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Hayley engaged? How did that happen without him finding out about it? Not that it was any of his business, of course, but then again …
‘She mentioned to me you hadn’t gone to the funeral,’ Duncan interrupted Jasper’s wandering thoughts.
His eyes moved away from the lawyer’s to look at the array of graduation certificates on the wall. ‘I didn’t make it back in time,’ he said in a flat emotionless tone, which he hoped belied the truth of what he was feeling. ‘I was overseas on business.’
‘She wasn’t too happy about it, I might add,’ Duncan went on. ‘She was under the impression you were cavorting in the Caribbean with Collette or Claudia or whatever your current girlfriend’s name is.’
Jasper turned back to look at him. ‘Her name is Candice and she’s no longer current.’
‘Just as well, then,’ Duncan said in a pragmatic tone. ‘So when was the last time you saw Hayley?’
‘A few years ago at one of my father’s fund-raising garden parties for Raymond’s parish, I think,’ he said, inwardly wincing as the memory returned. ‘I made some comment about the outfit she was wearing and she threw her drink in my face. It ruined a brand-new designer shirt, I might add.’
‘Charming.’
‘Yeah, that’s Hayley, all right,’ Jasper said with a curl of his lip. ‘But it’s a pity my father couldn’t see what a little cat she was. You’d have thought he would have learned from his experience with her sluttish mother, but no—he thought Hayley was different. He thought the sun shone out of her blue-green eyes. God, it used to make me sick the way she sucked up to him all the time.’
‘You never know, she might have changed for the better,’ Duncan said. ‘She seemed all right to me when I met her yesterday. I thought she was rather sweet, actually.’
Jasper grunted. ‘You spent an hour with her. I supposedly have to spend a bloody month with her.’
‘That’s if you can convince her to marry you instead of Myles Lederman,’ Duncan reminded him.
‘Myles Lederman, eh?’ Jasper rubbed his chin thoughtfully. ‘My brother Raymond is right,’ he said with a glinting smile. ‘There must be a god after all.’
‘You know this Lederman fellow?’ Duncan asked.
‘We’ve crossed paths a couple of times.’
‘Yes, well, I still think you’ve got a bit of a fight on your hands even if you do have some convenient connections,’ Duncan said.
Jasper got to his feet and gave the lawyer a determined look as he reached for the door. ‘If I have to drag Hayley kicking and screaming to the altar I’ll damn well do it. You just watch me.’
‘Your next client is here,’ Lucy informed Hayley as she poked her head around the facial room door.
‘Thanks, Lucy,’ Hayley said as she straightened the covers on the treatment table. ‘I’ll be out in a second to get her.’
‘Erm …’ Lucy cleared her throat. ‘It’s not a her—it’s a him. A rather gorgeous him too, I might add.’
Hayley turned around with a frown. ‘But Mrs
Fairbright always comes in at this time for her eyebrow tint. Did she cancel at the last minute?’
‘Must have,’ Lucy said. ‘Anyway I’m sure you won’t be disappointed in her replacement. God, I wish I could wax his chest or whatever it is he wants done.’
‘What does he want done?’
Lucy shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I didn’t look at the appointment book. He just said he had an appointment at three p.m. with you. He was quite adamant about it, actually.’
‘Then if I’m the one he wants, then that’s who he’s going to get,’ Hayley said with pride, and began quoting her brand new mission statement. ‘That’s what Bayside Best for Beauty is all about: giving our clients, both male and female, a truly memorable beauty therapy experience.’
She smoothed down her smart pink and white uniform and pasted a bright smile on her face as she went out to Reception, only to come up short when a tall figure unfolded himself from one of the suede-covered chairs.
‘You!’ she gasped in shock.
‘Nice to see you too, Hayley,’ Jasper drawled. ‘How’s tricks?’
She clenched her teeth and stamped her foot. ‘Get out of my salon. Now.’
