(2012) Evie Undercover (20 page)

Swallow
ing
the lump that threatened to block her throat
as she
realised
that
she
was putting an end to her life’s dream
,
she
moved
closer to
him
, needing to feel
his warmth next to her
.

He inched back his head and glanced down at her.
‘Are you all right, Evie? You’re suddenly very quiet.’

She attempted a laugh.
‘You’re not the only
person
who’s not in a hurry to go back to work,’ she murmured into his chest. ‘I’m
not looking forward to
returning to the agency
.’

He glanced down at her in surprise.
‘How come? I thought you were quite happy there
for the time being
.’

‘
I am, or rather
I was.
T
he agency boss is a bit of a pig
and I’m not
that
keen
on having to
start taking
orders from him
again
.’

With a sudden movement, he raised himself on his elbow and stared intently
at
her
, his
face
serious
. ‘Wait a minute. Your agency boss
–
that’s not boss as in would-be stud, is it?’

‘God, no! He wouldn’t be able to find the necessary part for a start. No, it’s nothing like that.
’

An overwhelming temptation to tell him the truth sprang up,
and to
say
how sorry s
he was for lying to him. S
he
swiftly
pushed it away
. H
e might hate her for what she’d thought about do
i
ng.
She’d tell him
on
an
other
occasion
, when she
’d had
more
time to think about the
best
way to approach it
.

S
nuggl
ing
closer to him
, she
blanked all thoughts of confession out of her mind
.

‘
It’s not just
the idiot boss, it’s
the thought of the other clients they
'll
send me out to. I bet no one else brings me to Umbria.
After t
his week
,
everything
else will
seem boring, and that’s
made me
decide to
start
think
ing
about my future.
’

He settled back down again
and slid his arm around her
. ‘
That’s all right then. In fact, it’
s better than all right
if
you’
re serious about
finding
a career
that’s
more suit
ed
to your talents than working for an agency.’

‘
What talents did you have in mind?’ she asked with a giggle
, and she ran her
fingers
lightly across his chest
.

‘
Nothing like that,’ he said with a laugh. ‘
You’re very good with people, Evie, and whatever you do, you should make sure that it doesn’
t confine you to
an office.’ He paused. ‘
In fact,
I’ve had
an idea. I think I know someone
who might be able to help you.
If she can’t
actually offer you anything
,
at
the very
least
she’ll
be able
to give you some advice. I’m thinking of Zizi Westenhall.’

She started in surprise. ‘The one you just defended?’

‘That’s the one. But I didn’t defend her, as such – I acted for her
against
that filthy rag,
Pure Dirt
. We sued them
for Libel after they
accused her of having had
an affair.
It was one of their so-called exposés. As you can imagine, it
was an allegation that didn’t exactly delight her husband
.
’

‘I saw her picture in the paper the other day. She’s beautiful.’

‘Yes, she is.
And w
ith a high profile marriage to protect, she c
ouldn’t
afford to ignore
such a malicious slur
on her reputation
,
so
we took
Pure Dirt
to court
. Happily, the paper
lost and
was forced to eat its grubby words
. I’m glad to say that t
hey had to
pay her costs a
s well as
theirs, and
also
pay
a substantial sum in damages. They’re the lowest form of scum, that bunch.’

Her eyes filled up. She struggled to take control of herself. Thank goodness she hadn’t
told Tom
she was
a
Pure Dirt
reporter
.
I
f they
never saw
each other again after her contract was up, he might never need know
and he’d always think well of her
.

‘I’ll get in touch with
Zizi
as soon as my next case is over,’ he added.

‘
How would she be able to help me, though?
’

‘H
er husband
gives a lot of his
money away
–
not just in
England,
but in other countries, too.
Zizi runs some of
Howard’s
charities
. I
t’s
just
possible that they might be able to use you in
one of
t
he
i
r
foundations
.’

‘
That would be
fantastic. Did you
ever get to meet
Howard
?’

‘
When h
e came to court with her, but not
apart from that
.’

‘Was she nice, Zizi, or was it a case of beauty being only skin deep?’

‘Not at all. She’s lovely to look at and lovely as a person.’

A
shard of jealousy cut into her.
Had he slept with
Zizi
?
she wondered.
Curiosity
joined hands with the green-eyed monster and
got the better of her.
‘Then you must be a saint to have been able to resist her.’
She put her hand up to the side of his face, gently pulled his face to hers and kissed him on the lips. ‘It’s the first time I’ve kissed a saint. I just might have to revise my opinion of your suitability for a monastery.’

‘I hate to disappoint you, faithful Evie, but I’m not as saintly as you might think.’

‘Don’t tell me you and Zizi W got your act together?’
A pang of misery shot through her
, and she held her breath
.

He rolled over so that he
was half lying on top of her. ‘No, w
e didn’t.’ He started to run his fingers slowly through her hair.
‘We got on really well, went out for dinner a few times, but it ended there. In other circumstances – had she not been married, for example,
and
had I not just argued her case claiming that she’d done nothing to diminish her reputation
–
then maybe it would have ended differently. I think it’s fair to say that we liked each other. But when it came to it, neither of us wanted more than that, and we’ve come out of it as friends.’

She let her breath out.

‘So you do deserve your saintly status.’
She smiled broadly up at him. ‘
Admittedly, y
ou’ve done some things I don’t exactly associate with a monk
or a saint
– quite recently, in fact – and I wouldn’t have it any other way
, but I’d second you for sainthood.
’

He
shook his head
. ‘
I don’t know about
that.
I reckon we’ve all done something wrong
at some point
in our lives, and I’m no exception
.’

‘But you didn’t sleep with Zizi
.
’

‘
I wasn’t thinking of her.
I was thinking of something that happened some years ago.
It involved a fax.’

‘A fax
!
What on earth could you do
that you shouldn’t
with a fax?
No, don’t tell me,’ she laughed.
‘I think I’d rather not know.’

‘
Right, I won’t
.’
He rolled back and stared at the ceiling
. She glanced across at him and saw
amusement flickering on his lips.

‘
OK,
I give in. Y
ou’ve got
me
curious now.
So what did you do with the fax
, then
?’

He turned towards her, his face suddenly serious. She felt a throb of alarm. ‘Don’t tell me if you don’t want to.’

‘
I do wan
t to
.
I’ve never told anyone
before
and it’
ll actually be a relief to tell
someone.’ He gave her a wry smile. ‘Call it my confession
, if you like
.
’

Biting her lip, she nodded.

‘
As you can imagine, a person
can mistakenly be faxed information meant for someone else. If that happens to a barrister, he must instantly send it back without reading it. Information like that’s called privileged information, and it’s a great offence to read privileged information. If you were caught, you’d be hauled up before a disciplinary committee and you’d certainly be punished.
As it happens, I wasn’t caught, and I’ve felt guilty about it ever since.
But I’ve done my best to make amends – I do a lot of
pro bono
cases for people who can’t afford to pay.
’

‘But reading what you shouldn’t read happens all the time in offices. It’s no big deal.’

‘Maybe so in offices, but not at the Bar. I knew I’d be breaking the barristers’ code of conduct if I went ahead and read the fax – it was something that the prosecuting barrister had sent to me by mistake
–
nevertheless
,
read it
I did
.’

‘
Maybe you shouldn’t have
read
it, but as you said just now, we’ve all done things we shouldn’t
have done
at some time or
an
other.’

‘The Bar Standards Board might not agree
. T
hey’re hot on the rules governing privileged information. I’d been
mistakenly
sent a list of the strengths and weaknesses
of
the prosecution’s case. I was the defence lawyer,
on
my first solo libel case, and because of what I’d read, I knew the weak points of the
prosecution’s argument
even before I went into court. Not surprisingly, I made a huge success of the case, and that gave me a terrific start to my career.
But
in my heart,
knowing what I’d done took the gloss o
f
f my win
.’

‘
I imagine you’ve helped a lot of people
through your work
, Tom
. Doesn’t that go some way towards making you feel better about
what happened?’

‘
Yo
u’ve a good heart, Evie, and you
want to think well of people
.
In
my defence
,
I was very young at the time. When the document fell into my lap, I couldn’t resist
the chance it gave me. A
lso, I might add, the correct person won
– my client’s reputation had b
een maliciously damaged and he
deserved to win.
But
I still wish I’d won the case
more honestly
.’