Wanted

by Diana Fraser

  She turned aside and looked out the window. She frowned. “Hey, where are we going? This isn’t the way to the apartment, or the business.”

  “We’re going to be based on the island from now on.”

  “What? Why?”

  “The risk is too great for us to continue to work in the city.”

  “For the plans, or for me?”

  He glared at her. “Both. I’ve had everything moved over to the island. We can work from there.”

  “You see!” she said angrily. “That’s precisely what I mean. You take these unilateral decisions, without even discussing them with me.”

  “There’s nothing to discuss.”

  “Then there’s no hope for us. If we can’t even discuss the simplest of things, there’s no future.”

  “I’m surprised it’s taken you this long to work that out. Do you want to leave, want to go back to your boyfriend?”

  “I don’t have a boyfriend, as you well know. Daidan! Just listen to me. I can’t tell you the details, I just can’t, but I’m telling you the truth. There was nothing between me and the father of my child.”

  He grunted with disbelief.

  Her eyes narrowed. “You know what I mean. Please, Daidan, stop this. We can’t go on like it. Unless…”

  “Unless?”

  “Unless you wish to stop what we’re doing? You want me to leave? I told you I’d leave if you asked. Now’s your chance.”

  “Do you want to?”

  She shook her head.

  “Then we continue as we are.”

  “Only if you leave this behind you.”

  “Only if you promise me that there’s no more surprises. There’s nothing more that happened. I need to be able to trust you.”

  “There’s nothing more you need to know.”

  His eyes narrowed suspiciously for a moment before he turned away. For a moment Taina wondered if her answer would satisfy him. Then he turned to her. “We’re here.” Whatever his thoughts he was obviously not going to express them.

  The boat bounced on the small waves that peppered the gulf. And Taina’s grip of the rail tightened as she watched the island approach with the ruins of the castle where her family had defended their lands in medieval times looming over it. Seemed times hadn’t changed that much. The castle and island, which would be the location for the big launch, was still a place of retreat and, to her, a place of imprisonment. Now more than ever.

  She glanced at Daidan who sat reading the paper on the deck. “I’ll need to return to the city in a few days.”

  “No.”

  “But surely we’ll be moving back and forth, right?”

  “Wrong. I can’t risk it. Not with so much going on. I want to keep a tight control over every aspect of this launch and we can do that better on site. Our key staff will come to the island during the day and the jewelry will be brought by armored guard on the day of the launch itself. It’s only for another week. Once the launch is over everything will be back to normal.”

  “You really think someone is out to sabotage the launch? Or do you suspect it’s more personal?”

  He didn’t speak for a few moments. “It’s possible and I’m not willing to take the risk.”

  “Do you think it’s something to do with the Russians? I realize they must be annoyed that our new safety measures show them in a bad light and they might lose business, but my father and the head of the Russian company always respected each other, even if they were competitors. Surely they wouldn’t turn their back on our joint history?”

  Again Daidan remained silent and she racked her brains to figure out what he was getting so paranoid about. For a brief moment she wondered if he was keeping anything from her but then she dismissed the idea. No, he was just being the same controlling man as her father had been.

  “People don’t always behave rationally. I’d thought you’d have realized that, Taina. We’re working from the island until the launch. There’s nothing you can do but accept it. It is as it is.”

  The boat docked at the jetty and Daidan spoke to the captain while Taina disembarked and walked up to the house, almost hidden by the overhanging trees. With each echoing footstep she took along the wooden jetty, the feeling of dread grew. She recognized it because she’d experienced that same sense of apprehension growing up on the island. But this time it appeared the threat was real—whether to her or the company, she didn’t know—and this time she had no idea from which direction the attack was coming.

  By midweek she felt as if she were going crazy. A few staff came and were gone by six in the evening. They, and the household staff, were the only people she saw. The boat was the only way out and Daidan’s had the key to that. She was effectively trapped in her own home—just as she had been growing up.

  Yes, she loved working on the jewelry collection, combining her initials with her mother’s in a new centerpiece to the range. The heartache remained but she was managing it. And she enjoyed working with Daidan’s team on the launch arrangements and whatever marketing was required. What she couldn’t manage was the feeling of being trapped against her will.

  She decided to finish early and went for a walk around the small island, through the woodland and around to the old castle to see how the work was coming on. A new theatre stage had been built to replace the old one which had been used by her parents and her grandparents before them. Up until the past few years their family had held occasional festivals at the castle, taking advantage of its amazing acoustics and stunning natural setting.

  By the time she returned it was nearing six and as she walked across the lawn at the rear of the property she heard a strange wailing sound, followed by silence. It was only when she reached the house and the sound continued, this time unabated, that she realized what it was—the sound of a baby crying. It struck to the heart of her and she dropped the flowers she’d picked and went running inside. She was met by one of the staff trying to soothe a baby who was crying lustily. Taina recognized the baby—she was the daughter of her PA, Livvy.

  “Where’s Livvy?” asked Taina as she walked up to the baby, whose cries were growing more insistent with each passing minute.

  “In with Daidan. Her babysitter let her down and she had to drop some papers off.”

  “Give her to me.” Instinctively Taina wanted to comfort the child and she held out her hands to the baby. The baby was handed to her but didn’t stop crying. She rocked her and walked her up and down the hallway. Then she gave the baby the dummy that someone offered and the baby snuggled against her, instantly soothed.

  Taina was lost in a flood of maternal feeling for the infant. She couldn’t stop looking at her as she held her close, comforting her like she’d never been able to comfort her own child.

  Suddenly she was aware that a hush had fallen on the room. She turned to see Daidan standing at the open study door, staring at her, an unguarded look of sadness in his eyes. Immediately Livvy came toward her. “I’m so sorry. I thought she’d be okay. She’s just been fed, you see.”

  “No problem.” Taina looked down at the baby in her arms. “No problem at all.”

  Then Daidan came up to her and put his arm gently around her shoulders. “Livvy wants to go now.”

  Taina looked up suddenly. She hadn’t noticed Livvy had her arms outstretched waiting for Taina to return her baby to her. “Sure. Sorry, I…”

  Livvy took the baby from her with crooning sounds which cut Taina to the quick. She turned away abruptly.

  “Your baby’s perfect, Livvy,” said Daidan to fill the awkward silence. “I just hope our baby will be as beautiful.”

  Then all eyes looked up to Daidan who was only looking at Taina.

  “You’re expecting a baby?” asked Livvy.

  “Not yet,” he said without taking his eyes from Taina. “But we will be. Very soon.”

  Taina nodded and bit her lip to stop it from trembling. Daidan might never forgive her for having a child with another man, but the way he was
looking at her now, with that complex mixture of sadness, regret, and sympathy, made her realize he still had feelings for her and he’d give her what she yearned for so desperately.

  She tucked her hair behind one ear and smiled as best she could at the young woman. “She wasn’t any trouble. I’m glad you brought her. Daidan’s right. She is beautiful. Bring her back any time.” She turned to Daidan. “I have to go… I have some… work to do.”

  “Sure.”

  She managed to escape the room before the tears came. She went straight to her room and sat on the bed and put her head in her hands and sobbed. After her sobs subsided she was aware that a silence had fallen over the house. Then she heard approaching footsteps. Footsteps that stopped, right outside her room.

  She closed her eyes, hoping Daidan would turn away—for it had to be him—hoping he wouldn’t see her like this—broken and weak.

  He knocked once. The door wasn’t locked. He could have entered if he wished. She swung her legs off her bed and swiped the tears roughly from under her eyes and walked over to the door and opened it.

  He searched her face and she tilted her chin, defying him to see her weakness.

  “May I come in?” he asked.

  She opened the door wide. “Of course.”

  He walked in and looked around. “It’s a long time since I’ve been in your old room.”

  She closed the door and turned to him. “Really? And yet you’ve lived on the island since I’ve been away.”

  He glanced at her. “At weekends. When I wanted to get away. Maybe”—he nodded as if urging himself to tell the truth—“maybe when I wanted to feel close to you.”

  “My jeans… in my closet. You knew where they were.”

  “I missed you.”

  “And yet you let me go. And didn’t follow me.”

  “You asked me to respect your wishes and I did.” He paused. “And I’ve always regretted it. I should have followed you. I should have made you see that the arrangements I came to with your father didn’t mean I didn’t love you. I did. And I do.”

  Sadness swelled inside her, creating a lump in her throat. She pursed her lips and shook her head. “I wish you’d come after me when I left. I wish you’d told me. I believed the opposite was true.”

  “Yes, well”—he nodded briefly—“everything’s easier with hindsight.” He walked over to the window, leaned against the billowing curtains, and looked across to the city. “But I’ve learned from my mistakes.” He looked at her. “I’m not going to let you get away again.”

  She knew what he meant, knew that he was simply saying he wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice, so why did she feel uneasy? She laughed nervously. “Don’t say it like that, Daidan. It makes me feel trapped.”

  “You know me. I’m no good at saying things smoothly. They always come out wrong. I just mean that I never want you to leave me again.” He walked over to her and took her hands in his. “We’ve been given another chance. Let’s take it and make the most of it—what’s happened has happened and there’s nothing either of us can do about it.”

  She exhaled roughly and looked down. “You can’t believe how long I’ve waited to hear you say that.”

  He lifted her chin and kissed her so tenderly, so without ownership, as if the clock had been turned back to when they had no resentment, no past, no secrets between them. She melted into his arms and he held her tight, the kiss continuing, as the tension increased—their breathing coming harder, as his hands pushed up under her shirt, her skin goose-bumping under his touch, her hips shifting to him in reaction.

  He pulled away too soon, his thumbs sweeping her cheeks. She gripped his hips and held them against hers, grazing his neck with her lips as she moved against his erection, telling him what she wanted in no uncertain terms. He didn’t need any further encouragement and they fell to the bed, legs and arms and bodies entwined, as she fumbled with the buttons on his shirt. Before she’d reached the last one, he’d deftly undone her bra and pushed off her shirt and with a little wriggling her trousers landed on the floor.

  As soon as he was naked she pulled away from underneath him. She was tired of being underneath, tired of being made love to. She straddled him and kissed him. “This time, I’m in charge,” she whispered against his mouth. He fell back with a groan as she took charge, with both hands.

  “You’re always in charge,” he said, his voice rough with desire. “You just don’t know it.”

  She paused for a moment, thinking about his meaning, wondering whether he believed what he said, wondering if it were true.

  “For God’s sake, don’t stop!”

  She grinned as she continued her ministrations, his eyes closing only briefly before opening to meet her gaze, a gaze that did things to her, that made her take away her hands and lift her hips and drop down gently on top of him, watching him all the while. The intensity in those hooded eyes as they maintained a macho authority over her, even when she was on top, drove her harder. She leaned forward, gripped his shoulders with her hands, her breasts grazing his chest, her breath upon his face as she rode him until he was forced to close his eyes as he came. And when he came, he called out her name. Only then did she succumb to the waves of orgasm that she’d barely been able to keep at bay. She sat up, shifting her body for maximum satisfaction and crying out as a second wave slammed into her.

  For a moment she thought she’d blacked out. Because suddenly she was in his arms, lying side by side, him still inside her, her legs clasping his waist. She closed her eyes as she half-listened to his murmured Arabic endearments of which she had no understanding. He continued to caress her, both inside and out, as her body responded to him, and the ripples of pleasure began once more.

  Late into the night, they continued to make love while outside the birds sang and the late evening sunlight played over their bodies, slick with sweat, in the long midsummer twilight. It was only when the brief dusk that fell for an hour or so either side of midnight descended, that their love-making ceased and they drifted into sleep.

  She lay awake in the early morning and turned to see he’d gone. He was never there when she awoke. He needed little sleep and was always working. She knew these things and yet still she felt rejected every time she awoke to find him gone.

  She turned over on the fine linen sheets to look out through the open window toward Helsinki. From here she could just make out the low-lying buildings surrounding the old city near the wharf, where her mother’s studio/warehouse was. For years after her mother’s death, she’d look out and think about her mother, and of how different things would have been if Taina had made a different choice at fourteen.

  She thought of The Warehouse now. It had the working drawings she needed to finish off her project. She knew Daidan would arrange for them to be brought to the island for her if she asked him. But what was she? A little girl who had to ask permission for everything?

  She jumped out of bed and stretched. It was still early. Daidan would be at work in the library. The staff hadn’t arrived at the island yet. She walked over to her wardrobe and pulled out sensible, warm clothes, rather than her elegant, expensive designer wear. She wouldn’t need those where she was going this morning.

  Daidan still hadn’t emerged from the library and Taina was able to pick up the key for the boat without him knowing. Not that he’d hidden it. She was sure that he wouldn’t know that she was an excellent sailor. In their short time together, she’d never had to demonstrate it.

  By the time she made her way down through the terraced gardens, dew was on the grass and birdsong filled the air. She had to get out of there. She walked quickly to the boatshed and unlocked it. She glanced up at the house briefly to see if the whirring of the electronic doors had stirred anyone. There was no sign of activity. Presumably Daidan was either on the phone, Skyping, or immersed in his work.

  She knew the drill, the security, how to work the boat. She’d lived most of her life on the island and knew boating inside ou
t. It had been her only escape. It had been on one of her expeditions that she’d first met Daidan. It seemed so long ago.

  Quietly she maneuvered the boat out into the bay, making sure to keep close to the shoreline, under the trees whose branches dipped and dragged in the current. She winced at the sound of the motor in the quiet of the morning. As soon as she was around the headland she opened up the throttle and headed to Helsinki at full speed. She’d get those designs she wanted from her mother’s studio in The Warehouse. And, more importantly, she’d get away from the island for a few hours.

  Daidan pulled the phone away from his ear, trying to figure out what the noise was he’d just heard above the conference call he was on. Then he heard it, a change in gear of a small boat—his boat. Taina! He jumped up and opened the dressing room door. It was empty. Damn!

  “Taina!” he bellowed, but he knew it was no good. She’d taken the boat. He just knew it. “Taina!” he called again as the other end of the house. But her name echoed around the huge space, taunting him with its empty sound.

  He dressed quickly and picked up his phone. He had a message. Just a brief text from her, just saying she needed to get away for a few hours. On her own. But where? He looked across the waters to Helsinki and saw several boats. He got the binoculars and focused on one in particular—the flag snapping jauntily in the breeze. It was the Mustonen pennant. He narrowed his gaze as he punched a number into his phone.

  “Get a helicopter over to me straight away and then get yourself and a couple of the men over to the quay, fast. Taina’s on her way over and she’s no idea as to the trouble she could run into.”

  He slammed down the phone and looked over at the boat that grew smaller with each passing minute. She had no idea of the desperation of men whose livelihood their new company would impact on. No idea of the depths they’d stoop to. He just prayed that his men would get to her before the Russians.

  CHAPTER EIGHT