A Perfect Obsession Read Free Page A

there?’
    ‘All right,’ said Anthony.
    ‘And obviously, if you can make it, that would be useful.’
    ‘I’ll see what I can do.’
    ‘Catch you later.’
    Anthony put the phone down. He sometimes wondered, beyond the setting up of the original trust, what use he was to his father in this project. He seemed to like his presence at these meetings. Maybe it was, as Leo had once suggested, a way of validating himself in his son’s eyes, reminding him that he was no longer a failure. Chay was such a child in many ways. Anthony turned to the window and stared out at the building works going on at number 7, diagonally opposite. The top floor was being turned into an annexe to relieve the pressure on the already overcrowded chambers at number 5, and all day the sound of hammering and drilling filled the normally tranquil air.
    A figure appeared in the courtyard below, hurrying fromnumber 5 towards Middle Temple Lane, a young woman with chestnut hair, the blue bag containing her wig and gown slung over her shoulder, papers tucked beneath one arm. A pang touched Anthony’s heart as he watched her disappear through the archway. It was almost three months since his affair with Camilla Lawrence had ended. He hadn’t been out with any other girl regularly since. No doubt there were those, including many members of chambers, who would say that it was just as well, that it wasn’t healthy to conduct an intimate relationship with another barrister in the same chambers, but there had been a time when Anthony had thought he was truly in love. He wondered now. Since the relationship had been abruptly terminated by Camilla’s discovery that Anthony had had a brief fling with Sarah Colman while Camilla was away in Bermuda on a case, it was reasonable to assume that his feelings couldn’t have been as deep as he had supposed. Not that he would have had anything to do with Sarah if she hadn’t come on to him in the way she had … it was very hard at twenty-four to resist that kind of temptation. She had probably just been making mischief, as usual. Still, she had been the cause of their break up.
    And the cause of his present rift with Leo. He turned away from the window and sat down, moodily winding a length of red tape round his fingers. If she hadn’t been there that evening, when he’d gone to see Leo, then there would be none of this wretched animosity. In truth, though, the animosity was on his part, not Leo’s. He had gone to Leo that night to tell him—to tell him what, exactly? That he regretted not becoming his lover three years earlier, that he couldn’t go on feeling about him as he did … That had beenthe idea. The whisky which Leo had poured for him might have been enough to bring it all out. But it hadn’t happened – and no doubt just as well. Sarah had suddenly appeared, wearing nothing but one of Leo’s shirts, hair mussed, looking delectable. He had been aware that she and Leo had known one another before she ever came to chambers, but he hadn’t realised quite how intimate that friendship was. Embarrassing and humiliating as it had been, it could have been worse. At least she’d come into the room before he’d had the chance to make a fool of himself.
    Pointless to think about it now. He could do without all that emotional confusion. He was straight, always had been, and if it hadn’t been for Leo and his warped ethical view of the world, his belief that sexuality knew no moral boundaries, Anthony would never have had to worry about all this. Perhaps that wasn’t quite fair … He remembered those long days, sitting as a pupil in Michael Gibbon’s room, listening for the sound of Leo’s voice on the stair, his whistle, his rapid footstep. How he had held his breath at that last sound, hoping that Leo, as he sometimes did, would look in to have a word with Michael. He had a way of lighting up any room he came into. Anthony had loved him, loved his company, his charm, his looks, the brilliance of his