“I mean with your colouring. Where are you from? Originally, I mean.”
“Cornwall. Hence the accent. My grandmother was Romany, hence the dark skin. That gene dominated my DNA.”
“Did she tell fortunes?”
He laughs, quieter this time. “She read palms and people. She was a wise old witch.”
“I get the feeling you mean that literally.”
He shrugs. “Pretty much. How are your parents?”
He knows my father is ill. The few days he spent with us on the island will have told him as much. “Quiet. Dad’s much the same.”
“It’s hard seeing a parent being ill.”
“Worse to see a child, I imagine.”
He nods slowly, picks up a scone. “Do you eat yours the Cornish way or the Devon way?”
I laugh, thankful for the change of conversation. “Jam or cream on top? Always cream.”
“The right way then.”
“If you’re Cornish.”
We return to our silence as we eat the scones, cream smearing over my hands. I noticing him watching when I lick my fingers, even though I’m not trying to be provocative.
“It’s impossible to eat these in a lady-like manner!”
Isaac shrugs. “It’s impossible not to think bad things watching you clean the cream from your fingers. I’ll excuse you from not being a lady, if you forgive me for not being a gentleman.”
“Are you a gentleman?”
He picks up one of the tiny macaroons, a pink one, and studies it. Taking his time, he stretches across the table and holds it to my lips, his eyes holding mine.
I part my lips, softening my tongue and he feeds me the sweet. As he retracts his fingers I catch them with my lips, holding them briefly.
I burn.
“Am I as tasty as the macaroon?”
“About the same.”
“I’ll add that to my resume.” He smiles. He doesn’t wipe his fingers.
“How did you end up working for William Goldsmith?”
His face shadows. “Fate. Maybe more than that. We have a family connection and as you know, in politics, family is everything.”
“More so in some cases. That’s how I’m doing my job.”
He laughs, but there’s no heart to it. “Be careful of William, Blair.”
The words are stones.
“What do you mean?”
Isaac looks at his plate, not at me. “He comes across as a bumbling fool who wears the wrong suit and says the wrong things. I know he treats you as an accessory, but he’s more than that. Be wary.”
