For His Eyes Only(44)

                ‘Darius...’ he said, in what he no doubt thought was a soothing voice. ‘The house is empty and this is the most economic...’

                ‘It’s intrusive. The tenants have a right to privacy.’

                ‘I’m sure if you asked them they would tell you that there have been problems with trespassers, poachers. The trout stream is a selling point and the insurance company...’

                ‘There’s a public footpath across the estate and those poachers are not just keeping down the rabbit population, they’re local people and they do a better job of keeping an eye on the place than any security firm. No arguments. I own this estate and I want the cameras gone. Today.’

                He ended the call without waiting to hear more and turned to the man. ‘You heard me. You’re fired.’





                                      SIX

                ‘Are you okay?’

                ‘There’s nothing wrong with me,’ Natasha said as Darius climbed in beside her. ‘You could do with a few lessons in reality, though.’

                ‘What?’ About to reach for the ignition, he sat back, dragged his fingers through his hair. Far from okay, she was furious. ‘I’m sorry. That was—’

                ‘Don’t apologise to me,’ she snapped. ‘What on earth were you thinking?’

                He glanced at her, aware that he was missing something but not sure what. ‘I was thinking that perhaps you might just be a little bit upset at being seen half-naked by a total stranger,’ he said.

                ‘Really? And how would that be different from you making a bronze of my entirely naked body for the entire world to stare at?’ He wasn’t deceived by the mildness of her tone. She was mad and actually he didn’t blame her. On a stupid scale of one to ten that had to be a nine. She might have been up there with him, reaching for ten, but he’d started it. Clearly some serious grovelling was in order, but she wasn’t done. ‘I am not made of porcelain, Darius; I won’t break if some bloke gets an eyeful of my tits, but that man probably has a wife and family to support.’

                What? He was apologising to her, but apparently her only concern was some lout who’d leered at her breasts.

                ‘How do you suppose his employers will react when they’re told they’ve lost their contract because someone—a man who was just doing his job keeping Hadley Chase safe from intruders—hacked off the high and mighty Darius Hadley?’

                High and mighty?

                ‘I’m not—’

                ‘No? You should have heard yourself. “This is my land!” Really? Because I got the strong impression that you don’t give a tuppenny damn about the place.’

                ‘I give a damn,’ he said.

                ‘About selling it as quickly as possible with the least possible inconvenience to yourself.’

                ‘No...’

                ‘When was the last time you actually set foot on the place?’

                ‘You have no idea—’

                ‘So tell me.’

                Tell her? What? That his father had sold him? Share the shrivelling knowledge that his value had been counted in sterling. That his grandfather had forced his own son to choose between the woman he loved beyond reason and his infant son.