‘What is it, Hal?’ he prompted softly. ‘I know I was unreasonable about your relationship to start with,’ he acknowledged ruefully. ‘But I’m certain you and Laura love each other.’
His son smiled. ‘Oh, there’s no doubt about that.’
‘But?’ prompted Hawk.
Hal shook his head. ‘I can’t explain it. There’s something—’ he broke off.
‘Yes?’ Hawk demanded again sharply.
The younger man sighed, shrugging. ‘It’s going to sound stupid,’ he grimaced.
‘So sound stupid,’ Hawk encouraged tensely.
Hal grimaced. ‘Laura’s wonderful, I love her very much, but—She doesn’t argue with me! About anything.’
His father gave a disbelieving laugh. ‘Most men would say that’s a good thing!’
‘Don’t patronise me, Dad!’ snapped Hal.
Hawk could see Hal was serious about this, that it really did bother him that Laura didn’t argue with him. ‘Not all women argue, you know, Hal,’ he frowned. ‘Especially when they’re newly engaged. Give it six months or so and—’
‘You don’t understand,’ Hal cut in impatiently.
‘Then explain it to me!’
‘I told you I can’t,’ he shook his head.
‘You do still want to marry her?’ Hawk probed softly. ‘Because if you don’t it would be kinder—’
‘I told you I love her,’ his son said harshly. ‘She’s the only woman I’ll ever want to marry. Just forget I mentioned this, Dad,’ he dismissed impatiently. ‘It’s probably nothing, as you said.’
He hadn’t exactly said that. He was sure that if Hal thought there was a problem with Laura, enough to have mentioned it to him, then something was wrong. But he wasn’t sure enough of Leonie yet to start asking her questions about her sister, he was sure that would only put her back on the defensive. He would just have to hope Hal could work this out for himself. It might be nothing at all, Hal could just be over-sensitive where the woman he loved was concerned.
He wasn’t insensitive to Hal’s problem, he just didn’t know what the hell to do about it; he was having to tread so softly himself at the moment.
‘I’d forgotten what it was like to eat as a family,’ Sarah remarked wistfully at his side, Hal having crossed the room to be with Laura now. ‘It almost makes me wish I’d stayed married to Paul and we’d had a family of our own.’
Hawk arched mocking brows, knowing that Sarah’s marriage to an habitual womaniser had been a disaster from start to finish. ‘How much almost?’ he derided.
She gave a soft laugh. ‘Not much,’ she grimaced. ‘But I must admit that being here, with the baby up too, makes me feel a little homesick for my own family in the States.’
Holly hadn’t wanted to go back to sleep after Leonie had given her a bottle earlier and so he had suggested she join them for a while; the fact that everyone had got to hold his daughter except him made him wish he could just tell them all that she was his daughter, and he just wanted to sit and hold her himself.
But he hadn’t done anything of the sort. He was enthralled at how much more relaxed Leonie was with the baby tonight. Not that he didn’t know why she was, just as he knew why she had agreed to marry him; she had allowed Holly into her heart. He acknowledged heavily that he hadn’t been able to get in with her.
‘Would you like to take some time off and go see them?’ he asked Sarah quietly, still watching Leonie holding Holly as she talked to Jake.
‘Heavens, no,’ Sarah dismissed ruefully. ‘I’ve never got on with my kid brother, his wife is a pain, and their two brats are spoilt rotten. Besides that, my parents think I’m still ten years old! I only said it makes me feel homesick, not that I actually wanted to be with my family. After two days I’d be screaming to be let out!’ She grimaced. ‘I’d much rather be here with you.’
Hawk laughed softly. ‘So that’s why you’ve remained my secretary for the last ten years; it’s a good excuse to get away from your family.’
‘You guessed it!’ She smiled at him.
He returned Sarah’s smile, but his attention wandered from the lovely woman at his side as he saw Jake follow Leonie out of the room as she took Holly back to the nursery.
* * *
‘Did you talk to him about Spencer?’
Leonie straightened from placing the sleeping Holly in her cot, having known this question was coming. ‘Not yet,’ she dismissed. ‘I—The opportunity didn’t come up,’ she avoided.
Jake frowned. ‘He has a right to know your ex-husband is still hanging around.’
She looked at him sharply, wondering if Jake knew Hawk had that right because she had agreed to marry him. Something in Jake’s expression told her Hawk hadn’t confided in this man.
‘I told you I’ll tell him,’ she said lightly. ‘There’s plenty of time. Michael won’t be back here for a while, at least.’ He would never come back here at all if she had her way!
‘Leonie, I said I’d let you handle this,’ Jake spoke slowly. ‘But Spencer worries me—’
‘Give me a little more time.’ She put her hand imploringly on his arm. ‘Hawk and I are just—just starting to understand each other, please don’t do anything to spoil that.’
Jake’s expression was stony. ‘If something happens to you or Holly because I—’
‘It won’t,’ she reassured him hastily. ‘I told you, I can handle Michael.’
‘Leonie, you can’t handle him,’ he said firmly. ‘I doubt if you ever could.’
She sighed as his brows arched pointedly at her blushing cheeks. ‘Maybe I couldn’t,’ she conceded, ‘but I can now. Anyway, why should you care what Hawk thinks or feels?’ she attacked. ‘You’re hurting him more by giving in your notice and leaving him after sixteen years than I am not mentioning the fact that my ex-husband occasionally likes to make a pest of himself!’
Jake stiffened, suddenly very distant, although he hadn’t moved. ‘I don’t have any choice,’ he said coldly.
‘But—’
‘I love Hawk as a brother, I always have,’ he continued abruptly.
‘Then why—’
‘Don’t ask.’ He drew in a ragged breath. ‘Just accept that it’s better I go.’
‘But where will you go? What will you do?’ Leonie shook her head in puzzlement.
He gave a harsh laugh. ‘Despite the state of employment nowadays, PA’s with my experience are still very much in demand. I’ve already received several job offers that are very tempting.’
‘Hawk would double any offer you received from someone else, and you know it!’
‘Maybe,’ Jake bit out.
‘Then—’
‘He’s given me enough already,’ rasped Jake. ‘I can’t ask him for anything else.’ He quietly left the room.
Leonie watched him go with a puzzled frown, turning back with a sigh to feast on the uncomplicated beauty of her daughter as she slept. How untroubled life was at this age, how lacking in emotional pain! She had a feeling Jake wished he could know the same oblivion right now.
To Hawk, watching as Jake finally left the nursery, it seemed he and Leonie had been alone in there for a very long time. If Jake thought he could find one of those ‘different things’ he wanted to do with his life with Leonie and Holly he was going to be sadly disappointed!
CHAPTER TEN
LEONIE FELT conspicuous sitting alone in the lounge/bar of the Claymont Hotel, but when she had arrived at the hotel half an hour ago and been informed by the receptionist that Mr Spencer had left the hotel mid-morning but was expected back for lunch she had had little choice but to sit and wait for him. Unfortunately the lounge area was also part of the bar in this small hotel, so she sat alone at a table in the corner with a glass of fresh orange juice in front of her as the lunchtime crowd from surrounding businesses began to fill the room.
If Michael didn’t arrive back soon she was going to have to leave without seeing him; she couldn’t sit in this bar all day waiting
for him.
Hawk had invited her out for lunch, but she had told him she was meeting an old friend in town. He hadn’t been pleased. He would be even less pleased, she knew, if he were informed that her ex-husband was the supposed ‘old friend’!
A friend was something Michael had never been, and it hadn’t taken her long to realise she couldn’t love the monster he was either. Now that she was going to marry Hawk Michael had to realise he would be wiser, for his own safety, to stay away from her. And Holly. She could still remember her panic of yesterday when Michael had picked Holly up. If he wouldn’t agree to leave them alone she would have to go to Hawk and tell him everything.
‘Well, well, well!’ drawled a mocking voice. ‘Become a secret drinker, have you?’
Leonie looked up at Michael unflinchingly, putting her glass down carefully. ‘The time to have done that was while I was still married to you,’ she snapped.
He raised one brow mockingly as he sat down on the stool opposite her. ‘Is it being the mistress of Henry Hawker Sinclair the Second that’s suddenly given my little kitten claws?’ he taunted.
She could feel the colour leave her cheeks; it hadn’t taken him long to find out exactly who ‘Hawk’ was! ‘I’m not his mistress,’ she muttered, looking around them uncomfortably. The lounge was full of people munching on the bar-snacks they served out here between twelve and two o’clock.
‘Holly is his child,’ Michael mocked.
Leonie drew in a ragged breath. ‘Could we get out of here?’ she said coldly, picking up her bag. ‘Go somewhere we can be more private?’
His eyes widened appreciatively. ‘Maybe your ice has melted a little!’
‘What are you doing?’ She pulled back as he dragged her towards the staircase.
‘Taking you up to my room,’ he told her softly. ‘It’s very private up there,’ he added suggestively.
Leonie wrenched her arm out of his grasp. ‘A walk outside is privacy enough,’ she snapped.
He shrugged, following her out into the sunshine, his hands thrust in his trouser pockets. ‘So what are you doing in Claymont?’ he drawled.
‘Visiting you,’ she said impatiently.
His brows rose. ‘You should have called first—you could have been sitting in that bar all day waiting for me to get back.’
She had come here in the first place on the spur of the moment—she knew Michael had to be dealt with! ‘You’re here now.’ She unzipped her bag, taking out an envelope and holding it out to him. ‘This is what you came here for.’ She looked at him with dislike. ‘Take it and go.’
He ignored the envelope. ‘Exactly how many millions do you suppose your rich lover has?’ he mused.
She swallowed hard. ‘I haven’t the least idea—or interest—in how much money Hawk has,’ she told him coldly.
‘Well, I have,’ chided Michael. ‘I suppose he could actually be worth billions,’ he added thoughtfully.
Leonie drew in a ragged breath; she hadn’t imagined he would have found out Hawk’s identity this quickly. She should have known better; where money was concerned Michael was like a bloodhound, he could always find it if it was there.
Money was one of the reasons he had married her, he had told her shortly after their wedding. She was already earning money from the Winnie Cooper books, more than he was earning as an office worker.
‘Don’t even think about it, Michael,’ she advised wearily. ‘Hawk won’t be blackmailed.’
‘Your friend yesterday gave the impression Sinclair is very protective of his mistress and the child your affair has produced,’ he taunted.
Leonie sighed. ‘He also warned you that Hawk would be a dangerous man to cross. Hawk isn’t someone you could bully, Michael,’ she warned.
‘I didn’t think he was,’ he mused. ‘But I’m sure he wouldn’t want the intimate details of his lover’s marriage spread across the front page of the newspapers.’
‘That’s more likely to embarrass you than it is me,’ she snapped.
His lips quirked. ‘Not the way I would tell it!’
She came to an abrupt halt, turning to face him. ‘Take what I’m offering you, Michael,’ she said softly, holding out the envelope once again. ‘And don’t be a fool.’
His face darkened angrily. ‘The only fool here is you—if you think I’m going to accept the pittance you can give me when Sinclair can give me much more!’
‘You really think Hawk would give you anything?’ she scorned.
Michael nodded confidently. ‘If he cares about you—and I think he does,’ he derided. ‘And he isn’t going to give the money to me; you’re going to ask him for it.’
‘Me?’ she repeated apprehensively. ‘I told you, I’m not interested in Hawk’s money.’
‘But I am,’ he drawled softly. ‘And I’m sure he could be persuaded to be financially indulgent with the woman who’s borne his daughter.’ He raised his brows challengingly. ‘Or would you rather we all got into a legal battle over your brat’s paternity?’ he added pleasantly.
Leonie wasn’t fooled by the mildness of his tone; she knew just how dangerous the threat was. ‘You promised you’d leave Holly alone,’ she reminded him sharply.
He shrugged. ‘That was before I found out exactly who her father is.’
She swallowed hard. ‘Hawk could break you,’ she choked fiercely.
‘But he won’t,’ Michael dismissed lightly. ‘Will he?’ he taunted.
Money. That was all that seemed to matter to this man. Never mind that he could be hurting an innocent child with his vicious lies. ‘I’ll see what I can do.’ She turned away.
‘In the meantime this will do very nicely…’ He took the envelope out of her hand. ‘I’ll call you in a few days,’ he smiled confidently before striding back towards his hotel.
Leonie was shaking badly. She always felt ill after an encounter with Michael. She should never have started this, she should have challenged Michael from the first to do his worst. Now it was too late. And it could only get worse once she was actually Hawk’s wife.
‘Leonie?’
She turned sharply, forcing herself to relax as she faced Stephen Colter. ‘Stephen,’ she greeted him lightly. ‘What are you doing in town?’
He frowned. ‘Just looking round. Who was that guy with you just now?’
A flicker of irritation darkened her eyes; did all Hawk’s friends protect what was his? And then she chastised herself; Stephen was one of the few people at the house who didn’t know she and Holly were Hawk’s. He was obviously just concerned by the fact that her meeting with Michael seemed to have upset her.
‘Just a friend who couldn’t make it for lunch,’ she dismissed brightly.
He didn’t look convinced, his gaze went in the direction Michael had taken. Then he turned with a dismissive shrug. ‘In that case let me offer to be your escort,’ he grinned.
‘Oh, but—’ Why not? Stephen was a likeable enough man, when he wasn’t getting drunk after arguing with his father!
He held up his hands defensively. ‘I’ll behave,’ he promised dryly. ‘Besides, Dad and I haven’t even spoken for a couple of days,’ he added with a grimace. ‘He still wants me to go back to London to stay until the wedding,’ he told her conversationally as they walked along together. ‘I know you said it isn’t necessary, but having me around just seems to upset him.’
‘Oh, I’m sure it isn’t that,’ she protested. ‘He loves you very much, I can tell.’
‘Yeah,’ Stephen nodded. ‘I love him too. But that doesn’t mean we have to get along. He has his life to lead and I have mine; and they’re totally different.’ He shrugged.
Leonie put her arm companionably through the crook of his. ‘Let’s go and have lunch and you can tell me all about going to college in America,’ she encouraged.
He quirked blond brows. ‘Did Dad forget to mention that I’ve dropped out of college?’
* * *
What the hell was she doing with Stephen?
A guilty flush seemed to darken her cheeks as she looked up and saw him standing in the lounge doorway.
‘Hiya, Hawk,’ Stephen greeted lightly on his way up the stairs. ‘Beautiful day.’
Hawk frowned as he watched the young man navigate the stairs, a bedroom door closing seconds later. His censorious gaze returned to Leonie, and he wondered what she had done that could merit that look of apprehension in her eyes.
‘Is Stephen drunk again?’ he rasped, his hands thrust tensely into his denims pockets.
She shook her head, her hair shimmering like a red-gold flame. ‘He only had one beer.’
Hawk’s mouth tightened. ‘Where?’
‘At the restaurant,’ she shrugged, giving a nervous smile. ‘My friend let me down and so Stephen very kindly offered me lunch instead.’
Was it his imagination, or was her head tilted at a challenging angle? Hell, no, of course it wasn’t his imagination; Leonie knew damn well how he would feel about her being with any other man but him. Especially as Stephen was more her age than he was. He didn’t like being reminded of the fact that he was nearly fifteen years older than she was!
‘The two of you met in town?’ he prompted harshly.
‘Yes,’ she confirmed brightly.
‘How convenient,’ he drawled.
Her cheeks flushed with anger this time. ‘What are you implying, Hawk?’
What was he implying? he asked himself wearily. It was him she had agreed to marry, after all. ‘Nothing,’ he dismissed with a sigh. ‘But it might have been nice if you’d called me when your friend let you down and the two of us could have had lunch together as I originally planned.’ He shrugged.
‘I told you, I met Stephen accidentally. I hadn’t had time to think about calling anyone.’ Leonie’s eyes were fever-bright. ‘If you don’t trust me, Hawk, maybe we’d better just forget the whole thing; I’ve had one unreasonable husband, I certainly don’t need another one who’s unnecessarily jealous!’ With a choked sob she turned and ran up the stairs.
Just One Night (Presents Plus) Page 15