Jenna rolled her eyes and tutted. ‘There’ll be nothing to watch, I assure you. And it sounds like you’ll be too busy throwing yourself at Nikolai to have time for anything I may or may not be doing.’
‘Here’s hoping!’
*
Seldom did Callum find it difficult to get on with people, but it was an uphill struggle talking to Nikolai Petrov. It was obvious they lived very different lives, but for Alastair’s sake Callum was prepared to pretend there was nobody in the world he’d sooner be getting to know. All the while, however, he stole glances around the terrace looking for a lifeline, a means to bring in somebody else to the conversation, or preferably the means to escape.
There was no sign of Jenna or Rachel on the terrace where the rest of them were gathered; odds on they were hiding somewhere together, having already had their boredom thresholds crossed by Valentina’s stepson.
On the other side of the terrace, Callum could see Frankie and Danny talking to the stepdaughter. Irina had the same elegant bearing that her stepmother had, and the same coolness. She was wearing some kind of pastel-coloured knitted top that was either too big for her, or was designed to be lopsided and slide off her shoulders. Her long highlighted hair was loosely tied up, and her face was what he thought of as classically Russian – wide cheekbones with almond-shaped eyes, and a determined chin. She was unquestionably beautiful, but gave the impression of being untouchable. She was absolutely not his type, but even so, he found it difficult to keep from looking at her.
Meanwhile, and after much talking of his line of work, Nikolai finally, and mercifully, went quiet, as if he’d bored himself into submission. For something to say, Callum said, ‘My work couldn’t be more different from yours.’
‘What is it that you do?’
He was tempted to say he was a male stripper, just to see what reaction he got, but instead he said, ‘I run a boatyard a short distance from here, I took it over from the previous …’ Callum could see he’d lost his audience already. Nikolai’s attention had been distracted by something behind him. Callum turned to see what he was looking at and saw Rachel and Jenna approaching.
‘At last you two grace us with your presence,’ he said to them, noting that his sister had pulled out all the stops on her appearance, wearing a skimpy cream dress that was as short as it was figure hugging. No guesses why that was, he thought, seeing her deploying a killer-watt smile on Nikolai, and now realising he’d been naïve in thinking Rachel would find him boring. At least Jenna looked her normal self, but then she had always had more sense than his sister.
‘How about you go and find us something to drink,’ Rachel said, with an imperious wave of her hand.
Under any other circumstances Callum would have told her to get her own drink, but at the chance of escaping he was happy to do her bidding. ‘Your usual pint of tequila with a rum and whisky chaser?’ he said.
Rachel flashed him a warning look before turning back to Nikolai. ‘Brothers,’ she said with an exaggerated shrug.
‘Don’t forget Nikolai is a brother as well,’ Callum said, ‘better not condemn us all.’
Rachel tutted. ‘I’m sure Nikolai is a much better brother than you. I’ll have a white wine, or better still, some Prosecco.’
‘What about you, Jenna?’ asked Callum.
‘That’s all right, I’ll come with you.’
‘Nikolai, another beer?’
‘No thank you, I’ll join Rachel and have some Prosecco.’
Looking far too pleased with herself, Rachel said, ‘Oh, and Callum, while you’re fetching our drinks, ask Jenna about our surprise guest this evening.’
‘Ignore her,’ muttered Jenna as they set off.
‘I usually find that’s the best policy, but on this occasion I’m bound to ask what she’s so smug about? Who’s the surprise—’
He got no further as he spotted a boat coming across the river from the Mill. ‘Looks like Alastair’s neighbour and son are about to arrive, shall we go and help them?’
Jenna put a hand on his arm. ‘There’s something you should know.’
‘Yes?’
‘It turns out that Laura Manning’s son is Blake Darnell. You remember, he was the—’
‘The one who was bothering you at work?’
She nodded. ‘I bumped into him this morning when I called in at Horning. I couldn’t have been more surprised.’
‘Did he know you were staying here?’
‘No. It’s sheer coincidence.’
