Rumor Has It Read Online Free Page A

the—
        'Bloody hell, kid. Look at the state of you.' Having flung open the door, the right weirdo hauled her inside. 'I thought you'd stood us up. Treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen. Don't tell me you've walked all the way from the station.'
        Tilly nodded, the blissful heat causing her teeth to start chatter ing wildly. 'There weren't any t-taxis.'
        'Ah well, that's because the taxi drivers around here are all lazy gits. And you didn't even have a coat.' He looked askance at her drenched sweatshirt. 'If you'd called me again I'd have come and picked you up. If you catch pneumonia and drop dead I'm going to have it on my conscience now, aren't I?'
        'I'll sign a disclaimer.' Tilly stuck out her hand and shook his. 'I'm Tilly Cole. Nice to meet you.'
        'Nice to meet you too, Tilly Cole. Max Dineen.' He was tall and greyhound thin, aged around forty, with close-cropped wavy blond hair and friendly grey eyes behind steel-rimmed spectacles. 'Come along in and we'll get you dried off. That's what I usually say to Betty,' he added as he led the way into the kitchen.
        'Your daughter?'
        Max indicated the brown and white terrier curled up on a cushion in one of the window seats. 'Our dog, but it's an easy mistake to make. I get them mixed up myself. Betty's the one with the cold nose,' he went on as a clatter of footsteps heralded his daughter's arrival in the kitchen, 'and the noisy one in the stripy tights is Lou.'
        'Hi!' Lou was in her early teens, with mad red hair corkscrewing around her head and an infectious grin. 'It's Louisa actually. Euww, you're all wet.'
        'I knew that expensive education would come in useful one day. Lou, this is Tilly. Run upstairs and fetch her the dressing gown from the spare room.' Max turned to Tilly. 'We'll chuck your clothes in the tumble-dryer. How about that then?' He winked. 'How many job interviews have you done in a dressing gown, eh?'
        The thing was, he wasn't being sleazy or suggestive. He was simply making the suggestion because it made sense. Nevertheless, it would be surreal…
        'It's OK, I've got something I can change into.' Tilly pointed to her case.
        Max said, 'Spoilsport.'

Chapter 4

    THE HOUSE WAS AMAZING, decorated with an eye for color and real flair. Whether Max Dineen was married or divorced, Tilly guessed this was the work of a woman. In the bottle-green and white marble tiled downstairs cloakroom, she stripped off her wet things and changed into the red angora sweater and black trousers she'd worn last night.
        Back in the kitchen, Max took her jeans and sweatshirt through to the utility room and put them in the tumble-dryer. Then, he handed her a cup of coffee and pulled out one of the kitchen chairs.
        'Right, let's make a start, shall we? The situation is this: Lou's mum and I split up three years ago. Her mum lives and works in California. For the first couple of years Lou stayed out there with her, but she missed all this…'—he gestured ironically at the rain splattered window—'all this glorious British weather, so last year, she decided to move back for good. I tried changing my name and going into hiding but she managed to track me down.'
        'Dad, don't say that.' Lou rolled her eyes at him. 'People will think it's true.'
        'It is true. I was hiding in doorways… wearing a false mous tache… hopeless. It was like being hunted by a bloodhound.'
        'Nobody's going to want to work for you if you say stuff like this. OK, here's the thing,' Lou took over. 'I'm thirteen. Dad cut back on work when I first came home, but now he's stepping it up again.'
        'It's a question of having to,' said Max. 'You cost a fortune.'
        'Anyway,' Louisa ignored him, 'we decided we needed a Girl Friday to help us out, someone to pick me up from school and stuff, do a spot of cooking sometimes, help Dad out with the business— just anything that needs