Business Arrangement Bride

‘What makes you think that I’d want to be involved in your pathetic strategies?’ she went on in a scathing tone. ‘I can think of better goals to work towards than seeing some poor woman trapped in a loveless marriage with someone so emotionally stunted! Frankly, the whole idea is offensive.’

A muscle was jumping furiously in Tyler’s jaw and there was a dangerously white look around his mouth. It was some satisfaction to know that he was as angry as she was.

‘I may be emotionally stunted, but I don’t need any lessons from you about business,’ he retorted. ‘I’ve got an extremely successful company,’ he said, pointing a finger at his chest, and then at her for emphasis. ‘You’ve got a piddling recruitment agency with no clients. Which of us do you think understands business better?’

He shook his head. ‘I would moderate your ambitions, if I were you, Ms Thomas. You’ll never get your agency off the ground if you’re going to get all emotional and upset about every opportunity that comes your way.’

‘I’ll take my chance,’ said Mary with a withering look. ‘You’re not the only employer in York, and if I’m going to be in business I’d rather deal with people who don’t resort to blackmail as a negotiating technique!’

She turned to leave, wishing the floor didn’t prevent her stalking off in her heels. ‘Now, if you’ll excuse me,’ she said, ‘I’ve wasted enough time tonight. My feet are killing me and I’m going home.’

‘How’s she been?’ Mary tiptoed over to the cot and rested a protective hand on her baby daughter’s small body, reassuring herself that she was still warm and breathing. She knew it was foolish, but she had to do it every time she went out, had to see Bea and touch her to reassure herself that she was all right.

She had asked her mother if she would ever get over the terror at the awesome responsibility of having this tiny, perfect, miraculous baby to look after, and her mother had laughed. ‘Of course you will,’ she had said. ‘When you die.’

‘She’s been fine,’ Virginia Travers said quietly from the doorway. ‘Not a peep out of her.’

Reluctantly, Mary left her sleeping daughter and hobbled downstairs, collapsing on to the sofa at last with a gusty sigh. ‘Thanks for looking after her, Mum,’ she said as she rubbed her poor feet.

‘It was no trouble,’ Virginia said, as she always did, which always made Mary feel even guiltier. ‘How did the reception go?’

Mary made a face. ‘Not good,’ she admitted. Disastrous might have been a more accurate reply, but she wanted to sound positive for her mother, who had enough to worry about at the moment.

Absently, she rubbed her arm where Tyler had grabbed her to stop her falling. It felt as if his fingers were imprinted on her flesh and it was almost a surprise to see that there were no marks there at all.

‘It was a waste of time, really,’ she told her mother.

‘Oh, dear.’ Virginia’s face fell. ‘It sounded such a good opportunity to make contacts too. There’s no chance of a contract with Watts Holdings?’

Mary thought about Tyler’s expression as she’d walked off. ‘Er, no,’ she said. ‘I don’t think that’s at all likely.’

‘Mary, what are you going to do?’

Her mother sounded really worried and Mary felt guilty about having blown her one chance to make an impression on Tyler Watts. At least, she had probably made an impression, but it wasn’t the right one.

‘Don’t worry, Mum, something will come up,’ she said, forcing herself to sound positive. ‘There are still one or two companies I haven’t approached yet, and I’ve placed a few temporary staff.’

All of whose contracts were up at the end of the next week.

Deciding to keep that little fact to herself, Mary found a smile of reassurance that she hoped would fool her mother, but when she looked closer she saw that Virginia was plucking nervously at the arm of the chair and avoiding her eye.

Mary straightened, suddenly alert. ‘Mum?’

‘Bill rang this evening,’ Virginia told her a little tremulously. ‘He wants to come home.’

‘Oh, Mum…’ Mary went over to sit on the arm of the chair and put her arm around her mother’s shoulders.

Virginia had been distraught when Bill had suddenly announced that he was leaving earlier that year. His decision had coincided with Mary’s unexpected pregnancy, and coming back to York to have the baby had seemed the obvious solution.

Mary had needed somewhere to live and Virginia had needed the company, and in many ways it had worked as planned. Thirty-five was really too old to be living with your mother, and the house was too small for the three of them, but they had been rubbing along all right. Mary had even begun to think that her mother might be ready to move on. She had served Bill with divorce papers only the week before.

‘What did you say?’ she asked Virginia gently.

‘I said I’d meet him tomorrow and we’d talk about it.’

Mary heard the wobble in her mother’s voice and hugged her tight. ‘You want him back, don’t you?’ she said, and Virginia’s eyes filled with tears as she nodded.

‘I know I ought to hate him after he hurt me like that, but I just miss him so much,’ she confessed.

‘Well, you need to talk about what happened, but you’re still married,’ Mary pointed out. ‘If you decide you want him back and he wants to come back, there’s no reason you shouldn’t just get on with being married again.’

‘He can’t come back yet,’ said Virginia, still a bit tearfully. ‘There isn’t any room for him now.’

‘Bea and I will move out. It’s time we were doing that anyway, and you certainly can’t sort things out with us around.’

‘But you can’t afford your own place,’ her mother objected.

‘I’ll work something out,’ said Mary confidently, giving her mother’s shoulders a final squeeze and getting to her feet. ‘Don’t worry about us, Mum. You concentrate on sorting out things with Bill and I’ll find somewhere to live.’

But where? Mary asked herself wearily as she started the long climb up the stairs to her office the next morning.

She liked her attic office in the city centre. Dating from the seventeenth century, the building had higgledy-piggledy rooms, sloping floors and dangerously low beams. It was charming but there were times, like now, when she had Bea on her hip and two bags to carry, that she wished for a few more modern amenities. Like a lift, for instance.

Plodding upwards, Mary made it to the first landing and hoisted Bea higher on to her hip as she pondered her accommodation problem. Her mother was happy for the first time in months, and if she and Bill had some space and some time on their own, Mary was sure that they could work things out.

If only Alan would release her money from the house, there wouldn’t be a problem. As it was, Mary was beginning to wonder if she would ever get her money back. She had put the savings that she had into renting this office and getting the agency off the ground, but the only way that she had been able to afford that was living with her mother. She couldn’t borrow while Alan was being so obstructive, and her income from the agency was sketchy, to say the least.

She had thought it was such a good idea to set up her own business when she moved back to York. It had seemed her best hope of generating an income while still giving her the flexibility to look after Bea herself, but perhaps she would have to think about applying for a job after all.

That wouldn’t solve her immediate problems, though. It would take too long for her mother and Bill and, anyway, she would have to find a job that earned enough to cover childcare costs. What she needed right now was some money to put down as a deposit on a flat and cover the first few months rent until she had some proper income from the agency but, short of robbing a bank, Mary couldn’t think where she was going to get it.

Her thoughts were still circling worriedly as she puffed up the last flight of steps and rounded the landing to stop dead when she saw who was waiting outside her office door.

‘Oh,’ she said. ‘It’s you.’

Her heart had lurched violently at the sight of him, leaving her breathless and a little shaken. Tyler Watts was the last person she had expected to see this morning.

He looked as grim as ever and his massive presence was overwhelming on the cramped landing. Mary was suddenly very conscious of the fact that her skirt was creased, her hair unwashed and she hadn’t even had time to put on any lipstick.

She had overslept after a broken night and had fallen into yesterday’s clothes as she hurried to get Bea ready for the day. Normally her mother would look after her, but Virginia was preoccupied with her coming meeting with Bill. Bea wasn’t sleeping well at the moment and Mary would have been exhausted even if she hadn’t had her own worries to keep her awake long after she had got the baby back to sleep.

She had spent half the night replaying that conversation with Tyler and wishing that she hadn’t lost her temper. His attempt at blackmail had been outrageous, of course, but it wasn’t as if he had been trying to force her into white slavery, was it? All he wanted was a bit of coaching.

Would a few tips on how to make a relationship work have been so hard to do? Mary asked herself. It was only what she would discuss over a bottle of wine with her girlfriends, after all. They were all relationship experts now. And, in return, she could have had an introduction to Steven Halliday and a chance at a contract that would save her agency.

But no, she had had to get all righteous and uppity because he unnerved her. The way he was unnerving her now.

‘What are you doing here?’ she demanded rudely.

Tyler was looking from her to Bea. ‘You’ve got a baby.’

‘My, he’s a quick one.’ Bea got very heavy after three flights of stairs and Mary shifted her to her other hip. ‘We can’t fool him, can we, Bea?’

‘Is she yours?’

‘She is, and before you ask, no, her father’s not around.’

Mary pulled her bag round and fished one-handedly for the key. Having already accused him of being a bully, a blackmailer and being emotionally stunted, it seemed a bit late to try sucking up to him, and she was too tired and fed up with her whole situation to make an effort any more.

‘What do you want?’

‘To see you,’ he said and then looked at his watch. It was half past nine. ‘Do you always start work this late?’ he asked disapprovingly. In Tyler’s world, everyone was at their desks at eight o’clock on the dot, and he was probably at his even earlier.

‘No, not always,’ said Mary, still searching for the key. ‘It’s been one of those mornings.’

Where was that key? She sucked in her breath with frustration. Of course, she hadn’t had time to transfer the contents to a different bag so she was still carrying the one that had broken so inopportunely last night, and the muddle at the bottom was even worse than usual. She had managed to knot the broken strap together, but it hardly made for a professional image.

Still, it was too late for that.

This was hopeless, thought Mary, rummaging fruitlessly. She glanced at Tyler, still waiting for her to open the door. Her unwelcoming greeting didn’t seem to have put him off, but then she guessed he was a man who didn’t go until he had said what he was going to say.

‘Look, would you mind holding her a moment?’ she said, handing Bea over to him before he had a chance to answer. ‘I’ll just find my key.’

Appalled, Tyler found himself holding the baby, his arms extended stiffly so that she dangled from his hands. He stared at her nervously and the baby stared back with round eyes that were exactly the same grey as her mother’s.

‘Ah…here it is.’ Mary produced the key from the depths of her bag and inserted it in the lock. She opened the door on to a room that was surprisingly light as the autumn sunshine poured through the two windows set into the sloping roof, and she waved a hand with a trace of sarcasm. ‘Come into my luxury penthouse,’ she said.

Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.