Читать книгу Hired: A Bride for the Boss: The Playboy Boss's Chosen Bride / The Corporate Marriage Campaign / The Boss's Urgent Proposal - SUSAN MEIER, Emma Darcy - Страница 9

CHAPTER FIVE

JAKE returned to his table, furiously smouldering over Mel’s—Merlina’s—hijack of his birthday surprise. It made his grandfather’s delight in her totally intolerable. She’d done it to thumb her nose at his male chauvinist game, to put the icing on the cake of her resignation, to walk away wagging her rose petalled bottom at him. He was so burned up by her triumphant exit from his life, he could barely respond to the bubbling good humour of his friends, the guys in particular.

‘Got to hand it to you, Jake. That was a maxi show-stopper. Marilyn Monroe and American Beauty rolled out in one!’

‘Top wow factor. Talk about sex on legs!’

‘If she was in the garden, any man might be tempted to take time out to smell the roses!’

‘Looks like your grandfather is doing just that. Good one, Jake!’

‘Where did you find her?’

‘I bet she cost a bomb.’

A bomb that had exploded right in his face. And the cost was totally unacceptable. Losing Mel as his personal assistant…there was going to be one hell of a hole in his life. Then he remembered the exorbitant fee for the model. That was a kiss-my-arse hit if ever there was one. He almost erupted as he thought of how Mel had fooled him and feather-bedded her retirement from the job.

‘I was not counting the cost,’ he replied, using every gram of control not to sound as violently put out as he felt. ‘I just wanted to please my grandfather.’ And get under Mel’s skin. Except she’d got under his instead. Big time!

‘No doubt about that,’ Vanessa said dryly, nodding towards his grandfather’s table. ‘He’s obviously smitten with her.’

There he was, introducing Mel to his mother and aunts and she was laughing her head off. Jake’s hands curled into fists. Then, to really rub salt into his wound, one of the guys commented, ‘Definitely worth every cent she cost. Where did you say you found her, Jake?’

‘Oh, really!’ Vanessa interjected, a jealous note creeping in. ‘All this leching over the star turn is a bit rude in front of the women at this table.’

Female agreement swiftly followed, though in a more good-humoured tone than Vanessa’s waspish scolding. Which reminded him that his grandfather had always said skinny women thought too much of themselves. It had probably put Vanessa’s nose out of joint to be upstaged by a woman with a far more voluptuous figure.

Jake tried to give her the attention she wanted, but his heart wasn’t it. He didn’t even find her attractive any more. As for having sex with her tonight…no, he didn’t want to. In fact, he could barely resist the magnetic pull of following Mel’s progress with his grandfather.

No way would he give his erstwhile personal assistant more satisfaction by showing an interest in her outrageous gallivanting at this party, but it was damned difficult to keep his gaze trained on Vanessa and his other companions, and he found the popping of champagne corks a major irritation. The whole situation turned into an agony of waiting for the party to end.

Eventually guests started leaving. His friends decided on continuing the evening at a fashionable bar. Jake didn’t want to accompany them. He was in no mood to be civil let alone convivial. Vanessa was seriously put out when he excused himself, inventing some other commitment. He suggested she go with the others if she was so inclined and she rather sulkily said she would.

It made Jake wonder how he could have ever thought she was desirable on any level. Nevertheless, pride insisted he didn’t end their relationship while Mel could still see them together. To his over-burdened mind, that would give the highly provocative Ms Rossi not only the icing on the cake, but the cake, too.

She was hooked to his grandfather’s arm, saying goodbye to guests, playing hostess to his host with all the aplomb of a seasoned performer, which irked Jake to the bone. He put his left arm around Vanessa’s waist as they approached to take their leave.

‘Great party, Pop,’ he said, showing as much teeth as was possible to put into a broad smile.

His grandfather shot out his right hand to give Jake’s a strong shake. ‘Made more so by you, my boy. Can’t thank you enough.’

‘Yes, the cake idea was brilliant,’ Merlina trilled happily. ‘I’ve had such a wonderful time with Byron.’

Jake steeled himself to look at her. ‘Thank you,’ he said, grimly holding his smile. ‘And may I compliment you on once again rising to the occasion.’ Then to underline how gracious he could be in defeat and to minimise his previous bad-tempered reaction, he added, ‘I wish you well in whatever occupation you choose next, Mel.’ Be damned if he’d call her Merlina!

‘Which will be married life if I have anything to do with it,’ his grandfather supplied, twinkling indulgently at her.

‘Oh, Byron!’ she purred, hugging his arm in demonstrative pleasure.

Jake felt his innards being clawed.

The lion in him came roaring out, wanting to carry Mel Rossi off and do some clawing of his own.

‘Do you have transport home?’ he asked, trying his utmost to sound considerate and caring.

She smiled, the golden amber eyes glowing warmly. ‘How kind! But I don’t need transport. Byron has asked me to stay here with him and I am so enjoying his company…’

‘What about clothes?’ came straight out of his mouth. The image of her prancing around in her rose bikini throughout a private evening with his grandfather made him want to club her over the head and drag her off to a cave.

‘I brought a change of clothes with me,’ she answered with limpid ease. ‘The butler kindly agreed to mind my bag until the party was over. You don’t have to worry about me, Jake.’

‘No, I’m sure he doesn’t,’ Vanessa slid in snidely. ‘Thank you for a lovely party, Byron.’

‘Glad you enjoyed yourself, my dear,’ he replied, brimming over with enough bonhomie to indulgently encompass a skinny woman who was showing signs of becoming bitchy.

‘Take care, Pop,’ Jake managed to toss out before leading Vanessa away.

‘I’m going to take care of Merlina instead,’ his grandfather declared extravagantly. ‘We’re off shopping tomorrow.’ He grinned at her in delighted anticipation. ‘There are some splendid boutiques in Double Bay. And we can have a marvellous seafood lunch at Doyle’s. The maître d’ can always find a table for me.’

‘Oh, goody!’ the femme fatale cried, snuggling closer to her sugar daddy.

Enough was more than enough!

Jake departed in a simmering rage, dragging Vanessa along with him. ‘Don’t walk so fast,’ she protested. ‘I’m wearing very high heels, you know.’

‘You can be barefoot in the park for all I care,’ he growled, having completely lost any semblance of playboy charm.

Vanessa came to a dead halt, spitting mad. ‘You had her lined up for yourself, didn’t you?’

The accusation pulled Jake up, too. ‘No, I didn’t,’ he bit out.

‘You hung around her after she came out of the cake and a moment ago you wanted to take her home,’ came the peevish argument. ‘What’s more, you’re now in a pet because she prefers to be with Byron.’

‘In a pet?’ Jake repeated incredulously.

‘Don’t bother denying it! And don’t think I’m going to play second fiddle to a birthday cake bimbo. Goodbye, Jake! I’ll leave with Tim and Fiona.’

Having slapped him with her rejection, she turned her back on him, strutted several haughty paces, then half- turned to hurl a piece of spite at him. ‘I hope she becomes your step-grandmother!’

Over my dead body!

Jake stood stock-still as the thought crashed through his mind with stunning violence.

For once in his life he didn’t know what to do.

He didn’t have a plan.

Running after Vanessa made no sense. He didn’t want to hang onto her. Best that their relationship be severed and it didn’t matter who’d done the severing. Let Vanessa have the satisfaction of being the one to walk away.

But Mel Rossi’s defection was something else.

That was definitely a blow below the belt.

He had to fight back.

He had to win.

She was using his grandfather as a weapon and a shield but once she was on her own…

Tonight, when she returned to her apartment at Chatswood, he’d be waiting for her, and no way was he about to let Mel Rossi close her door on him!

Midnight…and she hadn’t come home!

Jake’s frustration knew no bounds. She had to be staying overnight at the Vaucluse mansion. In any event, there was no point in camping here any longer. Even if she turned up now, he’d look like a jealous fool for waiting to confront her at this hour, and he was not—not—a jealous fool. He knew what she was up to, playing a one-upmanship end-game, and if nothing else, he was determined to get in the last word.

He drove home to Milson’s Point with that resolution burning in his mind.

However, opening up the opportunity to get in the last word proved difficult. Mel did not answer her telephone on Sunday and Jake seethed over the possibility that she was, indeed, out shopping and lunching with his grandfather. He told himself to calm down. It was only a matter of waiting out some more time before he caught up with her.

Monday was filled with more frustration. He found it increasingly wearing to be civil to his temporary assistant because she wasn’t Mel. She was a skinny blonde who kept transmitting availability signals which sparked no interest whatsoever. In fact, he suspected Mel had gone out of her way to find a woman who fitted the type he usually dated. Another slap in the face!

And still he was only getting the answering machine when he telephoned her apartment. Had she already left on her vacation? Or…no, it was beyond belief that she really was cosying up to his grandfather. That had only been a game…hadn’t it?

He called the Vaucluse mansion.

The butler answered.

‘It’s Jake,’ he said quickly. ‘Is my grandfather in, Harold?’

‘Mr Byron is out today.’

Jake hesitated, but the need to know drove the question. ‘What about Ms Rossi?’

‘Ms Rossi accompanied Mr Byron.’

Jake’s stomach clenched. ‘When will they be home?’ shot out of his mouth.

‘Dinner is to be served at the usual hour so I’m expecting them to return before then.’

Them! Not just his grandfather!

Jake forced himself to say, ‘Thank you, Harold. I’ll call later.’

‘Any message, sir?’

‘No. Thank you.’

It was impossible to apply himself to any work. His mind kept churning over the situation with Mel. Was it going beyond a game? His grandfather had the wealth to wrap a woman in however much luxury she desired but surely Mel wouldn’t consider marrying an eighty-year-old man.

Maybe she’d taken up the position of his personal assistant, with the promise of lots of perks on the side. His grandfather would spoil her rotten and enjoy every minute of doing it. And Mel would perform brilliantly as she always did.

Damn them both!

That scenario was almost as hard to swallow as marriage. But what could he do about it? He chewed over the problem and was still chewing it over when his temporary assistant alerted him to a call from Vanessa Hall. With considerable effort he reset his mind to dealing with the other fallout from his grandfather’s party. It was now late afternoon and he hoped she didn’t want to press for a reconciliation.

‘Vanessa…what can I do for you?’ he asked blandly.

‘I’ve just come home from doing a charity luncheon fashion parade…’

Reminding him she was a queen of the catwalk and should be valued accordingly.

‘Guess who was there, Jake,’ she prompted silkily.

His spine crawled. ‘Do tell,’ he drawled, knowing instantly what this call was about and resolving to sound uncaring.

‘Byron and your cake bimbo,’ she crowed.

‘No doubt they were enjoying themselves.’

‘Oh, yes! The champagne was flowing. For good reason. She’s now wearing a huge, flashy, diamond solitaire ring on her engagement finger. Happy days, Jake! You might get to kiss the bride.’