The Collector's Edition Volume 1 Read Free

issue.
    ‘The right explosives in the right place. Simple.’
    If only it was! Jayne took a deep breath, savagely berating herself for feeling so unreasonably…distracted…at discovering Dan was occupied with a woman on a level that was certainly not strictly business.
    ‘A few big booms. That’s what you like best, isn’t it, Baby?’ he went on, evoking a spluttering that sounded like a smothered giggle.
    Jayne was not amused. Monty could be in danger of having another stroke, a fatal one, while Dan Drayton was playing stupid games with his Baby . Although to be fair, he couldn’t know how tasteless this conversation was until she told him.
    ‘Monty Castle had a stroke a few hours ago,’ she stated bluntly.
    Another silence. A sobered silence, Jayne hoped, fiercely clamping down on the stupid churning stirred by Baby’s intrusive presence. Dan was entitled to do whatever he wanted. She had claimed the same right. It was just that it was…demeaning to be replaced by some brainless bimbo.
    ‘How bad?’ came the serious question, his voice deeper, sharper, driving her wandering mind back to the horror of Monty’s grey face and stricken body. She desperately hoped the effectsof the stroke would not last long. Monty was only in his fifties and one of the most vital people she had ever met.
    ‘I don’t know,’ she answered, her concern for him uppermost as she explained further. ‘He was still conscious and talking when he was taken to the hospital, but he’d lost control of his left side. He asked me to contact you. He said you’d take over the consultancy for him and fulfil the contract.’
    There! It was all said now. How Dan reacted and responded was entirely up to him. She had done her part. Although a niggle of conscience told her she could do more. And should do more if more was needed to get Dan here. It was not only for Monty’s sake. Lin Zhiyong had to be satisfied, as well.
    ‘Give me your location and the name of the hospital.’
    She complied with the demands, bridling at the thought that Dan intended to check the facts she had given him before making a decision. His next statement stunned her.
    ‘I’ll get there as soon as possible.’
    For a moment, Jayne couldn’t take it in. Dan was coming. Just like that. Just as Monty said he would. The assurance should have lifted a huge burden off her shoulders but it didn’t. She felt the pressure of her mettle being tested, and Dan wasn’t even here yet. It took an enormous effort of willpower to rise above the uneasy prospectof coming face-to-face with him again and concentrate on the more immediate problems to be resolved.
    ‘How soon will that be?’ She was amazed at how matter-of-fact she sounded.
    ‘Mmmh…a little tricky. I was about to close a deal with Sheikh Omar El Talik, whom I don’t care to offend.’
    He could offer Baby as a candidate for the sheikh’s harem, Jayne thought, then silently castigated herself for the shockingly sexist idea. She excused herself on the grounds that she needed Dan Drayton without any other ties. Monty needed him, she swiftly corrected, frowning over her muddled thinking. The faster Dan could come and go, the better.
    ‘We should be there within a week,’ came the considered estimate.
    That made things easier. Lin Zhiyong’s seven-day limit could be met. ‘That’s great! Thank you.’
    She quickly explained the concerns of the Chinese official and passed on the invitation to the festival party, privately congratulating herself on coming to grips with the situation with growing aplomb.
    ‘We’ll be there,’ Dan Drayton assured her decisively.
    The repetition of we finally sank in. ‘Are you bringing someone with you?’
    ‘Baby goes everywhere with me. Wouldn’t dream of leaving you with anyone else, would I, cuddlepie?’
    Another bubbly splutter.
    It was sickening. A ghastly vision leapt into Jayne’s mind; a simpering nymphet clinging onto Dan’s arm as he surveyed the mudflow problem