The Collector's Edition Volume 1 (7 page)

She probably thought her commitment was purely a safeguard, a fall-back situation for Nina’s daughter should he be killed in an accident or meet some other unforeseen and premature death.

‘We’re here,’ she announced, turning the truck through the gateway to the hospital.

Yes, we’re here, Dan silently echoed, but we have a long, long way to go, Jayne Winter.

A
S THEY
walked through the hospital to Monty’s ward, Jayne was uncomfortably aware that living with Dan was going to be like living on top of a volcano. No matter how much control she exerted on her responses to him, nor how tightly focused she tried to be on getting the job done for Monty, the underlying wounds from their marriage were all too ready to erupt in unpredictable and explosive bursts.

Making decisions in principle was a far cry from implementing them. Jayne tried to assure herself that as time went on, the surges of violent emotion would lessen and she and Dan would reach a truce of mutual respect that would allow some measure of peace for both of them. That sounded fine in principle, too. If only she could block out her intense awareness of him.

Just walking beside him reminded her of how well-matched they were physically. She didn’t have to shorten her stride to keep abreast of him as she did with all the Chinese people working on the project. Dan was half a head taller than her but her legs were virtually the same length as his. Not nearly as powerful, though. Dan’s
thighs…She quickly shook her mind off that treacherous thought.

‘I’d rather you didn’t mention our marriage to Monty,’ she said, recoiling from the idea of her boss speculating about their personal lives, past and present.

‘You expect me to perpetuate your lie?’ Dan mocked.

‘I didn’t precisely lie. I just…’

‘By omission, you did.’

‘What happened in my private past has nothing to do with how I do my job,’ she defended hotly.

‘Calling yourself Miss Winter is a deception on all the men who think you’re single. Including Monty.’

‘For all intents and purposes, I am single,’ Jayne stressed.

Dan gave her a dark, simmering glare. ‘I wouldn’t broadcast that if I were you. I mightn’t rescue you from the clutches of Omar El Talik again.’

‘Oh, for heaven’s sake!’

‘Husbands do have their uses. Which you found out last night when you conveniently used our relationship to convince Lin Zhiyong everything was all right.’

Jayne didn’t have any ready riposte for that.

‘I haven’t lived a lie, Jayne. Why should you feel the need for it?’

‘I wanted to forget,’ she muttered, trapped into telling the truth.

‘You can put that futility in the past,’ he advised with sardonic humour. ‘As Anya’s godmother, you’ll be duty bound to remember both of us.’

Jayne sighed. He was right about it being a futility anyhow. She glanced at the sling bag within which Anya was happily bouncing against his chest. It was attached to a harness that went around Dan’s neck and back, leaving his hands and arms free to do whatever he wanted. Both father and child were clearly accustomed to it and comfortable with it. No wonder their bonding was so close, Jayne thought with a discomforting, little stab of envy.

She wished she could have more to do with bringing up Nina’s daughter. Little Anya was such a lovable child. Chunz was enraptured with her. It was difficult not to be. Jayne hadn’t once heard her cry. As now, she was happy simply to gaze around, taking in everything with lively curiosity or fascinated interest.

Anya’s life with Dan would be full of marvellous sightseeing. Would that keep her happy over the years? Would there come a time when the continuing adventure started to pall, when the shifting from place to place could not be faced anymore?

Possibly not if Anya knew nothing else, but at least she would have a godmother whose door and home was always open to her. Jayne felt good about that now, glad that Dan had suggested it.
Nina’s daughter need never feel alone and abandoned with no one to care for her.

They reached the door to Monty’s ward and Dan paused for Jayne to precede him. She pasted a smile on her face, determined to look on top of everything she should be on top of as Monty’s personal assistant.

He was propped up in bed, looking more his old self. His face was a much better colour now, his eyes keenly alert, flicking from Jayne’s smile to the face of the man following her, his mind for business not in the least impaired.

Prompted by Dan’s absurd suspicion about her relationship with her boss, Jayne re-assessed him in the light of possible lover. Monty could definitely be called ruggedly handsome for a mature man in his fifties. The aging effect of his thick grey hair was minimised by tanned skin and piercing blue eyes. Physically he was on the lean side, but Jayne had thought him very fit, which had made his stroke all the more shocking.

She decided she might find him very attractive if she was fifty herself. He was a widower who frequently referred to experiences that he and his wife had shared. Jayne was positive Monty would never look to the younger generation in seeking the love and companionship he had known with his wife and he was far too wrapped up in his work to consider a wild fling.

‘Well?’ he asked as they lined up beside his bed. He shot a beetling frown at Dan. ‘Are you satisfied?’

‘Your Miss Winter and I have reached a working agreement,’ Dan stated dryly.

Jayne tensed. Was Dan teasing her or did he mean to fall in with her wish to keep their marriage private?

‘Told you!’ Monty gruffed. ‘Do you think I’d bring her on a job like this if she hadn’t proved her worth? Never made a mistake in judging character yet. Picked you, didn’t I?’

Jayne was mortified. Because of her, Dan might have let Monty down.
She
had been the stumbling block to a ready agreement between the two men. She silently vowed to live up to Monty’s faith in her, no matter how difficult Dan made that task.

‘Actually, I picked you, Monty,’ Dan drawled. ‘You were the best.’

Monty gave a bark of laughter. ‘Until you improved on my techniques.’ His blue eyes twinkled at Jayne. ‘He wasn’t quite so arrogant when he came to me, straight out of university with the ink still wet on his degrees. “I want to learn from you,” he said.’ Monty shook his head in wry reminiscence. ‘Fastest darned learner I ever had.’

Jayne was stunned at hearing that Dan had once worked for Monty, virtually his professional protégé! If she’d known that, she would never have applied for the position she had,
risking the possibility of being in the middle of communication between the two men. It had seemed quite safe to work for a competitor in the same field as Dan. Competitors rarely worked in the same place at the same time.

Monty grinned at her. ‘Bit of a surprise, Dan turning up with a baby. He wasn’t sure how you’d handle it, Jayne. I told him you could handle anything.’

‘Thank you,’ she said thinly, inwardly railing at the coincidence that had involved her with Dan once more.

So far he hadn’t revealed their marriage to Monty. Pride probably had more to do with it than her appeal. It hardly made Dan look good to lay claim to a relationship she had rejected. She hoped he would let sleeping dogs lie.

‘Well, now that this is settled, I have another proposition to put to you, Dan,’ Monty said with an abrupt return to serious business.

‘Should I leave the two of you alone?’ Jayne quickly interposed.

‘No. It’ll affect you, Jayne. You might as well know what’s in the wind.’

She didn’t like the sound of that, although it was only to be expected that Monty would have to re-think the immediate future. Even though there were good signs for a recovery from his stroke, it would take time.

‘As you know, arrangements have been made for me to fly home. I’ll be in rehabilitation
therapy for quite a while. Which leaves Castle Construction without a working head.’ He gave Jayne a rueful smile. ‘I know you’d see that any orders I gave were carried out, and you’d keep a meticulous check on everything, but you can’t take my place, Jayne.’

‘No one could,’ she said, impulsively reaching out to touch his arm in a gesture of respect and affection.

‘Not true.’ His gaze shifted to Dan. ‘This stroke is a warning for me to slow down. Take life a lot easier. My daughters and their husbands wouldn’t have a clue how to carry on what I’ve built up, Dan, and it’ll crumble without me.’

‘Monty, if you’re proposing what I think you’re proposing, I’m not for hire,’ Dan warned. ‘This China project is a one-off thing. Okay?’

Jayne could have told Monty that. Apart from being very much his own man, no one was ever going to tie Dan down to one place.

‘I don’t have a son,’ Monty went on. ‘If I could have chosen one, it would be you, Dan.’

‘Well, that’s mighty complimentary, and I appreciate the regard it implies, but…’

‘I’m offering you a partnership, Dan, and all you have to bring into it is your expertise.’

Jayne’s breath caught in her throat. The company assets alone ran into millions. The huge earth-moving equipment, the yards, the construction side of the business…

‘I’m not a desk jockey, Monty.’

Jayne shook her head. Stupid to think he might be influenced by a massive increase in worldly goods. Nothing was going to divert Dan from his chosen path. Not love, nor money, nor even a baby. Didn’t she know that?

‘You can hire those,’ Monty said with a dismissive wave of his good hand. ‘It’s the head behind the hiring that I want. Damn it, Dan! I don’t want to see my life’s work sold off or going down the drain. You’ve got the right feel for the jobs that should be taken. You don’t blunder. Everything you’ve done is cost-effective and profitable. Do you think I haven’t watched your one-man career?’

‘Monty, you haven’t thought this through,’ Dan stated matter-of-factly. ‘Your family won’t like it, giving away half of the company.’

‘It’s mine to give,’ Monty argued, his face setting into belligerent lines.

‘I understand that the stroke has shaken you up, but you might recover much faster than you anticipate,’ Dan pointed out. ‘This offer is premature, Monty.’

And futile, Jayne thought, impatient with Dan’s careful reasoning. Postponing the issue was tantamount to encouraging Monty to think about it further. It was unfair of Dan to give the slightest thread of hope when he knew he was never going to accept. Jayne sliced him a reproving look. He caught it and raised his eyebrows.

‘You have a problem, Miss Winter?’

Trust Dan to put her on the spot! ‘It seems to me that if the answer is no, the answer is no,’ she stated unequivocally.

‘How black and white you are, Miss Winter!’ he said icily.

‘Jayne, this isn’t your business,’ Monty warned.

‘It is if she doesn’t like the idea of me becoming her boss,’ Dan corrected him. ‘Do you have a problem with that, Miss Winter?’

‘No. None whatsoever. I can work for any boss,’ she replied with all the confidence of knowing Dan would not stay around to be her boss for long.

‘You’d keep on in your position if it meant assisting me instead of Monty?’ Dan persisted.

‘Why shouldn’t she?’ Monty asked.

‘I really don’t see that happening beyond this job in China, Mr. Drayton,’ Jayne said bluntly, feeling that this kind of game-playing was out of order and out of taste. ‘Australia doesn’t fit between M and Z.’

‘Neither does China,’ he reminded her, his eyes narrowing on the sparks of resentment blazing from hers.

‘What are you talking about…M and Z?’ Monty demanded irritably.

‘Mozambique and Zimbabwe,’ Dan answered,
turning a smile to Monty. ‘A travel plan I had before you called me here.’

‘You’ll have your choice of where you want to go if you take the partnership. It’s up to you how much travelling you do or don’t do. Reputation has to be maintained,’ Monty pointed out.

‘Monty, you’re not yet finished,’ Dan said kindly. ‘Don’t make decisions now.’

At last a bit of good advice, Jayne thought, although Dan should, in all integrity, put the matter beyond question.

‘I won’t change my mind, Dan. Give it your serious consideration. I mean it.’

Jayne gave Dan another hard, challenging look. Finish it! she mentally commanded him. Don’t hold out false hope!

He appeared to be weighing the proposition. He raised a sardonic eyebrow at her, his eyes flashing with a derisive glitter at her obvious concern. However, when he addressed Monty again it was with deference and deadly seriousness.

‘It’s a handsome proposition, Monty, but it would mean a change in life-style for me and Baby Anya.’

Finally the truth!

‘Given that I make the change, like you, I wouldn’t want to lose what I build up,’ he went on with barely a pause. ‘Or see it wasted. To be blunt, Monty, in the event of your death, your family could demand a sell-up and I might not
have the capital to buy them out. As generous as your offer is, I’d need more to tempt me.’

Jayne could hardly believe her ears. Dan was still holding out a carrot.

Monty was urged on. ‘Spell it out, Dan.’

‘Even while you’re still alive and kicking, Monty, I’d want control. I’m not in the habit of answering to anyone. What I decide is what’s done. If you want me to head the company, I need to have the power to head it.’

‘Fair enough!’ Monty agreed. ‘Put it in hard terms.’

‘Complete ownership of fifty-one percent of the voting shares.’

‘Done!’

Monty held out his hand to shake on the deal. Jayne stared down at it, incredulous that this was actually happening. It couldn’t. Dan wouldn’t take that hand. If he did…

She waited in painful suspense, feeling as though she was poised on the rim of a volcano. She’d want to throw herself in if Dan accepted. It would mean she had misjudged him, ruined both their lives on a terribly mistaken notion that he would never be happy tied to one place for the rest of his life. Her perception of him would be blown to smithereens.

But then, he was an explosives expert.

Yet he could not have foreseen this situation, nor been prepared for it.

His hand did not reach out to clasp Monty’s.

‘No. You think about it, Monty,’ he said softly, caringly. ‘It’s a big step to take and I don’t want to be accused of taking advantage of you in a weak moment. I’ll fly on to Australia when we’ve finished up here. We’ll talk again then.’

The painful activity in Jayne’s mind flattened out and the cramp in her heart eased. Dan was humouring Monty, wanting to remove any burden of worry about the future from the older man’s mind until the present health crisis passed. He had no intention of actually settling.