ТОП просматриваемых книг сайта:
.
Читать онлайн.
Bryce laughed.
His father looked askance at her. ‘You have a very smart tongue.’
‘Smart brain, too,’ Bryce chimed in. ‘What would you like to drink, Dad?’
‘I’ve got to stick to juice.’
‘Sunny?’
‘I’ll have juice, too, thanks, Bryce.’
‘I had Rosita bring out a bottle of Krug champagne,’ his father pointed out.
‘Lovely,’ Sunny warmly approved, ‘but not on an empty stomach.’
He pulled out a chair from the table and waved her to it. ‘Then sit down and eat,’ he commanded, put out at not having everything go his way.
Sunny grinned at him. ‘Thank you.’
He shook a finger at her. ‘You…are a very provocative young woman.’
‘You mean…not a yes-woman?’ Sunny tilted at him before reaching for a corn chip and the avocado dip. ‘Having a mind of my own has always worked better for me, Mr. Templar. I see no reason to give it up just because I married your son.’
She coated the chip with dip and popped it in her mouth, feeling highly invigorated for having stood up for herself.
‘Here’s your juice, Sunny.’ Bryce set a filled glass in front of her.
‘What about mine?’ his father growled. ‘I’m the invalid around here.’
‘I thought you were fighting fit, Dad.’
‘Two against one is not a fair fight.’
‘You asked for it. Now if you’ll stop assuming Sunny is a walkover, we could have a really pleasant lunch together.’
‘Just testing her out.’ He settled himself on the chair at the head of the table, gesticulating at Bryce. ‘You bring a stranger into the family. How am I supposed to know her mettle if I don’t test her out?’
‘You could try trusting my judgment,’ came the ready advice as Bryce set a glass of juice in front of his father.
‘Huh! Men can get blinded by a woman’s beauty.’
Bryce raised an eyebrow at Sunny. ‘Am I blind?’
She grinned at him, having just tried the corn dip and found it as delicious as the avocado one. ‘No. Just besotted. But that’s okay because I’m besotted, too.’
Will Templar barked with laughter, vastly amused by the exchange. ‘Oh, that’s good! Very good! If you’re not careful, Bryce, she’ll be giving you the rounds of the kitchen.’
‘A novel thought,’ he retorted, pulling out the chair at the foot of the table and relaxing onto it.
‘Novelty wears off,’ came the sardonic reply. ‘She might be compliant now, but…’
‘You know, Mr. Templar,’ Sunny cut in sweetly. ‘Where I come from, it’s rude to talk over a person as though she’s not there.’
His silvery grey eyes narrowed on her. ‘No respect for authority. I’ve heard that about Australians.’
‘Then you’ve heard wrong. We do respect an authority who shows us respect.’
‘Just what position do you hold in our company, young woman?’
‘I do sales presentations. And I work hard at commanding respect, Mr. Templar. I do not lie down and let people steamroll over me.’
‘But you’re married to Bryce now,’ he said sharply. ‘Do you expect to keep on working?’
‘Do you have a problem with that, Mr. Templar?’
‘What about children? Do you figure on having any?’
She flashed a look at Bryce who smiled back at her, confident of her reply and perfectly content to let the conversation run without his interference. His eyes said she was doing fine with his father.
‘Yes, we do,’ she said, smiling her own pleasure in the prospect of having a family with Bryce.
‘Do you intend on working then?’
‘Being a mother will have priority, but it does take nine months to make a baby, Mr. Templar. Do you think I should twiddle my thumbs until one arrives?’
He frowned. ‘Got to take care of yourself during pregnancy,’ he said bruskly. ‘My first wife—Bryce’s mother—had a hard time of it. Kidney problems. Shouldn’t have had a child at all. Died when Bryce was only a toddler.’
The brusk tone carried shades of old pain, instantly cooling Sunny’s fighting instincts and stirring her sympathy. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said softly. ‘I really want to have a baby, so you can be sure I’ll take every care when I do fall pregnant, Mr. Templar.’
‘Yes, well, no time to waste,’ he said gruffly. ‘Bryce isn’t getting any younger. He’s thirty-four, you know. Should have started a family years ago.’
‘A bit difficult when I only met Sunny this week,’ Bryce drawled, his eyes mocking his father’s contention. ‘And you can hardly accuse me of wasting time once I met the right woman.’
His gaze shifted to Sunny and she basked in the warmth of it, feeling more and more that she truly was right for him, and he was right for her. A hasty marriage it might be, but she certainly didn’t repent her decision…yet.
‘Got an answer for everything,’ Will Templar grumbled. ‘Sunny, you’re hogging those dips. While I’m happy to see you have a healthy appetite, I like them, too.’
‘Would you like me to spread some on the chips for you?’ Sunny immediately offered.
‘I can help myself if you’ll kindly pass them up.’
‘Not thinking of yourself as an invalid anymore?’ Bryce archly commented as Sunny obliged.
‘I can handle a bit of finger food.’ He glowered at Bryce. ‘I see you’re feeling on top of things, just because you got married.’
‘I generally am on top of things, Dad. I work at it. Which is why you made me CEO, remember?’
‘Well, don’t be getting too cocky about it…counting chickens before they hatch. Damian called me yesterday.’
‘Nice for you that he keeps in touch.’ Bryce slanted a wry smile at Sunny. ‘Damian is my half-brother. Dad’s son by his third wife.’
‘A very caring son, too,’ Will Templar declared, pausing to give the statement weight, and eyeing Bryce with a very definite glint of challenge. ‘Told me his wife’s pregnant.’
Bryce nodded affably. ‘I must call and congratulate them.’
‘Giving me a grandchild before you do.’
Sunny sensed the threat behind the words and instantly felt uneasy. Was Will Templar playing one son off against another, with the position of CEO as the prize? If so, there was a factor in his marriage decision that Bryce hadn’t told her about. She looked sharply at him but discerned no rise of tension in his demeanour.
He smiled, maintaining an affable front. ‘I’m glad you’ll be getting in some practice as a grandfather before Sunny and I have a child. In fact, maybe we should wait a while, simply enjoy having each other before Sunny gets pregnant. I believe a baby needs to be welcomed and loved for itself…’ His lips were still curved into a smile but his eyes hardened to green flint as he softly added, ‘…not used as a pawn.’
Suddenly the air between father and son was so thick with threat and counter-threat, it could have been cut with a knife.
Sunny knew intuitively Bryce would not back off. And she didn’t want him to. What he’d