The Bedroom Barter (21 page)

Ash's hands gripped hers more tightly. 'Who the hell is this?' His voice was urgent.

Chellie shook her head helplessly. 'He works for my father.'

'Dear God.' Ash's mouth tightened harshly. 'So he couldn't even come in person.'

She stared at him. 'What are you talking about?'

He said wearily, 'I think you're about to find out'

The next minute, Jeffrey Chilham was filling the doorway. He was a tall man, with greying hair and a red face that heat and irritation had rendered brick-coloured.

The khaki shorts he was wearing with a multi-coloured shirt did him no favours at all, and he was fanning himself vigorously with a Panama hat.

'Michelle,' he exclaimed. 'My dear girl. Thank heavens you're safe.' He stared at her, his lips pursed in disapproval. 'But your hair looks terrible. What have you done to it?'

'It was cut,' Chellie faced him unsmilingly. 'Jeffrey, what are you doing here?'

'My dear, do you really need to ask?' His chest swelled importantly. 'I've come to take you home, of course. Although I don't recommend presenting yourself to your father looking as you do,' he added, frowning. 'Perhaps while your hair is growing again you should wear a wig.'

'I did,' she said. 'It didn't suit me.' She realised that she suddenly felt cold. She was still gripping Ash's hand, and quietly detached herself. 'And how exactly did you know how to find me?'

'Well, naturally we have Brennan here to thank for that.' He gave Ash a condescending nod. 'Sir Clive is naturally grateful for your efforts in rescuing Miss Greer, my man, but he is not pleased that you ignored his explicit instructions to bring her back to England. Sending me halfway across the world has cost him time and money, and he has informed your company that he intends to negotiate a reduction in your fee as a result.'

His words fell into a silence that was as deep as an ocean.

Chellie found herself suddenly struggling for breath. When she could move, she swung round and stared at Ash, who was standing stony-faced, his arms folded across his chest.

'Is it true?' she asked huskily. 'What he's saying? Did you know who I was all along?'

'Yes,' he said. 'I knew.' His voice was expressionless. 'You'd been tracked to Santo Martino by other operatives, then the trail went cold and I came to find you myself.'

'Paid—by my father?' The muscles in her throat were taut with pain and she felt physically sick. 'He—hired you?'

Jeffrey Chilham laughed. 'Of course, my dear. Mr Brennan and his partner are businessmen. They run a specialist security organisation. Personal protection, tracing missing persons, negotiating over hostages—that kind of thing. 'Mr Brennan signed a highly-paid contract with us. Or did you think he did it for love?'

'No,' Chellie said quietly. 'I never thought that' She wrapped her arms round her body, trying to control the violent internal shivering assailing her. She turned back to Ash, still standing rigidly beside her. 'Well, no one can say that you don't earn your money,' she added with icy scorn. 'Does everyone get your particular brand of personal service—or is there an extra charge?'

Ash winced, his mouth tightening. He said, 'Chellie— listen to me. I was going to tell you. To explain. I swear it I thought—I hoped we'd have more time.'

'We had time on the boat,' she said. 'How long does it take to tell me I've been sold out?'

'It wasn't that simple,' he said. 'Not at first. Because I believed you were just another assignment, and a tricky one at that 'And I'd been enjoined to secrecy by your father. It was part of the deal. He claimed that you were stubborn, and wilful, and might refuse to go with me or even run away again if you knew the truth.'

Chellie drew an angry, shaking breath. 'Well, he was right about that.'

'But I realised almost at once that you didn't want to be returned to him,' Ash went on. 'You barely mentioned him, so it was clear there was no love lost between you. Everything you said was about making a new life for yourself—finding some kind of independence. And I could understand why. I only met your father once, and it seemed even then that he was more angry than anxious about you. He spoke about you as if you were a parcel that had gone astray.'

He paused. 'He also implied that this wasn't the first time you'd got into a mess. That you were some wild child who'd never done a day's work in her life and slept her way round London, but that Ramon was a scandal too far and he wanted it dealt with quietly and confidentially.'

Chellie caught her breath. 'Oh, God. And you—believed him?'

'He was paying me to find you, Chellie, not to make moral judgements. And I'd seen the newspaper file on you. It seemed to confirm his story.'

He threw his head back. 'But then I met you,' he added flatly. 'And I began to wonder. Because you were a million miles from the cold-hearted, extravagant little tart that he'd described. You were brave and vulnerable, sexy and scared all at the same time. And so innocent you almost broke my heart.

'So that's why I refused to take you to London. I wanted to see your father out of his usual territory—watch how he behaved towards you and then take the appropriate action.' He shook his head. 'I still can't believe he hasn't come in person.'

'Sir Clive is a very busy man,' Jeffrey Chilham put in, his voice shocked. 'And it isn't as if Michelle has been hurt in any way—or locked up and held to ransom. Naturally, under those circumstances, he would have rushed to her side.' He looked uncomfortable. 'But there's been no real harm done. She—she just made an unfortunate choice of man, that's all.'

'I seem to make a habit of it,' Chellie said bitterly. She turned back to Ash. 'So why were you trying to hustle me off to Grenada? Did you plan to hide me so that you could extort some more money from my loving father?' She paused. 'I wonder what my actual market value is? I'll have to remember to ask him.'

Ash moved quickly, almost violently, and took her by the shoulders. 'You know that isn't true.' His voice was low and tense. The blue eyes burned into hers. 'I wasn't going to hand you back against your will to someone who didn't care about you. That's the truth. You must believe me.'

'Why should I?' Chellie lifted her chin defiantly. 'When you've lied to me from the first moment I saw you.' Her derisive laugh cracked in the middle. '
Someone to watch over me
? God, what a joke.'

She shook her head. 'And I made it so easy for you, didn't I—the rich man's stupid daughter? You provided the bait, and I practically dragged you into bed. Why, Ash? Did you decide that your present girlfriend's father had less to offer than mine?'

'What the hell are you talking about?' Ash said roughly. 'I have no girlfriend.' His mouth twisted as he looked down at her. 'Although I did think I had a lover.'

'No,' she said. 'You had a dupe. A blind, trusting dupe. But my eyes are open now, so you'd better revert to Plan A and go on courting the owner's daughter. I hope she finds out what you're really like before the walk down the aisle.'

'The owner's daughter?' His voice sparked wife incredulity. 'Are you crazy?'

'I was,' she said. 'But not any more. And please take your hands off me.'

'Michelle!' Jeffrey Chilham's voice was sharp, 'I'm trying to be patient here, but do I infer that you've had some kind of relationship with this man?'

'No,' she said. 'No relationship. He took me to bed last night, that's all. I suppose he viewed it as an unofficial bonus.'

Ash released her and took a step back. He said courteously, 'No, I thought it was a foretaste of heaven.'

He took a deep breath. 'Chellie, my love, you have to listen to me, please. Because you've got things so terribly wrong.' His voice was gentle, almost pleading. 'You have every right to be angry, but I never meant you to find out like this. I thought Grenada would give us a breathing space. Give me time to explain properly.'

'Explain? Or invent another tissue of lies? Thank God I was spared that, at least,' she added with contempt.

'No,' he said. 'So that I could tell you everything and we could start again, with no secrets—all our cards on the table.'

She said slowly, 'Do you know—if this wasn't so hideous, it would almost be funny? But I'm not in the mood for jokes.'

She looked at Jeffrey Chilham, who was standing, his face mottled with shock and anger.

She said, 'I presume that all the arrangements to get me back to the UK have been made with my father's usual efficiency? Then I may as well take advantage of them. Let's go.'

'Very well,' he said stiffly. 'Although you realise I shall have to make a full report to Sir Clive.' He cast a fulminating look at Ash. 'And you'd better start looking for another job—if you can find one. You've made a bad enemy today, my friend.'

'That,' Ash said curtly, 'is the least of my problems.'

He turned on his heel and walked out into the garden.

Chellie watched him go. The numbness of betrayal was beginning to wear off, and she wanted to sink to her knees and howl her loss and loneliness to the smiling sky.

But I can't cry, she told herself with icy determination. Not yet Because I have to go back, and somehow restart my life.'

A life, she thought, as pain twisted inside her, without love. And which would take every scrap of courage she possessed.

'Disgusting,' Jeffrey said in a furious undertone, his voice shaking. "Disgraceful. I am lost for words to describe your behaviour.'

'Really?' Chellie sent him a frozen smile. 'I would never have guessed.'

The ride to St Hilaire's small airport had been an uncomfortable one. Chellie, racked by her own unhappy thoughts and still stunned by Ash's betrayal, had hardly exchanged two words with Jeffrey, glum and brooding beside her.

But it had been too good to last Almost as soon as their private aircraft was airborne, on its way to Barbados, Jeffrey had embarked on a low-voiced barrage of criticism.

Like a wasp, buzzing in her ear, Chellie thought wearily.

'Eloping with that con-man chap was bad enough,' he went on now, warming to his theme. 'But at least you had the excuse of infatuation. Yet now you brazenly admit you've also slept with this Brennan fellow—a man you hardly know. A virtual stranger. Have you no shame?'

'Yes,' Chellie said, lifting her chin. 'I am deeply ashamed that I didn't stand up to my father years ago, and that I ran away instead of confronting him. Will that do?'

'I see no call for flippancy.' He shook his head. 'I also realise that my sister was perfectly correct All those lurid newspaper stories. She always said there was no smoke without fire.'

Ah,' Chellie said, conjuring up an image of Elaine, all cashmere, pearls and disapproval. 'What a truly original thought—and worthy of the thinker.' She paused. 'Am I to take it that you've decided to withdraw from the proposed merger my father was trying to arrange?'

'I don't know what you're talking about' There was faint defensiveness in his voice.

Chellie sighed. 'Yes, you do, Jeffrey. Isn't that why my father sent you to St Hilaire instead of coming himself? And why you agreed to come? Because he thought my ordeal would have cowed me into submission and I'd be ready to fling myself on to your waiting shoulder in grateful tears?'