“We made a bad deal, Grandmother. When we sold our shares. They’ve fired me, and they are doing a dreadful job. Our shares have declined in value.” He paused. “Quite steeply.”

A momentary flicker of concern. “We are still wealthy, of course?”

Tom nodded. “Right now, yes.”

“This house is your father’s.”

“Mine,” he corrected her.

“Darling.” Annoyance flashed across her features, and Tom made out the ashes of a ruined beauty there. “I thought we were agreed that your father is still alive. I won’t have talk to the contrary in my house. . . .”

Tom mirrored her annoyance. Had Katherine even noticed that he said he’d been fired? All she seemed to care about was the value of her trust fund.

“Technically, it is my house,” Tom repeated. “I don’t know, Grandmother. I am starting to think that Maman was right. As she was right in what she did with House Massot.” He sighed. “Certainly she made less of a hash of things than me.”

“Your mother knows nothing,” Katherine snapped. “She is the one who gave up on Pierre. And now she has poisoned you.”

“Please, Grandmother,” he protested. “I haven’t spoken to Maman for over a month. This is my own conclusion. You can’t read the balance sheet without seeing the same thing.”

“Business!” Katherine frowned. “Your mother is a housewife. She knows nothing of business. That is Pierre’s sphere. She made a fool of herself. . . .”

“On the contrary.” Tom was rather angry now. His grandmother had no cause to sound so . . . spiteful, there was no other word for it. “Mother has started a new business, and it is doing very well indeed. Rather better than House Massot. She has an instinctive flair for jewellery.”

“Pierre would hate that.”

“My father is not here.”

“And is she still shacked up with that man?” Katherine demanded.

Tom hesitated. He didn’t like the idea of Hugh with his mother. Perhaps he never would. It was disconcerting to think of one’s parents as romantic. But the venom with which Katherine Massot was talking called for some defense.

“Grandmother,” he said calmly. “I’ll trouble you not to use that tone when you speak of Maman. She is a legal widow, and she is engaged to Montfort. We’ve had our differences, but we are all still a family, aren’t we?”

There was a little pause.

“Of course we are, darling.”

Her tone was placid. But Tom was uneasy. He was noticing subtleties he’d missed before. Tension in her voice. Her eyes sliding away from him.

“And speaking of family,” Katherine said brightly. “When are we to welcome the new Mrs. Massot?”

“What do you mean?” he said.