Rescued by the Brooding Tycoon (6 page)

‘Mary, listen—’

‘I’m not going to let you hurt them by putting them last again—’

‘It’s not like that—
don’t hang up
—’

Harriet couldn’t stand it any more. She snatched the phone from his hand and spoke loudly. ‘Mrs Falcon, please listen to me.’

‘Oh, you’re the girlfriend, I suppose?’

‘No, I’m not Mr Falcon’s girlfriend. I’m a member of the lifeboat crew that’s just taken him from the sea, barely in time to save his life.’

‘Oh, please, do you expect me to believe that?’

Harriet exploded with rage. ‘Yes, I do expect you to believe it because it’s true. If we’d got there just a few minutes later it would have been too late. You’re lucky he’s here and not at the bottom of the ocean.’ She handed the phone to Darius, who was staring as though he’d just seen an apparition. ‘Tell her,’ she commanded.

Dazed, he took the receiver and spoke into it. ‘Mary? Are you still there?—yes, it’s true what she said.’

A sense of propriety made Harriet back away in the direction of the kitchen but an overwhelming curiosity made her leave the door open just enough to eavesdrop.

‘Please fetch them,’ she heard him say. ‘Oh, they’ve come downstairs? Let me talk to them. Frankie—is that you? I’m sorry about the delay—I fell in the water but they pulled me out—I’m fine now. Put Mark on, let me try and talk to both of you at once.’

His tone had changed, becoming warm and caressing in a way Harriet wouldn’t have believed possible. Now she backed into the kitchen and shut the door, gratefully accepting a cup of tea from Kate.

‘He’ll go down with pneumonia if he doesn’t get changed soon,’ Kate observed worriedly.

‘Then we’ll have to be very firm with him,’ Harriet said.

‘Like you were just now.’ Kate’s tone was admiring. ‘He didn’t know what had hit him.’

‘I suppose he’ll be cross with me, but it can’t be helped.’

‘As long as we keep him safe,’ Kate agreed.

Harriet look at her curiously. ‘You sound as though you really care. But he can’t be very easy to work for.’

‘I’ll take him rather than the last fellow any day. Rancing just vanished, leaving me here for weeks. He never got in touch, never paid me—’

‘Didn’t pay you?’ Harriet echoed, aghast. ‘The lousy so-and-so. How did you live?’

‘I had a little saved, but I had to spend it all. I couldn’t contact him. Nothing. Then Mr Falcon walked in and said the place was his. I was still living here because I’ve got nowhere else to go. I thought he’d throw me out and bring in an army of posh servants, but he said he wanted me to stay and he paid me for all the weeks after Rancing left.’

‘He—paid you? But—’

‘I know. He didn’t have to. He didn’t owe me and I couldn’t believe it when he handed me the cash.’

Harriet stared, feeling as though the world had suddenly turned upside down. This couldn’t be true. Darius was a villain. That had been a settled fact in her mind. Until tonight—

‘Why didn’t you tell anyone?’ she asked.

‘Because he said not to. He’d be good and mad if he knew I’d told you now, so you’ll keep quiet, won’t you?’

‘Of course. I’m not even quite convinced.’

‘No, he said you wouldn’t be.’

‘He said what?’

‘Not at the time, but last night when I was making his supper, I mentioned it, asked if I could tell people, and he said that you especially must never know because you enjoyed seeing him as the devil and he didn’t want to spoil your fun.’

‘Oh,
did
he?’

There were no words for the unfamiliar sensation that shook her. Darius had looked into her mind and read it with a precision that was alarming. Or exciting. She wasn’t sure. One thing was certain. Everything she’d thought she knew about him was now in question. And the truth about his real nature was an even bigger question. The world had gone mad, taking her with it.

And what a journey that might be!

She recovered enough to say, ‘But if people knew he could be as generous as this they’d see him differently.’

‘Perhaps he doesn’t want them to,’ Kate said wisely.

That silenced Harriet. This was too much to take in all in one go. She needed space and solitude.

It was time to see how he was managing. Opening the door, they looked out into the hall and saw Darius sitting so still that they thought the call was ended, but then he said, ‘All right,’ in a hard voice.

After a pause he added, ‘You’d better go back to bed now—yes, all right. Goodbye.’

He set the phone down and leaned back against the wood, eyes closed, face exhausted. Something told Harriet the call hadn’t gone well.

‘Time for bed,’ Kate told him. ‘Shall we help you up the stairs?’

‘Thank you, but there’s no need,’ he growled.

He hauled himself slowly to his feet and began the weary trek, stair by stair, but waving the two women away if they seemed to get too close. They contented themselves with keeping a respectful distance, following him up and into his room, where he sat heavily on the bed.

‘It’s all right,’ he said. ‘I can manage.’

‘No, you can’t,’ Harriet firmly. ‘If we leave now you’ll just stretch out and go to sleep in your freezing wet clothes. Next stop, pneumonia.’

‘Now, look—’

‘No, you look. I didn’t give up my evening to come out to sea and fetch you to have you throw your life away through carelessness. You’re going to take off those wet clothes and put on dry ones.’

Darius looked warily from one to the other, and seemed to decide against argument. His eyes closed and Harriet thought for a moment he would lose consciousness. But when he opened them again an incredible change seemed to come over him.

Astonished, Harriet saw a faint grin that might almost have been good-natured, or at least resigned. Then he shrugged.

‘I’m in your hands, ladies.’

He unbuttoned his own shirt and shrugged it off, then unzipped his trousers and stood while they removed them. Kate fetched towels and a bathrobe that Harriet helped him put on. He tried to draw the edges together before removing his underpants, but his grip was weak and they fell open at the crucial moment.

Harriet quickly averted her eyes, but not before she’d seen his nakedness. Just a brief glimpse, but it told her what she didn’t want to know, that his personal magnificence measured up to his reputation in business.

Hastily, she began opening drawers, asking, ‘Where are your pyjamas?’

‘I don’t have any. Sleeping in the nude is more comfortable.’ He raised an eyebrow at her. ‘Don’t you find that?’

‘I really wouldn’t know,’ she said primly. It was incredible to her that he’d chosen this moment to tease her. He was half dead, for pity’s sake! Did nothing crush him?

‘I’m making you a hot tea,’ she declared, ‘and when I come back I expect to find you in bed.’

‘Yes, ma’am,’ he said meekly.

Now Harriet was sure she could see a gleam of humour far back in his eyes, but she couldn’t be sure.

‘I’ll leave you in Kate’s capable hands.’ Some defensive instinct made her add, ‘Don’t stand any nonsense from him, Kate.’

‘Don’t you worry,’ Kate said significantly.

‘Harriet!’ She turned at the door in response to Darius’s voice. ‘Thank you,’ he said quietly.

‘Don’t mention it.’

She departed hurriedly. Downstairs, she made the tea but only took it halfway up the stairs before calling Kate and handing it to her. Suddenly it was important to escape him, above all to escape his knowing look that said he would tease her if he wanted to, and what was she going to do about it?

There was nothing to be done, except get back home—a place of safety, where she knew what was what.

When she got there safety greeted her in the form of Phantom. As they snuggled down under the covers she discussed the matter with him, as she discussed everything.

‘What a night! Him of all people. And it seems he’s not like… Well, I don’t know what he’s like any more. He was nice to Kate, I’ll admit that. Maybe we were wrong about him. No, not we. Just me. You always liked him, didn’t you?

‘If you could have seen him getting undressed tonight. It was an honest accident—at least, I think it was. But what I saw was impressive and maybe he meant me to see and maybe he didn’t.

‘He ticks the boxes—great thighs, narrow hips and the rest—well, never mind. But Brad also ticked the boxes, and he
knew
he ticked them. A man like that wasn’t going to confine himself to me, was he? And he didn’t. So if His Majesty Falcon is expecting me to be impressed he can just think again.

‘You agree with me, don’t you? Well, you do if you want that new stuff I bought for your breakfast tomorrow. Yes—yes—that’s a lovely lick. Can I have another? Thank you. Now, let’s go to sleep. And move over. Give me some room.’

CHAPTER FOUR

H
ARRIET
spent the next morning at her shop, which was doing well. She’d recently taken on a new assistant who was good at the job, something she was glad of when Kate rang, sounding frantic. ‘Darius is driving me crazy wanting to do all sorts of daft things.’

‘Hah! Surprise me.’

‘He’s got a nasty cold, but he insists on getting up. He says he’s got to go out and buy another cellphone. He’s ordered a fancy one online but it’ll take a few days to arrive so he’s determined to get something basic to fill in. And then he wants to come and see you.’

‘All right, I’m on my way. Don’t let him out. Tie him to the bed if you have to.’

Distantly, she heard Kate say, ‘She says I’m to tie you to the bed,’ followed by a sound that might have been a snort of laughter, followed by coughing.

‘You hear that?’ Kate demanded into the phone. ‘If you—’

Her voice vanished, replaced by a loud burr. Harriet hung up, very thoughtful.

Before leaving, she took out an object that until then she’d kept hidden away and looked at it for a long time. At last she sighed and replaced it. But then, heading for the door, she stopped, returned and retrieved it from its hiding place. Again, she gazed at it for several moments, a yearning expression haunting her eyes. Her hand tightened on it and for a moment she seemed resolute. But then she returned it firmly to its hiding place, ran out of the room and downstairs, where she got into her car and began the journey to Giant’s Beacon.

Halfway there she stopped, turned the car and swiftly headed back to streak up the stairs, snatch the precious object, ram it into her pocket and flee.

She’d done it now, the thing she’d vowed never to do, and that was that. She told herself it was time to be sensible, but she made the journey with her face set as though resisting pain

Kate was waiting for her on the doorstep, calling, ‘Thank goodness you’re here!’

‘Kate, is that her?’ cried a hoarse voice from the back of the house.

‘I’m coming,’ she called, hurrying into the room he’d turned into an office.

At first she was bewildered by the array of machinery, all of it obviously state-of-the-art. Kate had spoken of wonderful things, but still the variety and magnificence came as a surprise. And one man could control all this?

Darius, in his dressing gown, was sitting at a large screen, his fingers hovering over a keyboard.

‘Don’t come near me,’ he croaked. ‘I’m full of germs.’

‘You shouldn’t be up at all,’ she scolded him, sitting down at a distance. ‘And Kate says you want to go out. That’s madness. It’s far too cold.’

‘I thought summer was supposed to be coming. Is it always like this in May?’

‘The weather can be a bit temperamental. It’s been colder than usual the last few days. It’ll warm up soon, and then we’ll be flooded with tourists. In the meantime, take care.’

‘I just need a new cellphone to replace the one I lost last night. I have a thousand calls to make, and the house phone keeps going dead.’

‘Yes, the line’s faulty and they don’t seem able to repair it. You were lucky it held out last night when you were calling your children. All right, you need one to tide you over. Try this.’

Reaching into her pocket, she handed over the object that had given her such anguish earlier.

‘You’re lending me yours?’ he asked.

‘No, it’s not mine, it…belonged to my husband.’

He took it from her left hand, realising for the first time that she wore a wedding ring.

‘Husband?’ he echoed.

‘He died a year ago. He hadn’t used this for some time because he’d replaced it with a better one. But it might get you through the next few days.’

He seemed uncertain what to say.

‘That’s very kind of you,’ he murmured at last. ‘But—are you sure?’

‘Quite sure. You’ll find it blank. I’ve wiped off every trace of him.’

Something in her voice made him glance at her quickly, but she was looking out of the window.

‘I appreciate this,’ he said. ‘Now I can call my children again. I’ll be in touch as soon as I’m a bit more normal. I still have to thank you properly for saving me. Perhaps we could have dinner.’

‘You don’t need to thank me. I was just doing what I do and I wasn’t alone. What about all the others on the lifeboat?’

‘I’ll show my gratitude by making a donation. But I think you can tell me a lot about Herringdean that I need to know, so I’d appreciate it if you’d agree to dinner.’

‘All right, I’ll look forward to it.’

‘By the way,’ he added as she reached the door, ‘how’s my ghostly friend?’

‘Who?’

‘His name is Phantom, isn’t it?’

She gave an uncertain laugh. ‘You call him your friend?’

‘You assured me he was only being friendly. Tell him I look forward to our next meeting. What kind of bones does he like?’

‘Any kind.’

‘I’ll remember.’

As she left the house Harriet was saying to herself, ‘I don’t believe it. I imagined that conversation. I must have done.’

That evening she poured out her thoughts again to the one friend she knew she could always trust.

‘I don’t know what to think any more. He’s different—well, all right, he nearly died and that changes people—but they change back. In a few days he’ll be talking about showing no mercy again. Hey, don’t do that! Phantom,
put that down!
—oh, all right, just this once.’