LITMIR.BIZ

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Surely there could be no objection to her taking a weekend off to go to her sister’s wedding?

      It just so happens I don’t want to do either, she thought miserably. Yes, I like Finn, as much as I know him—how well do I know him?

      Not a lot, really, she conceded.

      Because just as much as she’d kept certain barriers up, kept things professional between them, she’d been helped by the fact that he’d had his own barriers.

      Yes, they’d talked golf, they’d talked about all sorts of things in the hours she’d worked with him and encouraged him, but it had all been surface stuff. She had not run into this kind of brick wall side of him. This determination to get his own way.

      Perhaps I should have guessed it, though, she reflected with a grimace. His progress has been little short of amazing. Maybe I should have realized what kind of personality lay behind that tremendous will-power?

      As for her sister’s wedding, surely she’d killed all hope stone-dead that it was going to blow over and James would come back to her?

      She wouldn’t have him back, anyway.

      But—she closed her eyes and put her knuckles to her mouth—had her mother and her sister no conception of what it would be like to appear at the wedding amongst a lot of people who, no doubt, knew the background? To be the recipient of curious glances, to have to pretend that she didn’t care, she was over it, she wished them happy.

      Do they think it will bring me closure? she wondered. Do they think we are a family—we used to be a really happy family—and that’s paramount? Do they even think I need a catalyst of some kind to help me put it all behind me? Heaven alone knows, they could be right!

      But, on top of all that, and this is really trivial, but it’s still a barb I can’t ignore, do they understand how hard it will be to do while I’m still single and unattached? On the shelf, in other words.

      She rubbed her face and thought with a tinge of black humour—maybe I could hire an escort? But where does one find a truly impressive escort? Otherwise it could be worse than being alone…

      The name that sprang to mind caused her mouth to drop open and her eyes almost to stand out on stalks.

      No, she thought immediately. Oh, no—she even laughed a little and told herself not to be stupid as she knocked the idea stone-cold.

      The next morning, however, when it popped up again, she told herself she’d been press-ganged and goaded enough into making her own terms without even stopping to think how it could backfire on her. And that was the only reason she’d allowed it see the light of day.

      CHAPTER TWO

      ‘COME to a decision, Sienna?’

      They were in Finn’s study at Eastwood. They hadn’t had their session yet—he’d been delayed so Walt had shown her into the study and provided coffee.

      Finn had just put the phone down and he continued, ‘I really need to know today.’ That, and his earlier question, were the first words he’d spoken to her.

      They eyed each other. While she was wearing a track suit and joggers he was more formally dressed in navy trousers and a blue and white pin-striped shirt. He looked every inch a powerful businessman; he didn’t look to be in a good mood.

      ‘Why? What difference does a day or two make?’ Sienna replied. ‘Incidentally—hi! How are you?’

      ‘I’m sorry, that wasn’t very polite,’ he acknowledged. ‘But I have quite a bit on my plate today,’ he added briefly.

      ‘So do I. Obviously not the weight of the McLeod empire, but enough.’

      Those dark blue eyes narrowed on her as Finn McLeod took in the shadows beneath her eyes, indicative of a miserably sleepless night.

      ‘Aren’t you well?’ he asked abruptly. ‘You know, a break on a cattle station could do you the world of good. Or…’ he paused significantly ‘…are you such an all-luxury-dependent city girl, the country terrifies you?’ There was a wealth of derision in his eyes.

      She drew a tumultuous breath, exhaled audibly, then said quite calmly, ‘No, it doesn’t. However, you’re not the only one with an agenda, Finn. I have my own so I’m prepared to bargain with you. I’ll come to Waterford if you’ll agree to be my escort to my sister’s wedding.’

      Her first reaction when she’d finished speaking was, Got you, Finn McLeod!—as his jaw dropped and he stared at her incredulously.

      Her next reaction was—what had she been thinking? What had she done?

      He closed his mouth and said, ‘I think you better explain.’

      She went hot and cold. Colour flooded her cheeks, then left her looking pale and mortified. ‘I—uh—disregard that, Finn, it—sort of came out in the heat of the moment and—’

      ‘No. Tell me, Sienna,’ he ordered.

      She swallowed and wished herself a million miles away.

      ‘Sienna,’ he warned, ‘I won’t let up until you do.’

      She closed her eyes frustratedly, then sighed and told him as clinically as she could. It was only at the end of her explanation that she got emotional.

      She said, ‘Funnily enough, I don’t want to be estranged from my family, I do want Dakota to be happy but the final humiliation—’ sudden tears blurred her eyes ‘—would be to be there amongst them on my own and still, obviously, on the shelf.’

      He hadn’t interrupted once and all he said when she pulled out a hanky and blew her nose was, ‘Dakota?’

      Sienna smiled shakily and explained. ‘As kids we used to thank our lucky stars we weren’t conceived in Timbuktu or Harare. We had a whole alphabet of weird place names we could have ended up with.’

      ‘I see what you mean.’ He looked humorous, then sobered. ‘But why me?’

      ‘When this bizarre thought literally popped into my head,’ she said ruefully, ‘that maybe I should hire an escort, my next thought was that it would have to be someone really impressive otherwise it could even be worse!’ She shrugged. ‘I couldn’t, at that moment, come up with anyone more impressive than you. But I never intended to—’ She stopped.

      ‘So what do you think made you say it?’

      She stared at him and a little flame kindled in her eyes as she forgot about herself and thought about him.

      ‘Finn, you’ve been really high-handed and arrogant about this. You’ve gone to my boss behind my back, he’s been on the phone to me and the net result is that I’ll feel bad if I don’t do this on his account, not yours, but all the same,’ she insisted, ‘so—you’ve even gone to the Augathella Hospital behind my back!’

      He looked amused.

      ‘All right, maybe that’s not so serious—’ she waved an exasperated hand ‘—but you have been extremely manipulative and I got mad but—’

      ‘I’ll come.’

      ‘But—’ Sienna stopped as if shot. ‘Oh, look, I don’t know if that’s a good idea. I mean, it sounded all very well, throwing down my own gauntlet in the heat of the moment, but that’s essentially what it was.’

      ‘Sienna,’ he said dangerously, ‘let’s keep it simple—if you come to Waterford, I’ll go to the wedding with you.’

      ‘But—’

      ‘Sienna,’ he growled.

      ‘All right. Thank you. I mean—’ her shoulders slumped ‘—at least you’ve made my mother’s day.’

      ‘Why?’ she said suddenly about an hour later.

      They

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