LITMIR.BIZ

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at her watch. ‘Get that car round and I’ll be going. I’ve got people to talk to if I’m going to be on the plane to New York tonight.’

      But she was.

      And the next morning, in spite of jet lag and Gil’s impassive disapproval, her first call was at the uptown offices of Elegance Magazine.

      ‘Annie?’ said Bella incredulously on the house phone when the receptionist called up to the office. ‘Annie? It’s truly you? You’re here?’

      ‘In person. But I’ve got a meeting in a couple of hours. Could we have lunch?’

      ‘Sure. I’ll just grab my coat. Be down in five minutes.’

      It was nearer ten. In that time Bella had the chance to recover from her first surprised delight. She kissed Annis warmly enough but her manner was wary.

      Still, she took her by the arm and sped her along the slushy pavements to her favourite Italian restaurant.

      ‘Why didn’t you say you were coming when we spoke?’ said Bella when they were seated.

      ‘Didn’t know. I’m working for one of these do-it-now types. He sprang it on me.’

      ‘Doesn’t sound like you to let a man spring something on you.’

      ‘You don’t know Gil. He takes single-mindedness to a new plane.’

      ‘Hope it’s just single-mindedness about work,’ said Bella, trying to tease and, to her own ears, not quite managing it.

      Annis didn’t hear anything wrong though. She smiled. ‘Like I said, you don’t know Gil. If he has any feelings, which I doubt, he archived them a long time ago.’

      ‘Sounds a pain.’

      ‘No,’ said Annis. ‘No, he’s not a pain. He’s demanding and stimulating and huge fun to work for. He’s just single-minded, like I said.’

      ‘Single-minded about what?’

      ‘His work. Computers,’ said Annis, conscious of client confidentiality.

      ‘Oh.’ Computers bored Bella to tears. ‘What we call a dweeb, over here.’

      Annis gave a private smile, remembering Ellen. ‘His staff don’t think so.’

      But Bella was not interested in Annis’s client. After they’d ordered, she passed her sister under a quick, critical inspection and was pleased.

      ‘You’re looking good, Brain Box.’

      ‘Kosta’s influence,’ said Annis ruefully. ‘He’s cleared out my wardrobe.’

      ‘And he’s obviously taking care of you,’ said Bella approvingly.

      The pain almost went away when she remembered how happy Kosta Vitale made this dear, difficult sister of hers.

      ‘Yes. He certainly takes care of me.’

      When Annis smiled, all the love she felt, all the love she received shone out of her, thought Bella.

      ‘Good.’

      ‘Bella—’ But the waiter arrived with their food and whatever Annis was going to say evaporated under a hail of condiments and bottled water and wine.

      When he had gone, she said, ‘How are you, though? You look very smart. Beautiful as ever.’ The ‘but’ she did not say hung in the air.

      Bella knew what she meant.

      Only yesterday Bella had gone to the hair salon. Her blonde hair was sculpted into a shining helmet that hugged her elegant head, then feathered out over her shoulders. To the natural gold, Raul had added just a hint of streaking to give it depth and lightness, as he’d assured her. Her legs were still perfect and her figure enough to bring out any red-blooded man in a sweat of lust. But Bella knew, and Annis would see, that she was thinner than she had been. A lot thinner. Her shoulders looked as fragile as bird’s bones under the elegant little top. And the moment she stopped talking her face, reflected in the tall mirror behind Annis, was drawn.

      ‘I’m adjusting,’ she said carefully. ‘It can be a bit stressful.’

      ‘I can see that,’ said Annis, equally careful. ‘What’s your boss like?’

      Bella’s face suddenly creased into its irresistible gamine grin. ‘Impressed. For the first time in her life, apparently.’

      Annis grinned back. ‘Oh? You must have been writing like an angel.’

      ‘Nothing to do with me. It’s all down to you.’

      ‘Explain,’ said Annis, entertained.

      ‘Well Caruso never wanted this exchange thing. She doesn’t like trainees or foreigners and foreigners begin in New Jersey. But she just loves high-achievers. You and Dad have done it for me.’

      ‘Me?’ echoed Annis, genuinely taken aback.

      ‘The consultancy got a name check in the Wall Street Journal. Caruso saw it and asked me if that was my sister. So I said yes and basked in your reflected glory.’ Bella chuckled at Annis’s expression. ‘We don’t only read about fashion and film stars, you know. Caruso has a regular feature, millionaire of the month. Carry on the way you’re going, and I’ll get you a slot.’

      ‘Thank you,’ said Annis.

      Bella laughed aloud.

      ‘No, I haven’t got the influence yet. But I’m getting there. Caruso has given me a piece to write about what it’s like starting out in New York. It’s called New In Town. It’s in the April edition. I’ll send you a copy.’

      ‘I’ll buy it.’

      ‘No need to go that far. I know you never read anything but the financial press.’

      ‘I told you, Kosta’s educating me.’

      Bella flinched. She could not help it. The name came out of nowhere and she was not ready for it.

      Fortunately Annis was concentrating on her fettucini and did not notice.

      ‘I shall expect fan mail, then,’ said Bella after a minimal pause. Her amusement did not even sound forced, she congratulated herself.

      ‘Count on it.’ Annis stirred her pasta absently. ‘Bella, look, I don’t want to interfere with your job, of course I don’t, but my wedding—’

      Bella braced herself. But Annis was talking more to herself than she was to Bella.

      ‘I don’t know what’s happening. You know that we wanted it to be really small, just immediate family and a couple of friends. But I keep bumping into people who tell me they’re coming, though I haven’t asked them and neither has Kosta. And we’re getting wedding presents from people I haven’t seen for twenty years.’ Her voice rose. ‘Lynda says everything’s fine, she’s got it all under control, but she doesn’t listen to me. I don’t know what to do.’ She looked up then, her face pinched. ‘When I said I need you, I wasn’t joking.’

      Bella stared at her, horrified.

      Suddenly she was swamped by memory. Annis was not the cool-suited businesswoman who’d impressed Rita Caruso any more. She was the Annis who had climbed up to get Bella out of the apple tree when she’d been stuck; the Annis who was scared of heights and clumsy with it, but who had still told Bella to stop crying and not look down; the Annis who had got her back on the ground and then had been violently and noisily sick. Anxious and determined and scared but still the Annis who did not give up just because she didn’t think she could do it.

      How could Bella let her down?

      Yet how could she not? Surely the best thing for Annis was for Bella to stay away from the man they were both in love with. Annis was going to marry him, after all. Only Bella could not say that she was in love with him, not ever, not out loud. Annis must never know.

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