HELEN BROOKS - The Marriage Solution

‘I’m not here to upset your father, Katie,’ Carlton said coldly, ‘although you seem to be doing a pretty good job of that yourself at the moment. Now would you please sit down and stop making a spectacle of yourself?’ he finished coolly.

‘Katie, for crying out loud...’ Her father’s agitated tones brought her eyes to his face for the first time and he nodded at the chair violently, his eyes lethal ‘Sit down, girl,’ he barked angrily, more himself than he had been in days. ‘Carlton is here purely as a friend, nothing more.’

‘Really?’ The word carried all the mistrust she felt for the man and her father shut his eyes for a moment in exasperation, shaking his head silently.

‘Sit’ It was an order and she sat, but as Carlton moved another chair near the bed and stretched out his long legs to within an inch of hers it was all she could do to restrain the impulse to jerk away. She managed it—just. ‘I’m sorry, Cadton.’ David White waved his hand at her as he spoke. ‘She isn’t normally this way but my illness seems to have brought out the lioness-defending-her-cub mentality.’

‘Not altogether a bad thing.’ Carlton smiled back but, as the dark grey eyes moved to her, the smoky depths were as hard as iron. ‘But the exterior doesn’t quite prepare one for the fire and brimstone underneath.’

‘Her mother was the same.’ She glanced at him, utterly astounded as he spoke. She had never in all her life heard him compare her to his wife and it was still more amazing that his tone held a faint touch of embarrassed pride. ‘She was sweetness personified, but if anyone threatened her family all hell was let loose. She was one special woman—’

He broke off, clearly horrified at having said so much, and there was a brief moment of charged silence before Carlton stepped into the breach. Katie was staring at her father open-mouthed, quite stunned. If a choir of heavenly angels had suddenly appeared in the room she couldn’t have been more surprised.

Carlton glanced at Katie whose astounded countenance spoke for itself and then at David who was staring determinedly out of the window, his face ruddy with embarrassment, before shifting slightly in his seat and speaking in a cool, matter-of-fact voice that defused the awkward atmosphere.

‘There are some papers in your father’s study at home that might be important. Katie, and he’d like me to have a look through them in case there’s a way out of this mess. Perhaps we could leave together and I could pick them up on the way home?’

‘I’m in my own car,’ she answered automatically as she dragged her eyes away from her father’s stiff face with tremendous effort and turned to Carlton.

‘No problem.’ He smiled easily. ‘I’ll follow you home in mine. I’d really rather look at them as soon as possible. If anything’s going to be done it’s got to be quick.’

‘You think there’s a chance?’ Katie asked quietly as she looked fully into the smoky grey eyes, receiving a slight jolt as the full power of the piercing gaze held hers.

‘Possibly.’ She couldn’t read a thing from his face—it was a study in neutrality. ‘From what David tells me, he was ill-advised himself and someone has certainly reaped a vast profit from this little deal. Now, whether it was actually illegal or not is another question and one that needs answering before the dust settles.’

‘I see.’ She didn’t want him to come to her house; she didn’t want anything at all to do with him, but in the face of what he was suggesting she had no choice but to smile, albeit painfully, and incline her head. ‘Well, of course, if my father thinks you should investigate further—’

‘I do.’ David cut into the conversation sharply, his voice more alive than it had been for the last four days and certainly more full of energy than she had expected when she’d walked into the room that evening. ‘Bankruptcy—’ He stopped abruptly. ‘I’ve never owed anyone a penny in my life,’ he continued gruffly, ‘and it doesn’t sit well, Katie, dammit! If there’s a chance—’

‘If there is I’ll find it.’ Carlton’s voice was smooth as he spoke but there was some inflexion, just something she couldn’t put a name to, that made Katie stare at him hard. He was so cold this man, so in control. She didn’t trust him; she didn’t trust him an inch, and she was suddenly more sure than ever that there was an ulterior motive governing what appeared to be a straightforward request.

‘Dad, these papers...’ She hesitated and searched for a way of disguising the question she had to ask. ‘Are there any you’d prefer to keep confidential? I could bring them all in here tomorrow and let you sort through them with Mr Reef if that would be more helpful. You must know what you’re looking for, after all, and he might miss—’

‘No, no. Let Carlton take anything he needs, Katie,’ David said briskly. ‘He probably knows what he’s looking for better than I do.’

She didn’t doubt it, Katie thought grimly, and that was exactly what was bothering her. She stared helplessly at her father, willing him to read her mind and know what she was thinking but he just smiled back at her before turning to Carlton with an easy gesture of thanks. ‘Anything you can do would be appreciated, Carlton.’

Anything he could do? She felt a little shiver of premonition as her father spoke. He had never made a mistake before in the business world that was his lifeblood; it seemed very strange that now, suddenly, he had made one, and one of such gigantic proportions that it would leave them totally destitute. Exactly what part had Carlton Reef played in all this? she wondered suspiciously. And why this offer of help now, after the rage of a few days ago?

As she turned to the dark figure at her side she realised, with a sudden surge of panic, that if her father had been unable to pick up the waves she was attempting to send him Carlton Reef had had no such problem. The grey eyes were chips of stone in an otherwise expressionless face, the mouth a taut, sardonic line of enquiry.

‘I have a photocopier in my study at home, Miss White,’ he said coolly, the use of her surname a distinct put-down. ‘Would you like to accompany me there tonight so you can keep the originals in your possession?’ It was a definite challenge and one, in view of her father’s comments, that he didn’t expect her to take up.

She stared at him for a few moments, her natural politeness and gentleness warring with the feeling that possessed her where this man was concerned. ‘Yes, I would,’ she said quietly, hearing David’s exasperated indrawn breath with a resigned sense of the inevitable. He would disapprove of her actions in dealing with Carlton Reef in the same way he disapproved of everything but she wouldn’t have been able to sleep tonight if she hadn’t followed through on her instinct.

She knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that the astute, intelligent mind ticking away behind those hard grey eyes was several paces in front of theirs. Quite what he bad in view she wasn’t sure, but if she had had to answer the old ‘friend or foe?’ question there would have been no hesitation. Carlton Reef was no friend of theirs.

For the rest of the visit Katie sat quietly listening to the two men talk. Carlton didn’t broach the business difficulties again, concentrating on light, witty conversation that kept David amused without him having to make any effort himself.

Carlton Reef was a formidable adversary, she thought silently as the minutes sped by. She had never met a man who generated such an air of easy authority, who seemed so totally sure of himself. And she was forced to recognise, after nearly an hour had passed, that, in spite of her distrust and dislike for the man, there was something compellingly attractive about him that was both fascinating and frightening.