Outsider Read Online Free PDF

shatter another illusion. No
    amount of sweet-talking from you kept those horses here. Grantham gave
    me a list of those most likely to waver, and I made it my business to ring
    them, and tell them what was in the wind. That was what convinced them,
    darling. Not your well-meaning intervention.'
    She tried to speak, to say something, but no words would come. At last she
    said hoarsely, 'I don't believe you.'
    He shrugged. 'As you wish, but Grantham will confirm what I say.'
    There was a pause, then he added more gently, 'But there's no question of
    wanting to shut you out, on my part at least. Now, shall we take a look at the
    flat?'
    Natalie felt humiliated to her very soul as she walked in front of him. If her
    attitude to Eliot had wounded his delicate male pride, then he'd had his
    revenge in full, she thought wretchedly. At the time, she had thought it was
    next to a miracle when one owner after another had phoned her back to say
    that perhaps they'd been hasty...
    The flat entrance lay round to the side of the big garage block. Natalie
    unlocked the front door and stood back. 'I'll wait here,' she said.
    Eliot gave her a wry look, seemed as if he was about to speak, then thought
    better of it, and went up the internal staircase.
    Natalie knew an ignominious urge to run away and hide somewhere, while
    his back was turned. He'd robbed her of everything now, not just the
    partnership which she recognised would probably never have been hers
    anyway, but also of her pride in what she had considered her achievements
    while Grantham was ill.
    Oh, it had been cruel of him! Cruel, she thought, her teeth savaging the soft
    inner flesh of her lower lip. 'Cruel to be kind' was one of Grantham's
    favourite maxims. Clearly Eliot Lang belonged to the same school of
    thought.
    He was gone a long time. She was thankful that everything had been
    removed, every stick of furniture, every ornament and keepsake. She would
    have loathed the idea of him touching her things, using her chairs and
    table— her bed.
    The thought struck her like a blow, her mind flinching from the images it
    presented, reviving memories she'd thought were dormant. Tony, she
    thought wretchedly. Oh God—Tony!
    Footsteps coming down the stairs gave sufficient warning for her to
    compose herself before Eliot rejoined her.
    He said flatly, 'You don't leave many clues. That place is totally—empty.'
    He sent her a narrow-eyed stare. 'Are you Tony Drummond's widow?'
    'Yes, what of it?'
    He shrugged, still staring at her. 'I should have made the connection before,'
    he said, half to himself.
    'Are you—going to live there?' She had to know.
    'Oh, yes, I think so,' he said almost casually. 'As I'm clearly not desecrating
    some private shrine. And it's big enough to take some of the furniture I want
    to bring up from Lambourn.'
    'Good,' she said. 'Then everyone's happy.'
    'A slight exaggeration, wouldn't you say?' he drawled. 'Now I'd like to see
    the kind of accommodation the lads use. Is that possible?'
    'Of course,' Natalie said ironically. 'You're the boss, after all.'
    Eliot Lang shot her a sideways glance, but made no reply.
    He was silent too as she showed him the block Grantham had built a few
    years before, with its big kitchen and recreation area on the ground floor,
    leading up to small, economically fitted single bedrooms upstairs.
    'Each room has a handbasin, but there's a communal shower block at the
    end,' Natalie told him, niggled that he wasn't more openly impressed.
    'Just showers?' he asked. 'No bathrooms?'
    'Yes, there are two, leading off the shower room.'
    'Do they lock?'
    Natalie shrugged. 'I suppose so. Is it important?'
    'I think privacy can be very important. The bedrooms all have locks, I see.'
    'Yes, and they can be opened from the outside by a master key in case
    someone's taken ill.' Natalie stared at him. 'Why this obsession with locks
    and bolts?'
    'I'm thinking of offering someone a job,' he said shortly. 'So I want to make
    sure certain