Extending her hand, the woman said, 'I understand you're the girl who's marrying Theo.'
Pamela shook the proffered hand, wondering if she should expect trouble. The woman, giving no indication of her intent, smiled, removed her sunglasses, and sat down without being invited.
'Not to worry, luv. I can't stay for more than a moment or two, but. You know who I am, don't you?'
'I've seen your picture,' Pamela told her.
'I hope it were one where I had something on,' the woman said. 'Any road, I'm glad Theo finally found someone else to make his life miserable. When I heard he was getting hitched, I finally felt like a big weight had been taken off. But I still felt I had to come by, just to take the measure of you. I didn't realize that Theo was marrying a kiddie, though! How old are you? Seventeen? Eighteen? You're nowt but a babbie. Never took Theo for a perv, but. Oh well, I can tell you're just like him- upper-crust, sharp in business, good with the hoi polloi, hardworking . . . no dirt under your fingernails-'
Biting back on sudden anger, thin-lipped and pale, Pamela said, 'I grew up on the streets, for your information. Doing business of any sort is entirely new to me. I have always worked hard, and I am no stranger to having dirt under my fingernails. If you've come here hoping to ease your conscience or to damage Theo in my eyes, you can forget it. The only thing Theo ever saw in you was a chance to get back at his father. Well, you're a little late. Henry Dewhurst is long out of the frame. And so are you.'
Oblivious to the two pairs of eyes that witnessed this exchange with frank admiration, Pamela watched as the woman's colour drained from her face, saw her haughtiness evaporate.
'Well, well,' she muttered, rising to her feet, an unmistakable and unwilling note of respect in her voice, 'Theo's got himself a real tiger.' She left, slowly at first, but with growing alacrity, a stifled petulance in the set of her shoulders.
Fred whistled the moment the woman had left. 'Remind me to stay on your good side.'
'Ditto,' Tessa echoed. 'You were awesome!'
'I've never been so rude to anyone before in my life,' Pamela said, trying unsuccessfully to muster some sense of remorse, however small. 'I wanted to scratch her eyes out.'
'You may as well have,' Fred told her. 'It's a certainty that she'll never try to muck with you again . . . unless she's daft.'