Page 30 of The Black Trilogy

“It’s become a game. Henry always wants what I have, and he’ll try his best to get it.”

“So is that what I am now? The latest pawn in your game?”

“No! Don’t ever think that. You’re anything but a game.”

Well, that was nice to know, although I wasn’t convinced Henry shared Luke’s sentiments.

“Right. Now we’ve cleared that up, shall we sit down?”

That self-important bottom dweller had taken up enough of my time today, and I didn’t want to waste my time on him.

Luke followed me back to the table, and the food arrived soon after. It wasn’t much to look at, but Luke was right—it tasted good. As we ate, he apologised for abandoning me to Henry.

“If I’d known he was here, I’d never have gone out. Work’s crazy right now. I rarely take time off, and I had to reschedule things this morning to drive the horsebox.”

“You were working this morning? That’s why you were late?”

He nodded. “Sorry about that. A meeting ran over.”

“It’s okay. I just got worried nobody was coming, and I didn’t know how to get hold of you.”

Luke picked my phone up from next to the salt shaker and tapped away at the keys until his own phone rang with “Ride of the Valkyries.” Interesting choice.

“Now I’ve got your number, and you’ve got mine. Next time I’m late, I’ll call.”

Next time? What next time?

“Great. Now when one of the girls at the yard wants your number, I can give it to them.” I burst into laughter as he choked on his drink. “Oh, lighten up. I was joking.”

“Last year, I had to change my number when a group of girls from Upper Foxford got hold of it. I was getting a hundred calls a day.”

“Wow, that’s dedication.”

He grimaced. “It was something. Can I ask a strange question?”

“You can ask. I won’t promise to answer.”

But I was curious as to what his question would be.

“Most of the time, what goes on inside the female mind is a mystery I can’t even begin to solve, but you seem different. Why don’t you act like a lovesick teenager around me when almost every other woman does?”

“Refer to Exhibit A: your earlier comment about not judging books by their covers. I judge people by more than looks and money. They have to earn my respect. I’ve known millionaires with the personality of a dog turd and beggars who are gold.” I gave him a wink. “As I’ve only met you three times, the jury’s still out.”

Oh, he looked pretty when he smiled.

“I like that approach. If only other women weren’t so shallow and judgemental. At first, the attention was flattering, but after a while it begins to grate, you know? The one place I can escape is at work, and that’s only because I’m the boss. Even then, they all talk behind my back.”

“What do you do for a living, anyway?”

“I run a cyber security company called HC Systems. Our core business is building bespoke security programs for large corporations and government agencies, but we also test for loopholes in existing systems and fix them.”

“This was the company you took over from your father?”

“Yeah, not that I had a choice. He died suddenly, and I needed to support my mother and Tia. Mother and the world of work aren’t really compatible.”

That I could understand, except the woman who’d shoved me out through her money-maker had mostly been found in crack dens. I bet Luke’s mother hung out at the country club.

“You’ve done well with it by the looks of things.”

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