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“Where are we going?” I asked, as I climbed into hiscar.
“Surrey,” he said, closing mydoor.
“Surrey?” I asked, when he’d reappeared at the driver’sside.
“Yes.” He clearly wasn’t giving muchaway.
“So, how did you get on with Alex?” he asked, as we pulled out of the car park and into thetraffic.
I told him about our lunch, and how I felt I could work well with him. I also watched his body stiffen a little when I’d said I thought he was a very charmingman.
“He was impressed with your work ethic, what you’ve done in the past. I think you’ll work well together,” hesaid.
“How long will I have before heleaves?”
“That depends on when he thinks you’re ready to takeover.”
“You don’t have a saythen?”
“I know everything that goes on. I can veto anything I want, but I trust my team to make the rightdecisions.”
“Do you meet with them all frequently?” I asked, because he seemed to be out of the country alot.
“Weekly, either face-to-face or bySkype.”
He had entered the motorway and headed away from London. A thought occurred tome.
“Where exactly is youroffice?”
“I have two, one at home and another, as I’ve already told you, in Canary Wharf. Not far from your apartment block. I’ll take you there,” he said and smiled over. “I’ve been coming back and forth to the U.K. for about ten years now, but only moved here three or soago.”
“Do you misshome?”
“Sometimes, for sure. I don’t miss LA, pretentious place, but I miss myfamily.”
“Do you have brothers, sisters?” I really didn’t know that much about him when I’d thought aboutit.
“No, onlychild.”
“You don’t give much away, do you?” I said, and thenlaughed.
He looked over to me. “I answered your question,Lauren.”
“I know, I was kidding.” I wasn’t, but I didn’t want to start the evening off on a sournote.
He sighed, took one hand off the steering wheel and clasped it aroundmine.
“I’m a little stressed lately, I have some personal shit going on. I don’t want to bore you with it all. Let’s just concentrate on having some fun, we both need it rightnow.”
I smiled at him. I didn’t want to, I wanted to ask if that was all I meant to him,a little fun. But then, hadn’t I decided that’s all I wanted as well? When I wasn’t with him I could rationalise it all, but the minute I saw him, smelled his aftershave, or heard his voice, I was in knots. My stomach was somersaulting and my mind clouded by hispresence.
“How about some music?” I said. I didn't want to spend the rest of the journey in silence; he obviously wasn’t in a talkativemood.
* * *
We drovethrough a pair of large, ornate iron gates; the headlights illuminated a long gravel drive with lawns to either side. In front was a manor house, very old, imposing yet beautiful at the sametime.
“Wow, what is this place?” I asked, as we pulled to a halt in a circular drive. I could see a man standing on the steps beside the frontdoor.
