A Perfect Cornish Escape by Phillipa Ashley Page 0,49
as the significance of her question sank home. ‘Some things,’ he said, his eyes narrowing. He’d never told her that he’d lived in London.
Tiff took a leap of faith, not knowing whether it would take her to the bottom of the sea, never to resurface, as far as Dirk was concerned. ‘You’re talking about what happened with Amira, I suppose?’ she murmured.
‘Amira?’ His expression turned as chilly as the sea she’d been thrown into. ‘I suppose she had to come up some time. How long have you known I used to be her partner?’ he said coldly.
‘Your face first rang a bell while I was helping you with the bow tie, but it’s taken me until now to realise it was because I’d seen you in the Herald. You already know I worked for them, I take it?’
‘Evie let slip that you worked on the Herald before the fundraiser. Marina mentioned it, apparently.’ He shook his head. ‘Jesus. Is there no hiding place? Why are you people so interested in people’s private lives? Is that why you’re here now? To dig up more dirt?’
Tiff had expected a reaction, but even she was surprised by the bitterness in his voice. ‘If by “you people” you mean the press, then I won’t insult your intelligence by explaining why we’re interested,’ she declared. ‘But on the subject of why I’m here now, you couldn’t be more wrong. If you think I put myself up for auction on the off-chance you would buy me, and throw me out of a boat into the Atlantic then, I can promise you, even a cunning hack like me couldn’t have arranged that.’
‘I never thought you did,’ Dirk muttered.
‘Just to make it clear, I had no idea you even lived in Cornwall, let alone near Marina – and I also didn’t arrange to be asked to deliver the leaflets to you or for you to be so crap at tying a bow tie.’
He grunted, which Tiff momentarily took to be an acknowledgement that she might be right, before he murmured, ‘Convenient for you, though?’
‘I’d say the opposite. I did all I could to avoid you at the auction. You went over the top with your bid. Anyone would think you were stalking me, not the other way around.’
‘That’s tosh!’
‘Why did you pay so much for me then?’ she asked.
‘It was for a good cause,’ Dirk shot back.
‘Oh, of course. The search and rescue volunteers.’
‘Actually, I meant it was worth it to see the look on your face.’ And he added, raking her body with his intense dark gaze, ‘The look on it right now.’
Tiff struggled to regain her composure. ‘Well, I guess now we’re even. You had your revenge for whatever ills you think I’ve done you.’
‘The ills I think you’ve done me?’ He snorted in derision. ‘I’m hardly likely to forget that it was your rag that hounded Amira and me to the point where she couldn’t handle it any longer and our marriage broke down.’
Chapter Fourteen
The switch in atmosphere was sudden and sharp. The banter, so sexually charged a few minutes before, had shifted to anger and resentment on Dirk’s part, and unease on hers.
‘I’m sorry that happened,’ she said, deciding that any defence of her former employer was useless. She wasn’t sure she could defend the intrusive nature of the press attention he’d received, anyway. It might have been a year ago, but he was clearly still hurting and definitely believed that the press, and specifically her own ex-employer, had had a hand in the break-up. His hostility towards her was now slightly more understandable. However, she hadn’t written the stories herself, so it was unfair of him to lay it at her door.
He toyed with his fork. ‘Believe me, I was so happy for her when she landed the role in the series. It was what she’d always worked for and she’d gone through hell with all the rejections and knock-backs for years. Even though I knew our lives would probably change a bit, I was thrilled. But I’d no idea how drastically our lives would alter, and I wasn’t prepared for the attention once she became so well-known.’
‘It must have come as a shock after leading a relatively quiet life,’ Tiff said. From their brief acquaintance, she knew he was a private man: taciturn, fiercely loyal to his mates and shunned the limelight. It must have been very hard to handle his partner gaining sudden fame, even if he loved her dearly.