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BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Chapter Fourty six
Mira. ‘No, but as I said’ ‘And because we didn’t go through some totally meaningless ceremony i will? Have to pay it?’ ‘Well, yes. That’s the present situation, I’m afraid.’ ‘But that’s outrageous! We have lived together for nearly three years. We have a child…’ ‘If you had lived together for twenty three years and had ten children it would make no difference, I’m afraid.’ After the brief stunned silence she asked, ‘What’s the liability threshold?’ ‘$250,000. After that forty percent of the estate goes to the Inland revenue.’ ‘But…’ Dan had thought she looked pale. He had been wrong. Colour leached from her skin, leaving her ashen. ‘But surely the house alone is worth ten times that?’ ‘You don’t have to worry about the house, Mira’ ‘You mean the house is free of inheritance tax?’ Mira asked. ‘I mean that Nate did not own the house.’ She shook her head. ‘No. That’s not right. Nate bought it from Dan, three years ago.’ She turned to him. Looked up at him. ‘We have lived the
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Chapter Fourty seven
Chapter 47.THERE was a long, still moment after Tom stopped speaking when itseemed that everyone had forgotten to breathe.Then Dan said, ‘Is that right, Tom? You have the tickets?’‘Yes, but—’He held out his hand and the lawyer reluctantly passed the travel folderto him. Fran watched in disbelief as he calmly opened it and checked thedocuments before turning to her.‘It’s next week, Mira. Is that convenient for you?’ he asked. As ifhe was talking about dinner or a seat at the theatre and with about as muchemotion. His face might have been hewn from wood for all the expressionin it. His eyes chiselled from cold steel.Confronted with so little feeling, something hot and painful clenchedinside her and she recognised it for what it was.Fear.‘This is a joke.’ She looked to the lawyer for backup. ‘This is Naten’sidea of a practical joke…’ If she’d hoped they would both laugh and admitit, she was disappointed. Tom looked down at his desk as if he wished hewas anywhere else. D
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Chapter Fourty Eight
Chapter 48.‘We? Why would you bother yourself?’When he couldn’t be bothered to visit while his brother was alive? Theunspoken question hung in the air.‘I’m Nate’s executor,’ he reminded her leadenly, suddenly back tosquare one. ‘I’m going to have to take a good look at the business. Sort outthe best way to go forward. I’ll need your input on that. If you’re going totake an interest in running it.’‘It’s all I have,’ she reminded him. ‘If I’m going to provide a home forToby, I don’t have any choice.’‘Matty doesn’t pay rent for the flat?’‘Just a nominal amount,’ she said. ‘To cover her share of the outgoings.’Then, with just a touch of challenge in her voice, ‘I suppose sub-letting ofany kind is forbidden under the lease too?’‘Don’t worry about it.’‘I don’t think the landlord is going to be that relaxed about it, do you?’Then, ‘We’ll need some time to find somewhere else. It’s not such aproblem for me, but it will be more difficult for Matty. I realise she’s notyour con
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Chapter Fourty Nine
Chapter 49.She blinked. ‘What about “Toby”?’He shook his head. First love… And suddenly it came to him. He typedin a name…was offered the hint again. He tried it again without the capitaland he was in.‘What was it?’ she asked.‘It’s “harry”. All lower case.’‘Harry? Who’s Harry?’‘He was a puppy Dad bought him for his fifth birthday. A liver andwhite springer spaniel. Completely brainless, but it was love at first sight.’‘He didn’t… He never mentioned him.’ Then her eyes dropped to thescreen, as if suddenly aware that there were bigger omissions than that, andhe wanted to reassure her about this one, at least.‘Nate never talked about Harry to anyone after he was killed. He justseemed to blot it out.’‘Oh,’ she said, the sound small, little more than an expelled breath.‘How did it happen?’It occurred to him that he knew things about Nate that she would liketo hear. His childhood. Not just the scrapes he had got into, but the fun he’dbeen, too. He’d had charm, by the buck
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Chapter Fifty
As stunned silences went, the one that followed her confession was epic. It went on and on, stretching the air until she thought it would snap. That Dan might never speak to her again. Mira didn’t blame him. Saying the words out loud had been as shocking to her as to him. She’d buried the truth so deep inside her that for long periods she could forget those ten minutes when she’d stood in front of a registrar, barely nineteen, burning with ideals, going through a ceremony that had seemed meaningless to her. Marriage was an outdated institution. Just another way of controlling people, so why not use it against the system? It seemed like a lifetime ago. It was only when, pregnant with Toby, Nate had asked her to marry him that the reality of her situation had dawned on her. Maybe that was why she’d told Dan to expiate herself. She was never going to be able to put it right with Natenow. But his total stillness, total silence, was so frightening that she reached out, instinctively,
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Chapter Fifty One
Chapter 51.‘Good job. Okay, now I’m going to take your finger…’ He took his tinyhand in his own and laid the end of his finger over Toby’s. ‘And we’regoing to press that key. Just once. Lightly.’ He tapped the key with Toby’sfinger and a list of files came up. ‘Oh!’‘You liked that? Want to do it again?’After doing it half a dozen times they moved on, and between them theymarked the files and copied them to the CD. It took longer than if he’d doneit on his own, but that didn’t matter. He’d wasted too much time, stayingaway, doing the right thing. This was the right thing…When they’d done he looked up and discovered that both Connie andMira were watching them, apparently transfixed.‘What?’ he said.‘Nothing.’ Mira swallowed. ‘It’s just that…people don’t usually letlittle boys play with thousands of pounds worth of computer hardware.’‘No? Believe me, this was easy. Toby speaks English. It’s a lot harderwhen you’re in some place that the world forgot—or more likely neverkn
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Chapter Fifty two
Chapter 52.‘That’s what Natetold me. Apparently he was being economical withthe truth. The house did once belong to the family, but was sold off by hisfather some years ago. It was just chance it happened to be available to letwhen we were looking for somewhere to live.’Matty choked as she swallowed a mouthful of her drink and let slip anexpletive. ‘What did Dan have to say about that?’‘It’s none of his business, Matty.’‘Look, I don’t want to sound over-anxious, but you’re going to needsomeone on your side—’‘Not him,’ she snapped back.‘Is there anyone else?’‘You don’t understand—’‘I understand the situation perfectly. Dan Dymoke is the devil himself.The one whose name must never be spoken. Anyone would think the pair ofyou had had a passionate affair or something—’‘No!’ Then, because she knew she’d overreacted, ‘We only met oncebefore. When Nateand I had dinner with him when we told him that wewere moving in together. And about the baby.’‘Oh, please! I wouldn’t have
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Chapter Fifty Three
Chapter 53.EASY enough to announce that she was answering the wake-up call that fatehad rung so loudly in her ears. It was quite another to look the world in theeye at eight o’clock in the morning—and most of it appeared to be packedinto the underground train with her—and act on it.Miracesca had put in a couple of years at the coal face of marketingbefore she’d met Nate n. It hadn’t exactly been a riveting experience. Whatideas she’d offered had been brushed aside before, as the most juniormember of the team, she’d been despatched for coffee, sandwiches,photocopying. She hadn’t needed too much persuading not to return afterToby was born. None of the wives or partners of Nate n’s business friendshad worked, and it had been easy enough to fall into the round of gymworkouts, lunches and dinner parties. To pretend to herself that she had afull and rewarding life.Easy to pretend that she was happy. Bury the memory of a momentwhen the world had appeared to light up. Nate was
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