to dinner at Mill House next weekend. I trust you’re suitably impressed.’
Kate blinked. ‘I certainly am. Enormously. Is this pay back for gatecrashing your party?’
‘Must be. Lucy will be livid.’ Anna gave a little cough. ‘Has he asked you, too?’
‘No. The honour’s all yours.’
‘He only rang today. Maybe there’ll be a message waiting for you when you get back. And report in the minute you arrive, please; the weather forecast’s not great.’
Kate went down to the crowded, noisy bar in thoughtful mood. She ordered a glass of wine and sat down at the solitary vacant table to study the menu.
‘The other tables are full. Would you mind if I shared?’ said a pleasant male voice, and Kate looked up to see a man who looked vaguely familiar.
‘Of course not. Do sit down.’
‘I saw you at Manor House School this afternoon,’ he said as he took the seat opposite. ‘I’m Philip Brace. My daughter Leah is a pupil there.’
Kate smiled, enlightened. ‘Ah, I see. I’m Kate Durant. I’m visiting my niece, Joanna Sutton.’
‘In that case could I persuade you to join forces with me for dinner?’ He gave her a rueful grin. ‘I’d be grateful for company.’
‘Was your wife unable to come?’ asked Kate pointedly.
The smile vanished. ‘We’re recently divorced—very recently. It’s my first turn to take Leah out this weekend.’
‘Oh, I see,’ said Kate, wishing she’d kept her mouth shut.
Philip Brace looked at her levelly. ‘I can leave you in peace if you prefer.’
‘Not at all. I’d be glad of company, too. Have you driven far?’
Having established that they lived less than thirty miles from each other, they discussed Jo and Leah, and exchanged opinions on the education the girls were receiving before breaking off to give their orders to the hovering waiter.
‘I would have felt conspicuous as the only person on my own,’ Kate admitted, once they were seated in the formal dining room later.
‘I get more than enough of it on my travels for the firm.’ He smiled hopefully. ‘I’m driving Leah to Chipping Camden for lunch tomorrow. Would you and Jo care to join us?’
Kate explained about the tragedy which had turned Jo against car journeys, and said something polite about joining forces some other time.
Philip shot her a look as he poured the wine he’d ordered. ‘If I get too pushy just tell me to back off.’
‘Oh,I will,’ she assured him, smiling to take the edge off her words.
‘One question,’ he went on, once their first course was in front of them. ‘If you are Jo’s aunt, is there a matching uncle?’
‘No. Other than me, her only relatives are a pair of elderly grandparents.’
‘Poor little thing!’ He smiled wryly. ‘As you can probably tell,I was trying to find out whether I was trespassing on someone’s preserves.’
‘If you were I would have said no,’ she assured him, and got on with her excellent dinner. The meal passed very pleasantly, they opted for coffee at the table afterwards, but when they left the dining room Kate stopped at the foot of the main staircase in the hall and held out her hand.
‘I’ll say goodnight now, Philip.’
‘Shall I see you at breakfast in the morning?’
She shook her head smiling. ‘I’m not a morning person. I’ll probably see you at school later on.’
‘I hope so. Goodnight, Kate.’ He shook her hand very formally. ‘Thank you for your company.’
Once she reached her room Kate rang reception to order breakfast there instead of in the dining room as she would have much preferred. Having dinner with a stranger was one thing, breakfast a different thing entirely. Philip Brace, she suspected, was another man finding it hard to adjust to single status.
Kate’s phone rang when she was settled down in bed with a book. She checked the caller ID and smiled smugly. ‘Hello, Jack.’
‘Are you in your room?’ he asked, ‘or have I interrupted your dinner?’
‘I’ve had dinner. I’m reading in bed.’
‘Anna Maitland told me where you were this weekend. Why couldn’t you have told me?’
‘Last time we spoke you weren’t exactly friendly.’
‘I’d just heard you’d been to the theatre with Forster.’
‘It’s not against the law.’
‘True. Why didn’t you tell me where you were going this weekend?’
‘To be honest, Jack, it never occurred to me.’
‘God, you’re a cruel woman!’
‘Why did you want to speak to me tonight?’
‘Must I have a reason?’
‘It’s a bit late for a chat,’ she said tartly.
‘I waited until now to avoid interrupting your dinner. Was it good?’