‘Not at all. I’ve just been very busy.’
‘Yes, I did hear you’d taken over from your father for a while.’
Hugh gritted his teeth. Why he was doing this, he had no idea. He didn’t want to go out with Kandi. But neither did he want to stay home, alone.
‘I was wondering if you’d like to go somewhere tonight.’
‘Tonight? Oh! Well, I did have a date but no worries,’ she rushed on. ‘I can cancel it.’
Hugh glanced at his watch. It was getting on for seven. A bit late to cancel a date.
But it was never too late when you had the chance of going out with a billionaire, he thought ruefully. When big money called, girls like Kandi dropped everything and came running.
Hugh couldn’t imagine Kathryn ever doing anything like that. That was what he admired so much about her—her lack of greed, plus the strength of her character. She had courage, yet underneath she was touchingly fragile and sweet.
Russ had said to him to find out what he really wanted in life. Well, what he really wanted, Hugh realised with a rush of fierce resolve, was Kathryn. He knew that now. Knew it as surely as he knew he didn’t want to be with a girl like Kandi ever again!
‘Don’t cancel your date for me,’ he told her firmly.
‘Oh, but—’
‘No, no. I wouldn’t want to be responsible for disappointing another man. Have fun,’ he said, and hung up.
Five minutes later he was in his car, speeding towards Ashfield.
She wasn’t there. Hugh knew where she’d gone even before a nosey neighbour informed him that Kathryn had been home earlier, but had left some time back ‘in a snazzy new white car’.
A disappointed Hugh didn’t have to be Einstein to know where she’d gone. That she’d fled to Pearl Beach, however, did have its positive side. Kathryn went there for solace, which meant she needed solace. Why? Hopefully because she’d fallen in love with him. Or at least thought she had.
Either way, it gave him hope.
Hugh considered ringing her mobile but decided against it.
For what would he say to her? I’ve discovered that I really love you and I want you back.
She might not come. Even if she thought she’d fallen in love with him, she might not want to stay married to him. He was, in her words, an arrogant, lazy, spoiled, selfish playboy with nothing to offer her except his money and a few well-practised skills in the bedroom department.
Not enough.
He needed more.
Russ had been so right. For what he needed was a plan.
Hugh smiled at this last thought. Having a plan and executing it should appeal to Kathryn.
Of course, it couldn’t be too long a plan. He didn’t trust her not to start putting her own plans into action and find some guy who would love her and marry her and give her children.
Just the thought of her marrying some other guy almost killed him. Still, she couldn’t really do that yet. After all, she was still married to him, and had to stay married till she was thirty.
That was a month away.
So he had a month. A month to provide proof that he was a man of substance, someone she could respect and rely on. Already, ideas were tumbling into his mind. Suddenly, he felt re-energised. He could hardly wait for tomorrow to come to start putting his plan into action.
No, he wouldn’t wait till then. Russ could help him with a couple of his ideas straight away.
He quickly found Russ’s number in the menu of his mobile and rang it.
‘Russell McClain,’ came his friend’s businesslike answer.
‘Russ. It’s Hugh. Is that dinner invitation still open?’
‘Of course.’
‘I’ll be right over.’
CHAPTER NINETEEN
KATHRYN emerged from the gently waving water after a half-hour’s solid swim, sat down on her towel with a sigh and stared blankly out to sea.
She went swimming every day these days, twice a day, the exercise achieving much more than the gym ever had. The ancient cheval mirror in Val’s bedroom showed her she looked good, her body toned, her skin clear and lightly tanned. And whilst, generally speaking, she was happy with her life here at Pearl Beach, this Wednesday morning she was having a real struggle with low spirits. It was, after all, her thirtieth birthday and she had no one to celebrate it with.
Her neighbours were probably very nice people, but old habits died hard, and Kathryn hadn’t attempted anything more so far than a wave and a smile. She wasn’t one of those people who made friends easily. She spent her spare time swimming, walking, reading, watching TV and answering job ads in the local papers.