'I suppose so.' There were several other people in the lift and she relaxed slightly as it sped to the ground floor, but once in the corridor leading to the car park she voiced what was on her mind. 'But I'm hardly going to be able to keep him quiet and calm with the house being sold over our heads and everything else that's going to happen.'
'Is there anywhere he could go while the worst of it takes place?' Carlton asked slowly. 'I understand your sister has a flat in London. Would she—?'
'No, she wouldn't,' Katie cut in flatly. 'The current boyfriend is in residence and, anyway, Jennifer is the last person to have her lifestyle interrupted in any way. She'd make my father miserable.' She shrugged. 'I'll think of something and perhaps, if you're successful, it won't be necessary anyway.'
'Right.' Again there was something, a slight inflexion in the bland voice, that made her glance at him sharply as they left the hospital.
'You meant what you said?' she persisted carefully as they walked down the path leading to the car park, a few thin flakes of wispy snow blowing in the icy wind. 'About trying to help?'
'Of course.' He stopped at the end of the path and turned to face her, his eyes veiled. 'It's in my own interest after all, isn't it? I do stand to lose as well by this deal, you know.'
'Some money, perhaps.' He seemed to tower over her as she looked up into his face, her honey-blonde hair blowing in silky tendrils over the satin-smooth skin of her face and her eyes huge in the dim light. 'But my father loses everything.'
'So do you.' His voice was very deep as his eyes followed the soft line of her mouth. 'But that has hardly occurred to you, has it?' There was a faint note of bewilderment in his voice but she was thinking about her father's face in those few minutes she had had alone with him and didn't notice.
'I have my work.' She looked up at him gravely. 'And I can find us a small flat somewhere but it will take time. How long—?' She paused and then continued painfully. 'How long do these sorts of things take to happen?'
'Not long,' Carlton said expressionlessly. 'David has to declare himself bankrupt first and then things move fairly swiftly, I understand.'
'It'll kill him.' She looked over the cold, dark car park bleakly, her face desolate, and missed the sudden tightening of his mouth at her distress. 'Well…' she turned to him again and indicated her car some yards away '…that's my car, so if you want to follow…?'
'Fine.' He stood still for a brief moment, observing her quietly before striding over to the Mercedes, lost in the night shadows at the far side of the car park. She unlocked her door and slid into the car, starting the engine and turning on her lights as she waited for him to join her. The snow was falling a little more heavily now, big, flat flakes beginning to outnumber the tiny, thread-like ones of a few minutes ago. She normally found the sight entrancing but tonight her heart was too heavy for the normal elation.
As the powerful headlights of the Mercedes drew up behind her she pulled carefully out of the dark car park, the icy conditions and the fact that Carlton was just behind her making her unusually nervous. Stop it, Katie, she told herself sternly. You're a big girl now and you've been driving for years.
It didn't help.
The journey home through a world fast becoming a winter wonderland was uneventful and as she drew into the winding drive, grateful for the scrunchy pebbles under the car's wheels instead of the black ice she had encountered more than once on the main roads, her heart plummeted right into her boots. 'Jennifer.'
She pulled up at the side of her sister's expensive sports car and glanced back to where Carlton had just entered the drive. What was her sister going to make of all this? And, more importantly in the circumstances, what was Carlton going to make of her sister?
She wondered, for a split-second, if she had time to dash into the house and warn Jennifer to be on her best behaviour or at least be civil, but as Carlton unfolded his long body from the front of the car and slammed the door shut she resigned herself to the fact that it was too late.
She was fumbling with her key when he reached her side, and he gestured behind her to the car as the door swung open. 'That's my sister's car,' she said hurriedly as the warm, scented air from the hall reached out a welcome. 'She must have just arrived.'
'Better late than never,' Carlton murmured sardonically as he followed her into the house. 'Or perhaps in your sister's case that old cliché doesn't apply?' he added wickedly.
She didn't have time to reply. As they entered the house both Jennifer and Mrs Jenkins appeared from the drawing-room, the former cucumber-cool and as regal as ever and the latter clearly flustered.
'Darling…' Jennifer's beautiful almond-shaped blue eyes rested briefly on her sister before transferring to Carlton's hard, dark face, whereupon they brightened considerably. 'We've only just arrived, Katie,' she continued as she remained looking at Carlton, 'so there was no time to visit father tonight.'
'The visiting doesn't end till ten,' Katie said automatically, stiffening as another figure sauntered lazily out of the drawing-room.
'Oh, this is Donald,' Jennifer said in an aside over her shoulder. 'And this is…?' She held Carlton's impassive glance for a long moment before turning briefly to Katie. 'Aren't you going to introduce us to your friend, sweetie?'
'I…' Katie found herself at a loss for words and tried desperately to pull herself together. Why on earth had Jennifer brought her current lover here now of all times? she thought helplessly. It had to be the worst possible timing.
Donald had come to a halt just behind her sister, resting a casual hand on her shoulder as he glanced nonchalantly in Katie's direction.
'You must be the little sister?' he drawled with a confidence that grated on Katie's nerves like barbed wire. 'Been holding the fort for Jennifer, then?' he added patronisingly.
'She's been doing a lot more than that.' Carlton's voice was crisp and clear and both Jennifer and her swain stiffened at the tone. 'And today has been a hard day like all the other ones before it, so might I suggest that we indulge in further niceties over a cup of coffee in the drawing-room?' The last part of the sentence he directed at Mrs Jenkins with a warm smile that had been totally absent when he had looked at Jen
nifer and Donald, and the small woman nodded quickly, her eyes grateful at his mastery of the situation.
'You go and sit down, my dear,' Mrs Jenkins said quickly as she glanced at Katie's drawn face. 'I'll bring it through in a minute.'
'Thank you, Mrs Jenkins.' Katie didn't know whether to be pleased or angry at Carlton's control over them all butt it was simpler to be neither. 'I do feel exhausted tonight.'