AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘So your answer is no?’
‘Of course it’s no!’ And yet in those oh, so dif- ferent earlier circumstances her answer had been an ecstatic yes. Unless… Her foolish little mind went into overdrive. What if he was genuinely sorry about the way he’d behaved on finding out that she’d lied about her job? Was he now regretting that savage seduction? What if the feelings that he’d had for her, or claimed to have had for her on the island, were real? What if he still wanted to marry her for…? Her mind dared not even admit the word to itself. But she had to know. ‘Why do you want to marry me?’
‘Wanting does not come into it. The world now knows that I proposed marriage, which you ac- cepted—and I must honour that commitment.’
Jade’s heart did a backward somersault. Of course he wasn’t marrying her for love. Had he, since he’d arrived back in England, behaved like a man who was in love? The very opposite. ‘I’m not sure that I’m hearing this right. You would marry me simply to honour a commitment?’
His eyes flared like sunlight bouncing off granite. ’Not simply for commitment,’ he said harshly. ‘For pride!’
‘Pride?’
‘Yes, pride, or, if you prefer it—honour.’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘That I can believe—but it is a concept which shapes the whole life of a Greek,’ he said proudly. ’If I back down now, having given my word that I would marry you—then I will be seen to be dis- honourable, and for a man in my position that is something I simply will not countenance.’
Jade went cold at the unfeeling lack of affection behind his words. ‘You must be mad,’ she whis- pered, ‘to think that I’d ever, ever marry you!’
‘Don’t make me force you, Jade.’
‘Force me? This is London, you know, not the back of beyond—you can’t throw me over the back of your horse and carry me off somewhere!’ Even though just the thought of it sent a betraying little frisson of excitement through her body.
‘More subtle force than that,’ he answered, with smooth assurance.
‘Oh, really?’ She gave a disbelieving laugh, but there was something about the steely determination on his face which again stirred those misgivings into life. ‘Like what?’
‘Like the fact that two hours ago I bought your proprietor out and that I now own the major con- trolling interest in this newspaper.’
The room swayed. Jade swallowed. ‘You can’t have done!’ she blustered. ‘Not that quickly! This article was only published this morning. You can’t possibly have bought the paper!’
‘But that is where you are so wrong—with the right financial incentive anything is possible,’ he answered, with a cynical smile. ‘Surely you knew that, Jade?’
She eyed him with frosty disapproval. ‘No, I didn’t,’ she answered witheringly. ‘I’m not in the big money league. Besides, whether or not you’ve bought the paper is of absolutely no interest to me.’
‘Oh, I think it is,’ he said softly.
He obviously had no inkling of the fact that she was now no longer a member of staff! Jade gave him a superior smile as she savoured her moment of triumph. ‘Wrong!’ she retorted. ‘I’ve already handed my notice in. So you see—whether or not you own the newspaper has nothing to do with me, because I no longer work here!’
‘You wouldn’t have done in any case—as my wife I would not have you working on such a scurrilous rag.’
Jade felt like shaking him, if his sheer size hadn’t made him so immovable. ‘I’m not going to be your wife, you ruthless tyrant! Don’t you understand? The fact that you own the paper means nothing to me, absolutely nothing!’
‘Then you care nothing about the fate of your former colleagues?’ he enquired silkily.
Actually, no, certainly not Maggie, not after her betrayal, and most of the other journalists would find work on other newspapers.
She chewed anxiously on her bottom lip. Wouldn’t they?
‘Not particularly,’ she said evasively, but her heart sank a little since she knew that several of them were mortgaged up to the hilt. ‘Journalists are used to switching around—it’s that kind of job.’
‘But the others?’ he persisted. ‘The men in the print room, for example, who I am told by your editor you are rather fond of.’ His mouth curled disdainfully. ‘But then, they are men, are they not?’ The insulting implication was made painfully clear. ‘And some of these men,’ he continued inexorably, ‘look too old to start anew.’ If they should lose their jobs,’ he said, with deliberate emphasis.
Jade stared back at him with fascinated loathing. ’You wouldn’t,’ she whispered. ‘You wouldn’t do that?’
‘Wouldn’t I?’ he answered remorselessly. ‘Be- lieve me when I tell you that I would do whatever it takes.’
Jade often shared a snatched lunch break in the Lamb and Flag with the stalwarts of the print room. She thought of dear old Arthur, saving like mad for his retirement so that he and his wife could re- tire to a small complex in Spain. And Bill, whose married son was out of work, and whose wage meant that his grandchildren got toys at Christmas. And clothes for the rest of the year.
