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'He mentioned that?'
'I told him you weren't here.' She held his eyes. 'What did you tell him?'
'Well, I couldn't, he'd have stepped on my neck! You wouldn't believe how nasty he can get.'
'I would.'
Bruno shifted restlessly. 'If I tell you, you wouldn't tell him? He'd kill me, Liza.'
'I won't tell a soul.' But she was dying with curiosity— what could Bruno have been doing that made him so frightened of his uncle finding out?
'It just happened, Liza, honestly! I went back to my flat to change after I'd dropped you off and on the way I ran into a guy who was at school with me. Last I heard, he was working in Africa, managing a tea plantation. Two years since I'd seen him, so we went to have a drink—we had a lot of catching up to do, and one thing led to another and . . .' His voice trailed away and he gave her a sheepish look. 'Well, we ended up in this club in Soho.'
'Gambling?' Liza guessed wryly. Keir Gifford wouldn't like that! Bruno was quite right.
'Not exactly,' Bruno said, very pink around the ears, it . .. was a strip club, actually.'
She stared and started to laugh. 'Oh, Bruno!'
'G. K. wouldn't have been amused,' Bruno said.
'No, I suppose not,' she conceded.
'He always says it's too risky for people like us to go into that part of London—too many chances of meeting the wrong kind of people, running into blackmail or some sort of trouble.'
Liza could see Keir's point; anyone from the criminal world who recognised one of the Gifford clan out on a spree might be tempted to make something out of it. She frowned, then; wasn't that what he had thought of her? That she was using Bruno, taking advantage of him?
Then she saw the look on Bruno's flushed face and her brows went up.
'There's more?'
Bruno pulled a face. 'Well, it was my friend, not me— he had one too many and there was a fight over this girl and we both got chucked out. Luckily, nobody knew our names and there were no reporters around. I got him into a taxi and saw him back to his hotel and went home, and I was just going to bed when G. K. rang. He came round and I'd sobered up a bit by then; put my head under a tap and drunk a few black coffees, but I looked a bit of a shambles and G. K. was so furious I simply couldn't tell him where I'd really been. I'm sorry, Liza.'
His penitence was only skin deep, she realised, gazing wryly at him. Bruno was spoilt and selfish and had taken the easy way out yet again. He wasn't going to change; he would always take the easy road, and she hoped G. K. Gifford knew what he was doing sending his nephew off to New York alone. That city was full of temptations for reckless, spoilt young men with too much money. The Giffords might well end up wishing they had let him marry her!
Bruno sighed. 'You know, I'm going to miss you a hell of a lot, Liza. New York's a long way off and it's a very big city. I'll be lonely over there.'
'You'll find a new playmate,' Liza said, grinning at him, unmoved by his soulful look. She knew he would always make sure he enjoyed his life; Bruno was not the serious type.
'Before I go, why don't we...' Bruno began then lifted his head to look round, his face startled, as they both heard an angry outburst from the office in which Maddie sat.
'No, you can't go in there!' Maddie was saying fiercely and they heard a struggle right outside the door. The handle turned nois
ily, a body crashed against the wooden panels.
"What on earth?' Bruno muttered and Liza got up from her desk, but before she could cross the office to ask Maddie what was going on in the outer room, the door was flung open and Maddie fell inwards, still clutching the handle.
Bruno gave a strangled yelp and Liza went pale and then red with fury as she saw G. K. Gifford in the doorway.
'He forced his way in,' Maddie was spluttering as she straightened and began tidying her dress and hair with shaky hands. 'Shall I call security? He wouldn't give a name or wait, and he stopped me using the console to tell you he was here. I think he's crazy. I'd better get security up here right away!'
'That's OK, Maddie,' Liza said tersely, her mouth level and angry. T know him.'
'You do?' Maddie seemed incredulous, she gave Keir a stare of intense dislike. 'He's too damn sure of himself, pushing me around like that, giving me orders. Who does he think he is?'
'He knows who he is,' Liza said icily. 'He's G. K. Gifford and he owns this whole building, if you remember, Maddie.'
Her secretary's mouth opened as far as it would go and stayed like it. A thin, high keening issued from her.
