‘How dare you!’ Vivian roared.
Anastasia leaned back, alarmed.
‘What’s with you and Michael anyway?’ Anastasia derided, looking to Lysander for a laugh, but his face wore an expression of concern.
‘Michael’s son has leukaemia– he’s in the hospital. He works like a donkey at the hotel, with the loveliest manners and the best knowledge… And you fired him, for what?’
Anastasia pursed her lips.
‘The wine was corked.’
‘What?’ Vivian almost gasped.
Lysander gently shook his head.
‘My wine, I was dining with Dimitri at lunchtime and my wine wascorked.’ Anastasia said it as if it were a heinous crime. ‘We shouldnotbe serving corked wine in a Steinherr hotel.’
Lysander winced.
‘So you just fired him? For something that completely wasn’t his fault?’
‘Well I called him over and I didn’t like his attitude.’
‘You didn’t like his attitude, so you just fired him? In front of the staff and other diners?’
‘I didn’t like his attitude!’ Anastasia repeated, obstinately. ‘He looked surly and a little– hangdog– for my liking…’
Vivian raised her voice in a way none of her siblings had ever heard.
‘He probably looked a little “hangdog” because he’s been spending nights in the hospital in Bloch with his kid!’
Anastasia shrugged.
‘I didn’t know that! All I know is what’s in front of me, and he works in my hotel, and I didn’t like his attitude when I told him the wine was corked.’
Lysander interjected.
‘OK, this isn’t good, Anni you can’t just–’
Quick as a flash, Vivian picked up a cut-glass tumbler from the butler’s tray and flung the contents in Anastasia’s face.
Anastasia gasped. The alcohol stung her eyes.
‘Viv…’ Lysander said quietly.
‘I don’t likeherattitude,’ Vivian said, a righteous rage making her voice almost wobble into a cry, as she walked out of the lounge and out of the mansion, slamming the huge grand front door behind her.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Under the sparkling Omega Constellation clock at Kristalldorf station, Bill Harrington boarded the train that would take him back down the mountain to Bloch. At Bloch he would make his connection to Zurich, where he would spend the evening in his bachelor pad. Increasingly, Bill was going back to work on a Sunday night rather than a Monday morning, to get away from the tension of Lexy more than anything. He’d lied to her and said the first train on Monday was just too crowded, it made the working day in Zurich too stressful if he’d been on his feet since 5am, and Lexy hadn’t seemed bothered.Lexy.He pondered his wife. He knew she was as vulnerable as she was showy, and a part of him almost pitied the desperation with which she socially climbed.
Sitting on the train he felt a slight pang of guilt– she’d be devastated if she knew the real reason he wanted to get back.
All the seats were window seats on this train, and Bill sat down to appreciate the panorama, even though it was almost dark. The only luggage he carried was his attaché case, having managed to make his life in Zurich as separate and independent to his life in Kristalldorf as possible. In his city apartment, Bill had all the suits, shirts, underwear andpyjamas he needed for the working week. In Kristalldorf his wardrobe was full of chinos, sweatshirts, thick jumpers and mountainwear, plus a couple of tuxes for galas, balls and events. He didn’t need to carry anything between the two homes, apart from his laptop, phone and wallet.
As Bill set his attaché case down on the seat opposite and the mostly empty train pulled out of the station, he pondered the weekend. The mad wedding; a rare family weekend trip to Italy and a moment for him and Lexy to relax, although that was harder because the count had invited the kids too. And the pressure of the wedding, and making such an impression on everyone, seemed to stress Lexy out even more. Still, there was the good old-fashioned English roast dinner, cooked for him by the new nanny.
As Bill felt the pleasure of that in his stomach, he pondered Emme. She seemed OK. A bit pretty for his liking, but in a peachy, sexy, fresh-faced way. And Jesus, did she make a mean Yorkshire pudding. The kids would warm to her eventually, when they had got over all the upheaval of the past ten days.
