AMANDA BROWNING – A Daring Deception (страница 4)

The two men stared each other out for what seemed like ages, then Linus grunted. ‘You don’t, eh?’

Nathan crossed his arms and shook his head emphatically. ‘No.’

Linus sank back in his seat with a heavy sigh. ‘Then Lord knows what’s to be done.’ he declared morosely, upon which Nathan closed his eyes for a second.

Rachel leaned over and placed her hand over her grandfather’s. ‘We’ll think of something, Grandfather,’ she murmured consolingly, and felt rather than saw Nathan’s head turn towards her.

‘I must be mad to suggest it, but this whole situation has a ring of insanity about it. If you can spare her, I’ll take Rachel.’

Rachel very nearly fell off her chair in shock. She gasped, fish-like, for a moment before a word passed her lips. ‘What?’ she squawked incredulously. He couldn’t have said what she thought he had.

Linus was as surprised as she, and his response was to look her over critically. ‘Of course I can spare her, but…Rachel hardly fits the bill,’ he concluded doubtfully, bringing colour to her cheeks and a flash of fire to her eyes.

‘What does that mean, exactly?’ she demanded in outrage, her feminine pride tweaked by the implied criticism.

The old man’s expression was regretful. ‘Forgive me, Rachel, but I only have to look at you to see the problem. You’re blonde, certainly, but far too intelligent. I’m glad to say not Ames’s type at all,’ he replied gently, and she did a rapid mental review of herself.

She could see what he meant. She wore suits because they were comfortable to work in. Her long blonde hair she kept tied back in a knot at the nape of her neck because she hated it falling over her face whilst she worked. Last, but not least, she wore glasses for all the close work she did on the computer. All in all, Rachel was not the blowsy blonde type that Luther Ames apparently went for in a big way. Which was just as well, really, because he didn’t sound like a man she would want to get to know.

‘I agree she doesn’t look the type now, but she could be made to be,’ Nathan put in quietly, sending a shock wave through her system. What on earth did he mean by that?

Linus frowned. ‘I admit the potential is there, and Rachel is a quick study, but she’s no actress, Nathan.’

Nathan was watching Rachel, a calculating look in his eye. ‘Oh, I don’t believe it would take long to make her convincing.’

‘You think not?’

‘Trust me. It can be done with very little time or effort.’ Nathan declared confidently, bringing her eyes to his face.

There was a certain something in his expression which made her frown and go still. She tried to read his thoughts, but it was as if a wall had gone up. Confused, and vaguely unsettled, she finally found her voice. ‘Just a second. Will you please stop talking about me as if I weren’t here? Time is irrelevant. I have no intention of going anywhere.’

‘But I’m counting on you, Rachel!’ Linus exclaimed in disappointment. ‘There’s no time to find somebody else.’

Whilst she hated the thought of letting her grandfather down, this was way beyond her agreement to help him in his time of need. ‘I’m sorry, Grandfather, but I simply can’t do what you’re asking. Even if I could just drop everything and fly to America, leaving my business to sink or swim—which I can’t—you were quite right. What you need is a femme fatale, and that just isn’t me.’ Not that she didn’t know how to be, but that was another story.

‘On the contrary,’ Nathan cut in softly. ‘With a little make-up and the right clothes I can see you holding your own with the best of them in the playgrounds of the rich. Places like Tahoe or…Cap d’Antibes, for instance.’

The pause was infinitesimal, but it registered on Rachel, who blinked in yet more confusion. Why had he mentioned Cap d’Antibes in that strange tone of voice? And just what was that jibe about the playgrounds of the rich? What on earth was he suggesting? Yes, she had been there, but only once, and the circumstances had been extraordinary. She looked at him sharply, but before she could demand an explanation, Linus spoke.

‘Thank goodness that’s one problem solved. You’ll take Rachel with you. If the whole mess can be sorted just as easily, we’ll be laughing. Now, I’ve booked two seats on the midday flight to Tahoe tomorrow, and a suite at the Tahoe Caesar Hotel. The rest will be up to you.’

Rachel could feel control of the situation slipping out of her hands. ‘Just a minute,’ she protested. ‘I haven’t agreed to go.’

‘Of course you’ll go, my dear. Nathan needs you.’

If he thought that would persuade her, he was mistaken. She stood up quickly, the better to enforce her stance. ‘I’m sorry, but it’s quite out of the question.’

Nathan rose too, reaching out to take her arm in a deceptively firm grip. ‘Don’t worry, Linus, it’s just stage fright. She’ll go,’ he declared unilaterally, and looked down at her with a clear message in his eyes for her not to argue. ‘Let’s talk it over, shall we?’ he suggested mildly, but she knew it for the order it was, and bridled.

Yet, however fuming she might be, she was unwilling to cause a scene in front of her grandfather, and set her jaw firmly. ‘Very well,’ she agreed frostily, determined to stick to her guns. ‘We’ll talk, but I’m telling you now, you’re wasting your time.’

‘That remains to be seen, sweetheart,’ Nathan murmured softly as he gently but firmly ushered her from the room.

CHAPTER TWO

NATHAN strode down the passage to the lounge, with scant care that she virtually had to jog to keep up with him, and urged her inside. The second the door closed behind them Rachel jerked herself free from his hold and turned on him.

‘Let me make myself quite clear. We have nothing to talk about. I’m not going with you, and you’ll have to explain that to my grandfather,’ she insisted, half turning back to the door. Nathan promptly stepped into her path, preventing her intended departure. ‘Get out of my way,’ she ordered curtly, but he shook his head.

‘I wouldn’t be so hasty if I were you, sweetheart. Sit down. We might as well be comfortable whilst we talk,’ he suggested, following his own advice by taking a seat on the couch.

Rachel stood her ground. She wasn’t going to sit as she had no intention of staying. ‘How many times do I have to tell you there’s nothing to talk about? I have a business to run, and I can’t just walk away from it at the drop of a hat. There’s nothing you can say that will make me change my mind.’

‘Not even Cap d’Antibes?’ he challenged sardonically, and the way in which he said it had her breath catching in her throat even as she stared at him blankly.

‘You mentioned the resort before,’ she said, confused, spreading her hands to underline her incomprehension. ‘I don’t—’

‘Don’t what…? Remember?’ Nathan supplied before she could finish, steepling his fingers and watching her over the top of them. ‘Strange, I thought you had an excellent memory. It’s one of the reasons your grandfather thinks so highly of you.’

Totally confused now, because he sounded so certain, Rachel placed a steadying hand on the back of the nearest chair. She had no idea what was going on here, but the undercurrent swirling about her made her want to shiver in purely primitive reaction.

‘I was going to say I don’t understand,’ she ground out pointedly. ‘All I know is you’re talking in riddles and I simply don’t follow you. Why don’t you just say whatever it is you intend to?’ she advised without preamble, but for all the notice he took of it, she might have saved herself the effort. Nathan wasn’t about to be rushed.

‘I can see how you might want to forget. Allow me to refresh your memory of the long hot summer you spent in the South of France three years ago.’

Surprise must have been writ large on her face as a glimmer of light appeared. It was three years ago that she had been in Antibes, but it hadn’t been for the whole summer, and neither had it been a holiday. Far from it. The real surprise was what he appeared to be suggesting.

‘You were there?’ She sought confirmation. He nodded solemnly. ‘I never saw you.’

That made him laugh, and it was a far from pleasant sound. ‘Let’s face it, sweetheart, you only had eyes for one man. The rest of us were invisible, including his fiancée. As an interested onlooker, I admired the way you went after him with such single-minded determination. Your inventiveness knew no bounds. What a performance. You wanted him and you made sure you got him, no matter what. Then, in the blink of an eye, you were gone. Nobody could figure out what had happened. As a matter of interest, what did make you leave in such a hurry?’

Her eyes widened as the realisation of precisely what he had seen came home to her. Her acting tour de force that summer had had a purpose beyond the obvious, but seen from the outside there was only one perspective anyone would have seen. Suddenly his attitude towards her became abundantly clear. He thought she was a… There wasn’t a nice way of describing what he thought her. Of all the nerve! Not to mention hypocrisy. There were shades here of the pot calling the kettle black. OK, so he didn’t know her side of things, and to give him his due it was easy to jump to the obvious and nasty conclusion. But he hadn’t had to cling to it all this time! Clearly he didn’t give anyone the benefit of the doubt.