A Mistletoe Proposal

CHAPTER THREE

FOR a moment Pippa’s face was full of shock. ‘You,’ she murmured.

Then shock was swiftly replaced by a smile. ‘So prayers do get answered after all,’ she said.

‘I’m the answer to your prayers?’ he queried. ‘Now that I wasn’t expecting.’

‘Meeting you again is the answer to prayer,’ she said. ‘It gives me the chance to say thank you, otherwise I’d have had to search for you all over London. You came to my rescue three times last night-towing me to the garage, taking me home, bringing my papers over-and then I was rotten to you. I can’t forgive myself.’

‘No, that’s my job,’ he agreed. ‘Let’s forget it now.’

‘That’s kinder than I deserve. When I think-’

The door opened. It was David with the man he’d been trying to get rid of, and who was now talking nineteen to the dozen, causing David to make a face of resignation.

‘We’re in the way,’ Roscoe said. ‘Let’s have a bite to eat. Cavelli’s is very good, and it’s nearby.’

‘Great. I’m famished.’

Cavelli’s was a small restaurant over the road, just opening for the early evening. They found a table by the window.

‘I’d toast you in champagne,’ Roscoe said, ‘but I’m driving. What about you?’

‘I’m afraid my car’s still on the sick list. I came in by taxi.’

‘Champagne, then.’

‘Not on my own. What I’m really dying for is a cup of tea.’

He placed the order and sat regarding her for a moment. Her hair was pinned back again, as he’d first seen it, but the rich honey colour still had a luxuriant appearance. She was dressed for business in a dark blue trouser suit of decidedly mannish cut. But if she thought for a moment that it masked her vibrant sexual allure, she was deceiving herself, Roscoe thought.

He pulled himself together. This was a time for business. The ‘other’ Pippa, the one he’d seen last night, must be firmly banished. He did his best to achieve that, but it was hard when all around them people were turning to look at her in admiration.

They toasted each other in hot tea, and Pippa sighed theatrically with relief.

‘You don’t know what I owe you,’ she said. ‘Those papers won the case for me. Without them, it would have been a disaster.’

‘Yes, you couldn’t have made Frank Blakely sorry he was born, which I gather you did.’

She gave a triumphant chuckle. ‘I reported the figures, he disputed them, I produced the papers that proved them, he demanded to know how I came by those papers, I said my lips were sealed-’

‘That sounds a bit dodgy,’ Roscoe said, grinning, pleased.

‘Do you mind?’ she demanded, mock-offended. ‘I am not “a bit dodgy”.’

‘I beg your pardon-’

‘I’m very dodgy-when I have to be. It depends on the client. Some need more dodginess than others. Some don’t need any.’ She added wickedly, ‘They’re the boring ones.’

‘I see you believe in adjusting to their requirements,’ he said appreciatively.

‘That’s right. Ready for anything.’ She chuckled. ‘It makes life interesting.’

‘Miss Jenson-’

‘Please, I think we’ve passed the point where you could call me Pippa.’

She didn’t add, After the way you saw me, but she didn’t need to.

‘Pippa-I’m sorry if I embarrassed you last night. I only wanted to return your property.’

‘It wasn’t your fault. It was just unlucky that you turned up…well…at that moment.’

‘He seemed to feel very strongly about you.’

She sighed. ‘He’s a nice boy but he can’t understand that I don’t feel the same way. We went out for a while, had some fun, but there was nothing in it beyond that.’

‘Not on your side, but surely his feelings were involved?’

For a moment Roscoe fancied a faint withered look came over Pippa’s face.

‘And if it had been the other way around, do you think he’d have cared about my feelings?’ she asked quietly.

‘Perhaps. He seemed to have really strong emotions about you.’

The look vanished so fast he couldn’t be sure he’d seen it. ‘Life’s a merry-go-round.’ She shrugged. ‘You have to look forward to the ups but always be ready for more downs.’

‘So there’s nobody special in your life at the moment? Or are there a dozen like him ready to spring out like last night?’

‘Possibly. I don’t keep count. Look, I just wanted to apologise for the way I flew at you. After what you did for me, you deserved better. Today was a triumph. I had two job offers as I was leaving the court, and without those papers I’d have got nowhere. So I owe you, big time. I meant what I said. I’d have hunted you down through all London to tell you that.’

‘And if I hadn’t known exactly where to find you, I’d have hunted you down too. I have a job that only you can do.’

‘Are you the client David mentioned?’

‘That’s right.’

‘Ah, I begin to see. You want someone good with figures, right?’

‘Among other things,’ he said carefully. ‘The case I want you to take concerns my younger brother, Charlie. He’s not a bad lad, but he’s a bit irresponsible and he’s got into bad company.’

‘How old is he?’

‘Twenty-four, and not very mature. If he was anyone else I’d say he needed to be taught a lesson, but that-’ he hesitated before finishing stiffly ‘-that would cause me a certain amount of difficulty.’

‘You couldn’t afford to be connected with a convict?’ she hazarded.

‘Something like that.’

‘Mr Havering-’

‘Call me Roscoe. After all, what you said about me calling you Pippa-well, it works both ways, doesn’t it?’

For a moment the naked nymph danced between them and was gone, firmly banished on both sides.

‘Roscoe, if I’m to help you I need full information. I can’t work in the dark.’

‘I’m a stockbroker. I have clients who depend on me, who need to be able to trust me. I can’t afford to let anything damage my reputation.’

His voice was harsh, as though he’d retreated behind steel bars. But the next moment the bars collapsed and he said roughly, ‘Hell, no! You’d better know the real reason. If anything happens to Charlie, it would break my mother’s heart. He’s all she lives for, and her health is frail. She’s been in a bad way ever since my father died, fifteen years ago. At all costs I want to save her from more suffering.’

He spoke as though the words were tortured from him, and she could only guess what it cost this stockbroker to allow a chink in his confident facade and reveal his emotions. Now she began to like him.

‘Why is he in trouble?’ she asked gently.

‘He went out with his friends, had too much to drink. Some of them broke into a shop at night and got caught. The shopkeeper thinks he was one of them.’

‘What does Charlie say?’

‘Sometimes he says he wasn’t, sometimes he hints he might have been. It’s almost as though he didn’t know. I don’t think he was entirely sober that night.’

Pippa frowned. This sounded more like a teenager than a young man of twenty-four.

‘Do you have any other brothers or sisters?’ she asked.

‘None.’

‘Aunts, uncles?’

‘None.’

‘Wife? Children? Didn’t you mention having a daughter?’

‘No, I said if you were my daughter I’d give you a piece of my mind.’

‘Ah, yes.’ She smiled. ‘I remember.’

‘That’ll teach me not to judge people on short acquaintance, won’t it? Anyway, I have neither wife nor children.’

‘So, apart from your mother, you’re Charlie’s only relative. You must virtually have been his father.’

He grimaced. ‘Not a very successful one. I’ve always been so afraid of making a mess of it that I…made a mess of it.’

Pippa nodded. ‘The worst mistakes are sometimes made by people who are desperately trying to avoid mistakes,’ she said sympathetically.

Relief settled over him at her understanding.

‘Exactly. Long ago, I promised my mother I’d take care of Charlie, make sure he grew up strong and successful, but I seem to have let her down. I can’t bear to let her down again.’

It felt strange to hear this powerful man blaming himself for failure. Evidently, there was more to him than had first appeared.

‘Does he have a job?’

‘He works in my office. He’s bright. He’s got a terrific memory, and if we can get him safely through this he has a great future.’

‘Has he been in trouble with the police before?’

‘He’s skirted trouble but never actually been charged with anything. This will be his first time in court.’

She wondered what strings he’d had to pull to achieve that, but was too tactful to ask. That could come later.

‘Was anyone injured?’ she asked.

‘Nobody. The shop owner arrived while there were several of them there. They escaped, he gave chase and got close enough to see them just as they reached Charlie. He began yelling at them, which attracted the attention of two policemen coming out of the local station, and they all got arrested.

‘The owner insists Charlie was actually in the shop with the others, although I don’t see how he can be sure. He must have just seen a few figures in the gloom.’

‘What about the others? Haven’t they confirmed that he wasn’t in the shop?’

‘No, but neither do they say he was. They hum and haw and say they can’t remember. They were really drunk, so that might even be true. But the owner insists that he was there and is pressing charges.’

She considered. ‘Any damage?’

‘None. They managed to trick their way in electronically.’

‘So the worst he might face is a fine. But he’d have a criminal record that would make his life difficult in the future.’

‘It’s the future I’m worried about. They’re a bad crowd, and they’re not going to stop. It will get worse and worse and he’ll end up in jail. I’ve got to get him away from that bunch.’

‘Doesn’t he begin to see that they’re bad for him if this is the result?’

‘Charlie?’ Roscoe’s voice was scathing. ‘He doesn’t see the danger. So what if he’s convicted for something he didn’t do? He’ll just pay the fine and laugh his way home. There’s a girl in this crowd who’s gained a lot of influence over him. Her name’s Ginevra. He’s dazzled by her, and I think she gets her fun by seeing what she can provoke him into doing.’

Pippa frowned. ‘You mean he’s infatuated by her. There’s not a lot I can do about that.’

‘But there is. You can break her hold over him. Instead of being dazzled by her, he could be dazzled by you. He’s easily led, and if Ginevra can lead him into danger you could lead him into safety.’

‘And suppose I can’t get that kind of influence over him?’

‘Of course you can. You’re beautiful, you’ve got charm, you can tease him until he doesn’t know whether he’s coming or going. If you really set your mind to it you can get him under your thumb and make him safe. I know you can do it. I’ve known you were the perfect person ever since we met and I learned who you worked for.’

So carried away did he become, explaining his plan, that he missed the look of mounting outrage in Pippa’s eyes.

‘I hope I’ve misunderstood you,’ she said at last. ‘You seem to be saying that you want me to be a…well…’

‘A mentor.’

‘A mentor? That’s what you call it?’

‘You point the way to the straight and narrow and he follows you because he’s under your spell.’

‘Ros- Mr Havering, just what kind of a fool do you take me for? I know what you want me to be and it isn’t a mentor.’

‘A nanny?’

The discovery of what he really expected from her was making her temper boil again. ‘Be careful,’ she warned him. ‘Be very, very careful.’

‘I may have explained it badly-’

‘On the contrary; you’ve explained it so perfectly that I can follow your exact thought processes. For instance, when did you decide that you wanted me for this job? I’ll bet it was last night when you arrived at my home. One look at me and you said to yourself, “She’s ideal. Good shape. Handy with her fists and no morals”. Admit it. You don’t want a lawyer, you want a floozie.’

‘No, I want a lawyer, but I can’t deny that your looks play a part.’

‘So you admit I look like a floozie?’

‘I didn’t say that,’ he said sharply. ‘Will you stop interrogating me as if I were a prisoner in the dock?’

‘Just demonstrating my legal skills which, according to you, are what you’re interested in. Tell the court, Mr Havering, exactly when did Miss Jenson first attract your attention? Was it when she was naked, or several hours earlier when you saw her in the graveyard? You saw her swapping jokes with a headstone and decided she was mad. Naked and mad! That’s a really impressive legal qualification.’

He took a long breath and replied in a slightly forced manner. ‘No, I too sometimes talk to the headstone when I visit my fa- Never mind that. I didn’t know we were going to meet. It was pure chance that your-that Miss Jenson’s car broke down, we got talking and she told me where she worked. That firm has handled legal work for me before and I was planning to approach them about Charlie. I saw that she would be the ideal person to take his case.’

‘You decided at that moment, knowing nothing about her legal skills? But of course those weren’t the skills that counted, were they? What mattered was the fact that she was a vulgar little piece-’

‘I never-’

‘A ditzy blonde with curves in the right places, who could be counted on to seduce your brother-’

‘I’m not asking you to-’

‘Oh, please, Mr Havering, credit the court with a little common sense. If you’d managed to set them on the road together, that is where it would have led eventually. At the very least, the question would have come up. You don’t deny that, do you?’

‘No, but-’ He stopped, seeing the pit that had opened at his feet.

‘But perhaps you were counting on this vulgar, unprincipled young woman to deal with him as effectively as you saw her deal with another man. A good right hook, a well-aimed knee-who needs legal training?’

She stopped, slightly breathless as though she’d been fighting. She couldn’t have explained the rising tide of anger that had made her turn on him so fiercely. He wasn’t the first client whose attitude had annoyed her, but with the others she’d always managed to control herself. Not this time. There was something in him that sent her temper into a spin.

‘I think we’ve said all we have to say,’ she informed him, beginning to gather her things. ‘I’m sorry I won’t be able to meet your requirements, but I’m a lawyer, not an escort girl.’

‘Please-’

‘Naturally, I shan’t be charging you for this consultation. Kindly let me pass.’

He had her trapped against the wall and could have barred her exit. Instead, he rose and stood aside. His face was unreadable but for the bleakness in his eyes. Despite her fury, she had a guilty feeling of having kicked someone who was down, but she suppressed it and stormed out.

Just around the corner was a small square with fountains, pigeons and wooden seats. She sat down, breathing out heavily and wondering at herself.

Fool! she told herself. You should just have laughed at him, taken the job, knocked some sense into the lad, then screwed every penny out of Havering. What came over you?

That was the question she couldn’t answer, and it troubled her.

Taking out her cellphone, she called David.

‘Hi, I’ve been hoping to hear from you,’ he said cheerfully. ‘Wait until you’ve heard my news. The phone’s been ringing off the hook with people wanting you and nobody but you. You made a big impression in court today, producing those figures like a magician taking a rabbit from the hat. Working for Roscoe Havering will do you even more good. Everyone knows he employs only the best.’

‘Tell me some more about him,’ Pippa said cautiously.

‘Hasn’t he told you about himself?’

‘Only that he’s a stockbroker. I-want to get him in perspective.’

‘He doesn’t boast about what a major player he is, that’s true. But in the financial world Roscoe Havering is a name that pulls people up short. They jump to do what he wants-well, I expect you’ve found that out already. What he doesn’t readily talk about is how he built that business up from collapse. It was his father’s firm, and when William Havering committed suicide it smashed Roscoe.’

‘Suicide?’

‘He didn’t tell you that?’

‘No, he just said his father had died and his mother never really recovered.’

‘There was a car crash. Officially, it was an accident, but in fact William killed himself because his life’s work was going bust. Roscoe worked for his father. He’d seen the financial mess they were in and tried to help, but there was little he could do. Secretly, I think he blames himself. He thinks if he’d done more he might have prevented the disaster-used his influence to pull William back from the brink. It’s nonsense, of course. He was only twenty-four, little more than a beginner. There was nothing he could have done.

‘After William’s death he managed to save the business and build it into a massive success, but it changed him, not really for the better. His ruthless side took over, but I suppose it had to. You won’t find him easy. What he wants, he wants, and he doesn’t take no for an answer.’

‘But do you realise what it is that he wants?’ Pippa demanded. ‘Am I supposed to seduce this boy, because you know what you can do with that idea.’

‘No, of course not,’ David said hurriedly, ‘but let’s be honest, you’ve had every man here yearning for you. You’ll know how to get this lad’s attention.’

‘I’m not sure-’

‘You haven’t turned him down?’ David sounded alarmed.

‘I’m thinking about it,’ Pippa said cautiously.

What are you talking about? raged her inner voice. Just tell him you’ve already said no.

‘Pippa, please do this, for the firm’s sake. Roscoe brings us a lot of work and, between you and me, he owns our office building. He’s not a man I want to offend.’

David was a good boss and a kind man. He’d taught her well, while keeping his yearning admiration for her beauty behind respectable barriers.

‘I’ll get back to you,’ she said.

She was thoughtful as she walked back to Cavelli’s, trying to reconcile the contradictions that danced in her mind. She’d perceived Roscoe Havering as an older man, certainly in his forties, but if David’s facts were correct he was only thirty-nine.

It was his demeanour that had misled her, she realised. Physically, he was still youngish, with dark brown hair that showed no hint of grey or thinning. His face was lean, not precisely handsome but intelligent and interesting. It might even have been charming but for a mysterious look of heaviness.

Heaviness. That was it. He seemed worn down by dead weights that he’d carried so long they were part of him. They aged him cruelly, but not permanently. Sometimes she’d surprised a gleam of humour in his eyes that hinted at another man, one it might be intriguing to know.

She quickened her steps, suddenly eager to talk to him again, wondering if he would still be there. He might have walked out. Or perhaps he was calling David to complain about her.

But as soon as she went in she saw him sitting where she’d left him, staring into space, seemingly full of silent sadness. Her heart was touched, despite her efforts to prevent it.

Control, warned her inner voice. Stay impartial. His outrageous request must be considered objectively.

How?

She approached quietly and pulled out a chair facing him. He looked up in surprise.

‘I’m sorry I stormed out like that,’ she said. ‘Sometimes I get into a temper. Shocking loss of objectivity, especially in a lawyer. A wise man wouldn’t want to employ me.’

‘There’s such a thing as being too wise,’ Roscoe said gently. ‘I’m sorry, too. I never meant to offend you. I expressed myself badly, and you were naturally upset.’

‘You didn’t express yourself badly. You laid out your requirements for your employee, making yourself plain on all counts, so that I’d understand everything before committing myself. That was very proper.’

He winced. ‘I wish you wouldn’t talk like that.’

‘I’m merely trying to be professional.’ She gave a wry smile. ‘It’s just not very nice to have people thinking I’m a tart. It’s even worse when that’s my chief qualification for a job.’

‘I never said that,’ he disclaimed hurriedly. ‘Nor did I mean it. But you do seem to have the ability to love ’em and leave ’em.’

‘Oh, I believe in leaving ’em. I just manage without the love ’em bit.’

‘That’s what I want. You can cope with Charlie better than a more naive girl would. You could handle him, keep him in order, make him see things your way. What’s funny?’ Her sudden chuckle had disconcerted him.

‘You are,’ she said. ‘You’re making such a mess of this. What you really want is a heartless woman who can take care of herself, and you’re tying yourself in knots trying to say so without actually saying the words. No, no-’ she held up a hand to silence his denial ‘-we’ve covered that ground. Let it go.’

‘Will you help me?’ he asked slowly.

‘If I can, but things may not work out as you plan. You’ve assumed that he’ll take one look at me and collapse with adoration. Suppose he doesn’t?’

‘I think that would be a really new experience for you,’ he said, trying to sound casual.

‘Not at all. The world is full of men who are indifferent to my charms.’

‘You just haven’t met them yet.’

‘I’ve met plenty.’

‘Splendid! Then you’ll know what to do. Just use whatever methods you normally use to overcome their resistance.’

Her lips twitched. ‘I could take that as another insult.’

‘Yes, you could-if you were determined to.’

‘What does that mean?’

‘I means that I’ve realised that you can twist everything I say into an insult, and you do it whenever it suits you. So now I’m fighting back.’

‘How?’

‘By refusing to let you bully me,’ he said firmly. ‘I am not going to cower and watch every word in case you misunderstand. You don’t actually misunderstand anything. You know I don’t really mean to insult you, so don’t try to score points off me. I don’t want you to seduce Charlie. I want you to beguile him, make his head spin until he’ll follow your lead. You’ll do a good job and I’ll respect you for it. And if we fight, we fight openly. Agreed?’

There was a definite no-nonsense tone to his voice, making it clear that he meant every word. He was putting his foot down, asserting himself, warning her not to mess with him-all the powerful, dominant things that she had instinctively associated with him.

And yet-and yet-

Far back in his eyes, that look was there again-a gleam that might have been conspiratorial humour.

Or perhaps not.

After a moment Pippa held out her hand to him. ‘Agreed.’

They shook. She took out a notebook and spoke formally. ‘I need to know as much about the gang he’s running around with as you can tell me.’

‘They’re all young people who seem to live on the edge of the law. They don’t even have proper addresses. They squat, which means they move on a lot as they get caught. I don’t know for a fact that they steal, but they don’t have any regular source of income. Charlie definitely gives Ginevra money. They live from hand to mouth, which he finds exciting. Here. That’s the two of them together.’

From an inner pocket he took out a photograph that seemed to have been taken in a crowded room, probably a squat. In the centre, a young couple lay back in each other’s arms.

‘He keeps that as a treasured souvenir,’ Roscoe observed curtly. ‘I wanted you to see it, so I stole it from him.’

‘Good for you,’ Pippa murmured. Studying the picture, she felt a rising tide of excitement. ‘Yes, now I begin to understand. She’s up to her old tricks.’

‘You know her?’ Roscoe demanded, startled.

‘Yes, and her name’s not Ginevra, it’s Biddy Felsom. I suppose she thought the new name sounded more glamorous. Her hobby is teasing the lads to do daft things to win her favour. She’s done a lot of damage in her time. What’s the matter?’

The question was surprised from her by the sight of Roscoe’s face, filled with shock and dismay as he stared over her shoulder. The next moment she heard, above her head, the petulant voice of a young man.

‘So there you are, Roscoe. Hiding from me, I suppose. You must have known I’d be over here as soon as I found out what you were up to.’

‘Charlie-’

‘Well, you can forget it, do you hear? I know exactly the kind of creep you’ll want to hire for me, all settled and respectable. Let’s be respectable, whatever else happens. No way. I’ll find my own lawyer-someone who understands the world and lives in the present. Ow!’

He hopped back, wincing as Pippa’s chair was pushed out hard against his leg.

‘I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean that to happen,’ she said untruthfully.

Gazing up at him, she knew he had a grandstand view of her face and the generous curves of her breasts, with just one button of the sedate blouse undone. Now the smile, soft and warm, dawning slowly, suggesting that she’d been pleasantly amazed at the attractions of the young man looking down at her.

‘Hello,’ she said.