The Consultant's Christmas Proposal by Kate Hardy

Author:Kate Hardy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-11-27T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

SASKIA ignored the shrill of the phone and let her answering-machine pick up the call. It was bound to be Toby, wanting to know why she’d been avoiding him all day. She really didn’t feel up to that conversation.

But as soon as she heard the first word after the beep, she recognised the voice and picked up the phone. ‘Hello, Father.’

‘Oh, so you are there, Saskia.’

Typical. Her father always managed to make her feel as if she were four years old and in the wrong. ‘Call-screening,’ she said. ‘I was working.’ Marcus Hayward, QC, would approve of that, she knew. She was making the most productive use of her time.

He didn’t need to know what she’d been working on.

Her resignation letter.

‘I received your email,’ Marcus said.

‘Good. And?’

‘What’s all this about, Saskia? I’ve been talking to your mother about it, and she doesn’t have any idea either.’

He’d talked to her mother? But her parents had led more or less separate lives for years. Ever since she’d been small. She couldn’t remember them talking at mealtimes—they’d always been reading the newspapers or case notes. They’d always worked in the evenings, and work had spilled over into weekends, too. Her mother wasn’t a barrister—she was a solicitor, working in commercial law—so as far as Saskia knew their paths barely crossed at work either. When had they had time to talk? ‘I just need to retrain,’ she said.

‘Are you in trouble?’

Yes, but not the kind you mean, she thought. ‘I just need a change.’

He tutted. ‘Why couldn’t you have thought about this a couple of months ago? The courses have already started for this year.’

‘It’s only the end of November. I’ll have missed a few weeks, that’s all.’

‘A few weeks is a lot in a one-year course.’

Not if you were determined. ‘Catching up won’t be a problem.’ She’d make sure she put the hours in.

‘I suppose you’re bright enough.’

So grudging. Saskia’s jaw tightened. Nothing I ever did made you proud of me, she thought. Nothing I achieved ever made you love me, not even graduating at the top of my year. Even now, when I’m asking you for help, you’re nitpicking. ‘I thought you might be able to help me. Obviously not.’ she said coolly. ‘Forget I said anything.’

‘Saskia—’

‘I’m sure you’re busy, Father,’ she cut in. Just as he’d always been too busy to help her learn to ride her bike, or look at a drawing she’d brought home from nursery, or take her to the park and push her on the swings. It still surprised her that her parents had both found time to come to her graduation. Or maybe their secretaries had nagged them into it. The same secretaries who no doubt chose her birthday and Christmas cards and gifts. ‘Goodnight.’ And happy Christmas—not. She hung up.

It had been a stupid idea, asking her father for help. Marcus Hayward was a Crown Court judge. Of course he was going to ask questions, want to know the full details before he acted.

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