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‘My relationship with my brother, my mother, has no bearing on my ability to manage your fund, Cecil.’
A lesser man would have quailed at the distinct threat in Max’s voice. Not Montgomery.
‘No,’ said the other man, looking at Max assessingly. ‘I think for the most part you are right. But my concern would be the risks you’d be prepared to take on behalf of my fund—risks that you might not consider taking if you had a different perspective on life. My fear is that, based on your experiences, you might actually be biased against the very values I’ve built this fund upon, and that it would influence your decision-making process because you have only yourself to worry about.’
Darcy’s insides had turned to stone. Cecil Montgomery, with a ruthless precision she’d never even witnessed in Max, had just laid Max’s life bare and dissected it with clinical and damning detachment.
She felt a very disturbing surge of something like protectiveness. A need to defend.
Even Jocasta Montgomery had put her hand on her husband’s arm and was saying something indistinct to him.
Darcy looked at Max, who had carefully put his own coffee cup down. The restaurant was largely empty by now.
‘You are right about almost everything, Cecil.’ He smiled, but it was a thin, harsh line. ‘I do come from a broken home, and my brother and I did suffer at the hands of two parents who really couldn’t have cared less about our welfare.’
Jocasta broke in. ‘Please, Max, don’t feel you have to say—’
But Max held up a hand, not taking his gaze off Montgomery. ‘I said that your husband is right about almost everything. There’s one thing his research hasn’t shown up, however.’
Montgomery raised a brow. ‘I’m intrigued. What is it that I’ve missed?’
Max’s jaw clenched, and to Darcy’s shock he reached over and took her hand in his, holding it tight.
‘Darcy.’
Darcy looked at Max, but he hadn’t said her name to call her attention and speak to her.
He was still looking at Montgomery and gripping her hand tight as he said, ‘You can be the first to congratulate my fiancée and I on our engagement.’
Darcy might have enjoyed Montgomery’s almost bug-eyed response if she hadn’t been so afraid that her own eyes were bugging out of her head at the same moment.
‘But... But...’ Jocasta Montgomery said, ‘Darcy told me she’s your PA...’
Max looked at Darcy briefly and through waves of shock she could see something implacable in his expression that forbade her from saying anything.
He looked back to the couple on the other side of the damask-covered table. ‘She is. That’s how we met...again.’
‘Again?’ asked Montgomery sharply.
Max nodded. ‘Darcy and I went to the same school—Boissy le Chateau in Switzerland. That’s where we first met. She came to work for me three months ago...’ Max shrugged, ‘And the rest, as they say, is history.’
‘Oh, Cecil.’ Jocasta Montgomery put her hand over her husband’s and looked at him with suspiciously bright eyes. ‘That’s how we met.’
Darcy felt it like a punch to the gut. She remembered that small detail now. Jocasta had been his secretary in the seventies, in Edinburgh.
Cecil Montgomery was looking at Max through narrowed eyes. Obviously suspicious. And then he turned his gaze on Darcy and she could feel her cheeks grow hot.
‘Well, then, my dear, it would seem that congratulations are in order. When did this happy event occur?’
Max’s hand tightened on hers as he inserted smoothly, ‘Some weeks ago... I knew after just a few weeks that Darcy was unlike any other woman I’ve ever known. We had a bond at school...and it was rekindled.’
Darcy was still too shocked even to consider saying anything, but she tried to pull her hand out from under Max’s—to no avail.
‘My dear, are you quite all right? You look a little ill.’ Jocasta Montgomery was leaning forward with concern.
Darcy sensed Max’s tension beside her, reaching out to envelop her, inhibit her. She knew that she should pull away, stand up, throw her napkin down and say that it was all untrue. This was her chance. She should walk away from Max right now and not look back.
And put a nail in the coffin of his chance to get this deal with Cecil Montgomery.
