‘Everyone in your world,’ she pointed out, ‘and though I’m usually quite good at chatting to people and introducing myself, they just didn’t want to know. An introduction from you would have broken the ice...’ She paused. ‘Or was it that you didn’t want anyone to know you had brought your lowly gardener to the party?’
‘Don’t be so ridiculous. What about the ambassador? You were talking to him. The embassy has beautiful gardens. There was an opportunity for you right there.’
‘I was chatting to the ambassador because I wanted to talk to him. He was a really interesting man. Should I have taken advantage of that? Was I supposed to ingratiate myself with him for no better reason than to persuade him to give me a job?’
‘Why not?’ Marco demanded with a dismissive gesture. ‘That’s what networking is all about.’
‘In that instance, it would have been calculating, and not very nice.’
‘That’s your opinion.’
‘Yes, it is.’
‘It’s possible to be too nice, Cassandra.’
‘Is it? Is it really? I had no idea there was such a thing as being too nice. I liked the ambassador. We got on well together, and I had no thought of using him for networking, as you suggest.’
‘He could have given you a glimpse into another world—’
‘As you can?’ she flashed. ‘Maybe I don’t want to see what’s in that other world—maybe I already know. You’ve got no idea, have you, Marco? You live such a privileged life you don’t have a clue what it’s like to be on the outside, looking in.’
‘You couldn’t be further from the truth,’ he assured her tensely. ‘I know exactly how that feels.’
‘Do you?’ she exclaimed angrily. ‘Do you also know how it feels to be described as a nobody?’
Marco’s expression blackened ‘Who said that?’
‘You did!’ she flung back at him. ‘Is that how you think of everyone who works for you? Are we all nobodies?’
‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’
‘I heard you say it.’ And when Marco looked at her blankly, she spelled it out for him. ‘When one of your guests asked you about me, you said I was no one.’
‘Ah...’ Marco nodded his head. ‘Let me explain. The man I was talking to was a major fundraiser for my charity. He’s always on the lookout for new sponsors, as he should be—’
‘And, of course, I’m no use to him. I couldn’t do anything practical to help your charity, could I, Marco? And what can you do? Write another cheque?’
She had a point, he conceded. ‘I’m sure you could do a lot for my charity, and if my shorthand way of telling a fundraiser that he was wasting his time asking you for money has offended you, I apologise. Maybe you shouldn’t be so touchy.’
She shrugged. Her face was burning. Maybe she had overreacted.
‘I agree that I’m no one where the funding side of your charity is concerned, but I could do other things apart from giving money. I could give my time, for instance.’
‘I have no doubt of it,’ Marco said, and then he surprised her with the hint of a smile.
It was the fact that they came from two such different worlds that was at the heart of her anger, Cass realised. Marco’s world frightened her because she’d had experience of it, and, however many years ago it had been, there were some memories that never faded.
And Marco? Sometimes, when he relaxed like this and showed her a warmer, more caring side, she knew that his pain cut as deep as hers—he was just better at hiding it. They had never really talked, so she didn’t know what lay behind Marco’s armour. Why would they talk? She was paid to do a job. She was his gardener, briefly on an outing to help him. She was a place-filler, a puppet. ‘You must think I’m stupid, overreacting like that...’
‘Not at all,’ he said firmly.
‘But I am naïve enough to allow you to dress me up like a doll, and then expect you to be interested enough to spend all evening with me.’
‘You are an extremely forthright woman,’ he remarked with amusement in his eyes.
‘Yes, I am,’ she agreed.
‘You did well tonight.’
‘Are you mocking me now?’ she asked suspiciously.
‘No,’ Marco murmured, the faint smile still in place. ‘I’m very grateful to you. I can’t think of anyone who could have pulled this off with such style and grace at such short notice. I’m only sorry I didn’t make more effort to...break the ice for you, as you put it. I do know that society here can be very hard to break into.’