‘Ilina, this is my friend Sam Charles.’
‘Charmed, darhling,’ said Ilina, proffering a hand.
‘Would you like to join us?’ asked Anna.
‘No, I won’t stay long. I can see you two want to be alone; besides, Juan doesn’t speak much English. But then I didn’t bring him for his conversation,’ laughed Ilina.
‘So how are you?’ asked Anna, sipping her wine nervously, trying to pretend that she lunched with movie stars and billionaires every day of the week.
‘Good, good. And yourself?’
‘Keeping busy,’ replied Anna. ‘Speaking of which, I have you to thank for my new job.’
‘Really?’
‘Remember that victory party you threw at the start of the summer? Well I met my new boss there, Helen Pierce. She heard the nice things you said about me and offered me a job.’
‘Helen Pierce?’ Ilina frowned, taking a moment to place her. ‘Ah, the blonde lawyer?’
‘Don’t you know her? She was one of your guests.’
Ilina shook her head. ‘Not really. She came with a guy who’s one of these corporate publicists. He wants to do work for my company.’
‘And who would that be?’ asked Anna as casually as she could. It was one of the running jokes in the Donovan Pierce coffee room: no one knew anything about Helen’s private life.
‘Simon Cooper.’
The name sounded familiar to Anna, but she couldn’t immediately place it.
‘Simon heads up Auckland Communications. Big city PR firm.’ Ilina lowered her voice. ‘Actually, someone at that party told me that he and Helen are having an affair, although I hate to repeat it. I don’t want to be the target of a slander suit.’
She touched Anna lightly on the arm and stood up.
‘Anyway, we must talk back in London. I need a lawyer to work on my team. Contracts, liaising with magazines, issuing a few letters, very easy, part-time really. I know the job is beneath you, but think of all the fun we’d have.’
For a second it sounded tempting. Anna had certainly got quite a taste for private aviation and luxury hotels. But she realised there was someone who would appreciate the job a lot more.
‘I think I have just the person for you. Sidney Travers, a very smart woman on my team. Just qualified, but very clever and enterprising.’
‘Super, fix me up a meeting with her.’ Ilina kissed Anna on both cheeks and disappeared back to her dark-eyed friend.
‘Sometimes I think you’ve got a more showbiz life than me,’ laughed Sam, brushing his bare foot up her leg towards her thigh.
‘As if.’
‘I think we should stay here till Monday,’ he announced suddenly. ‘They’ve got rooms at the restaurant. And I’m sure Ilina will invite us to her place in Sardinia if you ask nicely. I bet she’s got a big fuck-off yacht.’
Anna shook her head.
‘I couldn’t anyway. I’m going to James Swann’s party tomorrow; I can’t miss that.’
‘Whose party?’
‘James Swann. Remember, the big secretive society thing where Gilbert Bryce met Amy?’
He still looked blank.
She lowered her voice. ‘Gilbert Bryce, the MP who had an affair with Amy Hart.’