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PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE QUINN’S fingers tapped restlessly on the arm of the chair he sat in. Quite frankly, he was tired of waiting for the arrival of his host for the afternoon, Jerome Summer. Justifiably so, in his book. He’d been flown in by helicopter to the Summer estate earlier this afternoon. After landing on the smooth lawn that backed onto the impressive manor house, he’d been informed by the pilot that the man he had come here to meet, Jerome Summer, had been called away elsewhere, but would hopefully be back later on this afternoon. It had been that ‘hopefully’ that had rankled him the most about that statement. Jerome—Rome—Summer was obviously a busy man, hence this Saturday afternoon appointment in the first place, but Quinn’s time was no less valuable, and hanging around at the country fête that was being held on the estate, for most of the afternoon, was not using that time effectively as far as he was concerned. Besides, it was one of the most boring afternoons he had spent for a v
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO HIS visual attention concentrated on Rome Summer, Quinn felt rather than saw the female lawyer’s reaction to what he’d just said. She’d stiffened defensively, as if, instead of merely stating the name of the man who was hounding his sister, he had actually personally insulted her. He turned to her, to find her gaze fixed on Rome Summer, angrily, accusingly. Quinn shook his head as he turned away, mentally dismissing the woman, and her…relationship, with his host; it was none of his business if she chose to be the plaything of a rich and influential man. He was here to sort out the complex and potentially damaging situation Corinne was caught in the middle of. ‘Richard Heaton…’ Rome repeated hardly. Quinn nodded. ‘Do you know him?’ With all of Rome’s business interests, it wouldn’t be so surprising if he didn’t; efficient as he thought himself, Quinn couldn’t claim to know all of his employees, either! ‘Not personally, no,’ Rome answered curtly. ‘But I have heard of him,’ he
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE QUINN wasn’t so sure, when he found himself seated in Harrie Summer’s car a few minutes later, that he had won this particular point! He watched Harrie beneath lowered lids as he sat beside her in the Jaguar sports car. It was a car definitely not built for the comfort of a man six foot three inches tall; the seat had to be all the way back to accommodate the length of his legs, the back of the seat tilted back too in an effort not to have his head tilted sideways against the cabriolet roof! Not that Harrie had the same problem, he acknowledged ruefully. She seemed perfectly comfortable in the low leather seat as she sat behind the steering wheel, and there were several inches to spare above the darkness of her hair. He also had no doubt she was well aware of his physical discomfort as she accelerated down the gravel driveway away from the house, a smile of grim satisfaction curving those red-painted lips. It was probably the least he deserved, he realised heavily, after
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR QUINN sighed frustratedly as the front door closed behind Harrie, knowing there was no point in him running after her. For one thing she was in no state of mind at the moment to listen to anything he might have to say. And for another—he had never run after a woman in his life! And the damned telephone kept ringing incessantly, the noise seeming to jar on his nerve-endings, so that he couldn’t even think straight! He snatched up the receiver, growling a response to the unwelcome caller. Rome Summer chuckled on the other end of the line. ‘I gather you had an interesting drive back to town with my daughter?’ he drawled tauntingly. Quinn felt some of the tension leave his body at the other man’s unmistakable mockery. ‘That’s one way of putting it,’ he confirmed dryly, thinking back to the kiss he and Harrie had just shared. But even if he felt like telling Rome about that—which he most assuredly didn’t!—he doubted her father would believe it had ever happened. He had a proble
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE NERVOUS. He was nervous, damn it. And it wasn’t an emotion Quinn was either familiar or comfortable with! He should be angry with Harrie for being the cause of his uncertainty, at the unaccustomed way his heart was pounding in his chest as he waited the long, interminable minutes it was taking for her to answer his ring of the security bell to her apartment. But somehow anger was the last thing he felt…! With any luck, in a few minutes, he was going to see Harrie again. And the forty-eight hours since he’d last seen her somehow seemed much longer than that. No doubt she would be spitting fire and brimstone at him again, but he probably wouldn’t recognise her if she were any other way. In fact, he grinned just at the thought of seeing those flashing green eyes again! ‘Yes?’ her tense response finally came over the intercom. Some of Quinn’s nervousness abated; at least she was at home! ‘I told you I would visit you in your sickbed,’ he drawled mockingly, instantly rewarded b
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX IT TOOK all of the couple of minutes that passed as the lift made its descent to the ground floor for Quinn to realise there was no way he could just calmly walk away. For one thing, he detested the idea of leaving Harrie alone with Richard Heaton. And for another, the man may have seemed charmingly vague when Quinn had been introduced to him, but surely a man with Richard Heaton’s hard-hitting reputation, especially where his work was concerned, would have made himself aware of all of Corinne Westley’s background, but especially the fact that the only family she had was an older brother—and his name was Quinn McBride! The man had been putting on an act! The more Quinn thought about it, the more sure he became, pressing the button for the recall of the lift, stepping agitatedly inside once the doors had opened, his movements restless as he waited for the lift to reach the penthouse floor. At which time the doors didn’t open! And wouldn’t be opened, Quinn realised frustrated
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN ‘SO TELL me, Quinn,’ Rome drawled, a teasing glint in his eyes as he lounged across from Quinn in a chair in the sitting-room of his estate home, ‘just how much longer did you think you could stay away from my daughter?’ He had tried, Quinn groaned inwardly, really tried, to keep out of Harrie’s way, to give her time to lick the wounds Richard Heaton’s betrayal had undoubtedly left her with. But in the end a week had been as long as he could stand, Quinn acknowledged. ‘You invited me here for the weekend,’ Quinn reminded the other man dryly—although he was aware, as Rome was, that the invitation had been at his own instigation. He had telephoned the older man on Friday afternoon, with the excuse that the two of them needed to discuss the events—or, rather, non-events!—of the week, knowing from past experience that the other man wouldn’t have had any free time that afternoon in which they could have had a general chat. Rome’s invitation for Quinn to spend the weekend at th
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT QUINN watched Harrie with a jaundiced eye as she circulated unhurriedly about the room, stopping to chat to each of the guests gathered in the sitting-room for a pre-dinner drink, her occasional husky laugh grating on his already ragged nerve-endings. She reminded him of a butterfly, flitting from flower to flower, never stopping for long, but moving steadfastly on before she could be drawn into a lengthy conversation. She looked like a butterfly too, Quinn thought dourly, a red admiral, her hair looking almost black against the blazing red of the short dress that clung so lovingly to the willowy curves of her body. And not once, he acknowledged frustratedly, had her gaze so much as rested on him as he’d stood alone near the window, that flitting she was doing from group to group of people never including him. ‘Dear, dear, dear, Mr McBride, what have you done to annoy my big sister?’ an amused voice drawled mockingly at his side. Quinn turned sharply to find Danie Summer,
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE HE HAD slept badly, Quinn acknowledged with a groan as he opened one eye to look at the bedside clock, and saw it was only seven-thirty. The time he usually woke up at home to go to work! Except he wasn’t at home, was still at the Summer estate. Although he wished himself a hundred miles away from here…! It had been barely ten o’clock when he’d retired to his room the evening before, and, after pacing those confines for well over an hour, he’d finally given up, making his way quietly down the wide staircase, in the hope of being unobserved by any of the guests who’d still been downstairs, before leaving the house completely to go for a walk in the chilly evening air. It had done little to improve his chances of sleeping, his mind consumed with thoughts of Harrie. As she had last looked. As if he had just hit her…! And in a way, he had, he’d realised as he’d walked away from the house. His last words to her had been chosen deliberately to hurt. As he’d been hurting all even
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN QUINN looked at the younger man with unmistakable dislike. That Heaton had the gall to just turn up here—! Quinn hadn’t been able to believe it when Danie had told him a few minutes ago that Richard Heaton was here, and had marched angrily back inside the house to see for himself. The younger man looked as confident as ever as he stood at the side of a woman Quinn realised he also recognised. ‘I don’t need to ask how you wormed your way in here,’ Quinn scorned at the other man, his gaze sweeping pointedly over the woman at Heaton’s side. ‘Mr McBride…?’ The woman looked at him dazedly. ‘I don’t understand what the problem is.’ She shook her head. ‘Mr Summer invited me down here for Sunday brunch. And, of course, I was thrilled to come.’ She shook her head. ‘But this young lady seems to feel there’s some problem—’ ‘This “young lady” is Danie Summer,’ Danie informed the other woman tautly. ‘Rome’s daughter.’ ‘One of them,’ Richard Heaton interjected. ‘And you aren’t the proble
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN ‘DON’T say a word,’ Quinn warned Rome gratingly as he could see the other man was about to do just that. ‘But—’ ‘Not a word, Rome!’ Quinn rasped harshly, his eyes glittering a warning too now. He needed to think. Needed time to work out what to do next. If there was anything he could do next! Because he loved Harrie Summer. And the thought of leaving here—leaving Harrie!—without at least making her aware of how he felt was beyond all comprehension to him now. Was this what it was like to be in love with someone? This aching need deep inside him? The knowing that to walk away, to leave her, would be to leave a part of himself—the part of himself that mattered!—behind? He dropped down heavily into one of the armchairs, staring sightlessly in front of him. He had never known—never realised—that, to love, and not be loved in return, was the most painful thing in the world! How did people survive this totally helpless feeling? How did they carry on with their normal lives? If
CHAPTER ELEVEN
EPILOGUE
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