Ran From Him Read Free Page B

the sleeves rolled to the elbows. It intensified the blue of his eyes. “The cupboards are bare, so I thought we’d go out for breakfast.”
    “Fair enough.” She heard the note of belligerence in her voice and shrugged. So be it. If he thought a public setting would stop her having her say, he was in for a rude surprise.
    It was a shame, though, to let animosity spoil the pleasant short walk down one of the city’s quiet side streets. Her skin prickled with charged emotions: anger, regret, confusion. In other circumstances, she’d have slowed her steps to enjoy the warmth of the sun and to peer in the windows of a jewellery store and bookshop. Somehow in the six years she’d been gone, they city had changed amazingly.
    Or perhaps she was seeing it now through adult eyes?
    Daniel lead the way to a corner cafe with a view of the river. He ordered bacon and eggs, and Cate chose French toast which arrived swimming in maple syrup.
    “Cholesterol heaven,” he approved. “You look like you need feeding up.”
    “Don’t worry about me.”
    “Oh, but I do. I want to know what is going on in that scheming mind of yours. When Amie told me she was going to marry your brother, Rob, I knew you wouldn’t be happy to leave them alone.”
    “Me leave them alone!” She spluttered. “Your sister needs your permission to breathe.”
    His face flushed, lines deepening around his mouth. “I care about Amie.”
    “And I care about Rob.”
    “Rubbish. You just can’t bear the thought of my family and yours being united.”
    “United? Businesses are united. People marry. But you wouldn’t know about love without strings. You’re just like Dad. Everything’s big business to you. Does Amie know she’s being sacrificed on the altar of money and ambition?”
    “Now, listen.” He sucked in a harsh breath, shook his head. “I was wrong last night. You haven’t changed at all. I remember you when you were eighteen. A spoilt rich kid who decided she wanted to play house, and your daddy was prepared to buy you a husband. Why did you pick me? Because I’d been kind to my young sister’s friend? Or had I the glamour of an older man?” His smile was savage.
    She opened her mouth to answer, but he talked over her.
    “And I needed your father’s money to save the family company, to ensure my mum and Amie’s security, and so I prostituted myself by agreeing to your father’s proposal: the loan I desperately needed to keep the company afloat, if I married you. And then, you jeopardised everything by running away. Did you get cold feet? Did the fantasy become too real, a real man too much for you?”
    “Stop it.” Her voice shook with passion and the pain of memory. “You don’t understand anything. You never did.”
    They both ignored their breakfasts. She didn’t know about Daniel, but if she tried to eat now, she’d be sick. Her stomach was in knots.
    “You’ve twisted it all. Maybe that’s how you justify your behaviour to yourself.”
    “Cate.” Warning and threat, just by saying her name.
    She drew a steadying breath, telling herself she wasn’t intimidated. She was a journalist. She knew how to tell a story, and unlike Daniel, she got her facts right. Well, let him hear the truth. She’d tell him she knew just what he was. He certainly wasn’t the injured innocent he claimed to be.
    “When I was twelve, Mum died.” She saw Daniel’s jolt. Of course, he’d known the facts of her life, but knowing and facing them were very different things. Not that she would use her mum’s death to score points. No, but as a journalist she’d learned that strong stories didn’t shy away from emotion. Her story began with her mum’s death, and the fundamental changes it caused in Cate’s life.
    “It’s hard to remember, but before then, Dad encouraged me to be a tomboy. He was proud of my daring. He kicked the football around with me as well as with Rob. He took us snorkelling and surfing. When Mum died in the car