His Rags-to-Riches Bride: Innocent on Her Wedding Night / Housekeeper at His Beck and Call / The Australian's Housekeeper Bride. Susan Stephens

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СКАЧАТЬ he repeated. ‘As in sacked, let go, contract terminated.’

      Laine felt as if she’d been punched in the stomach. ‘What did you do?’

      ‘Where shall I begin?’ He paused theatrically. ‘Inattention to detail. Poor time-keeping. Unexplained absences. Particularly those. They went through the procedures meticulously—written warnings, the lot. And I was found guilty on all charges.’

      ‘This is—unbelievable.’

      ‘Not really. Who wants to trust his business accounting to a guy who’s hung over before noon? Old Balfour went through my client records like a ferret. I think he hoped they could make it a police matter.’

      ‘Was that—possible?’

      ‘No.’ He paused. ‘I may be a total idiot, Laine, but I don’t have a death wish.’

      ‘No?’ she asked bitterly. ‘Well, you could have fooled me. And this sudden departure to the States sounds very much like a moonlight flit. Please tell me I’m wrong.’

      ‘You’re like a bloody Rottweiler,’ he said pettishly. ‘You won’t let go.’

      ‘My God, do you blame me?’ She drew a deep breath. ‘Jamie—the truth. What kind of obligation are you under to Daniel Flynn?’

      There was a silence, then he said grudgingly, ‘I owe him—big time.’

      It was the admission she’d least wanted to hear.

      She said carefully, ‘Do you mean that literally, or figuratively?’

      ‘I mean it every which way,’ he told her heavily. ‘Six months ago I saved a client a lot of tax. He was grateful, and took me out to dinner. Afterwards we went to this gambling club, the Jupiter, where he was a member. We played roulette, and I won—quite a lot. Clive said I was a born gambler, and he sponsored me for membership. I started going back there. Once a week at first, and then more often. I won a little, but my losses soon began to mount up.

      ‘That’s when I ran into Daniel again. He was at the baccarat table one night. I could tell he was surprised to see me because the Jupiter catered for seriously high rollers. He invited me to have a drink with him, a chat about old times. But I soon realised he was trying to warn me off—advise me not to get in too deep. He said the Jupiter had something of a reputation. But I wasn’t prepared to listen.’

      He continued impatiently, ‘I won’t make excuses, Laine. It was too late. I was already over my head, heavily in debt and unable to pay, and the club wanted its money.

      ‘I’d got to know Sandra, one of the croupiers, and she warned me that there were—people looking for me. That’s when I went to ground. Stayed away from the flat. Didn’t go to work. I—I’ve never been so scared in my life.

      ‘Eventually Daniel found me,’ he continued heavily. ‘I was—staying with Sandra’s cousin, and he persuaded her to give him the address. Said there was a family connection, and he wanted to help.’

      ‘Family connection?’ Laine echoed with angry derision. ‘My God, he has a damned nerve.’

      ‘Well, he was momentarily my brother-in-law. And what would you have preferred?’ He was angry too. ‘For me to be found in some alley, beaten to a pulp? In hospital with two broken legs? Daniel was a total bastard—he played absolute hell with me—but he also saved my life. Not for my sake. He made it damned clear that he thinks I’m pretty much a waste of good space.’ There was a faint choke in his voice. ‘No, he helped me only because he knows that Simon would have done the same.’

      She said numbly, ‘Yes—of course, he would.’

      ‘So,’ Jamie went on, ‘he paid off the club, and got Sandra out of it, too, in case her bosses found out she’d been helping me and—objected.

      ‘That’s why he offered me a job in New York. He said we might find the climate healthier than London for the next few months. I told you—I don’t have a death wish, so I agreed. Letting him use the flat seemed a pretty small return, all things considered.’ There was a pause. ‘And, to be fair, I didn’t think you’d ever find out.’

      ‘Except I have, and now I’m being punished for your misdemeanours,’ Laine said with renewed crispness.

      ‘Well, that won’t worry him,’ Jamie said with a touch of weariness. ‘To be honest, he doesn’t seem to have a lot of time for either of us.’

      He paused, ‘Anyway, what exactly are you doing back in the UK? Is the business doing so well that you can afford a holiday?’

      No point in pretence. ‘There is no business. Not any more.’

      ‘You have to be kidding.’ His tone was incredulous. ‘Everyone wants to go fishing off the Florida Keys. It’s a licence to print money.’

      ‘Perhaps,’ she said. ‘But Andy decided to sell the licence.’

      ‘At a healthy profit, I hope?’

      ‘I imagine so,’ Laine said, her voice bright and brittle. ‘Unfortunately he never discussed it with me—before, during or after the transaction. Particularly after. I got back from trying to find us some alternative office premises and found it was a done deal and that Andy had—moved on.’ She took a breath. ‘I—decided against looking for him.’

      He said slowly, ‘You mean—he took—everything? But you invested in that boat—every penny you had.’

      ‘So I did,’ she said. ‘But unfortunately I ended up with a nil return, silly me.’

      There was a silence, then he said, ‘My God, Laine, I’m sorry.’

      ‘Don’t be,’ she said, crisply. ‘I reckon in many ways I got off quite cheaply.’

      ‘Perhaps,’ he said. ‘But I genuinely thought you were happy—settled. That you were making yourself a life.’

      ‘I suppose I did too.’ But is that really the truth, or was I simply buying myself some time while I waited for the healing process to work?

      ‘However,’ she went on, ‘it’s left me in a bit of a spot, financially. And I rather hoped you’d be around—to help.’

      ‘Well, I would be,’ he said. ‘Under normal circumstances. But my salary level at Wordwide isn’t brilliant, and I have to start repaying Daniel.’

      He paused awkwardly. ‘And there’s Sandra. She’s got a job in a diner. The money’s putrid, so she has to rely on tips to boost it. We’re having quite a struggle.’ Another pause. ‘What about the gallery? Couldn’t you get your old job back?’

      ‘Unlikely. They’ll have replaced me long ago.’

      ‘I suppose so.’ A longer silence. ‘You could always try Ma.’

      ‘No,’ she said, quietly. ‘That’s one of several things I won’t even consider.’

      ‘Daniel being another?’

      ‘The СКАЧАТЬ