Page 42 of Pride and Privilege

Or perhaps a change was as good as a holiday, and this was as close as he was going to get to either.

On Sunday morning, Roscoe returned from the gym to find Poppy sitting at the kitchen island working on… Well. He could only assume it was a laptop. But it looked like it should be in a museum.

Grinning, he strolled over for a closer inspection of the antique. She hastily closed the lid, but not before he read the wordsPoppy Fields CV.

“Updating your CV?” A spike of unpleasant emotion forced the question from him before he could think better of it.

“No. Yes. A little.”

Roscoe walked to the sink. Poured himself a glass of water. He turned and leant back against the worktop and took a sip. Ever so casual. Fooling no one. “Applying for a new job?”

She was blushing, but she shook her head. “No.”

“I know the EA position was meant to be temporary, and with everything that happened with my dad there wasn’t time to start the recruitment process… But if you want to stay, I can make the position permanent. Not that I give out jobs to my friends.”

Shit. That was exactly what he was doing. But the thought of work without Poppy there in his corner was…

Awful. He didn’t want to think about it.

“What I mean is,” he continued, “I’d be happy to make that recommendation to HR, talk to Liz.”

“Thank you.” But her voice was all tight corners, as correct and proper as a freshly made army bed. “But I’m not looking at my CV for a job. It’s…” Her colour deepened. She toyed with the crooked power cable where it lay on the edge of the counter. “Well, it’s embarrassing.”

He stepped away from the sink and put his glass down on the kitchen island opposite where she sat. “I’m sure it’s not. Tell me. Please. If you want to.”

“I was going to apply to some courses. See if I could reduce my hours a little and use the time to study. I can probably afford it now that I don’t have to commute.”

“Why is that embarrassing?”

“Because I’d be studying A-Levels! I left school when I could. Had to start earning money, barely got any qualifications. I’ve never been to university or anything like that.”

“Poppy… That’s not embarrassing. Why would you think that?”

“You have anMBA. You went toCambridge.”

“Well. So did a lot of idiots.”

She gave a small laugh, and Roscoe leant his forearms on the kitchen island, bending down to meet her eye where she sat hunched on the stool. “I think it’s a great idea.”

“Really? Because my ultimate aim is to work up to a degree and then…” Her cheeks were flaming, but she forced herself to meet his eyes, courage sparking in their blue depths. “Then I want to apply for the grad scheme. At BG. Or wherever will take me. If I can’t get a junior role with my current experience, it’s my best option.” She paused. “Wanting that job… It’s never been a fleeting fancy. It’s been my plan for two years.”

Her bravery wasn’t just in admitting that, but in bringing them both back to a memory of that first night and how things had been between them. She forced him to remember. And she forced him to remember that night in his office when he had sneered,again, and dismissed the things she said about her career.

I’ve remembered my place. Thank you for the lesson.

No wonder she’d looked at him with such anger. Shame crawled sick and hot over his skin. But he made himself meet her eyes squarely. She deserved that much. She deserved much more.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

It sent a little tremor through her. He saw her hand twitch.

“I was dismissive. And ignorant. And I’m sorry.”

“It’s OK.”

“No. It’s not. But I’ll try to make up for it. I can help you. I can help you choose the right courses. I know people—I can get you work experience. And I can teach you some of the basics—set you up with a practice trading account so you can get an idea of how investment works…”

He trailed off because she was smiling, half-laughing.

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