Page 108 of A Good Heart is Hard to Find
‘I’m forty-four, probably past it.’
‘You’re wearing very well,’ he said, with that twitch of the mouth. ‘And I don’t think I’d give up yet if that’s what you really want. Only not with Jason: why not try me again?’
‘I didn’t try you in the first place!’ I said hotly. ‘I mean, I wasn’t trying to – I wasn’t eventhinkingabout getting pregnant!’
‘So you wanted me for myself alone? I’m flattered.’ It was a full-fledged smile, thistime, unnervingly.
‘Well, don’t be, because it was mostly the brandy … and a sort of affinity, I think,’ I admitted reluctantly. ‘Don’t you think we’re alike in some ways?’
‘Dark and guilty?’
‘Something like that. And both with personal demons to slay.’
‘Yes, you through your books – and maybe now me through mine. And I suppose I must let our Mrs Bangs – as she apparently now is! – make herdistasteful final attempt tomorrow, and close the door on that one for ever,’ he said slowly.
‘And I may have no choice about facing my father again, if he follows me up here. Which he will do if Francis doesn’t manage to head him off.’ I shivered.
‘He’s not that scary, is he?’ Dante asked mildly. ‘You stood up to my mother-in-law in my defence, after all.’
I just looked at him pityingly. ‘She’snot even in the same league!’
‘Then if he comes, I’ll be there to defend you,’ he promised, which was strangely reassuring.
We’d reached the door of his study by now (so clearly I was mistaken about his earlier intentions) and he paused, a hand on the latch and raised an eyebrow: ‘A nightcap?’
‘No, thanks, this is the time of night when I generally work,’ I explained, backing away.
‘Is it?Well, it’s the time of night I generallydon’t,’ he said. ‘I’ll leave you to it then, but my door is two down from yours if you should want me in the night … for anything. Breakfast in the kitchen tomorrow? You don’t want me to wake you up?’
‘No, thank you. I like to wake naturally, mid-morning, and since I did your haunting bit in the night you can’t expect me to be on duty at the crack of dawn.But I’ll help Rosetta with her guests if she needs me when I get up. Am I haunting tomorrow night?’
‘Yes, same old haunts,’ he agreed. ‘I’ll be working in here during the day, but feel free to disturb me. More than you do already, I mean.’
It was an effort to get the old legs to turn round and march me out of there, but it had to be done. There seemed to be too many unresolved issues hanginglike a dark miasma in the air.
Actually even my room seemed to be imbued with a dark and powerful force, but whatever it was, it wasveryconducive to writing, and once I was working I forgot everything.
The house was quiet when I emerged late the following morning. I peeped in the open door of Dante’s study, but he was hammering away at the keys of his laptop, so absorbed he didn’t notice me.
I could probably have sheared off all that floppy raven hair without him knowing I was doing it, but I resisted the temptation and stole away.
…Dr Bone sized him up: he was so very nearly perfect. Just a few, slight adjustments, an enhancement of the gifts Nature had bestowed upon him, and he would be truly her own creation…
I’d have to watch that Dr Bone, because far from starting out asa wimp like Keturah she seemed to be a bossy-boots who always thought she knew best – hence her desire to improve on nature.
And I didn’t mind what she did to the Max figure, but she wasn’t getting her knife into anyone remotely resembling Dante: he’d been through enough.
The only sign of life in the main part of the house was Rosetta, sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee, lookinglimp and wan. The dishwasher was chock-full of greasy breakfast dishes and the room smelled so strongly of bacon that every breath loaded my system with cholesterol.
That was probably what sent Eddie away, because he finds the smell of any animal cooking repugnant.
‘Are you all right?’ I asked, concerned, and she looked up and gave me a weak smile.
‘Oh yes, just exhausted! Not just by all thecooking and clearing, but by the most spectacular scene. After breakfast Madame – Madame Duval, as we have to call her – spotted Dante in here, and threw a major wobbler. She says she saw Emma last night in the Long Gallery, and it was a clear sign that she was coming for Dante’s soul if he didn’t let her mother contact her, and stuff like that.’
‘I’m sorry I missed it,’ I said sincerely, scoutingaround for bread and peanut butter, but settling for marmalade. ‘Was everyone there?’
‘Oh yes, they all managed to get down for a full cookedEnglish breakfast!’ Rosetta said bitterly. ‘Poor Eddie had to go out – he went quite pale when I put the sausages and bacon on. He’s gardening, I think. Otherwise she had a full audience, and she even staged a heart attack, only her colour stayed perfectlynormal so I knew it wasn’t real.’
