Last Stop Marriage. Emma Darcy
frowning over her muddled thinking. The faster Dan could come and go, the better.
‘We should be there within a week,’ came the considered estimate.
That made things easier. Lin Zhiyong’s seven-day limit could be met. ‘That’s great! Thank you.’
She quickly explained the concerns of the Chinese official and passed on the invitation to the festival party, privately congratulating herself on coming to grips with the situation with growing aplomb.
‘We’ll be there,’ Dan Drayton assured her decisively.
The repetition of we finally sank in. ‘Are you bringing someone with you?’
‘Baby goes everywhere with me. Wouldn’t dream of leaving you with anyone else, would I, cuddlepie?’
Another bubbly splutter.
It was sickening. A ghastly vision leapt into Jayne’s mind; a simpering nymphet clinging onto Dan’s arm as he surveyed the mudflow problem with a bevy of intense Chinese engineers.
‘There isn’t going to be much time for entertainment once you’re here on the job,’ she warned, her mouth tightening, her stomach tightening at the thought of him turning up at Lin Zhiyong’s party with another woman. How on earth would she save face in those circumstances?
‘Don’t worry about Baby. I’ll look after her. Just book us a room in the best hotel there is in Xi’an.’
‘It isn’t five star international,’ she said tartly. Surely Dan couldn’t be serious about a woman he called Baby.
‘I don’t expect Baby will notice. A roof over her head, food to eat, me to love her…’
A bed was probably the only requirement, Jayne thought waspishly. ‘Could you please send a confirming fax of your agreement to take over from Mr. Castle? It will prevent any problems from developing here.’
‘Give me your fax number.’
She did so, trying to quell her irritation that he would not be as single-minded as she in completing the project for Monty. If Baby caused complications or delays…Jayne shook her head. She had no choice but to accept the situation and do what she could to circumvent any distractions from getting the project completed on schedule.
‘Which way will you be coming in?’ she asked. ‘From Tokyo or Hong Kong?’
‘On Dragon Air from Hong Kong.’
‘I’ll have someone waiting for you at Hong Kong airport with the necessary visas, letters, et cetera for entry.’
‘Thank you, Jayne.’
Her skin prickled at the sensual caress in his voice. She had forgotten how he could evoke responses like that simply with an expressive change of tone. It was something she would have to guard against.
She should probably ask for Baby’s name, but it could be filled in on the paperwork before the flight into China. If it was something like Peach Bubbles, she would probably throw up.
‘Please keep me posted on your journey,’ she said stiffly. ‘I’ll be at Xi’an airport to meet you.’
‘No need for that. We’ll see you at Lin Zhiyong’s party. Baby and I will look forward to it.’
A heated breath hissed between Jayne’s teeth. How could any woman stand being spoken of in such a patronising manner? Did having a free meal and travel ticket compensate for such de-meaning paternalism? Was Baby’s brain dulled by a sexual drive that consumed any rational thought?
‘Is there anything else you want done before you arrive here?’ she asked, keeping her tone crisp and level. ‘Mr. Castle instructed me to give you every assistance with the job.’
‘Yes, I thought he would. Is that hard for you, Jayne?’
‘Not at all,’ she tossed off as blithely as she could.
‘I wouldn’t want to make your life miserable again.’
‘Different circumstances, aren’t they?’ she grated, furious that he would imply such a thing in front of the woman he was bringing with him.
‘Of course,’ he agreed. ‘Then we shall meet once more under a full moon. As I recall, the Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated when the moon is at its fullest and brightest.’
The line was disconnected before she could make a comeback. Not that she had one. Better not to acknowledge the memory he had evoked anyway. It was in absolutely rotten taste for him to allude to the heady romance of their very first meeting when he was not only carrying on an intimate affair with another woman, but escorting that woman to Lin Zhiyong’s full-moon party!
She crashed the receiver down on its cradle and glared at it with gathering turbulence. Her lips compressed. Dan Drayton had better keep his mind completely focused on work when he was with her. As fond as she was of Monty, her loyalty to him did not extend to tolerating insidious remarks about the past. If Dan Drayton once tried to put anything on her that was inappropriate to the situation, he would get a demonstration of Dragon Lady the like of which no one had ever seen before!
The fax machine signalled an incoming message. Jayne pushed herself to her feet and crossed the office to watch the transmission roll out. It was the official confirmation she had requested for the purpose of satisfying Lin Zhiyong and the team of Chinese engineers that the replacement expert was on his way.
The prime objective had been attained.
She had, indeed, got Dan Drayton.
The only question was whether she would get past this encounter, unscarred, unscathed and unhitched from the man she had once thought she would love forever.
DRAGON LADY…
The name the Chinese had given his wife—she wasn’t ex yet—simmered in Dan Drayton’s mind as Lin Zhiyong’s official car transported him and Baby from the hotel to this evening’s party. It put Dan more and more in a dragon-slaying mood.
The Chinese might find Jayne formidable. He didn’t. She could throw out as much fire as she liked. It couldn’t match the slow burn that had been building in intensity inside him ever since her call. The desire to cut the wind out from under her wings and bring her thumping down to earth was uppermost on his agenda.
Jayne Winter. The denial of his name stung. She had been happy enough to be Jayne Drayton when they were first married. Throwing her maiden name at him was like saying their marriage had never been, scrubbing out the four years they had shared together as though it was nothing to her. He was nothing to her.
That was precisely how she had spoken to him, not the slightest acknowledgement of what they had once meant to each other, not even a civil inquiry about how he was or where he’d been or what he was doing now. What had he ever done to her to deserve being treated as though she had never had any personal, let alone intimate involvement with him?
It riled him even more that she had left him and gone to work for Monty Castle. If she had found sharing his life so intolerable, why had she become personal assistant to a man in the same line of work? And here she was in China, apparently contending easily with a culture that was every bit as foreign as that of Iran.
Baby pointed excitedly to the colourful paper lanterns strung from the trees in the park they were passing. It was a perfect evening and the park was thronged with people out to enjoy the festivities with their families and friends. Traditionally Zhongqiu Jie had always been ‘the Reunion Festival’, an occasion for the expression of nostalgic sentiments.
Dan wondered if Jayne knew that. The irony of it certainly struck him. The only reason for this reunion was Monty Castle’s need for him. Dan didn’t anticipate hearing