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secretary has just put her head round the door to tell me someone else wants
to know where to find you. Don't worry not a Press hound: your
boy-friend. I'll ring off and give him your number. Call me back, would
you?'
Savanna replaced the receiver, wondering what was so urgent that Jago
needed to speak to her during working hours. He had taken her and her
mother to the theatre the night before, booking a box so that Mrs Bancroft,
who found it difficult to sit still for long periods, would be able to change
her position during the performance.
Tomorrow night they were dining together. Tonight he was entertaining
some business associates from Germany.
The telephone rang. When she answered it, Jago said, 'The Press has latched
on to our engagement. I think you may be subjected to a certain amount of
harassment in the next few days. As I can't be with you all the time, and I
don't want you to be put through too much third degree stuff, I've arranged
for someone else to look after you.'
'Is that necessary? Will it be as bad as that?'
'Maybe not, but I'm taking no chances. Politicians and show business types
can cope with the limelight. They love it.'
Was he thinking of his 'close friend', the actress?
'But although the cameras won't upset you, the questions may not be so easy
to handle,' he continued. 'It takes a tough cookie to survive a barrage of
personal questions, and you're not the type to stay cool under that kind of
pressure.'
Was that a criticism? she wondered.
Aloud, she said, 'Who is going to look after me?'
'Miles Masters. He's the younger brother of a man I shared a study with at
school. Recently Miles has spent some time guarding the children of an
Italian manufacturer who was worried about them being kidnapped. But I
gather there's a girl in England whom he wants to see more of, so he's come
back to this country, and at present he's free to protect you from being
hounded by the Press. What time are you finishing work today?'
It was arranged that Miles should collect Savanna from the salon where she
was having her hair cut.
When Jago had rung off, she re-dialled Margaret's number and told her it no
longer mattered if her address was released because now she had someone
to protect her if any Pressmen became too pressing.
Her first sight of Miles was from her seat under a dryer hood her hair was
too long and thick to be blown dry when he walked into the reception area
and spoke to the girl behind the desk.
She indicated that he should take a seat, which he did, but not until he had
paused by the short flight of steps leading down to the hairdressing area and
scanned the faces of the clients.
To Savanna's surprise he recognised her, and smiled. She smiled back. Until
then she had thought he was calling for someone else. He wasn't the burly,
rugger-playing type she had expected, but a lightly-built man in his late
twenties, of medium height, with medium brown hair, and medium
looks neither noticeably attractive yet not unattractive. She judged that
when she was wearing flat heels as she was at the moment, he might top her
by an inch. In high heels, she would be the taller.
He chose a chair from which they could still see each other, but he didn't
look at her again. She watched him glancing through a copy of Harpers &
Queen and evidently finding an article which interested him, because after a
bit he stopped flicking over the pages and began to read. She wondered how
he had landed the job in Italy. He was not at all her idea of a bodyguard.
The Italian who always did her hair knew that, when she came for a cut, she
didn't want elaborate styling. He took out the clips which had held it in large
loose curls under the dryer, then gave it a vigorous brushing with two bristle
brushes.
He had already remarked on her engagement, asked when the wedding was
to be, and hoped she would want him to dress her hair for it. Now, passing
the brushes to his assistant, he used his fingers to pull a soft airy fringe
across her forehead, and loosen the rest into an artfully tumbled mane of
pale gold silk. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]