Читать книгу To Become A Bride - Кэрол Мортимер, Carole Mortimer - Страница 8

WHAT a complete waste of her time this had been, Danie muttered to herself as she pushed her food uninterestedly around her plate. She had intended originally to go upstairs and have lunch with her sister Andie. She’d only conceded to eating down here with her father and Jonas Noble in the hope of being able to find out a little more of the reason for the younger man’s visit. But her father was close-mouthed on the subject, and Jonas Noble was also like a clam!

Which only succeeded in making Danie’s imaginings even darker than they already were—and they were bad enough already!

Her father didn’t look ill. A little strained perhaps, his ready smile not always reaching the warmth of his blue eyes, but other than that he seemed his normal self.

The trouble was, Danie felt so alone in her wonderings. She couldn’t talk to Andie about it; her younger sister had been far from well herself since a bout of flu the previous month. Her other sister, Harrie, had only been recently married, and it would be a pity to spoil that happiness, especially if it should turn out to be unnecessary.

Audrey!

Of course, her father’s assistant of the last twelve years was sure to know exactly what was going on. She might not tell Danie, perhaps, but she couldn’t possibly be as clam-like as these two men had turned out to be!

‘I think I’ll give coffee a miss, if you don’t mind.’ Danie put her dessert fork neatly down on her plate before standing up. ‘I have a few things to do before flying back this afternoon,’ she told her father as he looked across at her enquiringly.

They were seated very cosily around the dining table; Danie grimaced at the scene: her father at the head, Jonas and herself sitting either side of him, facing each other across the table. Jonas’s appetite, Danie had noted disgustedly, had been more than healthy in comparison with her own picking at the food. Obviously the seriousness of his work didn’t affect him!

‘Of course, darling,’ her father accepted lightly. ‘I’ll give you a ring when Jonas needs to go. Oh, and I shouldn’t bother to go and see Andie,’ he added, looking concerned. ‘She was sleeping when I called in on her room earlier.’

‘Perhaps you should get Dr Noble to look at Andie before he leaves?’ Danie suggested tauntingly.

‘What on earth for?’ her father exclaimed.

She shrugged. ‘This flu seems to have been dragging on a long time. Or perhaps general medicine isn’t his field?’ she questioned challengingly.

Brown eyes levelly met the mockery in her gaze. ‘It’s been a few years,’ Jonas conceded dryly. ‘But I’m sure I could manage.’

‘I—’

‘And it’s Mr Noble, Danie,’ Jonas continued hardly. ‘Or Jonas, if you would prefer that?’

She would prefer to know exactly what sort of doctor he was! But she knew, especially since lunch, that she would get nowhere on that subject with either of these men. A talk with Audrey definitely beckoned!

‘I’ll see you later—Jonas,’ she dismissed him pointedly—after all, he’d called her Danie without ever having been invited to do so!

It wasn’t too difficult to locate Audrey; the other woman was as much of a workaholic as Rome, busy dealing with some correspondence in his study when Danie entered there a few minutes later.

The older woman looked up with a warm smile, having become like another member of the family in the twelve years she had worked for Rome. At forty-two, she was tall, blonde, and beautiful.

‘Uh-oh.’ Audrey grimaced, putting aside the letter she had been working on. ‘Who’s been upsetting you?’

Danie scowled, sitting on the side of her father’s desk. ‘Is it that obvious?’

‘Yes!’ Audrey laughed unabashedly.

Danie chose her next words carefully. Very carefully. Because, although she knew Audrey was fond of all of them, the older woman was also completely loyal to Rome. And the last thing Audrey would ever do was break a confidence of his, business or private.

‘Have you met Jonas Noble?’ Danie asked lightly.

Audrey frowned. ‘The man who was with Rome earlier?’

Danie looked at Audrey searchingly. Was she just delaying answering, or did she really not know anything? Danie would be surprised if it were the latter; Rome trusted his assistant implicitly. But if that should turn out to be the case… It made the whole situation seem even more ominous!

‘That’s the one.’ She nodded casually.

‘As a matter of fact, no,’ Audrey replied. ‘Who is he exactly?’

Danie frowned. ‘I was hoping you might be able to tell me that!’

‘Sorry,’ Audrey said. ‘But I don’t have a clue.’

Damn, damn, damn! This was much worse than Danie had thought. Never having married herself, Audrey had become one of the family, and Danie knew that Rome had absolutely no secrets from the other woman. But it now appeared Rome hadn’t told Audrey anything about Jonas Noble, either…

‘All I’ve managed to find out is that he’s some sort of doctor,’ she told Audrey.

‘Oh,’ Audrey murmured slowly.

Was it her imagination, or did Audrey’s expression suddenly look guarded? But the other woman had told her she knew nothing about Jonas Noble, and Danie believed her. So why did Audrey suddenly look so wary?

‘Any help?’ Danie went on, watching Audrey intently.

Audrey turned away from the intensity of that searching gaze. ‘Not particularly. Rome simply hasn’t mentioned him.’

Rome might not have mentioned Jonas Noble, but Danie was sure that revealing his identity as a doctor had given Audrey some idea of exactly what he was doing here…

And why shouldn’t it have done? Audrey spent more time with her father than anyone else, was sure to be aware if Rome was ill. Even if she wouldn’t talk to anyone else about it…

Danie stood away from the desk, knowing she would get nothing further out of Audrey. ‘I had better go and see if he’s ready to leave yet.’ She pulled a face at the prospect of spending yet more time in the company of Jonas Noble.

‘Have fun,’ Audrey replied distractedly, her thoughts obviously elsewhere.

Were they with Rome? Danie pondered as she walked slowly back to the dining-room. Because she had no doubt whatsoever, now that Audrey knew Jonas Noble was a doctor, she also knew exactly what he was doing here!

Danie gave an impatient sigh. If her father was ill, then she had a right to know. She wasn’t a child; for goodness’ sake, none of them was, and, although it would be upsetting to find out Rome had serious health problems, it couldn’t be any worse than how not knowing was turning out to be!

‘Why the long face, Danie?’ her father asked as he met her out in the hallway.

He was alone. Which posed the question; where was Jonas Noble?

Although, for the moment, Danie put that question aside, and looked intently at her father. ‘What’s going on, Daddy?’ she demanded.

Her father steadily held her eyes. ‘I—’

‘And don’t try and fob me off by telling me you don’t know what I’m talking about,’ Danie cut in determinedly, her expression mutinous. ‘Because you know exactly what I meant!’

Her father raised blond brows reprovingly. ‘I wasn’t about to do that, Danie,’ he answered softly, that very softness telling her that he was becoming angry himself. ‘But I’ll talk to you—to all of you—when I’m good and ready.’

Danie drew in a sharp breath. Her father was tough when it came to his business dealings, had needed to be to become the successful man he was, but he rarely, if ever, became angry with any of his daughters. The very fact that he was angry with her now told Danie just how serious this all was…

‘Where’s Jonas Noble?’ she asked tautly.

Her father relaxed slightly, a teasing light entering the blue of his eyes. ‘Unless I’m mistaken, you didn’t seem in too much of a hurry to spend time in his company earlier.’

Danie grimaced. ‘You weren’t mistaken. But as it appears I don’t have any choice in the matter—’

‘Oh, but you do.’ Rome grinned. ‘I’ve had Charles drive Jonas back to London,’ he explained at her sharply questioning look.

Danie blinked her surprise. Jonas Noble had already left? He was being driven back to town?

‘And whose idea was that?’ she snapped resentfully. Damn it, she might not have wanted to spend any more time in the man’s company, but it would at least have given her another chance to find out more about him!

‘Mine, actually,’ her father replied matter-of-factly. ‘Although Jonas seemed quite happy with the arrangement too,’ he added.

Danie would just bet he had! She hadn’t been unaware of Jonas Noble’s dislike of her, knew that he had found her brash and rude. Which she had been, she conceded ruefully. But she had also been aware, when she’d entered the sitting-room before lunch, that he had been surprised by, if not attracted to, the difference in her appearance without the baseball cap, that he had been momentarily stunned by her looks. Only momentarily, she acknowledged wryly; she was sure that not too many things wrong-footed the arrogant Mr Noble for long!

‘I was only talking to Audrey,’ Danie muttered resentfully. ‘You said you would give me a call when Jonas was ready to leave.’

Her father’s humour disappeared. ‘I preferred him to be driven back with Charles,’ he stated firmly.

Effectively removing any chance she might have to talk to Jonas Noble again!

She didn’t like this. Not one little bit. And if her father thought he had got the better of her, then he was going to be disappointed. Jonas could only have left with Charles minutes earlier, which meant they couldn’t have got very far yet.

‘Where are you going?’ her father called after her as she turned to run up the wide staircase.

Danie glanced back only briefly. ‘I think I’ll go back to town too,’ she told him.

‘But—’

‘You’ll have to excuse me, Daddy,’ she interrupted his protest, turning to go up the stairs two at a time. ‘I’m in rather a hurry.’

It took very little time to collect the things she needed from her bedroom, and race back down the stairs again. On her way to the front door she heard the murmur of voices coming from the sitting-room.

‘—will have to be told soon, Rome,’ Audrey was saying gently. ‘Very soon, I would have thought. This isn’t something you can keep to yourself for very much longer.’

It wasn’t in Danie’s forthright nature to eavesdrop, but those few words held her transfixed in the hallway, her heart beating faster, her eyes dark with apprehension as she listened to the rest of what Audrey had to say.

She’d believed Audrey when the other woman had told her earlier that she didn’t know who or what Jonas Noble was, or what he was doing here, but obviously the little Danie had told the other woman about him had given Audrey the answer to the latter at least…!

‘I realise that,’ Rome groaned in a pained voice. ‘It’s just that— This isn’t the sort of thing you can just blurt out over breakfast one morning!’ he rasped impatiently.

Audrey sighed. ‘I know, but if I’ve been able to guess…’

‘Yes, yes,’ Rome muttered heavily. ‘I will tell them. But in my own time,’ he said grimly. ‘I have to get used to the idea myself first!’

‘I know, Rome,’ Audrey returned huskily. ‘I do know. I just— Oh, Rome!’ she choked emotionally. ‘It will only be a matter of weeks before they all realise—’

‘It’s all right, Audrey,’ Rome soothed, appearing to be the comforter now. ‘It will be all right, you’ll see.’

Danie couldn’t stand and listen to any more, hurrying from the house, closing the door softly behind her, loath to let her father or Audrey know she had heard any of their conversation.

Weeks…! My God, did that mean—? Was her father—?

She didn’t care whether Jonas Noble wanted to see her again or not—he was damn well going to. Because she was determined to get some answers from somewhere—and at the moment Jonas Noble seemed to be the man who had them all!

It was warm and comfortable in the back of the Rolls Royce, and Jonas could feel the effect of that warm comfort as his eyes once again began to close sleepily. Thank goodness it was the weekend and he could sleep in late tomorrow.

You’re getting too old for this, Noble, he told himself. One sleepless night had reduced him to being almost a walking zombie. Almost, he smiled to himself sleepily. He had been awake enough to visit his patient today.

And he had certainly been awake enough to appreciate the beautiful, if caustic, Danie Summer!

He shook his head as it rested back against the leather seat, smiling slightly, his eyes closed. Not a woman to be trifled with, he decided, knowing that she believed he had done exactly that. And had resented him intensely for it. He—

‘I’m going to pull over, Mr Noble,’ Charles announced from the front of the car, glancing in his driving mirror as Jonas opened his eyes to look across at him. ‘Miss Danie seems to want a word,’ Charles added helpfully.

Miss Danie—!

Jonas sat up straighter in his seat, turning to look out the back window of the car. But as far as he could see, ‘Miss Danie’ was nowhere to be seen. There was only a motorbike behind them, a huge monster of a black machine, with its rider bent low over the handlebars—

Jonas narrowed his eyes to look more intently at the driver of the powerful black bike, instantly recognising the deep green eyes that could be seen clearly beneath the black crash-helmet.

When she wasn’t flying planes, it seemed Danie Summer rode a motorbike that looked powerful enough to crush her if it fell on her! Not that it ever would, Jonas decided; it wouldn’t dare!

A woman who liked to live life dangerously, he decided.

He turned to sit patiently in the back of the car while Charles got out to talk to Danie. The back passenger door opened seconds later and Danie Summer herself climbed into the back of the vehicle to sit beside him.

Jonas raised dark brows as he looked at her. She had taken off the black helmet, releasing that cascade of flamered hair. The black leathers she wore seemed moulded to the curves of her body—and very sexy it looked too, Jonas realised as he felt a faint stirring of his own body in response to such feminine perfection.

‘To what do I owe the honour?’ he prompted sarcastically, annoyed with himself for his own reaction to this woman. Beauty, he knew, was only skin deep; Danie Summer was the most outspokenly rude woman he had ever had the misfortune to meet.

Her mouth twisted derisively. ‘You forgot to say goodbye,’ she murmured huskily.

Jonas looked at her through narrowed lids. He didn’t believe for one moment that was the reason she had followed him. Although it was becoming patently obvious that was exactly what she had done…

‘Goodbye, Danie,’ he said.

She smiled. ‘Very politely delivered, Jonas.’

He gave an acknowledging inclination of his head. ‘My mother made a point of instilling good manners into all of her children,’ he returned.

Danie nodded. ‘But does it have to be goodbye?’ She quirked dark brows, eyes gleaming brightly.

With what, Jonas wasn’t sure. A cross between challenge and flirtation, he thought; although the latter seemed unlikely in the circumstances!

He eyed her warily now. ‘What did you have in mind?’ he asked slowly.

Danie shrugged, colour heightening her cheekbones even as she spoke. ‘I was wondering if you would have dinner with me this evening?’

Jonas drew in his breath quickly. He wasn’t fooled for a moment into believing this young woman really wanted to have dinner with him—her motives for the invitation, in view of her earlier curiosity concerning the reason for his visit to her family home today, were all too obvious!—but at the same time, he was intrigued in spite of himself…

‘In a word—no,’ he told her bluntly, his gaze becoming amused as he saw the way angry colour suffused her cheeks now; obviously not a young lady who was used to hearing that particular word!

She swallowed hard—doing her best to swallow down a blistering response at the same time!—eyes flashing with resentment. ‘Why not?’ she demanded.

Jonas smiled at the return to her previous bluntness. She certainly hadn’t been able to maintain that air of flirtatiousness for long! But, he realised, he thought he preferred her rudeness; it was certainly more honest, and at least he knew where he stood!

And there was no denying that Danie was amazingly beautiful…

‘I wasn’t saying no to dinner, Danie, just not tonight,’ he heard himself say. ‘It probably hasn’t escaped your notice, but I’m having trouble keeping my eyes open!’

Her anger at his refusal rapidly faded, to be quickly replaced by scorn. ‘Of course.’ She nodded. ‘You mentioned earlier that you had very little sleep last night.’

And, of course, she had already drawn her own conclusions concerning that sleeplessness.

Jonas gave an inward smile at the knowledge. Not that he hadn’t had relationships in the past, and they had certainly quite often involved getting a minimum of sleep, but this particular period of time there wasn’t a woman in his life. Nor had there been for some while. Mainly because he had found he was tired of relationships that seemed, ultimately, to be leading nowhere.

In fact, he had found himself doing quite a lot of soul-searching in recent months. He enjoyed his work, and good relations with his mother, and his sisters and their respective families, but just lately he had wondered if there wasn’t something missing from his own life, had found himself possessed of a restlessness that neither his work nor his family could assuage.

But maybe it was the fact that there wasn’t a woman in his life at the moment that had caused that restlessness in the first place!

While he didn’t think having dinner with Danie Summer would help that situation, he had no doubts it would prove entertaining.

‘Tomorrow evening, however, would be no problem—if that would suit you?’ he suggested.

And then wondered if he weren’t making a big mistake. While she might be breathtakingly beautiful, he hadn’t particularly liked Danie Summer so far in their acquaintance, and he was halfway sure she shared the feeling. Halfway? Damn it, she had given every indication she heartily disliked him!

Tomorrow evening should be fun, Jonas thought. If Danie accepted… Which, right now, she seemed to be having difficulty doing, Jonas noted shrewdly. From what Rome had told him about his daughters, Danie wasn’t married, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have someone in her life. Which might make seeing him tomorrow evening something of a problem…

Well, that was her problem, Jonas dismissed. If she could offer to see him this evening, then she could make it tomorrow evening instead.

Unless she just didn’t like the delay of twenty-four hours…?

Which was probably more than likely the case, Jonas decided. Danie Summer had come over to him as an ‘instant’ person. If something needed doing, then deal with it now, not later. Which probably accounted for the way she had followed him on her motorbike!

‘Well?’ he prompted impatiently; his own time, as he had told her earlier, was no less valuable than was her own, or her father’s, and quite frankly he had used up enough of it on this family for one day. Besides, falling into bed—alone—beckoned.

Those green eyes flashed her anger once more before it was quickly brought under control. Danie even went so far as to force a smile to those poutingly inviting lips. ‘Tomorrow evening will be fine,’ she answered in measured tones. ‘In fact, it will probably be better,’ she continued as she warmed to this change of plan—her plan! ‘I’m sure I’ll have no problem booking us a table at my favourite Italian restaurant on a Sunday evening.’

And Jonas was sure, if Danie decided to eat at her favourite Italian restaurant on New Year’s Eve without a booking—one of the busiest evenings of the year—that a table would be found for her somehow! There was about her an assured arrogance that would ensure not too many people said that word no to her…

So it came as no surprise to him either that Danie would be the one to book the restaurant. ‘What time do you intend picking me up?’ he enquired tauntingly, laughing softly as she looked momentarily nonplussed at the suggestion. ‘I usually call and collect the people I’ve invited out to dinner,’ he informed her.

Danie looked irritated at the reminder that she had been the one to do the inviting. ‘Would seven-thirty suit you?’ she said tautly.

‘That depends on what time you book the table for.’

Her mouth tightened at his deliberate awkwardness. ‘How about eight o’clock?’

‘Then seven-thirty will be fine,’ Jonas returned, enjoying her momentary discomfort. Momentary—because he was sure she wouldn’t remain disconcerted for long! ‘In fact,’ he went on softly, ‘I’ll look forward to it!’

It was obvious from her expression that Danie didn’t share the sentiment.

Jonas laughed to himself. He did not think Danie was the answer to the restlessness that had been plaguing him recently, but she had certainly brightened up what might otherwise have been a very arduous day. In fact, he was even starting to look forward to continuing another verbal fencing-match tomorrow evening!

He glanced down at the plain gold watch on his wrist. ‘If you’ll excuse me, Danie,’ he told her briskly. ‘I have another patient to see before I call it a day.’

Impatience once again flared in those revealing green eyes at his obvious dismissal, only to be dampened down again as she made an effort not to lose the fiery temper he had already glimpsed more than once today.

‘You’re certainly kept busy,’ she finally replied.

‘Unfortunately, I don’t very often get flown around in luxurious planes!’

‘Where exactly do you work?’ Danie asked casually.

She would never make it in the diplomatic corps, Jonas concluded; she was as transparent as glass. ‘Here and there,’ he answered enigmatically, having to stop himself from laughing out loud this time at the angry frustration she wasn’t quick enough to hide.

‘Then I had better not keep you any longer,’ she said, bending to pick up her helmet and leather gloves from the carpeted floor where she had placed them earlier.

‘Haven’t you forgotten something?’ Jonas reminded her as she threw the car door open with her usual impatience.

She turned back to him, looking puzzled. ‘I don’t think so…?’ She shook her head, red hair framing the loveliness of her face.

So much perfect beauty, Jonas mused. What a pity her only reason for wanting to see him again was the hope of trying to get him to be less than discreet about his visit to the Summer estate today…! A wasted hope, he was afraid, but it would be interesting to see how she went about it…

‘You have no idea where I live,’ he told her, taking a pen and small notebook from the breast pocket of his jacket, quickly writing down his address before ripping the sheet from the pad and handing it to her. ‘I’ll be ready and waiting at seven-thirty tomorrow evening.’

Danie shoved the piece of paper in the pocket of her leather jacket, obviously annoyed with herself at the oversight. ‘I’ll try to be on time,’ she snapped before getting out of the car and slamming the door shut behind her.

Charles had barely had time to get back in behind the wheel of the Rolls Royce before the black motorbike, Danie bent grimly down over the engine, shot past them with a roar, then rapidly disappeared into the distance.

Jonas relaxed back onto his seat, a smile playing about his lips. Danie Summer’s tongue was as sharp as a knife, and she had an arrogance that bordered on contempt. But she was also incredibly beautiful, and the most intriguing woman Jonas had met for a very long time. If ever!

What a pity her only reason for wanting to see him again was the selfish one of wanting to know why he had been to see her father today.

And what a pity—for Danie!—that she was going to be unsuccessful!