bored. Whereas every time she was in Alex Merrick’s vicinity she might feel tense, as though she were balancing on a tightrope, but never for an instant bored. After toasts had been drunk to the successful business of the morning, she settled down to savour her triumph along with the award-winning food.
‘So, Sarah, what do you have in mind for your next venture?’ asked Alex as he refilled her glass.
‘Barn conversion.’
‘In this locality?’
‘Yes.’
‘I haven’t heard of anything,’ he said, surprised.
‘You wouldn’t have done. I heard of it through a friend.’
‘Sarah seems to have established herself very successfully in the community,’ remarked Oliver with satisfaction, and raised his glass again. ‘To my clever goddaughter.’
‘To Sarah,’ said Alex, following suit.
Sarah smiled wryly. ‘Not so long ago, Oliver, you were trying to persuade me to work in your chambers.’
‘I concede my mistake,’ he said nobly. ‘I was worried about you, I freely admit, but I’m more than happy to be proved wrong.’
Alex eyed her challengingly. ‘I’d still like to know how you stole a march on me over the cottages, Sarah. Our original offer was supposed to include them when we bought the Medlar Farm site, but they slipped through some red tape keyhole and went up for separate auction. And a sealed bid at that. So how did you do it?’
‘I received very good advice,’ she said demurely.
‘That was your doing, sir?’ asked Alex.
Oliver shook his head. ‘Nothing to do with me, dear boy. I merely enlisted some professional advice to make sure the houses were worth buying, and then advised Sarah to bid slightly over the odds. It obviously worked.’
‘Are you using the same strategy this time, Sarah?’ asked Alex.
‘Unnecessary. There’s no auction involved.’
‘More than one barn, darling?’ asked Oliver
‘Three, in fact.’ She smiled at Alex. ‘But I’d rather not give details in present company.’
Alex looked at her levelly. Relax, Sarah. The Medlar Farm cottages were a one-off deal because they adjoin the hotel development. Normally we don’t deal in property on such a small scale.’
‘Which certainly puts me in my place,’ she said lightly. ‘I wonder if they have more of the hazelnut parfait I had last night?’
When they arrived back at the Merrick building Alex told his chauffeur to drive Oliver back in the Daimler.
‘I took it for granted you wouldn’t care to drive yourself, sir,’ he said, smiling.
‘No, indeed. Wouldn’t do for a man in my line to risk it after that extra brandy. Thank you, my boy,’ said Oliver, shaking his hand. ‘Very civil of you. We can drop Sarah off at her place on the way.’
Alex shook hands very formally with Sarah, before helping her into Oliver’s car. ‘Good luck with the new project.’
‘Thank you.’ She racked her brains to find something appropriate to say to mark the occasion, but in the end, feeling unexpectedly forlorn, merely smiled back at Alex as the car drew away.
CHAPTER SIX
OLIVER ASKED the driver to wait for a few minutes when they arrived at Medlar House, and followed Sarah into her flat. ‘So, then, Sarah. How do you feel after your first success in the property world?’
‘A bit flat,’ she confessed. ‘And a bit headachy, too, after two glasses of champagne at this time of day. Not,’ she added with a grin, ‘that it normally features in my life at any time of day.’
‘You can well afford the odd bottle now, darling, if you fancy it,’ he reminded her, then smiled lovingly. ‘Sit down, darling. There’s something I want to say.’
Sarah eyed him in trepidation as she went to her windowseat. ‘Is something wrong, Oliver?’
‘Not wrong, exactly.’ He stood looking out at the view. ‘I need to put something right. Your father asked me to keep it from you, but I think it’s time you knew that he was asked to stay on as manager of SC Construction when the Merrick Group bought it from him.’
Sarah stared at him for a moment, then shook her head vehemently. ‘That’s not true. He would have told me—’
‘Sam didn’t tell you because he just didn’t want the job. As long as you had security from the sale of the company, plus the value of the house, he was satisfied. He asked me to take care of you. Not that he needed to ask.’ Oliver bent to take her hand. ‘Sam’s heart was giving out on him. Unknown to me, or obviously to you, he’d been taking medication for years, but when he told me he had very little time left, my darling—’
‘But why