Convenience

Part 16

"Where would I find her?" David queried, and decided that he'd best start injecting some softness into his voice if he wasn't going to intimidate the young woman. The last thing he wanted was for her to clam up.

"She's gone into Hamilton."

"Right." David looked around wondering whether this place had anything that came close to an office of some kind. "I'll wait for her." He informed the young woman. He knew he sounded pretty determined, and he knew that the young woman was getting increasingly anxious about him remaining on site. He did nothing to alleviate her concerns.

Taking her courage in both hands, Mandy asked, "What's it about? Mr?"

David decided that now was as good a time as any to launch his first grenade. "Mr Cardoso." He thrust his hands into his trouser pockets, and added silkily, "It's personal." His tone brooked no further engagement on that matter.

Mandy nearly stuttered. "Mr Cardoso," He could see that the young woman was trying to make sense of the information to hand. This man and her boss had the same surname. They had the same skin tone. Were they related? But what was the relationship? Beatrice hadn't mentioned family. In fact Beatrice had one family photograph on her desk in the office and that was a photograph of Beatrice and her grandfather. Mandy frowned as confusion grew.

David put the poor woman out of her misery by launching his second grenade, "I'm her husband." The flat cool tones were at odds with the incendiary nature of that tit bit of information.

"Husband?" Mandy squeaked and could not help but look shocked.

David narrowed his eyes. Obviously getting a divorce was not going to make much of a difference to Beatrice. She had clearly never told these people, or any people given the response the last time they'd met, that she was married. Strange, he thought without any humility, for he was pretty sure that most women would have been delighted to have paraded him as their husband. If for no other reason other than it being a financial and status one. His name carried status and position. It opened doors.

Mandy was having difficulty in processing the recent information. Beatrice never mentioned a husband. She wore a wedding ring. But her employees believed she was a widow. She never talked about her marriage, or her husband and she did not have any photographs of her husband, so they assumed it was a tragic story, and had not pried.

Mandy was sure her colleagues would be as surprised as she was to learn that Beatrice was married to a prime specimen of a man and had kept him quiet.

A few seconds later they both heard footsteps crunching on the gravel. And soon after that they both saw Beatrice. Their reactions to her arrival varied significantly.

"He says he's your husband." Mandy croaked the first thing that came to mind. She wondered whether the man had lied. But from his calm, measured tones, she somewhat doubted that. She'd known Beatrice for years, and not once had Beatrice mentioned a husband. Not once.

David ignored blunt Mandy's announcement. "Beatrice." David nodded curtly and waited for her to reach them.

Beatrice was wearing flat open toed leather sandals, jeans and an oversize white shirt, and the ensemble on her looked sexy and elegant, at one and the same time.

"We are married." Beatrice told her assistant and walked past, her arms laden with some new materials. She'd seen the car parked out front, and knew they therefore had a visitor. She hadn't expected it to be David. How many wives did not know what car their husband drove, she wondered as she kept walking.

"I didn't know you were married." Mandy's eyes were wide in astonishment. This was big news. Admittedly, Beatrice kept herself to herself. And as an employer she was terrific. But as a social animal she was pitiful. Mandy couldn't wait to spread the news that Beatrice's husband was alive. She was sure that most people assumed she was a career driven single woman as a consequence of a tragedy in her personal life!

Beatrice did not bother to respond to Mandy's comment. Life was obviously about to get complicated. Beatrice decided to take control of the situation. "Mandy, I've left another box in the car. Would you mind? Gina needs it." She waited for her assistant to disappear round the corner of the house before she turned to speak to David.