by Anna Jacobs
‘You should have let us know you were coming, Miles,’ Stephanie said. ‘Surprises aren’t always welcome.’
He went across to kiss the air above her cheek and when he would have done the same to his daughter, Amy ducked away from him, clutching the teddy so that it came between them.
From his basket in the corner, Porgy growled and hauled himself to his feet.
Amy darted over to him. ‘Sit down, Porgy-Worgy. It’s only my daddy. He’s not going to hurt me.’
But the old dog continued to growl in his throat, on and on.
‘Can’t you shut that damned animal up?’ Miles asked as he’d twice tried to speak only to have the growls rise in volume.
‘He seems to dislike you even more than he did when you lived here,’ Stephanie said, smiling at the dog. ‘Would you like a cup of coffee?’
‘Yes. And a chalet for the night. I was in the neighbourhood and thought I’d save myself an extra trip down here tomorrow to see my daughter.’
‘I’ve seen you now, so you don’t have to come any more.’ Amy said, prudently staying near the dog.
‘You’re my daughter,’ he said pointedly.
‘Well, I don’t want to be.’
‘Get up and sit at the table properly with us and leave that dirty animal alone!’ he snapped. ‘And I’m sure you have plenty to keep you occupied, O’Neal. Don’t let us keep you.’
Cameron didn’t feel he had a right to intervene, but he wasn’t going to be driven away. ‘I’m helping out here while Ella’s recovering, so I’ll need to come and go. I’ll just get those things you wanted from upstairs, shall I, Stephanie?’
To his relief she took the hint and nodded. ‘Thanks.’
He didn’t knock on Ella’s bedroom door, but pushed it slightly open and peeped in. When he saw she was awake, he put one finger to his lips and went inside, closing the door carefully behind him.
She sat up in bed and stared at him in surprise.
‘Your ex has just turned up,’ he said in a low voice. ‘I thought I’d better warn you. Stephanie’s holding him at bay in the kitchen and Amy is doing an excellent job of keeping his attention on her.’ He grinned. ‘She doesn’t mince words when she doesn’t like someone, does she?’
‘No. That child doesn’t know the meaning of the word tact.’ Ella sighed tiredly. ‘I could do without this.’
‘Do you want me to send him away?’
‘How can you? I can’t deny him access to Amy.’
‘He’s demanding a chalet for tonight.’
‘Now that is going too far.’
There were footsteps on the stairs and Stephanie joined them. ‘I’ve left Amy holding him at bay and Porgy still growling, but I can’t exactly throw him out. Have you decided what you want to do, Ella?’
‘No.’ She rubbed her forehead. ‘I seem to be swimming in fog at the moment. Not the best way to deal with Miles.’
‘Then why don’t you give someone else the right to deal with him?’
‘What do you mean?’
Stephanie looked from one to the other. ‘It’s obvious you two are attracted to one another, shines out a mile. Why don’t you pretend you’re an item – tell him you’re engaged to be married? I’m sure Cameron would love to have the right to deal with my dear son and you must admit you’re not yourself, Ella. The stress of dealing with my slippery son won’t help your recovery.’
They were both staring at her as if she’d thrown a bomb at them.
‘Let me tell him.’ Stephanie grinned. ‘It’ll be such fun to see his reaction.’
They both stole a glance at one another.
‘I’d like that.’ Cameron smiled at Ella as if they were alone. He saw her take a deep breath, swallow hard and then nod.
‘Why not? If you don’t mind, that is?’
He took her hand and raised it to his lips. ‘I’m very happy to be engaged to you.’
Ella blushed but didn’t pull her hand away. He wished they were alone, wished he could really kiss her, was terrified of frightening her away. And to his surprise, he wished this engagement weren’t a pretence.
Stephanie broke the silence by saying cheerfully, ‘What fun! When I think of all the times Miles has pulled the wool over my eyes, I shall enjoy giving him some of his own medicine.’
Cameron gave her a quick, speculative glance and she winked at him behind Ella’s back. What did she mean by that? Was she aware of how deep his feelings already ran for Ella?
‘Shall I go and tell him?’
‘No.’ Ella swung her feet off the bed. ‘Certainly not. I want to enjoy the fun, too.’
Cameron enjoyed the quick display of lean, nicely curved leg, judging it best to make no further comment.
‘Turn your back,’ Ella ordered. ‘I’m not facing him in my tatty old nightdress.’
He did as he was told. Very reluctantly. As the short nightdress had shown, she had beautiful legs, curved in exactly the right places. He’d seen models on TV with what he called ‘chicken legs’, so scrawny they had no curves at all. Women like that didn’t turn him on at all. But Ella did.
She slid her arm round his waist. ‘I’m ready – Cameron darling. Shall we make our entrance hand in hand?’
‘Definitely.’
Miles looked up to see that fellow come in with his arm round Ella’s waist. She was smiling at him as if . . . What the hell was going on here? Had O’Neal wormed his way into her bed? The thought made Miles angry. The fellow was using dirty tactics to get the information for Deare. Very dirty indeed. And worse than that, he was poaching on Miles’s territory.
He turned to his mother, only to find she was looking at the two of them fondly. When he turned back, he was in time to see them exchanging loving smiles.
He’d put a stop to this before he left, he decided. He’d put in the hard work, dreamed up the concept of a development here and sold the idea to DevRaCom as soon as the property on one side of the farm went up for sale.
‘Why don’t you take Porgy out for a walk?’ Ella suggested.
Amy nodded and left without even looking at her father.
Stephanie beamed at Miles. ‘Cameron and Ella are engaged.’
He was lost for words for a few seconds then forced a smile to his face. ‘Congratulations!’
‘You’re the first to know,’ Ella said. ‘We hadn’t even told Amy yet.’
‘Sorry if I let the cat out of the bag,’ said Stephanie. ‘I didn’t realize.’
Amy came back into the room, smiling at her mother. ‘I forgot my book. I heard what you said, but I’d guessed already. When my friend Nessa got a new daddy, her mother went all soppy, like you’ve been doing, and he looked at her like Mr O’Neal looks at you.’
‘Oh. Right. I . . . hope you don’t mind.’
‘I like Mr O’Neal.’
‘You should call me Cameron now.’
‘Cameron.’ She brightened. ‘Does that mean I don’t have to see my old daddy any more?’
Miles glared at her. ‘It doesn’t make any difference to you and me, young lady. I’m still your father. He’ll only be a stepfather.’
Stephanie couldn’t help chuckling, tried to turn it into a cough and failed.
‘Well, I like him an’ I don’t like you, so I’d rather have him for a daddy.’ Amy went across to hug her mother round the waist.
‘Come and sit down, darling,’ Cameron said. ‘You’re still a bit wobbly.’
‘Perhaps I’d better.’ Ella was enjoying Miles’s shock, but worried about how this deception would affect her daughter when the truth was revealed. As if she’d have announced a real engagement without telling Amy first!
‘I’m here to spend time with my daughter,’ Miles said sourly. ‘Your affairs are irrelevant to me. Let’s hope this one lasts longer than the others. What’s the other fellow called who’s been chasing you? Brett Something.’ He snapped his fingers. ‘Harding. That’s the one.’
Ella gaped at him. ‘You know those are lies
. I can’t stand Brett Harding and I’ve never been out with him.’ She shuddered. ‘I never would.’
‘So you say now.’
‘You always were a poor loser,’ Stephanie said. ‘Stop telling lies.’
‘Believe what you want. I know what she’s like. Now, Amy and I are going for a walk.’ Miles captured his daughter’s hand before she could escape.
‘She’s been ill. She’s not fit to go for a walk,’ Ella said. ‘Why don’t you go and sit outside with her for a while?’
‘I don’t want to,’ Amy wailed.
‘Just for twenty minutes, darling,’ Ella said.
‘I’ll get the timer,’ Amy said at once, tugging her hand away from her father’s and hurrying over to the kitchen bench.
In her haste, she misjudged the distance and fell over.
Cameron got to her first, offering a hand but not forcing it on her. ‘You all right, kid?’
‘Yes. I fall over sometimes. But I can get up on my own.’
‘I can see that. But friends can help one another and there’s no chair in reach for you to hold on to.’
She took his hand but let go as soon as she was standing.
‘Maybe she should start using a wheelchair,’ Miles suggested.
Frosty silence met this remark, not only from Amy but from the others.
He looked round, puzzled. ‘What? What did I say?’
‘Kids with SMA usually make their own decisions about using wheelchairs, and it’s not always necessary,’ Cameron said curtly. ‘I’d have thought you’d know that, you being her father.’
Miles glared at him and turned to his daughter. ‘If you’re all right now, shall we go outside?’
Porgy began to growl again and heaved himself to his feet.
‘That stupid creature isn’t coming with us,’ Miles snapped.
Stephanie said quietly, ‘My son doesn’t understand about pets, never has.’
Ignoring them all, Miles ushered his daughter outside.
Ella went to the window. ‘I’m keeping an eye on them. If it looks like he’s upsetting her, I’m going to intervene.’ She laughed suddenly. ‘Oh my! She’s set the timer already and he doesn’t like that.’
‘I’d back her against him any day,’ Stephanie said. ‘I reckon she’s inherited something of his ruthlessness, so he’s not going to find her easy to deal with.’
‘He found me all too easy,’ Ella said bitterly.
In London, one of Ray Deare’s PAs took the camera from Smith and left him reporting what had happened to the CEO.
He downloaded the images on to his computer in the adjacent office and frowned, fiddling with them.
He went back and held out the camera. ‘It didn’t work.’
Smith frowned at him. ‘What do you mean, it didn’t work? It would have been carefully checked out before I took it out of Stores. How could it not work?’
‘See for yourself. There are a few shots of exteriors – rather a nice old barn, but the rest is all fuzzy. You must have had it on the wrong setting for indoor shots.’
‘I was using cameras before you were out of nappies,’ Smith snapped, furious at being treated like this in front of the big boss. ‘Let me see. I’ll use my own computer to download.’
Ray watched them go, turned and saw Miss Bradley waiting patiently. ‘This project isn’t going well.’
She gave him one of her disapproving looks.
‘Don’t start, Sonia. The situation is urgent and we can’t afford to lose this one.’
‘You’ve never acted like this before,’ she said, pinch-lipped. ‘I don’t like underhand behaviour and cheating.’
‘I have to do it any way I can. I’ll be in the good old merde if I don’t pull it off.’
Her expression softened slightly. ‘Try to find another way, Ray.’
‘There isn’t one.’
‘There must be.’
She waited and when he stubbornly shook his head, she turned and went out, once more in her normal stern persona.
The two of them went way back, he thought, in fact he’d known her longer than anyone else in the company. They’d been close once and he’d even considered marrying her. Then Alicia had turned up, heiress to a fortune, making eyes at him. It had been too good an opportunity to miss.
But he was glad he’d persuaded Sonia to continue working for him.
She didn’t often step outside her role as senior executive secretary, though. What had got into her today?
After twenty minutes had passed, the timer pinged. Amy stood up at once to go inside the house.
Miles pulled her down again, looking angry.
Ella, who’d been keeping an eye on them, moved purposefully towards the door and went outside to join them. ‘Your twenty minutes are up, Amy. And your grandma has a drink and a piece of cake waiting for you.’
‘I don’t call this reasonable access,’ Miles said. ‘I’ll have to consult my lawyer. I want to take Amy out, have her to myself.’
‘You hardly spoke to her just now.’
‘I suppose you were watching through the window.’
‘Of course.’
He looked at her scornfully. ‘You’d do more good by keeping an eye on that boyfriend of yours.’
‘None of your business.’
‘Oh, I think it is. Did you know he’s working for DevRaCom?’
The world seemed to blur around her for a minute as his accusation sank in. ‘I don’t believe you!’
He shrugged. ‘I saw him myself at DevRaCom head office. He’s mighty close to the CEO, Ray Deare. Acts more like his favourite nephew than an employee.’
‘Cameron isn’t working for anyone at the moment.’
Miles shrugged. ‘Have it your own way. Only what was he doing at head office a few days ago?’
Suddenly she could stand the sight of her ex no longer. ‘It’s about time you left. I’m not renting you a chalet and I think Amy’s been forced to spend enough time with you for one day.’ She gestured to the object on the ground. ‘And you’d better take your bar of chocolate with you. Your daughter clearly didn’t want it.’
He stood there for a moment, then shoved his hands in his pockets. ‘I’ll go, but I’m coming back again tomorrow afternoon. You and Amy had better get used to my visits. And if you’ve got any thoughts about denying me access, we’ll put it to the test in court.’
He strolled across to his car and slid into the driving seat, moving off with an unnecessary swirl of gravel.
She stood watching his car disappear, but didn’t go into the house, didn’t trust herself yet to confront Cameron.
What Miles had said couldn’t be true.
Could it?
Only . . . Cameron had come here at first to inspect the property. She’d assumed he was doing this for the bank. But what if he’d come for DevRaCom? What if he was deceiving her?
Surely she couldn’t have been so badly mistaken in a man again?
Seventeen
Brett stared at his father in shock. ‘You don’t mean it.’
‘Oh, but I do.’
‘Who’s been putting stupid ideas like that in your mind? Come on, Dad. I’m not an alcoholic. I just like a drink or two.’
‘More than a drink or two. I’ve not forgotten you crashing my car, even if you have. And when you come up for trial, it’ll look better if you’ve gone into rehab, my lawyer says.’
‘But I’ve cut down on what I drink already.’
‘Oh? Then why did I find those empty whisky bottles in the rubbish bin?’
Brett shrugged. ‘I’m going mad shut up here. It was just the odd drink.’
‘But you’ve not been shut up. You’ve been creeping out late at night, taking advantage of the fact that your mother and I go to bed early. I’d have come after you last night except I didn’t want to wake her. And then, to crown it all, you had to set a booby trap for Rose Marwood! Didn’t it even occur to you that it would scare anybody out of their wits these days, what w
ith terrorists and all? Stupid, that was, involving the police again. That’ll not look good at your trial, either. You’ll probably get a custodial sentence. How do you think having a son in jail will reflect on me?’
‘It was meant to be a joke.’
‘Well, it wasn’t funny and if you weren’t my son, I’d say you deserved locking away to teach you a lesson.’
‘You won’t let them put me in jail, will you?’
‘I may not be able to stop them. But my lawyer says it’ll help if you go into rehab voluntarily, so go you will. I’ve found a place where they treat people decently. It’ll cost me a fortune, but it’ll be worth it to stop you getting in any deeper. I’m not having your mother worrying herself into an early grave because her son’s an alcoholic.’
‘I’m not going into one of those places. Dad . . . Don’t do that to me.’ Brett’s heart sank. When his father got that look on his face, he knew nothing would change his mind.
‘If you’re not going into rehab, you’d better move out of here tomorrow and find yourself a new job while you’re at it. I’ll be cancelling your credit card, too.’
‘You don’t mean that.’
‘I bloody well do. I’ve had medical advice about this as well as legal, and we need to nip your addiction in the bud before it’s too late.’
‘What medical advice?’ Brett stared at his father. ‘The Paiges. It’s one of them, isn’t it? You always go to them, even though I keep telling you how old-fashioned their practice is.’
‘They know their stuff, especially that young one.’
Brett opened his mouth to say what he thought of Oliver Paige, then looked at his father’s furious face and pressed his lips together.
‘You leave for rehab on Monday morning, early. I’ll drive you there myself and hand you over. You’ll not come out till you’re well and truly dried out, not if you want your job and home back.’
‘I’m not going!’
His father stared thoughtfully at his signet ring. ‘There’s also the small matter of your future inheritance – I’m not leaving my money to a drunken wastrel.’
Brett knew when he was beaten. ‘I can’t believe you’re doing this to me.’
His father’s voice softened just a little. ‘It’s for your own good, so give it a chance, lad. In the meantime, for this last day or two, you’d better knuckle down and work hard.’ He looked at his watch. ‘Your shift at the petrol station starts in quarter of an hour. Just gives you nice time to walk into town, doesn’t it? Leave your car here. You need to start getting fitter. You’ve put on a lot of weight round your middle lately.’
