Billionaire's Pursuit of Love: Destiny Romance

by Jennifer St George

  ‘Just enough time to get back to bed,’ Blake said, throwing her a greedy look.

  ‘Just enough time to load the animals and go.’

  ‘Worth a try,’ he said.

  Sarah’s skin warmed. She smiled and pulled the door closed behind her. She walked quickly to the generator site. Tino had beaten her to it. Tino was the closest thing she’d had to a father since her own had left. The Bruneian local had come to work at the Sanctuary just after her mother had established it. He’d helped build every building, feed every animal that had lived here and lived the joys and heartbreak of their jungle life.

  ‘Look at you all happy,’ he said, with a huge grin and cheeky eyes.

  ‘Today’s release day, I’m dancing on air,’ she said.

  ‘Strange,’ Tino said, fiddling with the generator and pressing the ‘on’ button. The engine chugged back into life. ‘I don’t think that’s the reason.’

  ‘Tino.’ The name came with a warning.

  ‘It’s not a crime to be happy,’ he said, patting her shoulder. ‘You should have company out here.’

  She snorted. Blake. Live here? Hilarious. The delicious joy of the morning dissipated a fraction.

  ‘I’ll start loading,’ Tino said. He walked away towards the orangutan enclosures. The team was already busy at work unlocking the enclosures and leading the young into the play area. She’d always loved this time of day. The excitement of the young animals was infectious.

  She walked back to the cabin. Practically, how could a relationship with Blake ever work? They both had important work to do. They couldn’t live further away from each other unless they moved to opposite poles.

  Through the cabin window, Blake stood tethered to the phone. She smiled faintly. Funny seeing him held captive by the short cord. Being unable to pace would be driving him mad. She sat quietly on the verandah, not wanting to intrude.

  She bent to pull off her boots. Angry words filtered through the window.

  ‘I thought the orangutan cover had worked.’ Blake’s voice was muted, but clearly he was furious. ‘The head of Vericon Tech was here at the launch yesterday.’ A few choice swear words rang through the humid air.

  It felt as though a small rusty blade slid between her ribs. Cover? Her fingers hovered over her boot, unable to move.

  ‘Damn it, Henry, we poured a fortune into this thing. I thought they’d taken the bait.’

  Bait? This thing! A horrible, creeping sensation burned down her arms and settled painfully in her fingertips. Orangutan Food Fight had been . . . what? Some sort of . . . diversion?

  ‘I’ll head back straightaway. Next flight out. Put me through to Linda.’

  Her heart beat but not in rhythm. She slumped back against the rough wooden wall. Blake instructed Linda to get him the hell out of there and slammed down the phone. More swearing.

  She stood, her legs feeling numb and useless. She opened the door. The expression on Blake’s face told her everything. He looked as if he’d been caught stealing. Betrayal dropped into her stomach and lodged there, heavy and horrible.

  ‘Listen, Sarah . . .’

  She held up her hand. He stopped talking. She couldn’t look at him. ‘All this . . . just a diversion?’ she asked, forcing the words from her lips. She hoped for a negative answer. Yearned. Begged. To have misunderstood.

  ‘Sarah, I can’t explain now. I have to get back to London.’ The tender voice of her lover had been replaced with the clipped voice of Hunt-F Tech’s CEO. ‘We’ll talk when you get back.’

  ‘What happened to no secrets?’ she asked. Her dreams of a different life, a happy life dripped away with every word he uttered.

  ‘This is business. It’s got nothing to do with you and me.’ His tone emphasised his sparse choice of words. ‘I meant no secrets between us.’ He strode past her. ‘Let’s not get the two confused.’

  ‘But the Sanctuary isn’t business, it’s my life.’ She tried to eliminate the hysterical wobble from her voice. She’d spent years controlling how she felt, what she thought about, or, more to the point, what she didn’t think about. Blake had opened her emotional gate and her feelings had bolted.

  ‘Listen, I don’t expect you to understand, but my main rival has obtained competitively sensitive information about the most important product we’ve ever launched.’ He threw clothes into the leather overnight bag.

  ‘So you used me . . . used Daniel.’

  ‘Don’t be ridiculous. You got a lot out of this, too.’ The words came fast and harsh and with a nasty tone of accusation. ‘Honestly, Sarah. I can’t discuss this now. This is extremely important and I’m on the wrong side of the bloody world.’

  The sight of Sarah’s white and tortured face inflicted a stab to his chest. He stopped packing. What was he saying? It wasn’t Sarah’s fault. He should be better than this. Better at this. But relationships didn’t often come up as a priority in his life. He was way out of practice.

  He clasped both her hands in his. ‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m being an idiot. I’ll explain everything when you get back to London. But this is important.’

  ‘But not as important as the release today.’ She sounded washed out and weary. He blocked his heart to the guilt. Stopped it gaining access, wreaking havoc.

  ‘Of course the release is important. But this is my business. I have to look after my business. You have to look after yours.’

  He turned back to packing. The irony of the situation was not lost on him. Again he was in Brunei, again he was flying back to disaster and again Sarah had stolen his focus.

  ‘I’ll organise someone to return the car this afternoon,’ he said.

  She walked into the kitchen. The bang of pots and scrape of cutlery filled the small space. He was glad. He couldn’t handle any more histrionic outbursts. He had to concentrate. Get his head in the game.

  He tugged the zip of his bag closed with more forced than required. He’d broken his golden rule. Never take your eye off the ball. Helping the Sanctuary . . . helping Sarah, sure, it had felt good, but it wasn’t the main game.

  He looked around. How had he allowed himself to be lured here? Wrong place. Wrong time zone. Wrong business. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

  Sarah stared at the door, the sound of it slamming shut still echoing in her mind. Blake had shut more than a door to her cabin. She dragged her sharp fingernail across her lower lip, over and over and over. She’d stupidly allowed herself to entertain the possibility of a future with Blake. That he had it in him to play a meaningful role in her life, Daniel’s life. Something at least beyond the confines of his working life.

  Outside, the four-wheel drive roared to life. The familiar sounds of the forest soon obliterated the blare of the vanishing engine noise. She collapsed onto Daniel’s bed. Her mother had been right. They love you, use you, then leave you. She dropped her head in her hands.

  ‘Sarah.’ Tino knocked on the door. ‘Ready?’

  ‘Give me five.’ She dragged enthusiasm into her voice.

  She hauled herself up and into her room. Pulling her khaki work overalls from the cupboard, she yanked them on. A month ago, this was the only life she’d ever really known. Battling for every dollar to keep her mother’s vital work going. Saving a species. It had never been enough, but she’d accepted this was her life. A worthwhile life. Then Blake had reappeared and tumbled everything into a jagged mess.

  Those few weeks in London had been . . . what? She couldn’t admit she’d loved every minute. But that life was so . . . wrong! Big business, big city, wealth, a throwaway life.

  She walked out the door. Sultan’s new enclosure was visible through the trees. The old male orangutan would never again be able to live in his natural habitat. A poacher’s bullet had seen to that. Now he could live his life with space and comfort. Blake had made that happen.

  She pulled on her boots. Sweat trickled down her back.

  Tino jogged back to her cabin.

  ‘Is it true?’ Joy danced all over his
face, making him look ten years younger than his fifty years.

  ‘What?’

  ‘That game has already raised seventy-five thousand pounds. Blake told me before he left.’

  ‘Hmm. Must’ve sold more overnight.’ She should be swinging from tree to tree with ecstasy.

  ‘Incredible, isn’t it?’

  He sat down next to her on the deck. Sarah flicked a glance at the man who’d stood by the Sanctuary even when things were virtually impossible.

  ‘You’ve achieved more in the few weeks you’ve been away than you have in the whole year,’ he said.

  ‘Thanks a lot.’ A treacherous stinging threatened the back of her eyes.

  He laid a hand on her shoulder. ‘Did you ever consider you might do more good for us out there than you do here? More good for yourself? For Daniel?’

  A few minutes ago, Sarah could have imagined a cage being flung open for her to run free. But Blake had shown where his true loyalties lay. She and Daniel would be cogs in the wheel of his business. They weren’t in his heart. They were a strategy. ‘You know I promised.’

  ‘Sarah, your heart has always been somewhere else. Remember? You always wanted to travel the world. Photograph the world. Tell stories about the world. Remember all those stories you’d write. Your room is covered in pictures. Even as a little girl you drew pictures of everything around you.’

  She dropped her elbows on her knees and her head into her hands. ‘That was a long time ago.’

  ‘Maybe, but it doesn’t make it less important. You made a promise to Jill and you’ll keep it. But you don’t need to stop living your life to do it.’

  She pushed aside his words. He didn’t understand. She stood. Tino didn’t move.

  ‘I’ve known you a long time, my girl,’ he said. ‘Stop living in the past. Stop living for your mother. It’s time to start putting yourself first. Stop living other people’s dreams.’

  ‘She died for this place. Sacrificed everything. If I don’t do the same —’

  ‘You’re wrong. She didn’t sacrifice anything. This was her passion. She wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. But this is not your passion.’

  She stared at the jungle and its domination of the landscape. The dominance in her life.

  ‘Come on,’ she said, holding out her hand. ‘It’s showtime.’

  He sighed. Sarah pulled him to his feet. One of her nails caught on Tino’s muddy glove and was ripped to the quick.

  ‘Ouch.’ Blood leaked from the side of her nail. Tino gently examined the wound.

  ‘You’ll need to treat that.’

  ‘Go on. I’ll be there in a minute.’

  She threw off her boots and stalked into the house. Pulling the first-aid kit down from the top of the fridge, she took out the well-used tube of antiseptic cream. Infection could set in fast in the forest. She applied the lotion and stared at her hands – at her long, manicured nails. Grabbing the nail clippers, she roughly chopped her nails down to the nail bed.

  Her life was the Sanctuary. Not the glitz of the city. Not a computer company. Not at Blake’s side. She’d go back to London, sort out custody arrangements and get back to where she belonged. After all, here, no one let you down. No one here used you for what they could get. And if they did, they weren’t close enough to her heart for her to care.

  Chapter Nine

  Sarah’s muscles ached. She stretched her neck and rolled her shoulders. With what seemed like a supreme effort, she pulled her suitcase from the airport carousel. Although Blake had booked her a first-class ticket back to London, she hadn’t slept. Her mind had whirled, analysed and failed. Failed to reconcile Blake’s insensitive actions. How could he not have thought she would be upset about him using the Sanctuary, using her, in some intricate web of deception? He could have lied about anything – his leaving the letters being a case in point.

  She queued for what seemed like longer than the actual flight but finally cleared passport control. The baggage-claim hall was packed, but her bag was one of the first to tumble down the chute. She walked over to customs. Blake and Daniel were just on the other side of the wall.

  She couldn’t deny that Blake loved Daniel. Seeing them together . . . She threw aside the thought. But what did that mean when Blake could so easily dump Daniel, use her and place his work at the pinnacle of his life with everything else sliding down the sides? Would she and Daniel at some point be reduced to a Sunday lunch with physical Blake, when mental Blake still plotted world domination?

  She glanced at her watch. Thank goodness it was late at night. She could climb into bed when she arrived back at Blake’s apartment. Customs waved her through and she emerged into the arrivals area of Heathrow.

  ‘Mum.’ Daniel hit her like a bullet train running behind schedule. She held him against her heart and wondered if Daniel had any idea of the force of love she felt for him. She kissed his cheeks, ruffled his hair and hugged him again.

  She didn’t mean to, but she caught Blake’s eye. If you missed Daniel this much in a few days, how must Blake feel, missing out on a lifetime? Whoa. Where did that come from? She deleted the thought from her emotional equation.

  ‘I’ve missed you,’ she said to her son. She slung her arm over Daniel’s shoulder and gave her son one hundred per cent of her attention. But Blake’s presence surrounded her like the spice-infused air at home on market day.

  ‘I’ve missed you.’ Blake kissed her on the cheek. ‘Welcome home.’

  But this is not our home.

  Daniel stared at them with a goofy smile on his face.

  ‘Thanks.’ She hoped her cheeks were as cold as her heart.

  Blake took her bag. Daniel chatted away about cricket, school and all the fun he’d had at Jemma’s house. How he and Blake had ordered pizza and played a game called Angry Birds.

  ‘It’s not a bad game, Mum. You slingshot birds at pigs. It’s so funny. I’m ace at it now.’

  Sarah could feel Blake’s eyes on her during the walk to the car. She ignored him just enough to deliver the message but not enough for Daniel to notice.

  On the drive back to Blake’s apartment, Sarah updated Daniel on her trip and the goings-on at the Sanctuary. By the time they drove past the luxury stores of Knightsbridge, Daniel had fallen into silence. Sarah stared through the window and watched the city lights. She wanted to hate the place. Hate everything it represented, but she couldn’t deny that somewhere deep inside she . . . ached? For what? The adventure? The opportunity? The freedom?

  Daniel was asleep when they pulled into the driveway. The valet helped with the bags then looked after the car. Blake walked the half-asleep child into the building.

  A few minutes later, Blake tucked Daniel into bed. Sarah sat and stroked her son’s hair.

  ‘I love watching him sleep,’ Blake whispered.

  Sarah’s heart twitched. She knew exactly what he meant. Her son, so peaceful with his dreams. Blake had missed so much. She stood and walked from the room. That wasn’t her fault. But, it wasn’t his, either.

  Blake followed her down the hall to the living room. ‘Let’s talk.’

  ‘Not now,’ she said.

  ‘Yes, now.’

  ‘I’ve flown eleven thousand kilometres.’

  He pulled her into his arms. ‘How much longer? I want us together. The three of us. A family.’

  Yes, when it suits you.

  She disentangled herself. ‘How is this ever going to work? You live here. We live in Brunei. You won’t leave your work and I can’t leave mine. There’s no workable solution.’

  ‘But you’ve spent weeks in London away from the Sanctuary and in that time, you’ve generated record funds for the organisation. You belong here. You’re better for the Sanctuary here. Everything is better when you’re here.’

  ‘We’ll always come second to your job.’

  He hesitated for a moment. ‘That’s not true.’ But his voice had lost a fraction of its conviction.

  ‘Yes, it is. You wa
nt everything on your terms.’

  ‘You and Daniel can’t go back to living like that.’

  Heat bubbled up through her body. ‘Like what, exactly?’

  ‘Be reasonable, Sarah, your house is . . .’

  ‘What, Blake? My house is what?’

  ‘Unacceptable.’

  His words stung as though she’d landed in a hive of enraged bees. Every insecurity about her circumstances, the way she provided for Daniel, her lifestyle, rushed up in a torrent.

  ‘Are you saying I don’t provide well for my son?’ Her voice shook with fury and doubt.

  ‘No, I’m saying you don’t provide well enough for either of you.’

  Hot blood burned through her veins. She turned her back on his accusations and walked to the window. The lights of London blurred. Poking at the fabric of her life could destroy the whole flimsy tapestry of rationalisations. She couldn’t listen. She wouldn’t listen. Not everyone had a choice about how they lived.

  ‘Look around, Sarah. This is the life you should be living. Daniel should be with his father and you should be with me.’

  She whirled to face him. ‘Oh yes, we can be with you, but only when it’s convenient.’ The words tasted of bitter ash.

  ‘What the hell does that mean?’

  ‘You really don’t know, do you?’

  ‘Is this about that stupid cricket match? For God’s sake, Sarah, don’t be so damn melodramatic. So I missed a game. So what? There’ll be other cricket matches. And Food Fight? That benefited both of us. Don’t turn that situation into something more than it was. I couldn’t tell you about our plans, it was on a need-to-know basis only.’

  Exhaustion prevented her from protesting. She flopped onto the couch. ‘You rank us lower than a computer game.’

  ‘Don’t be ridiculous.’

  That bloody word again. If he called her or her views ridiculous again . . . The burning anger rose up and out. She stood.

  ‘Look at how you treat your own family.’

  A look she’d never seen before locked up his face. ‘What about my family?’ His voice held a sharp edge, which came with a steely warning.