Despite Erin’s obvious sarcasm, Richard still hadn’t completely twigged her meaning. ‘Some blonde? Who?’
‘Long face, short skirt, says you’re great in bed apparently. I said we must have been talking about another Richard Pendleton.’
‘Bella?’ he croaked. ‘Oh, she’s just another trainee. Worked with her in the CoCo department – as you know the hours could be incredible sometimes, but …’
‘You bloody liar!’ she said, jabbing a finger into his chest.
Richard’s face whitened. ‘Look, what’s she been saying?’ he stammered, his earlier confident bluster now completely dissolved.
‘The real reason you didn’t want to come down to Cornwall or have me to stay at weekends. Quite a handy arrangement for you, wasn’t it? Her up here and me tucked away two hundred miles away.’
‘She’s making it up,’ he said, trying to sound indignant. ‘She’s a bit, you know, la-la,’ he said, twirling a finger at his temple.
‘Save it Richard,’ she spat, pulling her coat on. ‘I’m not interested any more.’
‘Look, okay,’ he said, grabbing Erin’s arm and lowering his voice, ‘so we had a little fling. You know how difficult the long-distance thing between us is. And, yes, Bella and I were both working long nights and one thing led to another. But it’s long over and she can’t accept it.’
He began shaking his head, his mouth twisting up sourly. ‘I can’t believe the little tart told you.’
‘But it didn’t stop long ago, did it, Richard?’ said Erin, shrugging off his hand. ‘It stopped the second I became useful to you.’
‘Erin, stop it,’ he hissed, noticing that people were beginning to look at them. ‘Let’s go home and talk about this.’
They both saw Adam Gold coming out of the ballroom at the same time. He was pulling on his cashmere overcoat when he saw them.
‘Erin, Richard. I have to go,’ he said, glancing at his gold Patek Philippe. ‘Thanks for a great evening.’
Richard, still pale, went to shake his hand. ‘It was an absolute pleasure, Adam. Thank you for coming.’
Adam smiled, although his brow furrowed. ‘Erin, can I grab you for one minute?’ he said, pointing towards the door.
She followed him, trying to compose herself, aware that her eyes were still stinging from crying.
‘Are you okay?’ he asked.
‘Absolutely fine,’ she forced a smile. ‘Probably had a bit too much to drink.’
At that moment a rogue tear slipped down her cheek and she turned so that her back was to Richard, still hovering in the lobby.
‘Erin, what’s the matter? What’s happening?’ whispered Adam, shooting a ferocious glare in Richard’s direction.
‘It’s nothing Adam, honestly,’ replied Erin, struggling to suppress the sobs she felt welling up.
‘Tell me.’ It was an order.
‘Okay. My boyfriend is a liar and a cheat,’ she said as matter of factly as she could, gulping in air between the words. ‘While I was in Cornwall, he was cheating on me. All that time.’
Adam touched the sleeve of her coat gently and turned to look at Richard. Behind him, they could see Charles Sullivan waving a balloon of brandy in the air as he said goodbye to guests. He saw Adam and began to move over towards them.
‘Do you want to teach Richard a lesson?’ whispered Adam.
She blushed. ‘He deserves it,’ she said, laughing despite the tears. ‘What are you going to do?’
‘Just watch.’
They walked towards Charles and Richard. Erin’s heart was beating so furiously she thought it might stop, and her mouth was dry with anticipation. She recognized the look on Adam’s face, the ‘smiling assassin’ expression he had when he was just about to close a good deal.
‘Adam! Not going already?’ said Charles, slapping him on the shoulder. ‘Well, I have to say, it’s been a pleasure. Let’s stay in touch – you know what they say about your people phoning our people …?’ he said winking at Erin. ‘I gave you my card, didn’t I? It goes without saying that the firm would love to do some work with the Midas Group.’