Bound by Their Love (12 page)

Greta reread the email for a third time. Each time the words were the same. They didn't change. No matter how much she wanted them to.

There was no changing the facts. She had to make a trip to the scene of the crime.

God, she wanted to scream in frustration. Ever since she'd returned from the doctor's office she'd been on a high. Then she opened her emails and everything had gone to hell in a handbasket.

Her father had done it again. She knew he had to be responsible for the changes to her campaign. Even though she told him not to touch it, he must have been able to get to her layouts before the courier picked them up.

There was only one way to find out.

Greta walked out of her office and made her way to her father's. Totally ignoring Joan, she opened the door and stopped.

‘Did you, Dad? Did you change my proposal, despite our conversation?' Her voice was as calm as she could make it.

Both men in the room looked up in shock. She stormed over to where they stood looking over some ad layouts. The closer she got to them she saw the layouts were for her campaign. The one she'd worked so hard to make perfect. The one they were now ruining.

‘Greta, hear me out.'

‘No, Dad, I'm not going to hear you out. I can't believe you would be willing to risk the agency and bring the wrath of the Morelli Corporation down on us because you're so pissed off your golden boy didn't get the account.' The anger was roiling through her now. Waves of it crashing through her and making her finally say what she'd always wanted to say. ‘Let me tell you about your little golden boy here, Dad. His presentation was
boring
. B-O-R-I-N-G. He didn't even get to finish it. Luciano cut him off halfway through it.'

‘Did your boyfriend tell you that, Greta?' Graham sneered the words at her.

‘Shut up, Graham. I had dinner with Jeffrey Courteux to celebrate me winning the account. Considering my own father couldn't be bothered to take me out to celebrate, I said yes to his dinner invitation.'

‘You had dinner with a client?'

‘Yes, Dad, I had dinner with a client. It's not unusual, is it? You and Graham do it all the time.'

‘She has a point, Graham. It's not out of place for her to have had dinner with him.'

Greta was speechless. Her father had defended her in front of his golden boy. But he still wanted to sabotage her campaign and she had to deal with that.

‘Thank you. Now, listen up both of you, and listen well. As I said to you the other day, this is my account. I won it fair and square. You and Graham aren't going to interfere anymore.' She paused and took a breath before continuing. ‘Because of your interference, I've been summonsed by Luciano Morelli and Jeffrey Courteux to meet with them up in Broome. I have to explain why my campaign is so different to what I presented. What do I tell them? My father had his nose out of joint because they chose me, his own daughter, over a person who has been with the agency for only six months?'

It felt good to dress down her father. To finally break free from the constraints of trying to do the right thing all the time.

‘Nothing to say?' Neither man spoke. She knew she'd made her point. ‘Just as I thought. I'll be leaving as soon as I can finalise the arrangements.'

‘Greta, I'm sur—'

‘Stop, Dad. Nothing you can say will make this any better. I'll get the account back on track. But from now on there will be no more interference from either of you. Do I make myself clear?'

She transferred her scrutiny to Graham. ‘You've now lost your little blackmailing tool, haven't you, Graham. You thought you were so clever threatening me about having dinner with a client.'

‘It looked way more than just a dinner,' he interrupted belligerently.'

‘Well, you were wrong.' Greta looked over to her father. ‘I'll be in touch with you when I get to Broome. And if I find out that you plan to interfere again I will not be afraid to tell Luciano, even if that means losing the account.'

Greta swept out the door and made her way to the ladies room. Her stomach was churning. She made it to the stall just in time to lose the contents of her stomach. She didn't know if the reason she had thrown up was to do with her pregnancy or because she'd gone toe-to-toe with her father. Either way she couldn't think about it now. She needed to email Heather and set the wheels in motion for a trip she really didn't want to take.

She hoped Luciano would be there and it wasn't just her and Jeff. Alone. Visiting the place they'd first met. Reliving the few hours they'd spent in her hotel room. God, she hoped it wasn't the same room.

Whatever happened, she wouldn't let Jeff touch her this time. Even though they were going to be parents, she had to keep the relationship between them strictly professional. She had a job to do and she was going to do the best damn job possible. Even if doing the job meant her heart got broken.

Chapter 14

Jeffrey waited at the back of the arrivals terminal. He could almost predict Greta's reaction when she saw he was meeting her, and not a driver from the resort she was expecting. He didn't care. He was annoyed at her and her agency about the mock-ups they'd sent through to Luc for him and Jeffrey to review.

Even though he, Luc and Nick had discussed the possibility of Greta's father interfering, he'd never thought Derek would actually do it. Particularly not after Luc threatened to terminate the contract if he tried to interfere with Greta's campaign.

They'd come up with a contingency plan should it be necessary. To ensure the campaign's success, Greta needed to be as far away as possible from her father and his influence. Which meant she would be staying at his place and not the resort. Something he predicted Greta wouldn't appreciate when he passed on that piece of news.

All thoughts of the campaign flew out of his mind as he saw Greta walk through the open sliding glass doors. She looked more beautiful than he remembered. His eyes immediately went to her feet. Disappointment filtered through him when he spied her flat, practical shoes.

He could see her looking around, searching for the driver who was supposed to be holding up her name on a board.

Jeffrey moved toward her. His steps slow and measured. What he wanted to do was stride over, sweep her up in his arms and devour her.

He'd missed her. More than he wanted to admit to himself. Sleep had been elusive over the past few weeks. His concentration had been shot and working on his commissioned designs had not been as fulfilling as it once had.

‘Angel.' He spoke the word softly as he stepped up beside her. She jumped at the sound of his voice.

‘Jeff? What are you doing here?'

‘I thought that would've been obvious. I've come to pick you up.'

‘Why? Do we have a meeting first up? I thought we weren't meeting with anyone involved in the campaign until tomorrow?'

Jeff closed his eyes behind his sunglasses for a moment. Opening them, he pushed up his lenses and looked directly at her. Wariness glowed in the depths of her hazel eyes. It ate at him. He didn't want her to be cautious around him. Reaching out, he lightly brushed her cheek with the back of his fingers. ‘Maybe I wanted to see you before tomorrow.'

‘Well, now you've seen me and you can take me to the resort and then tomorrow we'll meet. Sort out this misunderstanding with the campaign. Hopefully I can catch a late flight tomorrow afternoon and get back to the office the next day.'

‘Not so fast, Angel. It's going to take a bit longer than a couple of hours to clear up this
misunderstanding
.'

‘What do you mean by that?'

They were standing in the middle of an airport terminal. ‘Now's not the time to have this conversation.' Jeff slipped an arm around her waist, feeling her tense beneath his touch.

‘Fine, let's go then,' she said, as she twisted out of his embrace.

Jeff sighed. It was going to be a long couple of weeks with her.

Greta kept her vision on the exit doors of the airport, hyper-aware of the man walking behind her. She laid a hand onto her stomach to subdue the nausea that had fired to life inside of her the second Jeff had whispered
Angel
in her ear. He'd been the last person she'd been expecting. She'd thought she might have had a bit longer to get her mind and body prepared to see him again.

Seeing him had her wanting to wrap her arms around his hard chest and lay her head against it.

Jeff led her to a four-wheel drive vehicle. She'd been expecting the sporty car he'd driven the first day they'd met.

‘Where's your other car?'

Jeff shrugged as he held open the door for her. ‘I didn't know how much luggage you'd have. This one is bigger.'

Her luggage. She'd completely forgotten about collecting it, so surprised at seeing Jeff again. ‘Shit, we need to go back and get it.'

Jeff laughed. ‘No we don't. Look.'

She looked where his finger was pointing and saw airport staff wheeling a trolley with her luggage on it.

Jeff helped her into the car. ‘One of the perks of flying on Luc's private jet. The airport staff will unload the luggage and bring it to you.'

He closed her door and went to the back of the car to make sure all her luggage was loaded. She gazed out the window and tried to take everything in. From a limousine picking her up to Luc's private jet, which looked more like a small apartment than a jet. She'd grown up with luxuries, but not the type Luciano had at his fingertips.

The sound of a door shutting pulled her from her thoughts as a warm hand landed on her knee. She clasped her own hands in her front of her to stop herself from picking his hand up and putting it against her cheek.

‘Do you need anything? Water? A snack?'

Greta couldn't help it, she laughed. ‘Don't tell me you have a fridge and snack box in the car?'

‘No, but that doesn't mean I can't stop at a store and get you something. We have a bit of a drive in front of us.'

‘The resort isn't that far from the airport. I think I can wait until I get settled in the room and then I'll order food and drink.'

Jeff made a noncommittal sound, as he removed his hand from her knee and started the car. His response surprised her. Instead of questioning him she turned her head and looked out the window. Watching the scenery flash by, she wished the trip to be over quickly. She wasn't sure she could handle being in such close proximity to Jeff without touching him.

The silence stretched between them. She had to break it. ‘So what have you been working on?'

‘A couple of custom designs. Nothing is turning out the way I want it.'

‘I'd like to see some of them, if you don't mind sharing. Or are you one of those artists who won't show their work until it's completed?'

‘I've never really had anyone to show it to. I mean, I do have Skype calls with the clients at certain points in the design and making process. But they're just thrilled to own a piece of my jewellery so they're happy with anything I come up with.'

Greta was intrigued at the process. If it was her, she'd be wanting to see the piece every day. See what progress he'd made. She probably wouldn't be his ideal client. ‘I think I'd be too impatient to only have the odd conference call. I'd have to see every step to make sure it's exactly how I want it.'

Jeff laughed. ‘You have to learn to trust, Angel. I can make any vision come to life in jewellery. You've seen my pieces. People have learned not to question me.'

Trusting other people, especially men, didn't come easily to her. Not after all the times she'd been let down. Her father being the first on the list. And the latest.

She went back to looking out the window. They'd been on the road a lot longer than the last time she'd been visiting Broome. They should've been at the resort by now.

She glared over at Jeff, suspicion settling into her bones. She knew she shouldn't have trusted him to deliver her to the resort. She should've objected and got a cab. ‘Where are we going?'

‘To my place.'

‘Why?'

‘Because we thought it would be better if you stayed with me than at the resort.'

‘Oh no. No way. You turn this car around and take me to the resort, right now. I'm not staying with you.'

There was no way she could stay in the same house and remain immune to him. She had a child to protect now. She couldn't let herself risk falling for this man. Not once had he asked about the baby. He'd asked if she was doing okay, what anyone would ask when they haven't seen someone for a little while.

‘You're staying with me, Greta. I have the whole collection at my house. How can you deliver on the promises you made with your presentation if you don't live and breathe the collection?'

While she couldn't fault his logic, it seemed a bit extreme to go to these lengths for an advertising campaign.

‘That's a ridiculous excuse and you know it. You could easily have brought the collection to me at the resort.'