Читать книгу Ryan's Rules - Alison Kelly - Страница 7

‘GOT a minute?’

The sound of his sister’s voice drew Ryan’s concentration from the quote he’d been working on all afternoon, while the sight of the two steaming mugs she carried drew his smile.

‘Kid, if you’ve got coffee, I’ve got more than a minute!’ He accepted the cup from her hand. ‘Thanks. This Emmerson project looks like being an even bigger pain in the rear than I expected.’

‘You’ll cope, Ryan. You always do.’

‘Coffee and flattery! You’ve not only got my attention but my curiosity too. What’s up—a delinquent account causing you problems?’

‘Er, no. No, everything is fine in that department, which is why I’ve decided to fly over and join Mum and Dad in Europe.’

Shock removed Ryan’s ability to swallow the mouthful of coffee he’d just taken until the need to question his hearing forced him to gulp it down; he opened and closed his mouth twice before he could even think of a response, let alone voice one. Had Jayne announced she could walk on water, he wouldn’t have been half as stunned.

‘You’re doing what?’

‘You heard me,’ she said, looking as if she wasn’t sure she could repeat the words. ‘I’m thirty-four years old, Ryan; it’s time I got my life together.’ She smiled. ‘At least, that’s what everybody’s been telling me and…well, I decided yesterday they were right.’

On one level Ryan wanted to cheer with joy. On another the suddenness of his sister’s decision worried him. Ever since the death of his best friend, Steven, Jayne’s fiancé, fifteen years ago, he’d wondered if she’d ever put the past behind her; until this minute there’d been no noticeable indication that it would happen. Apprehensive about the suddenness of the decision, he searched her face for an answer.

‘Don’t look at me as if I’m having another breakdown, Ryan.’

‘I wasn’t!’ Yet despite his denial the possibility had drifted through his consciousness. Trying to smile away his guilt, he rounded the desk to take his sister’s hand. It was soft, fragile and surprisingly naked.

‘You’ve taken your ring off.’ His observation drew a weak, shiny-eyed smile.

‘Last night. I think that was the hardest part. Flying to Europe is the easy stage.’

The admission was made in little more than a whisper, but the subdued strength behind the words swamped Ryan with a mixture of love and relief so great that it was easier to wrap his arms around her and draw her close rather than speak. Finally, after more than a dozen years, his little sister was ready to push free from the shadows which had cocooned her, her mourning was over. When he finally held her away they were both smiling.

‘Have you told Mum and Dad?’ he asked.

‘Yeah, I rang them before I came into work.’ She laughed. ‘They were stunned, thrilled and relieved, in that order!’

‘I’ll bet.’ He hesitated before adding, ‘And the Cosgroves?’

Jack and Claire Cosgrove were their folks’ best friends and currently touring Europe with them. They were also Steven’s parents.

‘They were pleased too…’ There was a slight break in her voice. ‘Claire said Steven would’ve been glad to know I was getting on with the business of living.’

Ryan nodded, then immediately steered the conversation back to lighter topics. ‘Well, from what Mum said when I spoke with her the other night you’ll love Italy! So—’ he leaned across his paper-scattered desk and retrieved his coffee ‘—when do you fly out?’

‘Sunday.’

‘Sunday! But today’s Friday. What about a passport and visa—?’

‘They’re up to date. Remember, I nearly did this a couple of years back?’

He remembered. K.C. Cosgrove, Steven’s younger sister, had all but convinced Jayne to take a vacation with her, but at the last minute Jayne had backed out and nothing anyone had said had been able to change her mind. If nothing else, perhaps the very impulsiveness of this decision would prevent Jayne from having second thoughts this time.

‘OK. Then I’ll ring Mrs Phillips right away and organise for her to come in and cover for you in Accounts and—’

‘Mrs Phillips isn’t available, but it’s OK,’ Jayne assured him. ‘I’ve arranged for Kirrily to cover for me.’

‘You can’t mean that!’ Even as he said the words Ryan knew the worst. ‘Aw, Jayne! Please tell me you didn’t ask K.C..’

‘It’s all arranged; she’s arriving tonight.’

‘Then unarrange it or I’ll be courting a nervous breakdown.’

‘Oh, stop it, Ryan!’ she chided him. ‘It’s the perfect solution. Kirrily’s currently out of work—’

‘She’s a soap actress, not an accountant!’

‘I’m not an accountant either. Besides, she did two years at business college.’

‘K.C. did two years because she flunked out the first! What’s more, she’s only a kid—’

A chuckle interrupted him. ‘If you still think of her as a kid you obviously missed the episode of Hot Heaven where she was practically nude and—’

‘Spare me the run-down on that soap opera,’ he said drily; his body was reacting to the scene he unfortunately hadn’t missed.

‘Ryan, what’s the problem? It’s only for a few weeks.’

He grunted. ‘Earthquakes occur in mere seconds.’

‘I should’ve guessed you’d be difficult about this.’

‘Jayne, honey, I’m not trying to be difficult. I’m trying to be practical. As much as K.C. is like one of the family, asking her to do this isn’t a good idea.’

‘Why?’

‘Why?’ he echoed, feeling as if he’d been hit from behind by fate in a ten-ton truck. ‘Because…well, because she’s so damned flighty. Heck, a person never knows what she’s going to do from one second to the next! And she hates being told what to do. Especially by me,’ he added ruefully. ‘Hell, she’ll question every decision I make. Plus her face is so well known that she’ll have every person who walks into the place wanting her autograph or trying to hit on her. How much work do you think she’ll manage to get done?’

‘Look, Ryan, this trip is important to me, but I’ll cancel if—’

‘What? Uh-uh…no way!’ The thought that he might provide Jayne with an excuse to back out of her plans overrode the instinct to preserve his sanity. ‘Put that idea right out of your head! You’re going. You’ll be on that plane Sunday and K.C. will be sitting at your desk first thing Monday.’ Glancing down at the quote which had been giving him so many headaches, he sighed. Compared with living and working with K.C. for the next few weeks, everything else was going to seem like a picnic!

As a kid K.C. Cosgrove had always had a knack for throwing him off balance, one minute tugging at his heartstrings and making him putty in her hands and the next grinding away at his patience until his hands had wanted to tighten around her cute little neck. Then, during her rebellious teen years, she’d done her best to develop her ability to manipulate Ryan into an art form, which had caused numerous heated debates between the two of them. But what bothered him the most was that now, at the ripe old age of twenty-four, K.C. had unexpectedly acquired yet another unsettling trait—the ability to send his thirty-six-year-old hormones into a frenzy.