His Convenient Marriage Read Online Free PDF

her room, studying for her exams, so I'm accustomed to my own company.'
    'People tell me solitude is a luxury,' Miles said after a pause. 'But I'm not sure it works so well as a way of life.' He paused. 'What's your sister planning to do when she leaves school?'
    'She's applied to read natural sciences, but I don't think she has any definite ideas about an ultimate career yet.' She thought she detected a faintly quizzical expression in the blue eyes, and hurried on defensively. 'But it's early days, and she doesn't have to make any hasty decisions.'
    She leaned back against the comfortable red plush of the bench seat. `I had to struggle every inch of the way at school, but learning seems to come easily to Jenny.'
    'I'm glad to hear it,' Miles said politely, after another pause. 'There's a good St Emilion on the wine list, or would you prefer Burgundy?'
    'No, the Bordeaux would be fine.' She remembered with a pang a holiday she'd once spent with her father, exploring the vineyards of south-west France. It had been a magical time for her, even though he'd constantly fussed about Jenny left behind with her aunt's family, and made a point of phoning her each evening.
     
    'There it is again,' Miles said quietly, and she looked at him in startled question.
    'I'm sorry?'
    'That expression of yours—like a child who's just heard Christmas has been abolished.'
    'Oh, dear.' Chessie pantomimed dismay. 'How wimpish. I'll try and look more cheerful from now on.'
    'Are all your memories so painful?'
    She gave the pale liquid in her glass a fierce and con¬centrated stare. 'How did you know I was—remembering?'
    'An educated guess—having attended the same school myself.' He finished his gin and tonic. 'Want to talk about it?'
    She shook her head. 'What can anyone say? One minute you're riding high. The next, you're flat on your face in the mud, not knowing whether you'll ever get up again. That's my personal angle. The rest I'm sure you read in the newspapers at the time. They didn't leave many stones unturned.'
    He said gently, 'It would have been difficult to miss.' He watched her for a moment. 'Well—aren't you going to say it?'
    'Say what?'
    'That your father was entirely innocent, and, but for his untimely death, he'd have cleared himself of all charges.'
    Chessie slowly shook her head. She said bleakly, 'If he'd lived, I think he would still have been in jail. In many ways, his death was a mercy for him. He'd have hated—hated...'
    She stopped, biting her lip. 'I'm sorry. I'm being very boring. This is supposed to be a celebration, not a wake.'
    He said quietly, 'I would not have asked if I hadn't wanted to know, Francesca.'
    But why did he want to know? she wondered as she drank some more sherry. Now that they were out of their working environment, maybe he felt he had to make con-versation that didn't concern the current script or the purely domestic details either.
     
    Yet he could have picked something less personal. Music, maybe, or cinema.
    What did a man and a woman talk to each other about over dinner and a bottle of wine? She was so totally out of touch. And nervous.
    She hadn't had a serious boyfriend since Alastair. The dates she'd gone out on in London had been totally casual and uncommitted. She couldn't think of one man out of all of them she'd wanted to see again, let alone know better.
    And since London, of course, there'd been no one at all.
    Until tonight—which naturally didn't count, she re¬minded herself swiftly.
    It was a relief when the waitress came to say their table was ready. The soup and pâté, when they arrived, were so good that it was really only necessary to make appreciative noises and eat.
    So Chessie made appreciative noises, and ate.
    She and Miles had been put in one of the smaller rooms off the main dining room. It was panelled and candlelit, and intimate, with all the tables set for two. Even the flower arrangements were small, presumably to allow diners to gaze unimpeded into each