sister?’
‘OK.’ I lifted my head and set my palms flat on the desk. Drawing a deep breath in through my nose, I exhaled slowly. ‘Random sister in client’s house. No need to panic.’
‘She is your sister!’
‘Half-sister,’ I said, rummaging in my bag for Audrey’s keys. ‘What in God’s name is she doing at Whellerby Hall?’
‘Crying, I think.’
A thought zoomed in out of nowhere and hit me so hard I almost buckled at the knees. ‘Has something happened to my father?’
God, what if something had happened to him? My mind spun frantically. What would I do? What would I say? What would I feel?
‘I think we’d have heard on the news if something had happened to Kevin Taylor,’ said George in a practical voice and I clutched at the thought.
‘Yes, yes, you’re right!’ I said gratefully.
‘Roly said something about a wedding, I think,’ he went on. ‘But he was whispering, so I might have got that wrong.’
I clutched my hair. ‘Please don’t tell me Saffron has come all the way up here because of some wedding crisis!’
‘I gather she wanted to talk to you.’
‘Then why didn’t she just ring? Oh!’ A horrible thought struck me. Another one. I pulled out my phone and stared at its blank screen. ‘I switched my phone off last night,’ I remembered in a hollow voice.
‘I always find it helps to keep my phone on if I want people to get in touch with me,’ said George, but I was in too much of a fret to rise to his smug tone.
‘I’ve just had so many phone calls from Saffron about the wedding,’ I said as I switched on the phone. ‘It’s been going on for months already. Which superstar rock band should be flown in to perform? Should she get her dress designed in New York or Paris or London? Castle A will look better in the photos, but castle B has a helipad, so which should she choose? It’s totally out of control!’
My phone began beeping as message after message came through. Distractedly, I scrolled through the ream of texts. ‘Call me... Call me... Crisis... Where r u?...I need u,’ I read. ‘Good grief, what’s been going on?’
‘Perhaps you’d better see her and find out.’
‘I would if I could just find my car key!’ I went back to scrabbling in the depths of my bag. ‘I know it’s in here!’
George got to his feet. ‘I’ll give you a lift, if you like. I’m going up to the Hall anyway.’
He was really enjoying the fact that I was so flustered, I could tell. The moment I knew Saffron was all right, I was going to kill her, I thought vengefully.
‘There’s really no need—ah!’ My fingers closed around the car key at last and I pulled it triumphantly out of my bag. ‘Here it is. I’ll be fine, thanks.’
I hurried down the steps and hop-skip-jumped my way around the puddles to Audrey while George was putting on his boots.
‘I’ll tell Frank you’ll be a while, shall I?’
Oh, God, I’d forgotten about the foundations! I dithered desperately as I hung onto the driver’s door. I needed to be on site, but I couldn’t leave my sister weeping all over my client. I hated being beholden to George Challoner, but I didn’t have time to explain to Frank now.
‘Er, yes...thank you,’ I said. ‘If you wouldn’t mind.’
‘Sure.’