Page 46 of The Black Trilogy

“Hey, I’m impressed you’re doing that much instead of hiring a chef and a butler.”

“I did consider it,” he admitted. “But I decided I’d rather have you all to myself.”

I let that last comment slide. “Anything I can do to help?”

“Could you put the salad on the small plates?”

Between us, we got the food dished up and carried it through to the dining room to eat. I’d suggested eating in the kitchen, but Luke said the dining room hardly got used and he had to justify having it somehow.

“You surf?” I asked as I forked soufflé into my mouth.

“I used to, but since I took over the company, I’ve barely had time to use the gym let alone travel abroad.”

“Do you miss it?”

“More than anything. Before my father died, sports were my life. Skiing in the winter, surfing in the summer. I was working the ski season in Switzerland when Mother phoned to tell me he’d died. I figured I’d head back there in a month or two, but it never happened.”

“Because you had to run the company?”

He put his fork down and sighed. “That and Mother had a nervous breakdown, and there was nobody else to look after Tia. It took a year for Mother to recover and another two for me to turn HC Systems around.”

“It must have been satisfying to do that.”

“I guess. Sure, I’ve made money, but now I’m stuck there. I always liked messing around with computers as a teenager, but I never wanted to do it for a living. The corporate side sucks.”

“Couldn’t you sell it?”

“I’ve thought about it, but it would be like selling part of myself. Besides, I still enjoy working on the ideas side of things. It’s the day-to-day management that gets me down.”

“Get good managers in place and delegate.”

“That’s the crazy thing—I have good managers.” He stared at the wall over my head. “It’s the leap into the unknown that scares me.”

“Sometimes a gamble can pay off. You could free up enough time to do what you enjoy.”

“Maybe I’ll try it. Hey, I could do with some excitement in my life.” He leaned back in his chair. “Oh, just listen to me. I invite you over to dinner, and we spend the evening talking about business.”

“Talking can help.”

Now I sounded all preachy. It was very much a case of do as I say, not as I do.

The oven timer bleeped from the kitchen, and I helped Luke to clear away the plates and bring out the next course. The salmon and asparagus dish was delicious, better than Susie’s cooking and infinitely tastier than mine. While we ate, the discussion turned to Lower Foxford.

“There’s a rumour going around that Henry got taken to hospital after the Hunt Ball, but nobody knows why,” Luke said. “Have you heard anything?”

I choked, and he looked at me strangely.

“I think it may have been something to do with having his testicles rearranged.”

“Who by?”

Oops. I forgot I was talking to Mr. Violence-never-solves-anything, and he sounded kind of shocked. I stayed quiet.

“You did that?”

“He should have kept his hands to himself.”

Ten seconds passed. Twenty.

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