Page 62 of Betrayal

Of course he did.Hunter forced himself to smile.“No exceptions.Not even for the PM.”He’d made his point.The current PM had stepped down pending investigation of sexual harassment allegations.Did the PM’s kids feel as tainted as Hunter did?

A bare fifteen minutes later, Anna breezed into the office, and Hunter was grateful for her punctuality.She also lit up a room, and his off-key mood shifted closer to balance.He hadn’t figured out if it was her smile, the positive energy she generated, or her warmth.He’d seen her with strangers and friends.People liked her.People talked to her.

With her hand on his shoulder, she pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth.“Hi.”

“Is that gardenia?”He rested his hand on her hip, letting the scent swirl in his head.

“Some.”Her grin was intimate, mischievous.

Hunter understood his earlier dread.Nick could hurt her.Despite her tough outer shell, she was marshmallow on the inside, and not immune to the kind of taunts Nick had thrown at every friend Hunter had ever had, undermining their sense of self or badmouthing them to whoever would listen.Even Anna, strong as she was, wouldn’t be able to withstand constant vicious jibes and attacks on her sense of self.

“I’ve got a few things to finish up.”I’ve got to get my head straight.“You can work in a meeting room, if you like?”

“I’m going to add to your list.”She threaded her fingers through his.“Can you give me ten minutes?”

“This is a pitch?”

He allowed her to lead him to the meeting room.Was it his imagination, or did the room carry Nick’s stale, old-entitled-white-man odour?

“I’m asking for your help.”She sank into a chair and pulled one around to face her.“Maybe you can sit down?”

At her request, they sat, knees touching.

“I’m listening.”

She patted his knee.“I know you are.I’m just marshalling my arguments.”

“Sounds serious.”

Had she seen Nick leaving?And hated Hunter for dealing with a man she despised?

Stop trying to second-guess yourself.

“Here goes.Niall needs a venue for his exhibition.Preferably inner-west, ware-housie, industrial.Exhibition to start in two weeks and last a fortnight.Access in the days beforehand essential.Cheap rent.”

“You want me to organise the space.”Relief she hadn’t seen Nick was his first thought.

“Lucy found out about the exhibition and blames herself for him cancelling it.”

“You blame her.”

“Yeah, well.It’s more complicated than that.”Her exhalation lifted her fringe.“Silly idiot also refused the bequest, and he’ll be homeless within weeks.”

“Unravel that for me.”

“Niall had a twelve-month lease on a property Cam McTavish owned.Essentially a workshop at mate’s rates.Cam’s will left Niall another year free, if he agreed to be a mentor in a foundation set up in Cam and his wife’s name.Cam knew about the exhibition.No exhibition, so Niall thinks he’s unsuitable as a mentor.”

“You want me to find permanent accommodation for Niall and his workshop?”

“Not yet.”She smiled as if she expected him to solve all her family’s problems.He didn’t do family well.Witness his failure to manage one biological parent he’d had nothing to do with for most of the past decade.

“Lucy sent him packing.”Anna whooshed out the air in her lungs.“He’s trying to win her over with the exhibition.”

“Last time I spoke to Lucy, she’d got her shit together,” Hunter said.

Lucy had been desperately poor in her first ten years, and she and her mum had often been just ahead of debt collectors.Lucy had let those memories panic her when she’d inherited her grandfather’s business.Juggling huge medical bills for her grandfather’s care, the setup costs for the foundation Cam wanted established in his and his wife’s name, the running costs for an antiques warehouse, and the family home, with Lucy’s paranoia about debt had led to some unintended outcomes.

“Whatever that means.”Anna rolled her eyes.

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