Meet Me at the Pier Head Read Online Free Page A

asked.
    He arched an eyebrow. ‘Yes.’
    ‘Oh. Er . . . may I look at the accommodation?’
    She’s so damned pushy.
‘Of course. I’ll follow you up. The keys are on my hall table – do go in and get them. There’s a metal Liver Bird attached to the
key ring. The door’s black and halfway down the right hand side of the building. I’ll just . . . er . . . yes.’
    It was her turn to raise an eyebrow. ‘See you later, then, after you’ve just yessed.’ She got the keys, came out of the house and stood for a moment looking at him. He was an
oddity, friendly one minute, guarded the next. Did she want to live above the boss? More to the point, would he like living below her? ‘Would my being tenant here bother you?’ she
asked.
    Forthright, isn’t she?
‘I have no idea,’ he answered truthfully. ‘I must go and yes myself into a shirt and trousers.’ He needed a shower, but there
wasn’t time. This forward young woman made him feel slightly inadequate, as if she had his measure, as if those violet eyes could penetrate through to his innermost secrets.
    Tia entered the small ground-floor hallway of the upper flat. She climbed the stairs feeling like a seven-year-old on Christmas Day. It was stunning. Victorian mouldings remained throughout; he
had been faithful to the age of the house. The place upstairs was spacious, with three bedrooms, a dressing room lined with wardrobes, bathroom, kitchen, living and dining rooms, and even a
sunroom-cum-office at the back. She loved it immediately.
    Theo, on the stairs, listened while she scuttled about, heard her exclaiming to herself as she discovered fireplaces, chandeliers hanging from original ceiling roses, picture rails, old
cupboards preserved in recesses. What should he do? Lie to her about a friend moving in? Tell her that the board of governors might object to a single woman living under the same roof as a single
man? And would the talcum he’d applied conceal the smell of sweat? He should have opened his mail . . .
    ‘I want it,’ she said as soon as he entered the living room. ‘Did you do all this?’
    ‘More or less,’ he replied. ‘People these days are quick to pull out old fireplaces and built-in cupboards and cornices. They board over panelled doors, too.’
    ‘Silly.’
    ‘Absolutely.’
    Tia sighed. ‘You’re not going to let me have the flat, are you? I’m quiet most of the time, and I’ll wear Gran’s engagement ring. Simon’s following me up here
from Kent, so he can be my intended.’ She frowned. ‘Actually, he intends to be my intended, though my unbearable father doesn’t approve because Simon’s half
Jewish.’
    ‘And what are your intentions?’
    ‘He’s not on the shortlist. In fact, he’s not even on the long list, and I’ve told him that.’
    Theo shook his head. ‘There’s a long list?’
    ‘Of course there’s a queue. I’m Roedean and Oxford educated, I’m easy on the eye, I know how to use cutlery and have all my own teeth, and I’ll be a very wealthy
orphan when Ma and Pa shuffle off.’ She winked at him. ‘Please, Mr Quinn. You’re my mentor if I get the post, so why not look after me, make sure I’m safe in and out of
school?’
    He raised his hands in a gesture of defeat. Portia Bellamy promised to be entertaining, at least. She’d even winked at him. ‘Right. Pass the interview, accept the job, and I’ll
think about it. But I’ll have to advise the governors about your wish to live here. Some people remain as Victorian as my house.’
    She squealed like a delighted child. ‘Can I see your flat? I just love this house. It’s so much more homely than Bartle Hall.’ She felt a small stabbing pain in her chest
– she shouldn’t be unfaithful to her now decrepit childhood home.
    They entered his domain. ‘Make yourself comfortable,’ he urged her. ‘I’m going to have a quick shower – that garden was hard work.’ He left her to it and
dashed off to clean up his act. Roedean