Chapter 4

"Well, I have to say the last six years have been kind to you, Kevin."

"Sorry, what was that?"

"I said you're looking well. In fact, I think you look younger and fitter than you were when I left."

"Well, I decided I needed to get into better shape. Add to that the dancing and cycling I've been doing."

"You? Dancing and cycling? What brought that on?"

"I can't help being an old dad to any more children I have, but I don't have to be a fat old dad."

"You plan on having more children? At your age?"

"I'm forty-eight, Lisa, not eighty-four. Charlie Chaplin was still siring children at eighty-two."

"Yes, but he had a young wife."

"And what makes you think I couldn't get a young wife?"

"Oh my god, Kevin, you haven't bought yourself a Russian bride, have you?"

She still hadn't learned her lesson, it seemed. I'd have put her straight but at that moment the doorbell rang. I went to answer it, knowing it was likely to be my son, Elliott. I opened the door.

"Hi, Dad. Is she still here?" I showed him in.

"Elliott, how are you, darling?"

"Fat lot you care. You piss off for six years, then come back and think everything's going to be the same as it was. It doesn't work like that, Mum. People move on."

"But I always loved you. You're my darling boy. You know that."

"Just not enough to let me know you were still alive, though."

"I didn't want your father to find me."

"What makes you think I wanted to?" I added.

"So where have you been these last six years, Mother, dear?" There was more than a hint of irony in his voice—he must have inherited something from me.

"She's been running a Spanish bordello," I told him. "Madam Lisa." I really wasn't helping matters, so I left them to it.

We didn't go up to Doncaster straight away when term ended. Jane and I quickly got over our little upset, and she spent some time moving into the house. It had been her suggestion. Rather than me paying for her student accommodation, I could just provide the accommodation. It made sense to me—she was spending as many nights in my house as she was in her room. I insisted that she used Elliott's old room—after all, there would be nights when she'd need to work, and she might just need to get away from me. There was the small worry about transport, but Lisa's Mini was still in the garage so I let her use that.

The journey up to Doncaster was uneventful. The Jag just ate up the miles. We stopped a couple of times at the motorway services for overpriced, bad food and arrived in the centre of Doncaster in the early evening. The sat-nav took me straight to my hotel. When I pulled into the car park Jane's face had a curious expression.

"What are we doing here? We can't stay here, my parents will be very upset if we don't stay with them."

"I've taken a room here as insurance. I'm sure your mum and dad will be thrilled to see you, but maybe less thrilled to see me."

"I'm sure they'll love you, but I suppose some insurance isn't a bad idea."

We checked in and I took some luggage up to my room. Jane came up with me to help unpack and to see what the room was like.

"Hmm, so this is what an executive double room looks like. I love the bed. We'll have to make an excuse to come back and try it out."

We made our way to a nice little semi-detached on the outskirts of town. I parked the car in the drive, and as we reached the front door it was opened by a man in his sixties. His grey hair was thinning, he was a little overweight and had the look of a man who was once a lady killer. Jane threw her arms around him.

"Dad, how are you?"

"I'm fine, darling. How are you? You're certainly looking well. This must be Kevin—come into the light, my boy, let me get a look at you."

I stepped forward and took his hand to shake it. He brought his other hand round and placed it on top of mine as we shook hands.

"You're very welcome, my boy. Our Jane's told me a lot about you. Now come in and meet the wife."

I followed him in, with Jane's suitcase and my overnight bag. I put the bags down in the hall and followed Jane and her dad into the kitchen. The greeting between Jane and her mum was somewhat cooler. Her mother was about the same age as me. She was about five foot four inches, slim build with shoulder length blonde hair. In her day she would have been quite a looker—still could be if she tried a bit harder. As they hugged, Jane's mother looked straight past her to me.

"And who's this?" she asked.

"Mum, this is Kevin. He's a friend, and we're going to be sharing a house."

"Sharing a house or sharing a bed?"

"Jane has her own room, Mrs Draper," I said and offered her my hand.

My offer was ignored. Jane gripped my arm and put her head on my shoulder.

"Can we offer you two a drink, and maybe some food?" asked Jane's father.

"I'd love a coffee please, Mr Draper," I said.

"Oh, please, call me Derek, and this is Linda."

"I'll have a coffee as well, please, Dad, especially if it's the good stuff."

Derek Draper laughed. "She takes after her father, Kevin. She appreciates a good cup of coffee."

"Oh, I know that, Derek, that's how we met. There's only one place on campus that serves good coffee, so we both ended up there, sat at the same table."

I really liked Derek, and he obviously had a good relationship with Jane. Linda was a different matter. I'm not without a certain amount of charm, but it didn't seem to work on Jane's mother. She was always cool towards me, and I frequently found her staring at me. Christmas passed very amiably, but the day before New Year's Eve the TV showed a review of the year. When it got to November everything changed.

"This was the month when businessman Kevin Bryant took his fight for justice to the courts, having, he claimed, been persecuted by the police and the press," the reporter said.

Linda Draper brought her hand up to her mouth. "Oh my god, you're him aren't you?" she said, looking at me. "You're Kevin Bryant, the man who got away with murder."

"No, Linda, I'm Kevin Bryant, the man whose wife left him."

"The Post says you murdered her. There's no smoke without fire. Oh my god, my daughter's going out with a murderer."

"Linda, Kevin's our guest, and I'm proud to live in a country where a man is innocent until proven guilty. Now, he asked them to provide evidence that his wife's dead but they can't."

"You knew. You knew and you didn't tell me. I've had a murderer under my roof and you knew."

"Technically, Linda, it's my roof, and I'm happy to have Kevin here."

I stood up and looked at them both. "Derek, I'm sorry, but my presence here's causing you a problem. I think the best thing I can do is leave. I'll go up and get my stuff."

Jane had a pained look on her face as I left the room. Derek and Linda were still arguing. When I came down with my bag I popped in to say my goodbyes, just in time to hear Jane.

"I'm sorry, Mum, but if Kevin isn't welcome here, then neither am I. Wait there, Kevin—I'm coming with you."

Derek came out and apologised for his wife. I told him where we'd be and to give us a call if he managed to talk her round. I saw Jane at the top of the stairs and dashed up to bring down her case. She followed me down and, as I went out with the bags, she gave her dad a kiss.

Back at the hotel we did try out that bed. We had some of the best sex we'd ever had. The next day I called Derek and invited them both to come to dinner with us at the hotel. He turned up without Linda, and that set the pattern for the rest our relationship. Derek was a good bloke who was willing to give me the benefit of the doubt, but his wife was convinced that I was some evil beast. We never went back to stay in Doncaster, but I did fix things up for Jane to see her dad. They obviously had a very special relationship, while he and I became great friends. When I suggested that she accompany me on my annual skiing holiday, he actively encouraged her to go.

Two weeks in Klosters staying in a client's ski lodge was heavenly. Jane was keen to learn to ski and took to it like a duck to water. There was no shortage of ski instructors keen to help her develop her technique. She simply told them that she already had a personal instructor. By the end of the first week she'd progressed from the nursery slopes to some of the more exciting runs. I offered nights out in Davos, where the apres ski scene was much more active, but she was happy to stay in quieter Klosters and curl up in front of the fire with me. While we were there we had a press invasion—Charlie and the young princes had apparently joined us. Jane couldn't understand why I found it so funny, but I was thinking of Lisa and her wanting to mix with the jet set, yet here I was holidaying with royalty.

While Bob and Wendy were away on their cruise, it fell to me to handle the entertaining of clients and, of course, Jane always came with me and played hostess. I was conscious that there was some talk about my young partner. The talk didn't worry me, and the clients were always charmed by her. It wasn't just her youthful good looks—she really did charm them. It seemed effortless to her. She had some understanding of business—after all, she was studying business and corporate law. She was keen to learn what she could, and the way she listened so intently to the points put forward endeared her to the clients we entertained. When Bob returned, he seemed to be very happy with the way things had gone. He invited Jane and I to dinner so that he could outline his plans for himself and the company. He was impressed with Jane and couldn't resist asking me about her.

"I must say, young Jane is quite something. How did you meet her?"

"On a scouting trip at the university." It was the first time I'd lied to Bob. I hoped he'd forgive me if he found out the truth.

"She acts like a mature young lady for her age. How old is she?"

"Twenty."

"And you're, what, forty-two? The age gap doesn't throw up any problems?"

"No, Bob, not really. There was no age gap with Lisa but I seem to have more in common with Jane than I ended up having with Lisa."

"Well, you seem happy enough, and you're certainly looking well."

"I am, Bob. I know it may not last, but I'm happy now, and I'm willing to take it while I can."

As dinner progressed, Bob got around to his plans which were actually a lot more far reaching than I'd expected.

"Our production side doesn't make a whole lot of money. It's your division, Design and Development, that makes the cash, as you well know. The last item you developed is making us more in a week than production makes in a year."

"So what are you saying, Bob? Do you want to close the production side?"

"Oh no, we still make money on it, but I'm saying that expansion of manufacturing doesn't make a lot of sense. Investing in Design and Development does. What would you say is the biggest growth area?"

"Digital signal processing, without a doubt."

"And you've been working on designing chips for that purpose."

"Yes, we're very close to a marketable floor plan."

"What I want is for you to expand that division and especially in the development of DSP chips. I want you to run that side of the business and I'll concentrate on manufacturing. I'm going to cut my time down to three days a week. Of course, it will mean an increase in salary."

As we made our way back home in the back of a taxi, Jane cuddled up to me, her head on my shoulder and both her hands holding on to my arm.

"Did I hear things right back there? Was my man just asked to take over the running of most of the business?" Her words took me a bit by surprise.

"If by your man you mean me, then yes, I have."

"Oh, that's so cool. You must be really good at what you do if he trusts you enough to put you in charge."

"I'm good at some things. There are some things I'm really good at," and I took her in my arms and kissed her.

As we broke the kiss she smiled at me. "There are some things that go without saying."

Sex was always outstanding on nights we'd been entertaining. I wasn't sure whether it was seeing me in action with the clients or dancing with the clients who were sometimes younger than me. However, this night she made it perfectly clear. After the most amazing blowjob, she straddled me and milked my cock with her pussy. She looked down at me with a look in her eyes I didn't recognise. "I am so proud of you." I felt my chest puff up and I swear my cock grew another inch as her hips continued their rise and fall.

The police compensated me in full for all the damage to my property and for my accommodation while the house was being repaired. They also paid for damage to my reputation. The Post was the one I relished the most. Half a million pounds and a grudging apology. Of course, they never accepted that I was innocent, just that, so far, no evidence had been found. The money was tainted as far as I was concerned. Having won it, I had no idea what to do with it. It was Jane who came up with the best solution. The Kevin Bryant bursary for promising engineering students.

Now that she was living with me, there was no need to pay for her accommodation, and since the object of our arrangement was to avoid her being burdened with debt, I started paying her tuition fees. At first she objected, but I made it clear the matter wasn't up for discussion. What she didn't realise was that, for me, paying the bills was a constant reminder of our arrangement. A reminder I needed if I was going to be able to deal with the aftermath when it came to an end.

By the spring of that year I was feeling the best I ever had. Thanks to my exercise regime I'd lost a bit of weight and developed a physique younger men would be envious of. My face, too, was thinner. The change was enough to make Sally, my PA, pass comment.

"I'll say one thing for that young lady of yours, she's certainly good for you."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked.

"Look at you—you look ten years younger. If that's the effect of having a younger partner then I'm getting myself a toy boy."