Kathryn Ross - Tycoon's Choice - Kept by the Tycoon / Taken by the Tycoon / The Tycoon's Proposal

Rafe nodded. ‘Thanks.’

‘The young lady’s waiting for you in the private lounge.’ He indicated a door to the right.

Madeleine’s thoughts began to race as, a hand beneath her elbow, Rafe escorted her across the foyer towards the lounge.

Remembering his previous phone conversation, she felt hollow inside.

As Fiona couldn’t get to the hall, had he suggested that they meet here ?

But if he had, why had he included her ? Unless he’d decided that she was safer under his eye than left to her own devices.

After all, he had no idea that she and Fiona had ever met, no idea that she knew about the bargain he had made with his godfather.

And she was hardly likely to tell the other woman how he’d tricked her into going to the hall. So perhaps he was hoping to present her simply in the role of physiotherapist?

The role he had asked her to play .

Another thought struck her. Did he mean to take Fiona back in the helicopter? Though how did he intend to extract ‘reparation’ from her with his fiancée on the scene…?

Well, whatever his intentions, if it was Fiona waiting in there, he had a nasty shock coming.

But if it was Fiona, she’d rather tell him the truth now than have to face the other woman .

At the door to the lounge, her insides churning, she dug her toes in and asked jerkily, ‘Who is it that’s waiting?’

‘You’ll see.’

‘I’d like to know.’

Shaking his head, he said decidedly, ‘That would spoil the surprise,’ and, opening the door, propelled her inside.

She was aware of a log fire burning in what seemed to be a deserted room, before a small figure came hurtling towards her. Almost knocked off balance, she found herself being hugged with a warmth and enthusiasm that went straight to her heart.

‘Katie!’ she exclaimed, half laughing, half crying. ‘How you’ve grown. You’re getting really tall. You almost come up to my chin.’

‘ You haven’t changed at all,’ Katie declared. ‘You’re just as beautiful as ever.’ She turned to Rafe and gave him a hug. ‘Thank you for bringing her, Uncle Rafe.’

Then, taking Madeleine’s hand, she went on happily, ‘I’m so glad you’re back. I’ve missed you. Aren’t you pleased to be home?’

Glancing up, Madeleine met Rafe’s ironic gaze. Dragging her eyes away, she said, ‘Of course I am.’

‘School’s broken up for Christmas, so when Mum told me you were staying at the hall so you could treat Uncle George, I asked if I could come and see you. But Uncle Rafe said you were all snowed up…’

So it had been Katie Rafe had been talking to when he used the endearment sweetheart , not Fiona.

‘Did you enjoy flying in the helicopter?’ Katie asked eagerly.

‘Yes, I quite liked it.’

‘I thought you would,’ the child said proudly. ‘That’s why I asked Uncle Rafe if he could bring you to see me.’

So though he must have known he was running a risk, known that she might refuse to go back with him, he’d brought her to please Katie .

‘He didn’t tell me,’ Madeleine said.

‘I asked him not to say anything because I wanted to surprise you.’

‘Well, you certainly did that.’ She squeezed the child’s hand. Then, puzzled, asked, ‘But surely you didn’t come alone?’

‘No, Helga, the au pair, brought me. She’ll be coming back for me at two o’clock…’

Which meant she would have to delay her escape, Madeleine realised. There was no way she could disappear while Katie was still here.

‘Mum is at work,’ the child went on. ‘She’s going to join us as soon as she can get away. But she said to start eating without her, just in case she can’t make it for lunch.

‘I’m hungry already. I was too excited to eat much breakfast. Are you hungry, Maddy?’

Still feeling churned up, Madeleine lied, ‘Yes, I am.’

‘Well, if my two favourite girls are hungry—’ Rafe put an arm around each of them ‘—let’s go and eat.’

Katie fairly danced along, her dark, glossy plait swinging. ‘While we have lunch I can tell you all about Bertrand…’

When, seated by one of the long windows in the pleasant dining room, they had finished ordering, Madeleine asked, ‘Who’s Bertrand?’

‘He’s the Labrador that Uncle Rafe is giving me for Christmas. Though I’m fine again now, Mum and Dad don’t want me to ride any more until I’m grown up, so they agreed I could have a dog. Bertrand’s about six months old and I’m getting him tomorrow, because the sanctuary doesn’t open on Christmas Day.

‘I decided to call him Bertrand because that’s Uncle Rafe’s middle name…’

‘Is it really?’ Madeleine laughed. ‘I didn’t know that.’

Rafe grimaced. ‘Not a lot of people do.’

Then to Katie, ‘Do you have to tell all my most shameful secrets? And come to that, how do you know?’

The little girl giggled. ‘Mum told me. But she thinks Bertrand is rather grand for a puppy, so I’ll probably call him Bertie for short.’ She turned her attention back to Madeleine. ‘He was rescued when his previous owner left him shut in the basement of a derelict house,’ she explained. ‘He’d almost starved to death before he was found. But he’s very friendly and he still likes people.

‘He’s from the Mill House Animal Sanctuary. Uncle Rafe gives them lots of money to help the animals…’

While they waited for the meal to be served, and between courses, Katie chatted away non-stop.

Madeleine smiled and listened and marvelled that a child she had regarded as quiet and a little shy could be so talkative.

Catching her eye, Rafe said with a wry smile, ‘As a rule Katie doesn’t say much, but when she gets excited she could talk for England.’

They had almost finished their coffee before Diane herself came hurrying in, wearing a businesslike grey suit and carrying a black shoulder-bag-cum-briefcase. Her cheeks were flushed and she sounded more than a shade breathless as she said, ‘Hi there.’

‘You’re very late, Mum,’ Katie pointed out.

‘Yes, I know, darling, and I’m sorry. I began to think I wasn’t going to make it at all. I was trapped into having lunch with a client.’

She gave her brother, who had risen at her approach, a peck on the cheek and, stooping to hug Madeleine, said with obvious sincerity, ‘It’s good to have you back.’

‘I expect you can do with some coffee?’ Rafe asked.

‘You’re a mind-reader.’ Dropping into the chair he’d pulled out for her, Diane smoothed a hand over the dark hair that fell straight and gleaming to her shoulders, and grumbled, ‘Sometimes I wonder why I keep on working.’

He smiled. ‘You know perfectly well that you love your work. If you didn’t have it, you’d be lost.’

‘That’s true. I just don’t want to be a mirror image of Mother.’

He raised an eyebrow. ‘I don’t think you need to worry on that score.’

‘But you wouldn’t want your wife to have a career,’ Diane noted.

‘I’d prefer her not to. Unless it would make her seriously unhappy to give it up. If that was the case, I’d have to withdraw my opposition…’ He sat back confidently.

They chatted for a minute or so until the fresh coffee had arrived and been poured, before Katie reminded him, ‘Uncle Rafe, you promised you’d show me the inside of your helicopter some time and let me sit in the pilot’s seat…’

‘Well, I will, sweetheart.’

‘Can’t you do it now?’ She glanced at her watch. ‘It’s only a quarter to two.’

As Rafe hesitated, Diane said, ‘Go if you want to. Maddy and I can catch up on some gossip.’