At the other end of the garden, outside the orangery, Brett Cranley was talking business with an old friend from Australia when he saw Tatiana talking to Jason. They were only together for a moment. Tati leaned in to tell Jason something, probably just, ‘Happy birthday.’ Jason smiled and hugged her, kissing her on the cheek before walking away to join a group of girls Brett didn’t recognize. But even that momentary exchange, those few seconds of touching, felt like a razor blade stabbing into Brett’s heart.
‘Are you all right, mate?’ his friend asked, frowning. ‘You looked a bit crook there all of a sudden.’
‘I’m fine,’ Brett murmured. ‘Excuse me.’
He walked over to Tatiana, like a moth drawn to a flame, even as it can feel the heat start to singe its wings.
‘What happened to lover boy? Stood you up, did he?’
Tatiana spun around. Brett loomed over her. Black tie suited almost all men, but not Brett Cranley. He looked awkward and uncomfortable in his jacket, like a bear squeezed into performing clothes by some sadistic circus ringmaster. Tati made a point of avoiding Brett whenever possible, and it was months since she’d last seen him in the flesh. It bothered her the degree to which his presence could still unnerve her. She felt her stomach churn unpleasantly now, and a disagreeable sensation, halfway between attraction and revulsion, shoot through her.
‘Maybe I got a better offer,’ she smiled sweetly.
‘You did,’ said Brett, deadpan. ‘Mine.’
‘Marco had to work,’ said Tati, deciding it was safer to ignore this last comment. ‘His team have got a big deal closing. You know how it is.’
Brett raised an eyebrow mockingly. ‘Uh huh.’
Irritated, Tati shot back waspishly ‘Where’s Angela? Shouldn’t you be holding her hand, playing the doting husband and father? Today of all days?’
As soon as she’d said it she felt guilty. Tatiana liked Angela Cranley. She liked Logan and Jason too, and felt bad using them as verbal weapons. It was only Brett she had a problem with. What had happened between the two of them last year should never have happened. As far as Tatiana knew, nobody knew about it, and she vowed to keep it that way. Just because Brett wound her up about her love life, it didn’t mean she should sink to his level. But that was what Brett did to her, every time they met: pulled her down to his level. With Brett Cranley she was the worst version of herself.
‘I’m not playing at anything.’ Brett spoke through gritted teeth. He was standing very close to her now. Tatiana could feel the anger coming off his body like heat rising from scorched earth. ‘I love my family.’
‘Uh huh,’ said Tatiana, deliberately echoing Brett’s sneering cynicism about Marco.
‘At least I have a family to love,’ Brett snapped. ‘What do you have, Tatiana? An invisible boyfriend and a job at a school. Bully for you.’
For a moment, they stood in silence. Brett knew he was being a jerk. That it was only sexual jealousy and the pain of rejection that were making him lash out. But he couldn’t seem to help himself.
Tatiana felt his eyes boring into her, stripping her down to nothing, to her soul. She looked away. At that moment Angela Cranley walked over, sliding an arm around Brett’s waist.
‘There you are!’ she kissed him on the cheek. ‘I’ve been hunting for you for ages. It’s time to cut the cake and make the speeches.’
‘Right,’ said Brett, staring at the ground.
‘Oh, hello, Tatiana.’ Angela’s smile was so genuine, Tati felt even guiltier. ‘Are you having a nice time?’
‘Lovely, thank you.’
‘I’m so pleased you were able to make it. Pleased you two are burying the hatchet as well.’ She gazed up lovingly at Brett. ‘It’s about time. Now, have either of you seen Jason? For some reason, I can never seem to get the men in my family in the same place at the same time. We’ll be cutting the cake at midnight at this rate.’
‘He was here a few moments ago,’ said Tati. She looked back across the garden. ‘Is that him, talking to Annalise Merrivale?’
‘Bloody gold-digger,’ grumbled Brett, glaring across the lawn at the two of them. Annalise was the very beautiful, very sought-after daughter of the lord lieutenant of Sussex, a frightful old bore by the name of Cedric Merrivale. ‘She’s only talking to Jason because she knows he just came into his trust fund.’
‘Or maybe it’s because it’s Jason’s birthday party, and she likes him?’ Tati couldn’t resist observing sharply. ‘Not everyone thinks of nothing but money.’
‘Come on,’ said Angela, pulling Brett by the hand before another argument erupted between him and Tatiana. ‘Let’s go and hijack him together, before I lose one or both of you again.’
The speeches were mercifully short. Jason gave a shy, stammering toast of thanks to the guests for coming and his parents for laying on such a fabulous spread, while Annalise Merrivale hovered proprietorially behind him. Angela said a few words about how proud she was of her darling boy, tearing up almost immediately, and Brett told a couple of blue Aussie jokes that went down remarkably well, probably because ninety per cent of his audience were three sheets to the wind.