AMANDA BROWNING - Enemy Within

Mickey couldn’t think how she had ever thought this man attractive! He was loathsome. Everything she said was turned around to suit his purpose. Nothing would do but to show him how wrong he was to his face. ‘All right, we’ll go,’ she agreed grudgingly, and joined him at the door.

His smile was sardonic. ‘I’m glad to see you’re an intelligent woman, Hanlon.’

She sent him a daggers look. ‘If I’d had any intelligence, I’d have seen you coming!’

‘You’d have to get up very early in the morning to get the better of me,’ he advised ironically, locking the door after them and ushering her back to the lift.

‘It can’t be that difficult, if your nephew managed to do it,’ Mickey observed pungently.

‘He hasn’t got away with it yet,’ he reminded her, and she pulled a face.

‘How old is he?’

‘Twenty-three.’

From the way his uncle had come rushing after him, she’d assumed he was much younger. ‘A little old, wouldn’t you say, to be kept on a leading rein?’ she jeered, not surprised the young man wanted to break free.

The lift arrived, and they stepped inside before Ryan answered. ‘He has his freedom, within reason.’

‘The boundary of reason being the things you do or don’t like,’ she scorned, finding herself reluctantly empathising with the runaway.

‘I’m not about to apologise for keeping him out of the clutches of female barracudas,’ he informed her shortly, and took her arm as they reached the ground and headed out of the building to where the jeep had been parked earlier.

She resented being manhandled, and tried to jerk herself free, but failed once more. Grinding her teeth impotently, she found herself almost having to jog to keep up with him. Even so, she found the breath to protest. ‘I’ve told you before about lumping my sister in with such people!’

‘Sorry,’ he apologised mockingly, ‘but I’ve yet to hear anything to change my opinion. Get in.’ This last came as they reached the disreputable vehicle.

‘Where did you get this—a junk heap?’ she bit out witheringly as she resisted.

‘Never judge by appearances; this piece of junk is a lot more reliable than you, sweetheart. Now are you going to get in or...?’

Mickey only complied because she knew he would have put her in by force if she had refused, and she wanted to retain at least some dignity. Besides, the quickest way of proving he was mistaken, she hoped, was to get to Grandmother Sophie’s as swiftly as possible. So she settled into her seat without another word, and gave him directions for leaving the town.

Once on Highway 16, her attention was only partially on the journey; the main part of her brain became centered on Leah. When she had first come in search of her father, she had been surprised but delighted to discover she had a half-sister. She had known Leah for eight years now, and loved her dearly, although she hadn’t seen her every day, because she lived with her paternal grandmother. Their father’s death eighteen months ago had been a shock to both of them. He had seemed so fit, but he must have known he had cancer for a long time. It had been then that her sister had decided she wanted to study medicine.

Although they had jointly inherited the house she now lived in, Mickey alone had inherited her father’s business, and that had helped her cope with her sense of loss. It hadn’t seemed a burden, more an acknowledgement of her own capabilities. Although their years together had been short, Mickey had discovered a closeness of spirit with her father which had been totally lacking with her mother. He had never asked her why she had abandoned the only life she had known, but she had told him anyway. He hadn’t judged or advised, but had simply accepted her, and given her an unquestioning love which had gone a long way to healing her wounds. She had developed her own love of flying from being taught by her father. He had been delighted when she had gone on to show her interest in his business, and they had worked together happily, Mickey discovering a capacity for hard work into which she had channelled all her energies.

Leah had a gentler nature, although it was allied to a surprising strength of will, and a deep understanding of the frailties of her fellow humans, both of which she would need if she realised her wish to study medicine and become a doctor. It wasn’t a whim, but a vocation, and that was why Mickey knew it just couldn’t be Leah who had run away with Ryan’s nephew. She was so dedicated, so sure of what she wanted. It would never occur to her to throw it all away on some...playboy millionaire!

‘You’re wrong, you know.’ The statement was an extension of her thoughts, and broke the lengthy silence which had fallen.

He spared her a brief glance, and seemed to know immediately what she was referring to. ‘It’s for sure one of us is doomed to be disappointed,’ he concurred obliquely, and Mickey found herself studying his handsome profile with resentment.

Rather late in the day, a vital point struck her. ‘You never intended to take any photographs, did you?’

She caught the slight flexing of his cheeks which indicated he was smiling. ‘Not this trip, although I do have plans for the future.’

His smugness was so galling! ‘Wouldn’t you call that breach of contract? I could sue you, too,’ she declared, thinking of all the preparations which had had to be made. The company’s outlay had been quite considerable at a time when it could be ill afforded.

‘I take it from your remark that you didn’t read the small print? That was careless, Hanlon,’ he tutted reprovingly, stirring the hardly settled ashes of her anger.

‘Meaning?’

‘Meaning I contracted to use an aircraft and pilot of Hanlon Air “for an unspecified time”. Which, roughly translated, means if I don’t use you, I don’t have to pay you.’

To his credit, he didn’t sound as if he was gloating, but she felt as furious as if he had been anyway. For she had indeed read that clause, and had taken it to mean the trip was open-ended. In fact she had been working on the probability that he would need her for at least a week, and perhaps even two. Now she knew better, and her hatred of him grew in leaps and bounds. Because he had to have known how she would take it, how anyone would take it.

Although it wasn’t the end of the world, the sense of being manipulated made her feel as if it was. ‘Very clever,’ she said bitterly. ‘I hope you can sleep nights.’

This time he sent her a longer look, laden with scepticism. ‘Trying to tell me you wouldn’t have used my name as an advertisement for more trade?’ he queried softly, and she flushed, squirming a little in her seat, even though it was common practice.

‘At least it would have been honest. You can’t say the same.’

‘War is a dirty business, Hanlon. Take it from one who knows,’ he returned shortly, and clearly brought down a wall between them, concentrating on his driving.

Mickey had nothing to say either, spending the remainder of the journey looking forward to seeing his face when he was proved wrong. It was likely to be the only satisfaction she had out of the whole fiasco. Ryan kept to the maximum speed limit, and consequently it took less time to reach Leah’s grandmother’s house than usual. The lights were on when he finally drew the jeep to a halt outside the faded elegance of the three-storey building, and Mickey wasted no time, jumping down before the vehicle had properly stopped moving and hurrying up the path to knock on the door.

Sophie Trenchard opened the door herself, her statuesque frame swathed in a colourful lounging robe. Her look of irritation changed to a broad smile when she saw who her visitor was.

‘Mickey!’ she greeted warmly. ‘What a lovely surprise. I was in the middle of a book, and just about to throw a tantrum for being interrupted mid-flow!’ she added, with a wicked grin, because her penchant for behaving less maturely than befitted her years was legendary. The grin turned to a look of intrigue when a tense and grim-faced Ryan came to stand in the light issuing from the door.