Second Shot

I heard a gasp that might have come from Rosalind, but I didn’t want to take my eyes off Vaughan long enough to make sure. Simone’s flush went into instant decline, leaving her pale. Her lips thinned. “We’ll be having DNA tests to confirm it,” she said, “if it’s any business of yours.”

For a moment Vaughan said nothing. Then he nodded once, almost to himself, and smiled. “Excellent,” he said. “And-always assuming the tests turn out to everyone’s satisfaction, of course-how long do you plan to stay?”

I’d had enough of this interrogation. “We haven’t made any definite plans,” I put in before she had time to answer.

Simone frowned. “Is it any surprise that, having found him again, I want to spend a little time and get to know him?” she said, smiling hesitantly in Lucas’s direction. Lucas returned the smile, little more than a twitch of his lips.

“Of course not,” Vaughan said. He rose, started to button his jacket and then stilled, adding weight to his words even though they were delivered in a chillingly pleasant tone. “But you’ve come at a busy time for your father, my dear. Perhaps it might be best if you didn’t plan to stay long.”

OK, that’s enough.

I got to my feet, much the same way Vaughan had done. Slowly, deliberately Vaughan had the best part of a foot on me and he utilized all of it now, craning his neck, making a big thing out of just how far he had to look down to meet my eyes.

“With respect, Mr. Vaughan,” I said, always a nice phrase to use when you intend to speak without any, “the decision on just how long Simone remains a guest here is down to Mr. and Mrs. Lucas, not you. And her own choice, of course.” I kept my voice light and my face carefully blank. “I would hate to think she feels under any kind of pressure to leave before she’s ready.”

Vaughan blinked, just once, and a muscle twitched in his cheek. The silence stretched one second into another.

“Yes,” he murmured at last, inclining his head. “Yes, I guess you would.”

He nodded to Simone, more of a bow. “Ladies,” he said, coldly polite. His eyes slid across to mine. “I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of each other.” He turned to the couple stationed tensely at the other end of the table and his face tightened almost imperceptibly. “Don’t trouble yourselves,” he said. “I can see myself out.”

Nevertheless, despite his words both Rosalind and Lucas followed Vaughan to the door, as if to make sure he really was leaving. While they were out of earshot Simone leaned across to me, her face fearful.

“Who was that guy?” she asked. “He gave me the creeps.”

“I’m not surprised,” I said, grim. “He did the same to me.”

Simone raised her eyebrows. “You think?” she said quietly. “I’d say it was the other way around.”

I glanced at her in surprise, but before I could question her last remark the couple returned. Lucas suddenly looked his age. He sank into his chair with a brief smile to Simone that was supposed to be reassuring but didn’t quite make it far enough. “I’m sorry about that,” he said, running a restless hand through his short beard. “I guess Felix’s manner can be a little abrasive if you aren’t used to the way of him.”

“Abrasive’ is putting it mildly,” I agreed, not inclined to let either of them off the hook too easily. It was the way they’d stood by and let Simone and her daughter be intimidated that I took issue with, more than anything Vaughan himself had done.

“He didn’t seem to faze you, though, Charlie,” Rosalind said, and I realized she’d been giving me a coolly appraising stare from the other end of the table.

“Maybe I just don’t like being bullied,” I said, matching my tone to hers.

“Well, Felix certainly didn’t manage that with you,” Lucas said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him back down quite like that before. You must have a knack with people, huh?”

“Oh, Greg, for heaven’s sake!” Rosalind bit out. “Can’t you tell that Charlie isn’t simply Ella’s nanny?”

Lucas stared between the two of us, taking in Simone’s shocked and ever so slightly guilty expression on the way “She isn’t?”

“Of course not,” Rosalind snapped. Her eyes swung to me and there was a strange mixture of anger and something else that could even have been desperation there. “Isn’t it obvious? She’s Simone’s bodyguard.”

Lucas’s gaze rounded on me. ‘A bodyguard?” he repeated blankly. He made a noise that might have been intended as a laugh, strangled at birth when his wife showed no signs of matching his amusement. “I mean, she’s just… are you sure?”

“Oh yes, quite sure,” Rosalind said, more quietly now, her voice almost silky. “Let me guess — are you an ex-cop? Or army?” She must have seen something in my face. “Army then,” she said, with a certain satisfaction at her own accuracy. Her eyes narrowed. “Not an easy job for a woman to get into. You must be pretty good, to have picked up that kinda work.”

“Yes,” I said, returning her stare with icy calm. “I am.”

Ten