Her brow pleated. ‘What are you doing? Why don’t you just boot him off the island and—?’
‘I’m doing what’s necessary.’
‘But—’
He moved across to her. ‘Don’t make things harder than they have to be.’ He made sure the words carried across to his father. He made sure his next ones didn’t. ‘Slap me across the face and flounce off to the kitchen.’
She took a step away from him her eyes going wide, and then her face darkened, and she did as he’d requested—she slapped him.
The imprint of her hand burned against his cheek and he wanted to kiss her. He squashed the impulse as the kitchen door slammed behind her. Emily raced off after her with George in her arms, while he gestured for his father to precede him into his office.
‘She’s a fiery little piece,’ Keith said.
‘And fired after that little display,’ Jasper returned.
‘Pity, you could’ve had some fun taming her.’
His father’s words made his stomach turn, but he didn’t betray it by so much as a flicker of an eyelash. He waved to a drinks cabinet on the other side of the room. ‘There’s a very good aged single malt there. Help yourself.’
While his father’s back was turned, he moved behind his desk, opened his top drawer and placed a blank cassette into the mini-recorder before slipping it into the pocket of his jacket. This morning when he’d pulled on a suit jacket, he’d told himself it was an attempt to return to a sense of normalcy—that he was once again ready to take a conference call if the occasion required it. Imogen had taken one look at him and had shaken her head. He was glad now he’d taken the trouble, though. The jacket felt like armour.
His father returned with two glasses of whisky. Jasper took one and sat, gestured for his father to take a seat too. ‘You ought to know I’m not the inexperienced boy I once was. The business world has taught me a lot. It’s not possible to achieve the amount of success I have while keeping all of one’s ideals and scruples...intact.’
He pretended to sip his Scotch as he let his father draw conclusions—undoubtedly unfavourable—about his son’s business practices.
Imogen’s face rose in his mind, solidifying his intent. ‘I’m not easily browbeaten. And I’m not going to pretend I am now.’
‘If you don’t do as I tell you, those women will suffer. I’ll make it a personal crusade. While I’d be a fool to say such things in front of witnesses, accidents can be arranged.’
‘Yes, they can.’
He let those words sink in before continuing. ‘However, while your threats have little impact on me, I am a businessman. I like to make money. And I find myself growing tired of island life.’
Keith’s eyes narrowed. ‘What are you proposing?’
‘I won’t make Emily return to Aaron.’
His father started to rise. ‘But—’
‘The man’s a fool for getting caught. I’m sure there’s a way to...deal with him.’
Keith subsided, his eyes starting to gleam. ‘Deal with him how?’
‘I’m sure you can think of something. I’ll only agree to return to Australia if you cut me in on whatever scheme you and Aaron have going.’
Keith started to laugh. These were the kinds of deals his father was used to making. ‘You think I’d trust you with anything of that kind?’
‘Money can buy a lot of things. Including information.’
Keith leaned back as if he held all the cards. ‘Are you offering me money?’
‘No, I don’t owe you a thing. You owe me. And if I return to Australia...’ He let the sentence hang for a moment. ‘If I return to Australia it’ll be on an equal footing, not as your dogsbody.’
Keith’s face twisted, and he slammed his glass down. ‘You want to cut me out—take control of everything!’ Because that was the way his father’s mind worked.
Jasper gave a negligent shrug. ‘Just like you, I find I have a taste for power. I want to be top dog.’ He wanted to make sure Keith could never threaten Imogen again.
Keith thumped his chest. ‘I’m top dog. I’m the one who has the contacts and knows how everything fits together. If I cut you in, it’ll be on my terms.’
‘But that said,’ he continued, as if his father hadn’t spoken, ‘I’m sure my money could be put to use in advantageous and creative ways that would be in everyone’s best interests.’
He broke off when a knock sounded. Katherine entered with a tray bearing coffee and warm scones. She set it on the desk. ‘Will there be anything else?’
Jasper glanced at his father and let his lips lift as if in expectation that a deal would be struck soon. ‘I think we’ll have the fillet steak for dinner tonight, Katherine.’
It was his father’s favourite, and predictably the older man preened as if he’d somehow won. Stupid man. Keith was going to find out exactly what happened when he threatened the people his son loved.
Katherine closed the door on her way out. Jasper set a mug of coffee in front of Keith. ‘I’ll need some kind of guarantee before I commit any money to the project.’
Keith seemed to think that over, knocked back the rest of his Scotch before setting it down with a nod. ‘I can tell you enough to realise any financial investment you make would be well rewarded.’
Jasper lifted his coffee to his lips. ‘I’m listening.’
* * *
‘Let me get this straight,’ Emily repeated. ‘Jasper asked you to slap him?’
Imogen nodded. ‘He’s up to something. He has a plan, so don’t lose heart. Your father doesn’t frighten him.’
Emily let George scramble down from her lap to retrieve his bunny. ‘I hope you’re right.’
She was right. Jasper had a plan. She just prayed he could pull it off.
‘I must say, Immy, you certainly responded to his request with...enthusiasm,’ Katherine said.
‘I wanted to be convincing.’
Had she channelled all her anger into that slap? Anger that he’d kissed her and then rejected her. Anger that it continued to mean so much. She swallowed. ‘Do you think I hurt him?’
Katherine’s eyes danced. ‘Let’s just say that I think it’ll keep him focussed.’
She’d hated hitting him. The moment after she’d struck him, she’d wanted to take that beautiful face in her hands and kiss it better—it was why she’d flounced away in such a rush. Instinct told her that Jasper was playing some deep game, and the stakes were high. She’d help him in whatever way she could—because she trusted him and wanted to support him—and he’d be grateful. But she had to be careful not to read anything more into it than that.
She wasn’t giving him any further reason to tell her that while he was attracted to her, he didn’t want anything more. He’d been honest with her from the start. Why couldn’t she have got that straight in her head? Why did she have to go and fall for him?
‘Right, Imogen, you’d better go and get that room ready.’
Emily twisted her hands together. ‘I don’t want to sleep in the same part of the house as my father.’
Imogen didn’t blame her. ‘My room has twin beds if you want to bunk in with me. I mean, it’s nothing fancy, but...’
The relief that raced across Emily’s face was all the answer she needed. ‘C’mon, I’ll make up a room for Sir Keith the Jackass and then we can move your things downstairs for the night.’ Including that can of pepper spray.
The rest of the afternoon dragged by, the suspense that hung in the air making it hard to concentrate on anything. Emily had her dinner in the kitchen with Imogen and Katherine. Jasper and his father ate in the dining room where Imogen couldn’t help noticing how at home Keith made himself.
Ha! What did she mean, couldn’t help noticing? She was spying. Of course she could help noticing. She was deliberately noticing.
And
what she deliberately noticed was that Keith did most of the talking—all of it bragging and big-noting himself, name-dropping and blowing his own trumpet in relation to his access to Australia’s highest political powers. The slimy toad. Jasper, on the other hand, kept calmly plying the man with a very good burgundy—four bottles of the stuff, to be precise—and very little of it made its way down its owner’s throat. She crossed her fingers and hoped that whatever Jasper’s goal happened to be, he achieved it.
‘Your father can drink a lot,’ she said, closing the kitchen door quietly and returning to the table where Katherine had brought out a deck of cards and told them they were playing gin rummy. George had long since been put to bed in his cot in Imogen’s room.
‘Like a fish,’ Emily agreed. ‘Jasper’s going to need a lot of wine if he’s hoping to get him drunk.’
Katherine dealt out the cards. ‘Then it’s just as well your brother keeps his cellar well stocked.’
They played cards for nearly two hours. The next time she peeked, Imogen watched Jasper half carry his very drunk father upstairs, presumably to bed. When he came back downstairs, he went straight into his study without so much as a glance in the direction of the kitchen.
She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, biting the inside of her cheek. She really wanted to go to him, but on what pretext? If he wanted her, he knew where to find her.
Acid burned her stomach. He didn’t want her, though. As much as she might want to, she couldn’t lose sight of that fact.
Katherine gave her a nudge. ‘Go and find out if there’s anything else he needs, and tell him we’re locking ourselves in.’
She turned in surprise.
Katherine held up a key. ‘The staff quarters lock.’
‘Is that necessary?’
‘It’ll make Emily feel safer.’
She was halfway to Jasper’s office when she realised her aunt hadn’t actually answered her question. Which was probably an answer in itself. Stomach churning, she tapped on the open office door. Jasper glanced up from where he furiously typed on his computer. ‘There’s nothing else I need for the evening, Imogen,’ he said, pre-empting her. ‘You’re free to retire.’
Lucky her.
‘Emily is bunking in with me tonight. And George.’
He nodded and returned to his computer. ‘Was there anything else?’ he finally said, not looking at her.
Her chest tightened. He wasn’t going to tell her what he was up to? What his plan was? She frowned at a spot on the carpet. ‘Katherine told me to tell you we’re locking ourselves in.’
He swivelled to face her. ‘That’s not necessary. But if it makes you feel better...’
What would make her feel better was if he swept her up in his arms and kissed her, told her he’d die without her. Her lips twisted. But that evidently wasn’t going to happen.
His eyes swept across her face, and his jaw clenched. He turned back to his computer. ‘Goodnight, Imogen.’
She turned and left without uttering another word.
‘What did he say?’ Emily said the moment she marched back into the kitchen. ‘How did he seem?’
High-handed. Remote. Autocratic. She bit the words back. They weren’t fair. ‘Preoccupied...and uncommunicative.’
‘Never mind.’ Katherine marshalled them towards the staff quarters. ‘Tomorrow may reveal all.’
Imogen tried to rein in her confusion, her hurt. Jasper didn’t owe her anything beyond a fair wage and decent working conditions. Her pique faded, but she refused to let hopelessness take its place. Her future held lots of good things—oodles of them. It just didn’t include Jasper.
She lifted her chin. Being here on the island had taught her an important lesson. Sometimes you had to take a risk—and if you worked hard and planned well it paid dividends. Some risks were worth taking. Look at Aunt Katherine—she’d dared to dream, and it had led to a publishing deal. Emily had risked her own safety to forge a new life for her and George.
Katherine and Emily had faced their fears and both their lives were the better for it. She could face her fears too. She wasn’t stupid. She wasn’t naïve and unprepared. She and her business would thrive. As for Jasper...
Instinct told her he was taking a big risk now. With all her heart, she hoped it paid off, hoped he vanquished his demons where his father was concerned. And that he had the chance to lead a good and happy life. Her eyes burned. It was what he deserved.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
EDUARDO APPEARED THE following morning as Imogen served breakfast in the dining room. He hovered by the kitchen door, evidently waiting for her.
The scent of freshly cooked bacon—normally a smell she relished—made her stomach turn. Or maybe that was simply her employer’s guest. She finished refilling Jasper’s and Keith’s coffee mugs before moving across to him. She listened as he gave his message in halting English.
‘Is there a problem?’ Jasper demanded in some kind of boss voice that set her teeth on edge.
She moved back to the table, hands folded at her waist. ‘Eduardo tells me there’s a boat here. The skipper claims he’s been hired to take someone to the mainland.’
Keith smirked. ‘Now you’ll get your comeuppance, missy. You might think twice before losing your temper again.’
The passage to the mainland was for her? But...she had another four days before she had to leave. She wasn’t ready to go yet. She—
‘Call the others in, Imogen.’
As Eduardo hadn’t left the doorway, and Katherine and Emily had come to stand behind him, Imogen didn’t need to call anyone over. They all moved to stand beside her.
‘I have something here I think you’ll all be interested in hearing.’
Jasper pulled her mini-recorder from his pocket and hit play. She listened, at first in confusion, but then in growing comprehension as Keith’s voice droned on, bragging about offshore bank accounts, complex financial transactions designed to camouflage where money came from, Ponzi schemes and the killing to be made in digital currencies. On the tape, Jasper asked leading questions about how Keith saw his son fitting into this mini-empire of white-collar crime, and Keith gave detailed explanations. She couldn’t believe the man had fallen for it! His enormous ego and inflated sense of his own power—his stubborn belief that he could still cow and manipulate Jasper—was his undoing.
‘You recorded me?’ Keith leapt to his feet, ejected the tape and ground it beneath his heel on the tiles, before shredding the roll of plastic film that had recorded his damning words. He bared his teeth, his breath noisy in the silence. ‘You’re going to pay for this.’
Jasper didn’t appear the least bit perturbed by Keith’s actions so she chose not to be either.
‘You were so confident you could get me onside. And so ridiculously sure that you were safe telling me everything because there was no one else to bear witness—your word against mine. And as you’d already discredited my character back in Australia, who’d believe an embittered son over a respected politician, right?’
Keith gave an ugly laugh and held up the shredded tape. ‘And without this, it’s still your word against mine.’
‘The tape you’re holding is a copy. After I put you to bed last night, I spent the rest of the evening digitising the contents of the tape and sending the electronic file through to the Australian Federal Police. The original is in my safe.’
Keith’s face turned purple and then grey.
‘As we speak, your house in Sydney is being searched. I’ve spoken to Mother and told her what’s happening, and she’s decided to throw her lot in with me rather than take any more abuse from you.’
‘She wouldn’t dare! I’ll—’
‘You’ll do nothing, because more likely than not you’ll be banged up in a jail cell next door to Aaron. You’re in no position to do anything.’
‘The ungrateful—’
‘When you hit someone enough they’ll eventually bite back.’
Imogen watched the scene play out in front of her and wanted to cheer...and throw up...and hug Jasper, Emily and George...and the Australian Federal Police.
‘You’re now a person of interest and a warrant has been issued for your arrest. Police officers will be here in—’ he glanced at his watch ‘—an hour or two, I suspect. So you can wait for them, or you can take your chances evading them on the mainland and leave on the boat that’s just arrived. Up to you.’
The older man slammed to his feet. ‘I’ll make you pay for this. All of you.’
He raced upstairs—presumably to pack. ‘Don’t let him out of your sight,’ Jasper said to Eduardo.
* * *
Less than thirty minutes later, the boat pulled away from the dock with Keith Coleman on board.
‘Why did you let him go?’ Emily almost wailed as she stared after the departing vessel.
‘I didn’t let him go, Em. Two of the local policía are on board, as he’ll find out soon enough. They’ll hold him until someone more senior arrives to deal with him. I just wanted to prevent any further unpleasantness happening on my island.’
They returned to the house, and Jasper explained how his plan had formed and how he’d executed it. While Keith hadn’t been so unguarded as to give up the names of his associates, he’d given enough information that the police were sure they’d be able to make further arrests in the near future.
Emily laughed and cried.
Imogen let herself out of the house and made her way along the beach, keeping to the shadows of the palm trees. She should be feeling exultant—and a part of her was. But it also felt as if a line had just been drawn in the sand. It brought home to her the fact that she’d be leaving in four days and would never see Jasper again.
She scrambled up the steep track of the headland at the end of Jasper’s beach. Ever since arriving she’d been meaning to climb it. No time like the present.
The Maid, the Millionaire and the Baby Page 16