An Exception to His Rule(47)

                But to discover at the same time why Damien Wyatt was so opposed to the concept of love ever after and the institution of marriage... A story that was painful even to think about.

                She shivered suddenly and forced her mind away. And she asked herself if the wisest course of action for her peace of mind, if nothing else, was to go away from Heathcote as soon as she’d finished the first job.

                But Brett! Brett—his name hammered in her mind. The more she could do for him, the more she could do to get him mobile again, the better and the sooner this nightmare would be over, for him as well as for her.

                She held her peace for another couple of minutes until she had a steaming cup of Hawaiian coffee in front of her.

                ‘I could do them,’ she said slowly. ‘The paintings. It would be one way to make sure Brett can stay on until his treatment is finished.’

                ‘Good.’ He said it briskly and in a way that gave her to understand it was a business deal between them and nothing more. And, before he could say any more, his phone rang.

                ‘Excuse me, I’ll take this downstairs; it’s South Africa. Thank you for dinner, by the way.’

                Harriet nodded and, moments later, she and Tottie were left alone.

                ‘All sorted, Tottie.’ Harriet dried sudden, ridiculous tears with her fingers. ‘Dealt with, packed, labelled and filed away, that’s me.’

                She hugged Tottie then sat with her head in her hands for a while before she got up and resolutely put her kitchen to bed.

                She was not to know that whilst Damien Wyatt might have sorted her out and locked her out of his life for the most part, his business life was about to become another matter. His PA, a man who’d worked closely with him for ten years, resigned out of the blue in order to train for his lifelong ambition—to climb Mount Everest.

                If this wasn’t trying enough, his South African trip was cancelled and the ramifications to his business empire as the lucrative business deal involved hung in the breeze were enough to make him extremely tense.





                                      CHAPTER SIX

                ‘TENSE, BLOODY-MINDED and all-round impossible,’ Charlie said to Harriet one evening. ‘That’s Damien at the moment. It’s like living under a thundercloud. I tell you what, I really feel for the poor sods he’s interviewing for his PA position. I wonder if they have any idea what he might drive them to? I mean to say, it’s got to be a pretty bizarre ambition, climbing Mount Everest.’

                They were sharing what would have otherwise been a lonesome meal—Isabel was out and so was Damien.

                Harriet had made hamburgers and chips, much to Charlie’s approval.

                Harriet had to laugh. ‘I feel really guilty, though,’ she said as she passed the ketchup to Charlie.

                ‘You!’ He looked surprised.

                ‘I...’ She hesitated. ‘It was because of me that he didn’t go to Perth and on to South Africa. I can’t help wondering if that...if that—’ she gestured widely and shrugged ‘—caused all this.’

                Charlie frowned. ‘Why “because of you” didn’t he go?’

                ‘Well, he missed his flight to Perth because he came back to explain something.’ Harriet bit her lip and berated herself for ever mentioning the matter but Charlie took issue with this.