The Outback Wedding Takeover. Emma DarcyЧитать онлайн книгу.
she burst out in an urgent need to defend herself. ‘It was obvious that Lara Chappel trusted him. She was with him willingly, anxious to make good her escape. Once we arrived at the airport, she thanked me very sincerely for my help. And I noticed she wasn’t wearing any rings.’
It reminded Kathryn of the ring she was wearing herself—the ring proclaiming she’d agreed to marry Jeremy Haynes. Her gaze dropped to the flashy solitaire diamond he’d chosen for her and she told herself once again it was a measure of how much he valued her, not a status symbol of how much he was worth. Of course, money was useful. Life was a lot easier with it than without it. But sometimes…
She twisted the ring around on her finger, wishing it was an emerald, something more personal to her. Jeremy knew she loved green. Yet she couldn’t very well argue against his romantic declaration that ‘Diamonds are forever.’ She heaved a rueful sigh and raised her gaze to the man who was stirring all sorts of troubling confusion in her.
He was staring at her ring, watching the agitated movement of it around her finger. She instantly stilled her hands and spoke very firmly. ‘If a woman takes off her rings, it’s a very deliberate action, meaning that relationship—her commitment to it—is over. Lara Chappel wanted out of her marriage. I have no doubt of that. Ric wasn’t abducting her. She looked at him as though he was performing a miracle for her.’
‘A miracle…’ Mitch Tyler’s mouth twisted with irony as his gaze flicked up to meet hers. ‘I see you’re engaged to be married, Kathryn.’
‘Yes.’ Why did she feel defiant about that? He wasn’t attacking her on it…was he?
‘When is the happy wedding day?’
‘We haven’t decided yet.’
‘No keen rush to the altar?’
She frowned, uneasy with these personal questions. ‘It depends on work factors.’
‘Your work or his?’
‘I don’t see how this is relevant to the situation that brought me here,’ she flared at him.
‘I assure you it is highly relevant,’ he retorted, making a languid gesture that denied any attack. ‘I’m simply ascertaining how long you want to remain in the position of Ric’s executive assistant. Should your fiancé be happy for you to walk out of it today…’
‘I wouldn’t be happy,’ she cut in emphatically.
‘So you want to keep your job, regardless of any threat Gary Chappel might pose?’
She glared at him. ‘You’re supposed to take care of that.’
‘Ah yes, the miracle worker,’ he drawled. ‘Ric plays knight to the rescue of his fair Lara, and I’m handed the job of slaying the dragon and keeping you safe.’ His eyes beamed hard relentless purpose at her. ‘And I will. I will keep you safe, Kathryn. But the legal moves will take a day or two and I’m just wondering how much your fiancé cares about you and your safety.’ One eyebrow lifted in challenge. ‘As much as Ric, taking his woman right out of reach?’
‘I’m not stupid. I can take care of myself,’ she protested.
‘Not against a man like Gary Chappel,’ came the flat retort. Then more softly, insidiously touching a raw memory, ‘How did you feel when he confronted you in your office?’
She shuddered.
Mitch Tyler instantly pounced on the response. ‘You were frightened.’
‘He was in a rage.’
‘Breathing fire. He not only has a lot of fire-power, Kathryn, but he has no conscience about using it. If Gary Chappel thinks you’re standing in his way…’
The telephone rang. Mitch Tyler snatched up the receiver and listened to the person on the other end of the line.
It was a relief to have his attention withdrawn from her, focused on something else. Kathryn reflected on what he’d said about Gary Chappel, whom she’d found a very scary man, having no regard whatsoever for appropriate or even reasonable behaviour. She’d managed to get rid of him once, but if he stormed into the office again…or came to her home…
A man who had his wife watched and followed…a battered wife…violence toward women…it was beginning to look very ugly to Kathryn. She remembered how he’d repeated her name, committing it to memory for further reference, his contemptuous manner toward her, the sense of threat.
‘Okay. So you’ve agreed to let Lara stay with you. That’s fine but Ric can’t stay, too.’
Mitch’s curt words broke Kathryn’s train of concern, alerting her to a new development.
‘There have already been aggressive moves made by Gary Chappel to recover his wife,’ he continued. ‘I have Ric’s executive assistant, Kathryn Ledger, here in my chambers, a protective move against further harassment in her office. In all fairness, Ric must become an open target for Chappel to pursue. Best if he flies out of the country as soon as possible—I mean tomorrow—get the heat off his Sydney office.’
Yes, Kathryn thought. She certainly didn’t want another encounter with Gary Chappel.
A pause for listening, then, ‘Get them both to call me when they arrive. I’ll talk to Ric first but I also need ammunition from Lara Chappel to make legal moves stick. I have a plan of action in mind but it will only work with Lara’s full co-operation.’
A plan of action… Kathryn breathed more easily. She instinctively had faith in Mitch Tyler’s ability to counter-punch anything. If anyone had the power to take on a problem and beat it, he did. Ric had trusted him with it. She did, too. And now that communication with the escaping couple could be reestablished, everything should be quickly settled.
Mitch put the receiver down. Kathryn tensed as his riveting gaze zeroed in on her again. ‘Do you live with your fiancé?’ he asked point-blank.
‘Yes.’
‘He’ll be at home with you tonight?’
She shook her head. ‘He’s in Melbourne on business. He won’t be home until tomorrow evening.’
‘You can’t be on your own, Kathryn. Not with Gary Chappel in a state of raging frustration. Believe me, I know what that man is capable of. Without some restraining force—and I can’t even begin to apply that until tomorrow—he’s a loose cannon.’ He gestured to the phone. ‘Want to call your fiancé? Ask him to fly back to Sydney this evening?’
While he was in the middle of negotiations for his future career in financial services? Calling him away from critical meetings to nurse-maid her? Because of something that had happened through her job? Which didn’t matter as much as his, given that he’d be the main source of financial support when they had children.
‘I don’t want to do that,’ she quickly decided. Jeremy would consider it totally unreasonable.
The blue eyes bored in. ‘Aren’t you more important to him than business?’
‘I can take care of myself,’ she asserted again.
‘You’re a woman…against a man with resources he’ll have no compunction in using to get his own way.’
Jeremy would blame her for getting involved with something that was not really her job, bringing trouble upon herself, messing everything up for him. ‘I can go to a hotel,’ she said, desperately seeking an alternative course.
Mitch Tyler shook his head. ‘If you won’t call your fiancé to come home and stand between you and any threat from Gary Chappel…you stay with me.’
Her heart skipped a beat. ‘Stay…with you?’ She could barely get the words out, her mouth had gone so dry.
‘Ric made me responsible for you. I take that responsibility very seriously.’
‘But…’