A Vintage Affair Read Online Free PDF Page A

let me help you.’ Guy hitched up the knees of his City trousers then stooped down and began to sweep up the peppercorns.
    ‘They get everywhere,’ I wittered. ‘So silly of me.’
    ‘Do you know where pepper comes from?’ he suddenly asked.
    ‘No idea,’ I replied as I stooped to pick up a few in my fingertips. ‘South America?’
    ‘Kerala. Until the fifteenth century, pepper was so valuable that it could be used in lieu of money, hence “peppercorn rent”.’
    ‘Really?’ I said politely. Then I pondered the weirdness of finding myself crouched on the floor with a man I’d met a minute earlier, discussing the finer points of black pepper.
    ‘Anyway,’ Guy straightened up then emptied the dustpan into the pedal bin. ‘I guess I’d better go in.’
    ‘Yes …’ I smiled. ‘Emma will be wondering. But … thanks.’
    The rest of the dinner party passed in a blur. As promised, Emma had put me next to Guy, and I struggled to control my emotions as I politely chatted to him. I kept praying that he’d say something off-putting – that he’d just come out of re-hab, for example, or that he had two ex-wives and five kids. I’d hoped that I’d find his conversation dull, but he only said things that increasedhis appeal. He talked interestingly about his work, and of his responsibility to invest his clients’ money in ways that not only were not injurious, they could even be positive in their effect on the environment and on human health and welfare. He spoke of his association with a charity that was working to end child labour. He talked affectionately about his parents and his brother, whom he played squash with at the Chelsea Harbour Club once a week. Lucky Emma, I thought. Guy seemed to be everything she’d claimed him to be. As the meal progressed she frequently glanced at him or made passing references to him.
    ‘We went to the opening of the Goya exhibition the other night, didn’t we, Guy?’ Guy nodded. ‘And we’re trying to get tickets for Tosca at the Opera House next week, aren’t we?’
    ‘Yes … that’s right.’
    ‘It’s been sold out for months,’ she explained, ‘but I’m hoping to get returns online.’
    Emma’s friends were gradually picking up on the connection. ‘So how long have you two known each other?’ Charlie asked Guy with a sly smile. The words ‘you two’, which had produced in me a stab of envy, made Emma blush with pleasure.
    ‘Oh, not that long,’ Guy replied quietly, his reticence seeming only to confirm his interest in her…
    ‘So what did you think ?’ Emma asked me over the phone the morning after her party.
    I fiddled with my Rotadex. ‘What did I think of what?’
    ‘Of Guy , of course! Don’t you think he’s gorgeous?’
    ‘Oh … yes. He is … gorgeous.’
    ‘Beautiful blue eyes – especially with his dark hair. It’s a devastating combination.’
    I glanced out of the window into New Bond Street. ‘Devastating.’
    ‘And he’s a good conversationalist. Don’t you agree?’
    I could hear the hum of the traffic. ‘I … do.’
    ‘Plus he’s got such a nice sense of humour.’
    ‘Hmm.’
    ‘He’s so nice and normal compared to the other men I’ve dated.’
    ‘That’s certainly true.’
    ‘He’s a good person. Best of all,’ she concluded, ‘he’s keen!’
    I couldn’t bring myself to tell her that Guy had phoned me an hour earlier to ask me out to dinner.
    I hadn’t known what to do. Guy had tracked me down easily enough through Sotheby’s switchboard. I was elated, then horrified. I’d thanked him but said that I wouldn’t be able to come. He’d phoned me another three times just that day but I’d been unable to speak to him as I was frantically preparing for an auction of Twentieth-Century Fashion and Accessories. The fourth time Guy had phoned I’d spoken to him briefly, being careful to lower my voice in the open-plan office. ‘You’re very persistent, Guy.’
    ‘I am, but that’s because I … like