Errors of Judgment Read Online Free

to the government to bail them out,’ she remarked to Anthony, when he came back.
    Anthony glanced at the headlines and nodded. ‘Gordon Brown may get what the hard Left have always wanted – the nationalisation of the banks. I can’t believe it’s happened so fast.’
    ‘It’s going to be hellish on the City job front soon – just like the nineties.’ Sarah helped herself to a sandwich. ‘Not that either of us remembers that. Anyway, let’s not talk economic doom and gloom – there’s far too much of that these days. Tell me what’s going on at Caper Court. God, it seems like a lifetime since I was a pupil there. Everyone still as dull and worthy as ever?’
    Anthony smiled wryly. ‘I imagine by your standards we’re tedious in the extreme.’
    ‘Mmm. Life as a barrister would never have suited me. Far too much like hard work. Come on, give me the low-down on everyone. Is Henry still dying of unrequited love for Felicity?’
    ‘Actually, there’s a rumour – unsubstantiated beyond a sighting of Henry in a pub with some lady – that his heart belongs elsewhere.’
    ‘I don’t believe it. It was an open secret that he adored Felicity.’
    ‘Henry probably realised it was one-way traffic. He’s not getting any younger. Probably wants to settle down. Anyway, the great love of Felicity’s life, Vince, is coming out of prison soon.’
    ‘I’d forgotten him – didn’t he get done for manslaughter, or something?’
    Anthony nodded, helping himself to another sandwich. ‘Hit some chap in an argument, and he fell over and cracked his head and died. Vince has done half of his sentence, so government policy means he’ll be out before the end of the year.’
    ‘Right.’ There was a pause, then Sarah asked casually, ‘And what about Leo? How’s he?’
    The question surprised Anthony. As he recalled, Sarah’s friendship with Leo had been the reason why she’d come to Caper Court in the first place. ‘You don’t see him?’
    ‘Why should I?’
    ‘Oh, I don’t know. I just assumed you were still in touch.’ Anthony paused, then said, ‘Leo is as well as ever. Doing all the usual Leo things.’
    Sarah thought she detected a certain edge to Anthony’s voice. She knew enough about the relationship he had with Leo, about the odd kind of love which existed between them. Something Leo could handle, but not Anthony.
    ‘He should be careful,’ she said. ‘He’ll break someone’s heart one of these days.’
    ‘I should think that happens with alarming regularity. The only person in the world he really cares about is Oliver.’
    Sarah nodded. ‘His Achilles heel.’
    ‘An odd way of putting it.’
    ‘You think? I find people’s weak spots, their vulnerabilities, are always the most interesting things about them. And the most useful.’ As Sarah stretched to pick up a sandwich, her jacket fell away a little to reveal a glimpse of soft, curving breast, and Anthony felt a little jolt of lust at the recollection of times spent in bed with her.
    She looked and caught his swift, straying glance. ‘What are you thinking about?’ she asked, knowing perfectly well.
    ‘Old times,’ said Anthony.
    Sarah eyed him speculatively. Anthony had always been famously and rather sweetly vulnerable where the opposite sex was concerned. It was Sarah’s guess that he now considered himself a seasoned man of the world. Perhaps he even thought of himself as being in the same league as Leo, whom he so admired, capable of picking up and dropping lovers without a second thought. Very few belonged to that special breed of people. She and Leo did. Anthony never would.
    ‘Old times as in – us?’
    Sarah’s assessment of Anthony was more or less accurate. He had been disappointed and hurt by love too often, and now maintained a kind of emotional veneer, a pretence at invulnerability. Deep down, he was as susceptible as ever, longing for love, for some special person, though he would have denied this even to