‘Because you want to get married in the States.’
‘Well, yes,’ he said. ‘I thought the house in Miami would be perfect. It’s private. Nobu can do the catering, but I thought I would leave all the planning to you.’
‘I’m not a bloody fool, Ada
m,’ snapped Karin, standing up. ‘You want to get married in the States because you want a pre-nup.’
There. She had said it. The p-word. The elephant at the table. Everyone knew that a pre-nup was not worth the paper it was written on in Britain but, if a couple married abroad, and one of the partnership was American, it was another story.
Adam shifted uncomfortably and pulled the sheet a little tighter around his body. ‘Come on, honey. Let’s not talk about this at our engagement party.’
‘We need to talk about it, Adam. When better?’
‘Look,’ he said finally. ‘And this has nothing to do with my respect for you or the hopes I have for our marriage, but I have got to safeguard my position. I’ve seen too many men screwed over, companies ruined.’
‘Don’t talk about companies ruined, Adam, bearing in mind your little conversation earlier with Jonathan. If someone blew the whistle to the FSA about what you’ve been up to, I think you’d be in serious trouble.’
Adam shrugged. He had faced far more ruthless negotiators than Karin and come off the victor. ‘You have no proof whatsoever,’ he said.
‘Oh, the FSA can be very thorough in their investigations. Haven’t you just put a call in to your broker to buy twenty-seven thousand shares in Ginsui. That will leave a trail.’
Adam raised his eyebrows and nodded. ‘Look, when we get back home I will call my lawyer in New York. I will talk to Marcus and we can work something out, Karin. I want a pre-nup. I need a pre-nup, but that doesn’t mean I want to shaft you over either. They can work two ways, and I will be more than accommodating.’
‘I don’t want a pre-nup.’
‘So what do you want?’ he said, lifting an eyebrow.
‘I want a share in the company.’
‘I don’t own all the shares in the company.’
‘So? Adam, transfer some of your shares over to me. You have enough of them, for heaven’s sake. I need to safeguard my position. Particularly as what I know puts me in a very uncomfortable position.’
‘Are you trying to blackmail me?’
Karin put her hands on her hips, her robe falling open. ‘Adam. This is not blackmail, it’s self-preservation. You would do the same. But don’t forget …’ She slipped her robe off completely and stood at the end of the bed, unhooking her bra and peeling off her panties slowly.
‘Don’t forget what?’ said Adam, unable to tear his eyes away from her body.
‘That so long as we’re together and happy, we are on the same side,’ she whispered, crawling onto the bed, naked except for her heels, ready to finish what she’d started earlier.
61
At eight in the morning, when all of the guests were still asleep in their Baroque fantasy bedrooms, Summer was up, dressed, packed, and ready to go, dressed in a pair of jeans, a white T-shirt and some Tod’s loafers she always wore for travelling. The kitchen had sent blueberry pancakes up to her bedroom and, twenty minutes later, Federico, Adam’s kindly Italian butler, tapped on her door to tell her that her car had arrived to take her to Milan.
She had a room booked for that night at the 3 Rooms, the tiny boutique hotel favoured by the fashion crowd, and had already called ahead to see if she could have an early check-in. She wasn’t due in Milan until that evening, but Summer couldn’t have left the palazzo soon enough. She hadn’t been able to sleep all night. Every time she had closed her eyes she had seen a vision of Adam in the Rose Garden, dismissing her pregnancy as if he was talking about yesterday’s news. After writing a note to Molly, she stuffed it quickly under her bedroom door and waited impatiently on the front steps of the palazzo while the driver put her case into the boot of the car. She was just about to climb into the back seat of the Mercedes when she heard the sound of footsteps in the entrance hall. With a sinking feeling in her stomach, she turned round. She could see Karin standing behind her, her arms folded across her chest, cream silk dressing gown tightly wrapped around her.
‘What are you doing, sneaking away at the crack of dawn?’ she smiled, a little crease of suspicion between her eyebrows.
Summer could feel herself blush and cursed inwardly. ‘I have a job in Milan. Thought I’d better set off before the party gets going again and I don’t want to leave.’
Karin didn’t reply; she seemed to be staring straight past Summer. Summer reached up and fingered the delicate chain of the necklace that Adam had given her nervously. Suddenly she had the strange thought that the pendant was what Karin was staring at. But that was just paranoid, wasn’t it? There was no way she could know the little teardrop was from Adam, was there?
Karin flashed her a big smile, but Summer could see that her eyes looked dead. As she moved to embrace her goodbye, Summer could feel Karin’s thin fingers press hard into her shoulders.
‘It was such a pleasure to see you,’ said Karin. ‘I really appreciate you making the effort to come, especially when you hardly know Adam.’
They locked eyes and Summer had to look away, such was the intensity of Karin’s stare. Summer clambered into the Mercedes and stared straight ahead as she ordered the driver south to Milan.