Escapade. Diana Palmer

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СКАЧАТЬ throw up,” Amanda threatened.

      Ted gave her a teasing glance. “No stomach,” he told Brad. “She’s always going to be a landlubber at heart.”

      “That’s why we went into Nassau. You can forget you’re on an island when you’re browsing down the streets.”

      “It was wonderful,” she agreed. “Thanks, Brad.”

      “My pleasure, squirt. Don’t I always look out for you?”

      Her eyes smiled up at him. “Yes. As usual.”

      “Josh is back,” Ted remarked as he pulled out of the bay.

      Amanda’s heart beat faster. Josh was so vital, so alive, that his very presence started her blood churning. He could put her in a vicious temper with a few terse words and then make her laugh two minutes later.

      Josh was a big brother to both Brad and her. But to everyone else he was “Mr. Lawson,” the man who entertained CEOs and diplomats on his yacht, in his San Antonio manor, and on Opal Cay. He had the ear of money moguls on Wall Street, and he was a millionaire many times over because he took risks that sensible men avoided. Sometimes he pushed the boundaries of ethical conduct, but Amanda was the only one who wasn’t shy about voicing her disapproval. While Harrison Todd had certainly sheltered his daughter from much, he had encouraged her to stand up for her beliefs. Her father had been happiest when she had fought him tooth and nail, and now Josh reaped the benefit of her in-house combat training. So to speak.

      “What kind of mood is he in?” Brad asked for both of them.

      “He brought a houseful of people with him.”

      Brad let out a long sigh. “Protection,” he told Amanda with a grin.

      “Good thought,” she agreed. “I’m glad he realizes how dangerous I am...”

      “I wasn’t talking about you!” Brad grinned, because he knew that Josh never ran from a fight with anyone.

      “I hope the two of you haven’t done anything to set him off,” Ted commented. “He got off the plane breathing fire. That Arab he’s trying to sell his new computers to is giving him a hard time. I wouldn’t mention anything upsetting to him, if I were you.”

      Amanda thought about the job press.

      Brad considered his latest gambling debts.

      She glanced at Brad and frowned at his guilty expression. “Brad...you haven’t been to that casino again?” Amanda asked slowly.

      Brad wouldn’t meet her eyes. “No,” he said quickly.

      She didn’t believe him. Brad didn’t lie well, and he loved to gamble. She’d seen him when he had the fever, so intent on the game that he’d bet anything. Josh had been trying for months to get him into therapy. But Brad refused to admit he had a problem, despite the fact that he lost thousands on the spin of a wheel or the turn of a card.

      Amanda stared toward the cay, where Josh’s gray Lincoln was parked at the two-story garage along with at least three other luxury cars. Two launches were moored at the long pier that led up to the white stone house. Dozens of blooming shrubs surrounded the mansion, everything from bougainvillea to hibiscus and jasmine. Opal Cay had satellite cable, an international network of telephone and fax lines, a computer system with its own power supply, and a larder that was always full. Even Amanda, who was born to wealth, couldn’t remember seeing anything comparable to Josh’s island estate.

      “Isn’t it beautiful?” she asked lazily.

      “Isn’t it expensive?” Brad teased.

      She glanced at him over her shoulder, pushing her windblown hair out of the way as she smiled. “Cynic.”

      He shrugged. “Maybe I am. Josh is rubbing off on me.” He moved toward the bow of the launch. “Ease her up to the pier, Ted, and I’ll tie her up.”

      Amanda felt self-conscious in her white Bermuda shorts and simple gray tank top and sandals. Brad was at least wearing white slacks and a designer shirt, but neither of them was properly dressed to mingle with the crowd Josh was entertaining today. She caught sight of Josh’s blond head towering over dignified men in suits and women in designer dresses, and she beat a hasty retreat upstairs to change. Anyone who was privileged to get an invitation to the cay was automatically included in parties and even social business meetings.

      “Did you see the Arab’s wives?” Brad whispered as they darted up the staircase.

      “How many has he got?” she queried.

      “Two. Don’t put on anything too sexy,” he cautioned with a grin. “You might be targeted for number three.”

      “He’d fall short of the mark,” she replied mischievously. “I’ve got it in mind to become a corporate giant, not a used wife.”

      Brad burst out laughing, but Amanda was already behind her closed door.

       CHAPTER TWO

      THE DIN OF voices and the kaleidoscope of mingled colognes and perfumes gave Amanda a roaring headache. She’d come back downstairs long before Brad, who returned with a worried look and went straight to the bar.

      Amanda, clad in a silver sheath with diamanté straps and matching shoes, put on her best party smile for the curious elite of Josh’s business group. Most of these people were executives of his company and bankers. But two of the men were Arab entrepreneurs whom Josh was hoping might introduce his newest business computer into Saudi Arabia for him. Even Brad’s personable coaxing hadn’t budged the men, so Josh had invited them along with the bankers and two of his executives back to Opal Cay for a buffet dinner. It provided him with a more congenial setting in which to wheel and deal. But this time his hospitality didn’t seem to be working, because the Arab’s black eyes were as cold as anything Amanda had ever seen.

      Josh had nodded to her when she came downstairs, but his attention had been on his victims. She felt a little slighted, and that only aggravated her headache. Because she had always looked up to Josh, he could hurt her as no one else ever had. Over the years she’d managed to keep him from knowing it, however.

      She watched his guests as they inspected the house with covetous eyes. The enormous white stone mansion in its grove of acacia and silk cotton and sea grape trees was a showplace, tangible evidence of Josh’s business acumen. The Lawson Company had branches in every major city in the United States and was moving slowly into Europe and the Middle East. This year Josh was adding a software division line to the Lawson offerings. His was a profitable public company, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and although he was answerable to stockholders and a stiff-necked board of directors, he ran the whole organization himself, with key executives from every branch answerable only to him.

      He ran his business with the same arrogant bearing and cool efficiency of a military commander. His employees stood in awe of him, as did Amanda. Some of the time.

      In the beginning of Josh’s partnership with Amanda’s father, it was Harrison who had the business acumen and the contacts. But for the past few years Joshua had been in almost complete control. That had angered СКАЧАТЬ