Читать книгу To Become A Bride - Кэрол Мортимер, Carole Mortimer - Страница 7

WHO was Jonas Noble?

More to the point, what was he?

Until a couple of hours ago, Danie had believed she had a free Saturday, had planned on having lunch with her elder sister Harrie, and Harrie’s husband, Quinn McBride, before going into town to do some leisurely shopping.

But then her father had telephoned, and, despite her half-hearted objections, had managed, with his usual charming diplomacy, to talk her into flying Jonas Noble to his country estate instead.

But Rome had been less than forthcoming about his visitor, refused—again, charmingly—to be drawn as to the reason for Jonas Noble’s visit.

One thing Danie hated was a mystery. And Jonas Noble himself had been no help in explaining his reason for visiting her father’s home, either. He had proved just as closed-mouthed as her father when she had questioned him a few minutes ago, and his appearance was no help whatsoever in pinning down who or what he could be.

The man didn’t have the look of a businessman for one thing; his dark hair was a little too long. His casual clothing—black denims teamed with a black silk shirt and grey fitted jacket—exuded none of the formal efficiency that businessmen who dealt with her father liked to adopt. Her father excluded, of course. But then, Rome was way past the stage of caring what sort of image he presented—to anyone! Perhaps Jonas Noble was in that kind of position, too…?

Danie shook her head even as she went through the mechanics of flying; she had never heard of Jonas Noble before, and if his photograph had ever appeared in any of the business journals her father subscribed to, then Danie knew she would have remembered him. His was not a face it would be easy to forget!

It wasn’t strictly a handsome face, was too angular for that; his jaw was square and determined, with a firmly sculptured mouth, and slightly aquiline nose. It was his eyes that were so arresting, Danie realised: a deep dark brown, filled with a warmth that softened all those other hard edges.

Careful, Danie, she chided herself, or you might actually start to consider Jonas Noble as an attractive man!

Well, possibly he was, she conceded, but she wasn’t fooled by a man’s good looks. She knew those looks invariably hid a calculating selfishness. Her experience with Ben had more than shown her—

Damn it, where had that come from? She never thought of Ben any more, considered him a part of her life that was firmly shut away from prying eyes—and prying minds. Jonas Noble was the subject under question here, not someone from her past who had cured her of wanting any romantic involvement for the last two years!

Her passenger had one piece of luggage with him, a small case, too small for a suitcase, too large to be a briefcase. So what did it contain?

Well, she wasn’t going to get any answers from the man himself, she conceded wryly, so she might as well put away her curiosity until she saw her father.

She reached up to press a button above her head. ‘We’re levelling out now, Mr Noble,’ she told him coolly over the intercom. ‘This is a non-smoking flight, but please help yourself to the refreshments,’ she added mockingly, a smile curving her lips as she recalled the expression on the man’s face when she’d informed him she wasn’t the flight attendant but the pilot! Not exactly speechless, but close enough. Obviously women didn’t step too far out of their expected roles in Jonas Noble’s world, Danie thought tauntingly.

But planes, and flying, had been loves of hers since she’d been a child, having travelled all over the world with her parents by the time she was five. Instead of dolls, she had had models of planes in her bedroom as she’d been growing up, rapidly progressing to ones that had worked by remote control, taking them outside and flying them for hours. Her father’s pilot at the time, an older man called Edward, had been quite happy for her to accompany him in the cockpit on flights, even found a pair of overalls for her to wear so that she’d been able to help him when he’d looked in the engines.

By the time she was eighteen she had already decided exactly what she was going to do with her life. There had been a little opposition from her father, of course. But as they had recently lost her mother to cancer, those objections had been only half-hearted. Rome was so devastated by the loss. If he had thought about it at all, he would have probably expected Danie would tire of the pursuit during the months it had taken her to get her full pilot’s licence, but he would have been wrong. She loved flying, it was as simple as that.

Men like Jonas Noble were a prime example of the prejudice she had come up against during the time it had taken to attain her licence! Playing at it, seemed to be most men’s opinion of her chosen career, backed up, no doubt, by what they considered to be Daddy’s money.

Well, she had taken enough of that over the years, Danie reflected; if she were playing at anything, it was being polite in the face of the chauvinistic intolerance she had encountered towards her chosen career from men over the last seven or eight years!

Including Ben.

Not again, she told herself impatiently. She hadn’t given the man a thought for months and now she had thought of him twice in half an hour. Unacceptable!

And it was all Jonas Noble’s fault, she considered. There was something about him that brought Ben to mind. She could well do without it, thank you!

She pressed the button above her head a second time. ‘We will be landing in ten minutes, Mr Noble,’ she told him abruptly. ‘I advise you to place any debris from your food and drink in the container provided, and to fasten your seat belt.’ With any luck, his visit with her father would, as he had said, be a short one, and once she had flown him back to town she might just be able to go shopping, after all!

Her father had sent Charles out in the Rolls, and not the Range Rover, to collect his guest from the private airstrip on the estate, Danie noted with some surprise as she brought the jet in to land. Curiouser and curiouser. Rome rarely used the Rolls Royce, had bought it a couple of years ago on a whim, and now considered it a little too ostentatious for his tastes. But it had been brought out of mothballs today in Jonas Noble’s honour. Which again posed the question: who was he?

‘Please remain in your seat until I’ve completely brought the aircraft to a stop, Mr Noble,’ she told him brusquely over the intercom. ‘I will then come back through to the cabin and open the door for you.’

She had done this trip dozens of times before, but, she had to admit, today was the first time she had found it slightly irritating to have a conversation—one way, at that!—with an unseen person. The only consolation was that Jonas Noble probably found it just as frustrating!

Not that any frustration on Jonas’s part was apparent when, a few minutes later, the plane parked on the end of the runway, she went back into the cabin area. Jonas Noble was fast asleep! From the totally relaxed look of him, he probably had been from the moment they’d taken off, Danie realised crossly.

He was still sitting in the chair he had dropped into as she’d gone through to the cockpit, although at least his seat belt was fastened. But there was no sign of him having had any of the food or drink provided, and he seemed completely unaware that they had actually landed at their destination, his lids closed, his breathing deep and even.

He looked younger in sleep than the forty or so Danie had thought him to be earlier, long dark lashes fanning out across the hardness of his cheeks, his face appearing almost boyishly handsome now that slightly mocking expression had melted from his face.

His clothes, she could see as she took her time to look at him, were tailor-made, and the black shirt was probably Indian silk. A wealthy man then?

He was really something of an enigma, Danie realised with an emotion akin to shock. Men, she had decided after her few attempts at relationships—which, for one reason or another, had always ended disastrously!—were a complete waste of her time. And she now resented having given Jonas Noble even a little of it!

She reached down and shook his arm vigorously. ‘Mr Noble, we’ve landed—’

‘I sincerely hope so,’ he murmured as he opened his eyes and looked directly up into her face. ‘Otherwise there would be no one flying the plane!’

For someone who had been fast asleep seconds ago, he was a little too much awake now for Danie’s liking, and she stepped back from him as if stung, putting her hands behind her back. ‘There is such a thing as autopilot, Mr Noble,’ she bit out in reply.

He straightened in his chair, looking out of the window beside him. ‘Not when you’re on the ground,’ he derided, releasing his seat belt to stretch languidly.

Danie’s mouth twisted even as she registered the tightening and relaxing of muscles. ‘Are we keeping you up, Mr Noble?’ she scorned.

He turned to look at her with brown eyes. ‘As a matter of fact—yes!’ He stood up. ‘That half an hour is the only sleep I’ve had in the last twenty-four,’ he explained.

Danie’s eyes widened at this disclosure, her expression disapproving. ‘I hope she was worth it!’ It wasn’t too difficult to guess that a woman would have been the reason for his lack of sleep the previous night. Those warm brown eyes hinted at a certain sensuality about Jonas Noble!

His expression softened. ‘She was.’ He gave an inclination of his head by way of acknowledgement. ‘Now do you intend keeping me locked in here?’ he enquired. ‘Or do you plan on taking me to see your father some time today?’

At the taunt angry colour heightened her cheeks, and she moved to release the door, the steps sliding automatically to the tarmacked ground. ‘Can you manage your luggage, or would you like me to carry it for you?’ Danie did some taunting of her own.

His mouth quirked into a half-smile as he bent to retrieve the oversized briefcase from the carpeted floor. ‘I can manage, thanks. And thanks, too, for a good flight,’ he added lightly.

‘How would you know it was good? You slept all the way through it!’ she came back tartly.

He shrugged broad shoulders. ‘Not until I knew we were safely up in the air,’ he rejoined. ‘I heard the bit about “non-smoking flight” before I zonked out. I’m afraid my earlier years spent as a junior doctor have meant I can usually sleep anywhere, at any time,’ he explained apologetically.

Danie didn’t hear any more of what he said after ‘junior doctor’—this man was a doctor? And he was here to see her father? Was Rome sick?

She found that very hard to believe, had never known her father to have a day’s illness in his life. But that didn’t mean he was well now…

She moistened suddenly dry lips. ‘And what line of medicine did you choose to specialise in, Mr Noble?’ She tried to make her tone of voice interested rather than demanding—although by the guarded look that suddenly came over Jonas Noble’s face, she had a feeling she had failed. Damn!

‘I believe it’s called “life”, Danie; it’s the oath all doctors take,’ he returned enigmatically. ‘Is that car waiting for us?’ He indicated the gold-coloured Rolls Royce that was now parked feet away from the plane steps, the attentive Charles standing waiting with the back door open.

Danie flushed her irritation. ‘For you,’ she corrected tautly. ‘I have a few things to do here before coming over to the house,’ she amended reluctantly.

She would have liked nothing better than to arrive back at the house with him, to try and find out more about exactly what he was doing here. But, unfortunately, she had the plane to check over and refuelling to see to.

He nodded dismissively. ‘I’ll see you later, then.’ He moved lightly down the steps, grinning his thanks at Charles as he got into the back of the Rolls.

Danie stood at the top of the steps and watched the car—and Jonas Noble!—drive away, her thoughts in a turmoil.

Why did Rome need to see a doctor? Obviously because he was ill, she instantly chided herself.

But to have a doctor flown out here to see him…! Was her father’s illness that serious?

Danie suddenly felt unwell herself at the thought of that being the case. She couldn’t bear the thought of anything happening to her handsome, fun-loving father.

But Jonas Noble’s visit certainly appeared ominous…

‘I trust you had a comfortable flight?’

Jonas looked across at his host. The older man had greeted him at the door of the manor house a few minutes earlier, and the two of them were now seated in an elegant sitting-room. He had known what Jerome Summer looked like, of course, as he had seen the other man’s picture in the newspapers several times. But those photographs had only shown Rome Summer’s still boyish handsomeness, despite the fact that he was in his early fifties, and couldn’t possibly hint at the sheer vitality of the man.

But what did Rome expect him to say in answer to his question? The flight had been fine—it was Rome’s daughter that he hadn’t found comfortable.

Danie Summer—how could he possibly have known she would be female?—was as prickly as a hedgehog, with all the charm of a herd of stampeding elephants!

But she was beautiful, another little voice inside his head reminded him.

Yes, she was—if you managed to get past those prickles and the acidic tongue! Personally, he would as soon not bother.

‘Fine, thank you,’ Jonas replied brusquely, waving away the offer of a cup of coffee poured from the pot on the table that stood between the two men. ‘You explained the situation to me on the telephone early yesterday evening,’ he continued in businesslike tones. ‘So perhaps I could carry out my examination, and then we can talk some more?’

Jerome Summer didn’t move, his expression agonised now, blue eyes clouded with worry. ‘Before you do that, could I just stress, once again, how delicate this situation is—?’

‘I’ve already gathered that,’ Jonas assured him dryly. ‘Danie doesn’t know, does she?’ he prompted gently.

Rome grimaced, shaking his head ruefully. ‘Has my daughter been asking you awkward questions?’

Jonas shrugged. ‘One or two,’ he confirmed. ‘Oh, don’t worry,’ he assured as the other man began to frown, ‘a patient’s confidentiality is guaranteed as far as I’m concerned.’

Rome shook his head. ‘That won’t stop Danie.’ His frown deepened. ‘Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to have her fly you here. It just seemed the best option at the time—’

‘I think it’s a little late in the day to worry about that,’ Jonas cut in. ‘Besides, Danie is your problem, not mine,’ he added firmly. ‘I came here to carry out an examination…?’ he prompted again pointedly.

The half an hour or so of sleep he had managed to get on the plane had temporarily refreshed him, but he was no longer a young ‘junior doctor’ when a couple of hours sleep grabbed here and there had been enough to keep him going. At the moment the previous night’s lack of rest made him feel every one of his thirty-eight years!

‘I don’t mean to sound terse,’ he excused as he realised he had been exactly that. ‘I had a difficult case to deal with last night,’ he explained. ‘And lack of sleep means I’m a little short on patience today!’

‘Of course.’ Rome Summer stood up quickly. ‘I’ll explain a little more to you as we go upstairs.’

Jonas picked up his case of instruments, listening politely to the other man as they ascended the stairs, realising Rome needed to talk, that he found all of this extremely difficult to deal with.

Jonas sympathised with him, could imagine how the older man must be feeling. For a man who had controlled his world, and that of his family, for the last thirty years, Jonas realised this must all have come as a bit of a shock to Rome Summer. It was something he had no control over whatsoever. But even if the other man’s suspicions proved to be correct, it wasn’t the end of the world. Other people, other families, had gone through this sort of thing before. And would no doubt continue to do so for a long time to come!

But Rome Summer looked less than capable of dealing with it, Jonas realised a short time later, Rome haggard now as the two men returned to the sitting-room, Jonas’s diagnosis conclusive.

‘I just can’t believe it.’ Rome groaned, his face buried in his hands. ‘I had my suspicions, of course—’

‘You wouldn’t have telephoned me otherwise,’ Jonas pointed out dryly, handing the other man a cup of the now cool coffee; in the circumstances, cold or not, the caffeine would do the other man good.

‘But somehow I didn’t really believe it.’ Rome shook his head dazedly, sipping the coffee without even seeming aware of what he was doing.

Jonas let the other man sit quietly for several minutes, giving him time to get over his initial shock; no doubt the coffee would help do that, too. Once the other man had accepted the diagnosis as fact, the two of them could get down to talking over the practicalities of what needed to be done over the next few months.

Rome finally raised his head, looking across at Jonas with slightly moist eyes. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said heavily. ‘I realise I’m not taking this too well.’ He gave a rueful grimace. ‘I was wishing the girls’ mother were here. She would have known what to do.’

‘How many daughters do you have?’ Jonas enquired politely, knowing the other man still needed to talk, and remembering having read somewhere that Rome Summer’s wife had died several years ago.

‘Just the three.’ Rome sighed. ‘But sometimes it seems like twenty-three!’

Jonas imagined that Danie Summer could quite easily account for twenty of those in her own right; she was certainly spirited enough to cause any man a headache, let alone her harassed father!

‘Do they all live at home with you?’ he asked lightly, curiosity prompting him to find out if Danie had some poor man as her husband somewhere in the background!

‘None of them.’ Rome shook his head. ‘Harrie was married last month,’ he said with obvious pleasure and pride. ‘Andie is usually based in London, although she’s been staying here with me the last few weeks.’

‘And Danie?’ Jonas persisted softly.

‘I’m based, not wherever I hang my hat, but wherever I fly my aircraft!’ the woman in question told him coldly as she walked unannounced into the room.

Jonas stiffened at the sound of that caustic voice, although he literally froze with shock once he had turned to look at her. The black baseball cap was gone, and he found that those dark lashes and brows had been deceptive. Hair of the most gloriously deep red now cascaded in loose waves down the length of Danie’s spine.

If Jonas had thought her beautiful before, that red hair was definitely her crowning glory, giving prominence to her high cheekbones, bringing out the deep green colour of her eyes. There was no doubt about it—Danie Summer was one of the loveliest women he had ever set eyes on!

He stood up slowly. ‘Your aircraft?’ he questioned silkily, feeling suddenly defensive in the face of this woman’s arresting beauty.

A look of irritation darkened her features. ‘Rome’s aircraft,’ she corrected, before turning to her father. ‘Everything okay?’ she prompted sharply, looking at him searchingly.

Rome seemed to have undergone a transformation in the last few seconds, Jonas noted wryly, that boyish grin back on his face, his worried expression of a few minutes ago completely dispelled. For his daughter’s benefit, Jonas didn’t doubt. Although there was no way Rome would be able to keep the truth from Danie indefinitely…

‘Everything is fine,’ Rome told Danie lightly. ‘Jonas and I were just discussing having lunch before he returns to town.’

Jonas hesitated at the totally erroneous statement. Considering he hadn’t even had breakfast yet…! But, he had to admit, food of any kind did sound rather tempting at the moment…

‘As long as I’m not inconveniencing anyone…?’ he accepted questioningly.

Glittering green eyes were turned in his direction. ‘Since when has inconveniencing someone bothered you?’ Danie snapped.

Jonas’s mouth firmed at the insult, Rome chuckling softly as he saw his reaction. Well, Rome might find his daughter’s rudeness amusing, but Jonas found it exactly what it was—bad-mannered!

‘You can have lunch with Harrie and Quinn any time, darling.’ Rome put his arm lightly about his daughter’s shoulders.

‘But I was having lunch with them today,’ Danie complained.

So she had had other plans for today, after all… Jonas fumed inwardly; it wasn’t his fault she hadn’t been able to carry them through—her father was responsible for that.

‘Wouldn’t you rather have lunch with two attractive men?’ Rome teased his daughter.

Danie turned to give Jonas a slowly dismissive glance from head to toe. ‘Not particularly,’ she finally replied, before turning back to her father.

What this young lady needed was a smack on the backside, Jonas decided grimly. If her father didn’t feel capable of administering it, Jonas was sure there must be plenty of other men who would!

Including him…?

Jonas frowned. He had never lifted so much as a finger against a woman in his life, and no matter how much Danie Summer might deserve a good spanking, he knew he wouldn’t be the one to give it.

He had grown up in a totally female household; his mother had been widowed while still in her early thirties, and left with the sole care of Jonas and his two older sisters. Beautiful and warm-natured though she was, she had remained a widow in the succeeding years, managing, with only the help of a housekeeper, to bring the three children up alone. Meaning that Jonas, as the only male in the household, had been cosseted and spoilt by not just his mother and sisters, but the housekeeper, too.

It had been a charmed and loving childhood, instilling him with a deep respect for his mother and sisters, and a liking of women in general.

Except Danie Summer! he realised irritably.

But that, he considered, was mainly her own fault. Danie was obviously, despite her own privileged background, an accomplished and capable woman, who took her work very seriously. It was just the sharpness of her tongue that needed a little attention. A little…? Make that a lot, Jonas corrected himself firmly.

‘Pity,’ he drawled finally, easily able to meet the challenge in Danie’s dark green eyes.

Danie’s mouth twisted. ‘A little sincerity wouldn’t have come amiss in that statement!’ she countered.

‘Danie!’ Rome chided. ‘Must I remind you that Jonas is here as my guest?’

Jonas watched as Danie underwent a transformation, the tension leaving that beautiful face, to be replaced by a smile of gentle concern as she turned to look at her father.

Jonas felt something lurch in his chest at the difference that gentleness made to Danie; it was akin to the sun coming out in the midst of a stormy sky. And well worth waiting for, he acknowledged a little dazedly. Stripped of the cynicism that seemed to temper most of her conversation, Danie Summer was incredibly lovely.

‘Perhaps lunch would be nice,’ she finally conceded grudgingly. ‘Would you like to freshen up before we eat, Mr Noble?’ she offered with a politeness that had so far been lacking from their acquaintance.

He looked across at her with narrowed eyes, not fooled for a moment by her change in attitude, only to be met with a look of such innocence that he knew his suspicion was correct; Danie Summer had her own reason for her sudden politeness. And he had a feeling it could have something to do with the reason for his presence here today!

Well, she was wasting her time if she thought a little polite civility—something that should have been there from the beginning!—would charm out of him the reason for having come here to see her father. As he had assured Rome earlier, his relationship with his patient was always completely confidential.

As Danie Summer was going to quickly find out if she tried to pump him for information!