Wild About the Man. Joss Wood

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ desk, hoping to find a container of aspirin. Eventually he found the pills and dry-swallowed three, chasing them down with the water left in the bottle in his hand.

      He needed a cold beer, a swim and hot sex.

      What he’d get was maintenance reports, the payroll and e-mails.

      Nick pulled his computer out of standby and reached for the file on the corner of his desk. He’d barely cracked open the cover when a Skype call came in. He looked at the computer and frowned when he saw the name of his silent partner and chief investor. Hugh Copeland rarely called him and had never, in the ten years he’d known him, Skyped him.

      ‘Good afternoon, sir.’

      Copeland was at least sixty-five, formal, monstrously wealthy and Nick was still in debt to him for a couple of million. Setting up a six-star lodge wasn’t cheap and maintaining a game reserve and an animal rehabilitation sanctuary sucked up money like an industrial Hoover.

      Calling his chief investor ‘sir’ seemed appropriate.

      ‘Nicholas. I trust you are well.’ Copeland was standing, dressed in a three piece suit. When he placed his arms on the back of his chair and glared into the camera Nick caught a hint of a flashing temper in his light grape-green eyes.

      Trouble. Nick cursed. And it was heading straight for him.

      ‘Very, sir. What can I do for you?’ he asked as his heart raced. He’d submitted his financial report to his office, paid the instalment—and more—on his loan … What else could he have done to earn this man’s displeasure? Copeland had a twenty-five per cent stake in his company and he mostly left Nick alone.

      ‘I’ve been trying to contact you since this morning.’

      Hell.

      ‘I was on a walking safari, I’ve just got in.’ Nick decided to bite the bullet and get it over with. ‘What’s the problem and how can I fix it?’

      ‘I am sending Clementine to you.’

      Clementine? Who was Clementine? Nick shook his head. ‘Who?’

      ‘My daughter, Nicholas. She’s landed herself in a spot of bother and needs a place to escape to. Somewhere private and isolated and remote.’

      Nick lifted dark eyebrows. ‘What type of trouble?’

      If she’d murdered someone or needed rehab, he’d rather not take her, millions owing or not.

      He’d rather not take her, period.

      ‘Press trouble. They want her blood. Her common law husband of a decade introduced her to his new fiancée on a nationally syndicated television chat show.’

      Nick worked through that, and then winced in sympathy. Ouch. He searched his memory bank and recalled that his partner had a daughter living with Cai Campbell who, in his opinion, was a mediocre musician at best.

      And what was with all the names starting with the letter C? Clem, Cai. Copeland. Campbell.

      Nick snorted. Typical Hollywood. There were another twenty-five letters in the alphabet.

      So Campbell dumped his ex-model partner for a newer version … and she was now his problem. In what universe was that fair?

      ‘She’s coming here?’

      Copeland must have heard the doubt in his voice because his gaze sharpened. ‘Is that a problem?’

      Nick folded his arms and nodded. ‘Actually, sir, yes, it is. We’re one of a handful of six-star lodges in Africa and we’re booked up to a year in advance. We do not have any vacancies and my next opening is next year.’

      She can come back then, Nick thought. And she, like everyone else, could pay for the privilege.

      The old man cursed, rather eloquently, Nick thought. ‘You have nothing at all?’

      ‘Two dormitory-style beds in a room in the junior rangers’ house.’

      Those piercing eyes narrowed. ‘Don’t you have a spare room in your house?’

      Hell, no!

      ‘Uh—’

      ‘Well?’

      ‘I don’t think my house is up to her standards. I mean, it’s OK, but not like the rooms in the Lodge.’

      ‘She’ll cope. And if she doesn’t, then she can just deal with it.’

      Nick closed his eyes and counted to ten. He opened his eyes to see that Copeland was now sitting on the corner of his desk. He stared at Nick and tapped his finger against his thigh. Nick didn’t need him to voice the obvious:

       Ten years ago I was the one person prepared to listen to a twenty-five-year lunatic who had nothing more than a Masters degree in Zoology, the shirt on his back and a piece of land adjoining the Kruger National Park. I took a chance on you … You owe me.

      Nick sighed. Message received, loud and clear. ‘When does she arrive?’

      Copeland looked at his slim watch. ‘In about thirty minutes; she’s flying in on my jet into your airfield.’

      Oh, so he’d never really had the option of saying no.

      ‘Fine.’ It wasn’t but what could he do?

      ‘Thank you, Nicholas. I do appreciate this.’

      Nick tipped his head back to look at the ceiling above his head. What had he done that warranted him being sentenced to sharing his house with a society princess—born with not a silver spoon but a canteen of diamond encrusted cutlery in her mouth—and who had a doctorate in being a rich man’s arm candy?

      He rested his forehead on his desk. All he wanted was a cold beer, a swim and sex. Really, was that too much to ask?

      In her father’s jet, Clem Copeland yawned, stretched and blinked away the last remnants of a brief restless sleep. She tucked her long legs up under her and caught the eye of her best friend, and personal assistant, who sat in the chair opposite her, eyeing her with quiet sympathy. Jason had been with her since her modelling days and he knew her inside out and upside down. As the memories of the past thirty-six hours rushed back to pummel her, she was grateful for his shoulder to lean on.

      Tears, hot and angry, fell.

      ‘Sweetheart.’ Jason sighed, handed her a bottle of water and patted her knee.

      ‘It wasn’t just a horrible dream, was it?’

      ‘Sorry.’ Jason pursed his lips and shook his head. ‘Selfish, narcissistic ass.’

      Clem saluted him with her bottle. ‘Careful, Jace, or else I’ll start to think that you don’t like him.’

      ‘I’ve never liked him! And I told you that he was planning something.’ Jason shoved both hands into his bleached blond hair, visibly frustrated.

      ‘I СКАЧАТЬ