‘Sure,’ said Jason. ‘We’ll probably be leaving soon, though. Tati’s not feeling too chipper.’
‘She looks all right to me,’ said Logan, pointing to the far corner of the marquee. Tatiana was talking to Brett. Judging by her body language, she was letting him have it. ‘Perhaps she’s rallied?’
‘Oh, God,’ sighed Jason.
‘You don’t even want the house.’ Tati was shouting, waving her arms around like an air traffic controller trying to bring a plane in to land whilst in the throes of an epileptic fit. ‘Why can’t you just admit it?’
‘Look,’ said Brett. ‘I’m not selling Furlings and that’s that.’
‘Yes, and why not? Out of spite, that’s why. Because you know Jason and I do want it.’
‘Leave Jason out of this,’ said Brett. ‘This is between you and me.’
‘Fine. So sell the house back to me. You can name your price.’
‘It’s not for sale.’ His eyes were glittering but Tati couldn’t quite get a handle on whether it was with amusement or something else. ‘And it never will be. Why can’t you just accept the fact that your father didn’t want you to have that house? He cut you out of the will, and left it to me, and there is nothing you can do to change that. Nothing.’
The truth was that Furlings was the one thing, the only thing, he controlled when it came to his relationship with Tatiana. He couldn’t have her. He couldn’t stop wanting her either. But he could hold on to something he knew she wanted, and would always want. Furlings was the unbreakable chain that bound the two of them together. The only ace in Brett’s hand. That made it priceless. Because as much as Brett yearned for escape from the misery of his feelings for Tati, the thought of actually breaking that chain and letting her go filled him with terror.
Of course, Tati couldn’t see Brett’s fear. She was too blinded by her own, by her deep need to get Furlings back and right the wrongs of the past.
‘He cut me off because I was a mess back then.’ She pleaded with Brett’s rational side. ‘He wouldn’t have made the same decision if he could see me now. I rarely drink and never touch drugs. I have Hamilton Hall. I’m rich and successful. I’m happily married.’
Brett let out a snort of derision at this last claim. ‘You’re delusional.’
‘And you’re a fucking arsehole,’ Tati shouted, loudly enough for a number of nearby wedding guests to shoot her disapproving looks.
Brett leaned in closer. His voice in her ear was like the hissing of a snake. ‘I saw you at the Maidstone Club last month. With lover boy.’
The hair on Tati’s forearms stood on end and the greenish colour drained from her face.
‘You can tell me that was a business meeting till you’re blue in the face,’ Brett went on. ‘But I know what kind of business you’ve been doing. So you can spare me the “happily married”, saintly wife act. I know who you are.’
Tati looked him in the eye defiantly. ‘You have no idea who I am. You don’t even know who you are.’
‘Don’t try to change the subject,’ said Brett.
‘Why not?’ said Tati. ‘You don’t like it when people hold up a mirror and force you to look at yourself, do you Brett? Who the hell are you to pass judgement on my marriage? Take a look at your own.’
They stood in silence, squared off and staring at one another, like two duellists who’d forgotten to bring their guns. She’s so like me, thought Brett. She keeps fighting, even when she’s cornered. He wondered how different his marriage to Angela might have been if she’d ever challenged him the way that Tatiana did? If she’d ever stood up to him. Would he have been faithful? He didn’t know. He supposed it didn’t much matter now anyway. Angela was a better person than Tatiana, and a better person than him. He knew it, but he couldn’t forgive Tatiana for calling him on it.
‘Read my lips,’ he said slowly, savouring each word. ‘You will Never. Own. That. House. Not while I’m alive.’
‘You’re evil,’ whispered Tati. ‘I hate you.’
She threw the words at him like a cup full of acid. But Brett could see that her eyes brimmed with tears. He’d intended to wound her. And yet a huge part of him longed to pull her into his arms and comfort her, to hold her till she stopped crying and never cried again.
At that moment Jason appeared at her side. He put one arm around Tati’s waist and the other comfortingly around her shoulder, drawing her in to a hug. Brett felt a stabbing pain in his heart so acute he wondered for a moment if he were having an attack.
‘You should get your bitch on a tighter leash,’ he snarled at Jason.
Ignoring him, Jason turned back to Tati. ‘Come on, darling, let’s go. He’s not worth it.’