âI could pay the debts for you. â
Carlton continued, âAnd give your father the house. I could pay everything off.â
âI donât understand,â Katie said weakly.
âI think you do. I want you, Katie. I want you very badly.â
âYouâre seriously saying you want to buy me? You want me to be your mistress?â
âNo!â The explosion was immediate. âI want to marry youâafter which, every debt would be cleared. The grand sacrifice, or a way of escape.... Decision time, little Katie White!â
HELEN BROOKS
lives in Northamptonshire, England, and is married with three children. As she is a committed Christian, busy housewife and mother, her spare time is at a premium but her hobbies include reading and walking her two energetic and very endearing young dogs. Her long-cherished aspiration to write became a reality when she put pen to paper on reaching the age of forty, and sent the result off to Harlequin.
Helen Brooks now concentrates on writing for
Harlequin Presents>®, with highly emotional, poignant yet intense books we know youâll love!
CHAPTER ONE
âI NEED to speak to David White now.â
Katie raised an eyebrow at the phone as she moved it back an inch or two from her ear before answering the hard male voice in a polite but firm tone. âIâm sorry, Iâm afraid my father canât be disturbed at the moment. Can I takeâ?â
âThe hell he canât!â Now the voice was patently insulting with a thread of undeniable steel in its dark depths. âPut me through, Miss White.â
âI canât do that.â She had straightened, her slim body held tight and still and her voice cool. âIâve told you, he canât be disturbedââ
âHeâll be more than disturbed when Iâve finished with him.â She flinched visibly even as she wondered what on earth her father had done to make someone so mad. âAnd Iâm not asking, Miss White, Iâm telling you. Put me throughââ
âNo.â There was a split second of icy silence before she followed through. âMy father isnât well; the doctor is with him now.â
âThe doctor?â She heard him swear under his breath, a particularly explicit oath which would have been quite at place in a rugby club changing-room, before he spoke again in clipped, measured tones that suggested barely controlled rage. âThen when he has finished with the doctor I expect a call immediately. Is that clear?â
âNow look, Mr...?â
âReef. Carlton Reef.â
âWell, Iâm sorry, Mr Reef,â she said stiffly, âbut I have no intention of bothering my father with mundane business matters today. I presume it is business you wish to discuss with him?â she added icily.
âDead right, Miss White,â he shot back tightly. âAnd, for your information, the loss of a great deal of money due to your fatherâs stupidity and crass ineptitude I do not consider mundane. I can be reached in my office for the next hour, after which the matter goes into the hands of my solicitors and I wonât be accepting any calls from that point from either your father or his lackeys. Is that clear enough for you or shall I repeat it?â
âMr Reefââ
âWhich daughter are you anyway?â he interrupted her abruptly. âKatie or Jennifer?â
âKatie.â She took a deep breath as she leant limply against the wall and prayed that the shaking which had begun in her stomach wouldnât transfer itself to her voice. This was incredible, monstrousâthere had to be a perfectly simple explanation. âMr Reef, Iâm sure thereâs a mistake here somewhere.â
âSo am I,â he agreed coldly, âand your father is the one who made it. I wonât be made a fool of, Miss White, and I thought your father had the sense to realise that. One hourâdoctor or no doctor.â And the phone went dead.
She remained staring at the receiver in her hand for a good thirty seconds before she recovered sufficiently to replace it and sink down on the nearest seat in the massive wide hall. This would have to happen today, with her father so ill.
The pains that had started in his chest during breakfast as he had read his paper had culminated within minutes in his writhing on the floor in agony, with Katie kneeling at his side as their housekeeper had frantically called the family doctor, who was also Katieâs fatherâs close friend, and fortunately lived in the same exclusive avenue of large detached houses. He had arrived within two or three minutes, just as the housekeeper, Mrs Jenkins, had taken the call from this Reef man, who had insisted on speaking to one of the family when Mrs Jenkins had told him that her employer wasnât available.
She had to get back to her father. She took a long, shuddering breath and levered herself off the seat before she hurried back to the breakfast-room, opening the door gingerly as she peered anxiously at him, now seated in an easy-seat to one side of the large bay window. âWhatâs wrong?â She spoke directly to Dr Lambeth as he turned to face her. âIs he all right?â