AllFreeNovel
Share Us
How could he? Nina brooded, when he didn’t know the kind of man he was dealing with—a man who would do anything to get his own way. She should tell him, warn him, whatever the embarrassing consequences to herself.
‘Any man with a bit of muscle can do basic carpentry,’ Ray continued, obviously nettled at her interference. Since his arthritis had worsened over the winter, he had become ever more protective of his salty male pride. ‘It only needs one of us to know what we’re doing. I’ll supervise. All Ryan here has to do is to use his common sense—of which he seems to have plenty—and follow my instructions. I’m the expert of the outfit. He’s just the brawn, working for his keep.’
Ryan Flint—a brawny labourer working for his keep? Taking his orders from an irascible old codger who had nothing else to do but drive him crazy with his ‘expert’ supervision? Nina was startled by a new perspective on the situation, a bubble of malicious laughter rising hysterically in her throat.
How priceless! Oh, what a delicious irony it would be—Mr Arrogant Multimillionaire reduced to the level of a medieval serf, serving his lord with his sweated labour. The man who had wanted Karl sent to prison for daring to fall in love with his sister, trapped in the prison of his own making and cheerfully volunteering to do his sentence in hard labour!
Why not let him get on with it?
The sinful thought quickly blossomed into wicked fruit. A feeling of power swept over her, smothering her weak stirrings of conscience.
He was worried that he was broke and in trouble—why should she disabuse him? Why should she make anything easy for him? She was under no obligation to tell him what she knew. If she did and he left, she would never get another chance to make him pay. As a form of revenge it couldn’t have been more perfect if she had planned it herself. And empowered by her knowledge, she would be in total control.
Oh, he’d eventually remember and then there would be trouble, but he would never be able to prove anything, and it would be worth it for the sheer pleasure of seeing him toiling like a common slave for a few days. She hoped he found it a humbling experience.
She tossed her head and gave him a haughty look. ‘And if you get your memory back before the job’s finished, what then? You just swan off and leave Ray in the lurch?’
Ryan’s mouth thinned at the deliberate goad. ‘Whatever happens, I’ll finish what I start,’ he said with a steely determination that satisfied her he was well and truly set up.
‘Well, I suppose if you’re going to be hanging around, you may as well make yourself useful,’ she conceded grudgingly, turning away to hide her smirk. ‘I’ll leave you two to get on with it. You won’t want to waste any time.’
She had to wipe the secret smile off her face a few seconds later, when Ryan joined her walking across the grass, leaving Zorro to the promise of the scrapings from the bacon pan.
‘I need to change into something a bit more hard-wearing and practical if I’m going to be clambering over roofs,’ he explained as Nina cast him a suspicious glance.
‘You haven’t got anything more hard-wearing,’ she pointed out, having seen his washing drying by the fire.
‘I know. I thought…well, I know Karl’s clothes fit me, and you say he has plenty of others….’
He trailed off and Nina gave him a careless shrug of acquiescence. Poetic justice indeed. Talk about walking a mile in someone else’s shoes!
‘You changed your mind all of a sudden back there,’ he said as they stepped over the low, straggly hedge between the two properties. ‘One moment you’re all fired up for me to leave and the next you’re challenging me to stay.’
Ah…now they were getting to the real reason why he had been so quick to follow her.
‘A woman’s prerogative,’ she murmured, tilting her face to enjoy the stroke of the sun on her skin and inhale the sharp tang of salt on the biting air.
His eyes followed the unconsciously sensual movement. ‘You suddenly decided that I wasn’t going to be a danger to myself and others?’ he speculated. ‘You decided I was worthy of your trust after all?’
