Page 51 of The House on Sunset Lake

Connor turned to Sarah. ‘Could you excuse us for a few moments?’ he said, indicating that she was no longer welcome.

When she had gone, they were both silent for a few seconds.

‘So how did it feel then, Johnson? Did it give you all the satisfaction you thought it would?’

‘I’m not sure what you’re talking about, Connor,’ said Jim, not moving his gaze from the other man’s.

‘Buying Casa D’Or. A master class in petty point-scoring if ever I saw one.’

‘No,’ said Jim emphatically. ‘It wasn’t a point score. We were looking for a house in the South. We looked at Casa D’Or. I happen to think it needed saving.’

‘Needed saving!’ scoffed Connor. ‘Is that how you’re justifying it to yourself when you’re trying to sleep at night? You leave Savannah under a cloud. You come back and rub salt into the wound after everything that happened. Sylvia Wyatt died in that house, Jim, and you write to Jennifer asking for permission to turn it into a pleasure palace. If that’s not the most fucking immoral and insensitive thing I have heard in the property business, I don’t know what is.’

Jim felt angered that Connor had taken the moral high ground. He felt sure that men like Connor didn’t get to be as rich or successful as he had without making some ruthless decisions. The truth was, though, he knew the other man had a point.

‘I know you’re here in the city now, Johnson, I know you’ve even seen Jen once or twice.’ Connor put his glass of champagne down on a table and looked Jim directly in the eye. ‘But if you mention that house to her, if you mention the family name in any of the marketing material, if you bring her anywhere near that place, involve her in any way, then I will do everything I can in my power to make things difficult in Savannah. Do you understand?’

‘You don’t need to threaten me, Connor,’ said Jim coolly. ‘I’ve only ever had Jen’s best interests at heart.’

‘Really? You’ve got no idea what Jennifer’s best interests are,’ Connor said coldly. ‘You did your best to sabotage our relationship, pit Jennifer against her family. And when she fell apart after what happened, where were you to pick up the pieces?’

I was sent away, thought Jim, clenching his hand into a fist.

Just go back to England, Jim. If you are truly my friend, you should do what is right for all of us and not contact me again.

Connor shook his head, glaring at Jim. Then, with a snort of disgust, he turned and stalked back towards the house.

‘Shit,’ whispered Jim under his breath. He fe

lt the same way he used to after trying to lock horns with his father as a young man: like he’d just been run over.

He looked around for Sarah, but she was locked in conversation with a supermodel. He didn’t feel she would welcome an interruption, not when she was probably trying to secure an interview or a story for Whizzfeed.

He picked up the glass of champagne that Connor had left behind and knocked the dregs down his throat. Then he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and left the pool area through a side gate that led to the beach, letting the party noise fade behind him.

The light had fallen out of the sky and the horizon was streaked peach and violet. As he got closer to the water, he could hear the sound of the waves crashing against the shore.

A sobering thought hit him. No matter what he felt about Connor – and right from the start he had never liked him – there was no denying that he loved Jennifer. And for that, he felt like a cuckoo in the nest just being here.

He kicked at a stone with his toe, then bent to pick it up. Flat and round, it felt good in his hand. Whipping his arm sideways, he threw the pebble, spinning it with his index finger, watching with satisfaction as it hopped once, twice . . . four . . . no, five times across the water before disappearing with a plop.

‘You tried to teach me to do that, do you remember?’ said a voice behind him.

He turned around and saw Jennifer standing there, holding a glass.

‘I never could get it, though, could I?’

Jim took a step towards her. The sea roared on to the beach and sucked a raft of pebbles out to its depths

‘What are you doing out here?’ he said finally.

‘Coming to bring you in.’

‘Don’t be daft, I’m just getting some air.’

‘So how rude was Connor to you?’ she asked, searching around for words.

He frowned.