The instant the words left her tongue she regretted them. Idiot! How could he have had a good holiday under the circumstances? A slow tide of colour rose in her face as Alexander looked up at her with one eyebrow raised in the sardonic way she had hated when she was younger.
"Good morning, Sophie. Yes and no." He smiled very slightly.
"Yes, I'm back, and no, I did not have a good holiday."
He looked tanned but tired, with dark smudges beneath his eyes.
Otherwise he seemed much the same as usual. He stood up to look at some drawings _on the frankly antiquarian drawing-board which had served his father and grandfather before him, then shot a look at Sophie, who was hovering unhappily, unsure whether to retreat or stand her ground.
"Go on," he encouraged.
"Aren't you going to ask me why?"
"No," she said shortly.
"I have enough sensitivity to realise why, strange as it may seem. I'll come back later if you're not ready to go through the mail. I've got plenty of work left over from yesterday."
"The others kept you busy, did they?" He sat down behind his desk, clasping his hands behind his head. "Have they found anyone for the draughts man job, by the way?"
"Perry has some candidates lined up for you to see today."
"Good. Stop fidgeting and sit down, Sophie."
Sophie did as he said, wondering how soon she could tactfully raise the subject of her resignation. "How are you, Alexander?" she asked quietly.
"As well as can be expected, I think describes it. I was a fool, of course, to keep to Greece." His eyes gleamed unseeingly as he stared at her.
"At the time I just needed to run like hell, I suppose, and my bags were packed and the tickets in my pocket, so I kept on going. My mistake was in going alone." His eyes focused on her suddenly.
"Would you have come, Sophie?"
She suppressed a shudder.
"No fear!"
"Wise girl." He shrugged his shoulders in the superbly tailored grey jacket.
"Ah, well, it's water under the bridge now. Besides, I hear there's another wedding in the offing."
_Sophie looked at him searchingly.
"Do you mind?"
Good God, no--I'm delighted. Can't think why the two of them haven't joined forces long since. "
"I must go round in blinkers. The idea never even crossed my mind."
"And do you mind, Sophie?"
Her smile was so incandescent, Alexander blinked. "Mind? I think it's too marvelous for words."
He shook his head.
"And there was Kate, afraid you'd feel pushed out into the cold; wicked stepmother syndrome and all that."
Sophie straightened her shoulders, fixing her dark eyes on him with such intensity, his own narrowed in surprise.
"In actual fact I'm only too delighted to be pushed out. I hadn't intended telling you yet, Alexander. I was going to let you settle in first, but you may as well know now----' “Don’t tell me you're going to marry Julian
Brett," he said sharply.
‘It was Sophie's turn to blink.
"No. I'm not. I don't know why everyone's in such a hurry to marry me off to Julian these days.
We're just friends. Really. He buys me dinner every so often, nothing more.
"He's been buying you dinner, to my knowledge, for years, Sophie."
Alexander looked at her quizzically.
"It's generally held to be an aisle-job as far as you two are concerned."
"I have no intention of getting married. To Julian or anyone else."
Sophie's smile was wry.
"Marriage, as I see it, is one long round of cooking, cleaning, shopping--not to mention children who need endless name tapes when they start school."
"My God--is that how you see marriage?"
_Alexander eyed her askance.
"You didn't have a word with Delphine on the subject, by any chance? If so,
I'm not surprised she walked out on me."
"I was never on close terms with Delphine." Sophie looked him in the eye.
"My friends don't indulge in her type of behaviour."
There was a nasty silence.
"I'm sorry," she said at last, not really meaning it.
"I suppose I shouldn't have said that."
Alexander shrugged.
"Please don't apologise. You obviously feel strongly about it. I take it you would not, under the same circumstances, leave it until the last moment to inform your bridegroom you'd changed your mind."
"Absolutely not. However, since I'm never going to have a bridegroom the occasion is unlikely to arise." Sophie took in a deep breath.
"But while we're on the subject, Alexander, I consider what Delphine did was barbarous. I know you and I don't always see eye to eye, but believe me, that day my heart bled for you." She realised her mistake at once.
Alexander's expression grew dauntingly forbidding as he turned to the pile of correspondence in front of him.
"How kind, Sophie. Nevertheless, don't waste your sympathy. I'm not likely to pine long. Women are replaceable--even women as beautiful as Delphine.
Now, shall we get on, please?"
Smarting from the rebuff, Sophie seethed for the entire hour they spent together on the accumulation of post. She was on her way out of the room when Alexander called her back.
_"Weren't you in the middle of telling me some I thing, Sophie?" he reminded her.
"Oh, yes." Any compunction Sophie had felt beforehand was long gone.
"I'll confirm it in writing, in the usual way, but I thought you should know
I'm leaving, Alexander. I'll work the normal month's notice, of course."
Alexander sat back in his chair, rolling a gold pen between his fingers as he looked at her.
"I feel like a sinking ship," he murmured after a long, uncomfortable interval.
"I resent the implication, Alexander," she said tartly.
"I'm not ratting on you. I'm perfectly willing to find and train up a replacement before I leave." Her eyes flashed.
"As you remarked not so long ago, women are replaceable. And I, in case you've never noticed it, do happen to be a woman."
Alexander subjected her to a comprehensive survey, his eyes travelling very slowly from the crown of her shining dark head to. the tips of her small black shoes and back again, lingering longest on those curves which reinforced her statement beyond question.
"So you are, Sophie," he said eventually.
"I'm glad you brought it to my notice."
Affronted, she turned on her heel and made for the door, but once again he called her back.
"Why, Sophie?"
She turned reluctantly to face him.
"Why what?"
"Why are you leaving me?" His eyes looked unexpectedly bleak.
"I thought this was the ideal setup for you in your particular situation. "
"Is that why you originally gave me the job?" she demanded.
"No." Alexander hesitated.
"To be completely honest, I gave you the job because Kate wanted me to."
"Not because you thought I'd make an efficient secretary," said Sophie tonelessly.
"No. But I was fortunate. You proved to be a highly efficient secretary."
Sophie stared at him stonily.
"In which case I assume you'll be willing to give me a reference."
Alexander smiled.
"Since we're soon to be related, won't that smack of nepotism?" He regarded her steadily.
"Besides, I very much want you to stay. If it's a question of more money ' "
Nothing like that," she said quickly.
"I'm moving out of the district."
He got up and strolled round the desk.
"Am I allowed to ask where?"
"Of course. Arlesford. Grail's given me a cottage there."
Alexander bent to pick up a paper clip.
"The one in Church Row?"
"That's right," said Sophie, sur
prised.
"You know it?"
"Yes." He laughed a little.
"I might have known the fair Cecily had a hand in all this. What a lady. If she'd been a few years younger I'd have married her instead of making a fool of myself over Delphine."
Sophie laughed, relieved that Alexander looked less hostile, and told him about her grandmother's bombshell about entering a residential home, and how she'd bulldozed Sam Jefford into giving Sophie a job.
"I'm sure the poor man must have been afraid to say no. He's stuck with me whether he wants me _or not."
Alexander took the pile of letters from her and laid them on the desk, surprising her considerably by taking her hands in his, his eyes very serious as they held hers.
"I've no doubt at all that Jefford wants you, Sophie. He'd be a fool if he didn't, and I know damn well he's no fool. He's too successful for that."
"You know him, then?" Sophie tried to pull her hands away, but Alexander's long fingers tightened.
"Slightly. Before--before I went away I put him on the track of finding suitable premises for our new branch office."
"Oh. Small world." Sophie smiled briskly and pulled out of his grasp.
"I must get on. Perry will be after my services any minute. Do the others know you're back, by the way?"
Alexander nodded.
"I got in touch with both Perry and George Huntley last night." He handed her the mail.
"Would you do me very large favour, Sophie?"
She eyed him warily, 'if I can. What is it? "
"Will you come with me for a bar snack at the George at lunch time?
To celebrate our parents' nuptials," he said quickly, as she opened her mouth to refuse.
"And not just that," he added.
"To be honest I'd very much appreciate a little moral support for my first appearance in public since that God-awful day."
It was a new experience for Sophie to find Alexander Paget coaxing her for her company. She found she quite liked it. It was rather enjoyable to see the self-sufficient, infinitely superior Alexander waiting rather tensely for her consent.
"Why not?" she said casually.
Gratifying though his answering smile might have been, thoughts of lunch with
Alexander filled Sophie with foreboding. All morning, even while she worked with her usual speed and concentration, she was dogged by the prospect of running the Deansbury gauntlet in company with her boss. Normally
Alexander's lunches were working affairs, periods spent making the contacts vital to the success of a private firm of architects in a world where competition was fierce and the biggest plums fell to the most competitive bidders. Paget & Son were consistently successful in the Deansbury area, due partly to their long- established name in the field, partly because the firm's work was unfailingly excellent, and not least because of the charisma of Alexander Paget, who was universally respected as a man of integrity coupled with a very individual flair. Today, thought Sophie, sighing, all the world and his wife would be eager to express their sympathy over
Alexander's recent experience. Hardly a tempting prospect.
In actual fact the occasion was less trying than Sophie had expected.
The George, a popular place with business people at lunch time, was thronged with people pleased to see Alexander in circulation again.
And all of them, to Sophie's surprise, seemed to take her own presence for granted. Due to the closeness of their respective families Sophie and
Alexander were often present at the same family occasions, but Alexander had never actually taken her out to lunch before, or anywhere else, for that matter. He was very attentive, she found, also _sensitive to her urge for seclusion, since he seated her in a corner with her back to the room, in a chair which gave her a view of the river outside the windows instead of a sea of curious faces. Sophie chose a glass of white wine and a small salad, refusing Alexander's pleas to try something more exciting.
"No, thanks." She gave him a cool little smile.
"I rarely eat any lunch at all, except for an apple."
He frowned.
"Why not?"
"Because I cook what my father calls " a proper dinner" every evening, and if
I ate lunch as well I would be even rounder than I am now," she informed him bluntly, flushing a little as, for the second time that day,
Alexander made a leisurely examination of her person, which was clad as usual in garb suited to her job. Sophie made a practice of wearing tailored skirts and shirts to the office, concentrating on quality and cut rather than quantity, and today the skirt was black and straight and the shirt crisp white cotton dotted in black. Her legs were her main vanity, and she invariably wore fine, dark stockings and classic shoes with high heels to compensate for her lack of inches.
"You're not very tall," said Alexander at last, 'but otherwise I'd have thought you were a very satisfactory size and shape. "
"That's not what you used to say!" said Sophie with feeling, then took a sip of wine, annoyed with herself.
He grinned.
"Well, you were rather on the roly-poly side at one time, admit it! But you grew out of that long ago."
"Only on the outside, Alexander! Inside, due to your relentless teasing when I was at the vulnerable stage, I still feel fat."
"My God! Is that why you treat me with? . ." Alexander thought for a moment.
"Reserve, perhaps?"
"It used to be downright hostility." She smiled reassuringly.
"But I've mellowed with time."
"Thank the lord for that."
At first Sophie found it difficult to enjoy a meal interrupted so often by well-meant expressions of sympathy, but on each occasion Alexander cut short the embarrassed friend by introducing Sophie whether she knew the man or not, and she grew almost used to it after a while, rather surprised when they were eventually left in peace.
"Thank God you came with me, Sophie," said Alexander, sighing.
"You've been a great help."
"Perry or George would have done just as well."
Alexander shook his head, looking more relaxed now the initial ordeal was over.
"Perry was rushing off to meet the latest conquest for lunch, and George went out on that house inspection the other side of Gloucester earlier on.
Besides," he added with a sudden gleam in his eyes, 'neither Perry nor George happens to be a beautiful girl. And a poor, ill-treated male like me needed the company of just such a lady very badly today. Does that sound very chauvinistic? "
"No. Only natural, I suppose. But I'm not beautiful," said Sophie.
Alexander frowned.
"Who says?"
"My mirror. Not only am I not beautiful, Alexander, I'm neither blind nor equipped with rose coloured spectacles!"
At that moment yet another sympathiser came to their table to clap a hand on
Alexander's shoulder. "Sincere condolences, old chap," said the man solemnly, nodding politely to Sophie before he took himself off.
"You'd think I'd suffered a bereavement," said Alexander savagely.
Sophie regarded him thoughtfully.
"Haven't you?"
He pushed away his half-eaten lunch.
"In a way, I suppose." He leaned his chin on his hand, looking up at her.
"I suppose the basic truth is that I just never got to know Delphine well enough. She was always flitting about the globe on those modelling assignments of hers, so we spent very little time together if one counts it up in hours. Fate plays some funny tricks, doesn't it, Sophie? If
Delphine's family hadn't moved to Deansbury last year I'd never have met her at all."
"Did she intend carrying on with all the travelling after afterwards?"
"She insisted she was tired of it. Swore she fancied settling down."
Alexander's smile was crooked.
"I deluded myself she meant it."
"I could never see what you and Delphine had in common," said Sophie fran
kly.
He reached across the table and took her hand. "To be candid, we had one thing in common which rather overshadowed everything else."
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