Читать книгу Ruthless Seduction: Pleasured in the Billionaire's Bed / The Ruthless Marriage Proposal - Miranda Lee - Страница 12

LISA’S chest tightened as it always did when she pulled into the driveway of her mother’s place. Not so much these days because the ramshackle farmhouse would be a mess. But because her mother always seemed to say something to get her hackles up.

Lisa could hear implied criticism in even the most innocent of her mother’s comments. As soon as she pulled up on the weed-filled patch of lawn which masqueraded as a front garden, Cory was out of the car like a shot, running up onto the veranda and giving his emerging grandma a big hug before dashing off to play on the tyre which swung from a nearby tree.

‘Thanks for looking after Cory for me, Mum,’ Lisa called out through the driver’s window, trying not to really look at her mother. But it was impossible. Her hair was as red as the red in the multicoloured kaftan she was wearing. ‘Not sure what time I’ll be back. Probably not till after lunch.’

Lisa had decided on the way here not to tell her mother about going out tonight till she returned from shopping. She’d say she’d run into this mythical girl-friend at Tuggerah and been asked out when another girlfriend couldn’t go with her.

‘What’s the hurry?’ Jill Chapman called back as she walked down the rickety front steps. ‘Can’t you come in for a cup of coffee?’

‘I’ll do that when I come back. I don’t want to be late. You know what the parking’s like when the sales are on.’

‘You look very nice today,’ her mother said, drawing closer to the driver’s window. ‘There again, you always look nice. I wouldn’t have thought you needed any new clothes.’

Lisa struggled to find a smile. ‘Actually, I’m looking for Christmas presents today. But I think it’s always good to buy a few new things at the start of each season,’ she said through clenched teeth. ‘Otherwise, your wardrobe ends up getting very dated.’

‘Like mine, you mean,’ her mother said with a hearty laugh.

‘I didn’t say that.’

‘You didn’t have to. I know I look like an escapee from the sixties most of the time. But that’s what I am.’

Who would have guessed? Lisa thought wearily.

‘I have to go, Mum,’ she said. ‘Keep an eye on Cory, would you? Don’t let him wander off.’ Her mother lived on a small acreage in the Yarramalong Valley, where there was a lot of bush. And snakes.

‘He’ll be fine.’

Lisa sighed under her breath as she waved goodbye and drove off. That was what her mother always said. And what she thought. Everything and everyone was always fine. Except her daughter, of course. Her daughter was a fussy, frigid fool who had no idea how to relax, or really enjoy herself.

Maybe she was right, Lisa conceded unexpectedly for the first time in her life. Here she was, going out to a slap-up dinner in Sydney tonight with her favourite author and was she happy? No! She was already worrying herself sick over how to act and what might or might not happen when Jack brought her home.

At least her mother was always happy. She’d been happy even after her husband left her.

I should be happy, Lisa lectured herself as she drove towards Tuggerah. I have a lovely home. A wonderful son. A flourishing business. And a good, if irritating, mother.

I also shouldn’t be worrying about tonight. I am an adult woman, in control over what happens to me and what does not. If Jack makes a pass, I can handle it. There’s no reason why I can’t relax and enjoy myself.

The trouble was she always had difficulty relaxing. She seemed condemned to feel slightly uptight about everything, as if nothing was ever quite right, or good enough, or clean enough.

Lisa pulled a face. She was sick of this. Sick of herself.

Thank goodness it wasn’t far from her mother’s house to the shopping centre, the sight of Tuggerah ahead soothing her anxiety somewhat. Clothes shopping was one thing she did truly enjoy. She had a good sense of fashion and knew what suited her. When she’d attended the company Christmas parties with Greg he’d always been very proud of her.

Hopefully, Jack would feel just as proud when he came to pick her up tonight.

‘You don’t mind, Mum?’ Lisa said, glancing up from where she was sitting at her mother’s messy kitchen table, sipping coffee. The clock on the wall showed ten to one. Finding that special dress had taken Lisa longer than she’d anticipated.

‘Mind? Why should I mind? I love having Cory over.’

‘Where is he, by the way?’

‘Down at the creek, looking for tadpoles.’

‘He’s OK by himself down there?’

‘He can swim, can’t he? Of course he’s all right. You fuss over him too much, Lisa. Boys needs some space. And some freedom.’

‘Maybe. But it’s a dangerous world out there, Mum.’

‘The world is whatever you believe it to be. I believe it to be good. And I believe people to be good. Until it’s proven otherwise.’

Lisa sighed. Her mother was naïve, in her opinion. And out of touch. At the same time, she could see that Cory grew whenever he spent time with her. Not physically. But in maturity and experience. Her mother did allow him to do things she never would.

‘It’s good that you’re going out,’ her mother went on. ‘Even if it is just with a girlfriend. So you’re off to Sydney, are you? To a posh dinner in a posh restaurant. That’s great. But watch yourself.’

Lisa blinked. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Sydney on a Saturday night can be a wild place. Don’t go walking around the streets by yourself.’

‘We’re going to a restaurant, Mum. It’s a literary-awards dinner with speeches and things. We won’t be walking around the streets.’

‘What are you going to wear?’

Lisa had decided not to show her mother the dress she’d bought. She wasn’t in the mood for being criticised.

‘I have plenty of party dresses in my wardrobe.’

‘You know, you might see our favourite author there.’

‘And who would that be?’ Lisa said, trying to keep a straight face.

‘Nick Freeman, of course. His books always win awards. It says so on the inside flaps. You’ll have to tell me what he looks like. There’s never a picture on the back cover. And not much of a biography. I think he writes under an assumed name.’

‘He might be a woman,’ came Lisa’s oddly mischievous comment.

‘Oh, no,’ her mother said with a rather knowing smile. ‘The creator of Hal is no woman. My guess is he’s ex-military. He knows much too much about weapons not to have personal experience.’

‘Maybe he just does a lot of research,’ Lisa said, whilst thinking to herself that her mother was probably right.

‘No. It’s all too real. I sure hope he’s going to write some more Hal Hunter books. I’m addicted to them already. Yet strangely enough, I think I like the first one the best. The Scales of Justice. That’s where you really get to know Hal. You understand why he is the way he is after the way his parents get killed.’

Lisa frowned, only then making the connection between Jack’s parents being tragically killed and the way Hal’s parents were killed. Not in a car accident. In a terrorist bombing.

Was that why Jack had become a loner, like Hal? Why he didn’t want to marry and have a family of his own?

The answers to those questions possibly lay in that first book.

‘You know, Mum, I think I’d like to read that one again. You haven’t lent it to any of your friends, have you?’

‘Nope. It’s in my bedroom, under the bed. I’ll go get it for you.’

Her mother had just left when the back screen door was yanked open and Cory charged into the kitchen, holding an old coffee jar full of muddy water.

The nicely washed and ironed clothes which she’d put on him that morning were also muddy. So was his face. It always pained Lisa to see her good-looking boy looking like a ruffian. But she held her tongue for once.

‘Hi there, Mum! Where’s Grandma?’

‘Right here, sweetie,’ Lisa’s mother replied as she bustled back into the kitchen, handing Lisa the book before going straight over to Cory. ‘Show me what you’ve got. Heavens! You’ve done well. We’ll put them in the pond later. Hopefully, some of them might turn into frogs. By the way, you’re staying the night,’ she continued before Lisa could tell Cory herself. ‘Your mum’s going out to some fancy dinner in Sydney tonight.’

‘Wow! Cool.’

Lisa wasn’t sure if he meant it was cool she was going to Sydney, or cool that he was staying the night.

‘Don’t let him stay up too late,’ she said.

Grandmother and grandson exchanged a conspiratorial glance. They were as thick as thieves, those two.

‘It’s Saturday night,’ her mother said. ‘Cory doesn’t have to go to school tomorrow. He can sleep in in the morning. You’re not going to be here to pick him up till lunch-time, I’ll bet. It’ll be you having the late night.’

Lisa didn’t plan on being that late. But she didn’t want to argue the point, for fear of making a slip-up with her story.

‘Oh, all right,’ she agreed. ‘But not too late,’ Lisa added as she picked up Jack’s book and got to her feet. ‘Don’t go taking advantage of your grandmother, young man. And don’t eat too much ice cream. You know what it does to your stomach.’ Cory was lactose intolerant.

Cory’s blue eyes went blank, exactly like his father’s had when she used to nag him over something.

‘Go give your mother a hug,’ his grandmother said, giving Cory a nudge in the ribs.

‘Be a good boy,’ Lisa whispered as she held him to her for a little longer than she usually did.

His weary-sounding sigh made her feel guilty.

‘Love you,’ she added.

‘Love you too, Mum,’ Cory returned. But there wasn’t a great deal of warmth in his words.

Suddenly, Lisa wanted to cry. And to keep holding him. Close.

But she knew he would hate that.

‘See you tomorrow,’ she choked out, struggling to keep back the tears as she let him go and hurried towards the door.

Her mother followed her out whilst Cory dashed off towards the pond with his jar of tadpoles.

‘You all right, love?’ her mother said.

Lisa tossed Jack’s book onto the passenger seat as she climbed in behind the wheel. ‘Yes, of course. Why shouldn’t I be?’

‘You seem a little more uptight than usual.’

‘I’m not uptight at all,’ Lisa suddenly snapped before banging the door shut and glaring at her mother through the open window. ‘Why do you always criticise me, Mum? I’ve been a good daughter, haven’t I? And I’m a good mother to Cory. I support myself and always try to do the right thing. So get off my back, will you?’

Regret at her sharp words consumed Lisa when her mother reeled back on her heels, shock in her eyes.

‘I…I didn’t realise,’ her mother said, obviously shaken by Lisa having a go at her. ‘I only ever want the best for you, love. But I can see I might have been a bit critical on occasions. Sorry. I’ll try to keep my big mouth shut in future.’

Lisa was torn between feeling vindicated at having stood up for herself, and guilty over hurting her mother’s feelings.

‘I’m sorry, too, Mum,’ she said. ‘I know I’m touchy. I…I haven’t been sleeping very well lately.’

‘Then it will do you good to get out,’ her mother said, all smiles again. Nothing ever got Jill Chapman down for long. ‘Who knows? You might meet a man.’

‘Mum…’Lisa warned.

‘What’s wrong with a mother wanting her beautiful daughter to meet a man?’

‘You know I don’t want to get married again.’

‘So? I don’t, either. But that’s never stopped me having a boyfriend.’

‘Or two,’ Lisa muttered under her breath as she started the engine. ‘Bye, Mum,’ she said as she let go of the handbrake and moved off. ‘See you in the morning.’

‘No need to rush,’ her mother shouted after her. ‘Sleep in, if you want to.’

Lisa found herself shaking her head as she drove off. In a weird way, she wished she’d told her mother the total truth about tonight. She would have liked to see the look on her face.

But the consequences were not worth that small moment of satisfaction. Her mother would have asked her all sorts of awkward questions, and jumped to all the wrong conclusions.

No, it was much better this way.

Once out onto the road, Lisa glanced across at the copy of The Scales of Justice lying on the passenger seat. She could not wait to get home and read it. Not the whole book, unfortunately. She wouldn’t have time for that. Not if she was to be perfectly groomed when Jack picked her up at six.

But she could surely manage a few chapters whilst she was soaking in the bath.

Lisa was anxious to find out just how much Hal was like Jack. He’d said on the phone last night how he liked to be prepared. Well, Lisa was going to be prepared too.

For him.