Emma Darcy - Last Stop Marriage

‘You cannot know that,’ Lin Zhiyong replied, unmoved from his sceptical viewpoint.

‘I do know it,’ Jayne retorted, stonewalling as hardily as General Jackson.

‘How?’

The knowing challenge warned Jayne he was aware that she had not yet communicated the news of Monty’s collapse to anyone outside China. The necessity to save face left her with no other option but to reveal a personal connection.

‘Because Dan Drayton promised me I only had to call him for anything, and he would supply it.’

She had never put that promise to the test. She didn’t doubt Dan had meant it at the time. He had wanted to show himself generous in their parting. Whether he would hold to it now after two years of silence from her was highly doubtful, but Lin Zhiyong couldn’t know that.

She sensed a subtle change of attitude in the man confronting her, a flicker of recognition in his eyes acknowledging a different kind of power to his, a power that was essentially female. Dragon Lady could breathe fire into a man. The fire of desire.

The irony of it twisted Jayne’s heart. That had been true between her and Dan throughout most of their marriage, but Dan wouldn’t come to Monty’s aid, if he came at all, because he still wanted her. Their desire for each other had wilted into insubstantial smoke under the deadening effect of other needs.

Nevertheless, she saw no reason to disillusion Lin Zhiyong’s typically male deduction. It gave her the breathing space she needed.

‘Today is the eighth day of the eighth lunar month,’ Lin Zhiyong stated portentously. ‘On the fifteenth day, when the moon is full, the people in this province celebrate Zhongqiu Jie , the Mid-Autumn Festival. I shall be hosting a party that evening. You and Mr. Drayton are cordially invited to my home, Miss Winter.’

In other words, Dan Drayton had better be here by then, or else!

Jayne mouthed all the correct, courteous words of acceptance and appreciation for both herself and Dan. Lin Zhiyong departed, satisfied he had gracefully applied the time pressure that would keep Monty Castle’s project on schedule or prove it was impossible. It also allowed him to save face and retain his position of influence and power in the government hierarchical system that was so important to the Chinese.

The office emptied of visitors and Jayne shut the door after them, briefly leaning against it and closing her eyes, fiercely hoping she had not just set herself up for an ignominious fall.

She had to get Dan for Monty. It was a professional call, not a personal one. She hoped Dan was of a mind to let private bygones be bygones. She was simply doing her job, following her boss’s instructions. She would state the problem, pass on Monty’s request, and keep everything on a business basis.

A sense of pride stirred. It would be good for her if Dan did accept the proposition. It was the ideal opportunity to prove she had become her own person, self-determining and strong enough not to be affected by Dan or the memory of their all-consuming relationship. That was another life.

She pushed herself into action, making herself a pot of tea and stacking a plate with Chinese sugar biscuits before settling at Monty’s desk. Somehow she now had to activate the plan she had just promised. She steeled herself to the task and picked up the telephone.

DESPITE the time differential between the countries, various communication problems with officialdom, and a lot of persuasive effort on her part, Jayne tracked Dan Drayton to an apartment in Casablanca.

The long hours of tension, of holding herself together until her goal was reached, resulted in a sense of light-headedness when she heard the receiver of his telephone lifted from its cradle.

‘Mmmh?’

Had she done it, or hadn’t she? ‘Am I speaking to Dan Drayton?’ she asked, her voice almost cracking under the pressure of her need to know.

‘Mmmh…’

It was a lazy, disinterested sound, but definitely not negative. Maybe she had woken him from a nap. An afternoon siesta was common in Mediterranean countries such as Morocco. Jayne took a deep breath, trying to calm the quickened tempo of her heartbeat. This was a terribly important business call. She had to get it right.

‘Dan…’ She hesitated. How would he react to her name? Irrelevant, she decided. ‘Dan, it’s Jayne. Jayne Winter. Your ex-wife.’

Ex-wife wasn’t technically correct since neither of them had bothered getting an official divorce, but it was factually correct. Jayne didn’t think Dan would quibble about it.

There was a long, disconcerting silence before he answered. Then to disconcert her even further, he spoke in his soft, sensual voice. ‘I remember. What can I do for you, Jayne?’

It brought back memories that pierced the shield she’d put around her heart. So many times he had said those words, wanting her to be content with him, not seeing or understanding her need to find some self-fulfilment. They never stayed in one place long enough for her to settle to anything productive and interesting.

But that was over for her. She had to take control of this call, forget the past. ‘I work for Monty Castle. I’m his personal assistant. He asked me to call you on his behalf.’

Another silence. Jayne hoped Dan was taking in that this was purely business, nothing personal at all. She heard some indistinct sounds that suggested someone else was with him, but she was totally unprepared for what came next.

‘It’s okay, Baby,’ Dan murmured. ‘Nothing to get disturbed about. This is the Jayne who was with me long before you came along. Here now, you can listen, too.’

The soothing, sexy drawl had a mind-shattering effect. The indulgent tone conjured up a baby-doll woman curled up to him, their heads sharing the same pillow. Jayne couldn’t bear to dwell on what other level of intimacy they were sharing.

It didn’t help at all to tell herself it was only natural for Dan to have found some other woman, or any number of them, to ease his sexual needs. She didn’t want to hear the evidence of it. She remembered all too well how voracious his need for her had been when they were first married.

And for him to have told this current woman about her, about their marriage, felt like the worst kind of betrayal. What they had shared was private. Couldn’t he have left it that way? As she had?

‘So what’s the problem, Jayne?’

She gritted her teeth and forced her mind back on to business. ‘We’re in China,’ she blurted out, defensively emphasising the distance between them.

‘Fascinating country.’

‘Mr. Castle was called in as a consultant on the new Denjing city project.’

‘I know.’

Had the two men discussed it? Perhaps Dan had recommended Monty after he himself had turned the contract down. Was that why Monty had chosen Dan to replace him?

‘The construction could be threatened by a mudflow,’ she hurried on.

‘Nasty things, mudflows.’

‘The threat has to be diverted,’ Jayne explained, struggling to get her thoughts focused on the main issue.

‘The right explosives in the right place. Simple.’

If only it was! Jayne took a deep breath, savagely berating herself for feeling so unreasonably…distracted…at discovering Dan was occupied with a woman on a level that was certainly not strictly business.

‘A few big booms. That’s what you like best, isn’t it, Baby?’ he went on, evoking a spluttering that sounded like a smothered giggle.

Jayne was not amused. Monty could be in danger of having another stroke, a fatal one, while Dan Drayton was playing stupid games with his Baby . Although to be fair, he couldn’t know how tasteless this conversation was until she told him.

‘Monty Castle had a stroke a few hours ago,’ she stated bluntly.

Another silence. A sobered silence, Jayne hoped, fiercely clamping down on the stupid churning stirred by Baby’s intrusive presence. Dan was entitled to do whatever he wanted. She had claimed the same right. It was just that it was…demeaning to be replaced by some brainless bimbo.

‘How bad?’ came the serious question, his voice deeper, sharper, driving her wandering mind back to the horror of Monty’s grey face and stricken body. She desperately hoped the effects of the stroke would not last long. Monty was only in his fifties and one of the most vital people she had ever met.

‘I don’t know,’ she answered, her concern for him uppermost as she explained further. ‘He was still conscious and talking when he was taken to the hospital, but he’d lost control of his left side. He asked me to contact you. He said you’d take over the consultancy for him and fulfil the contract.’

There! It was all said now. How Dan reacted and responded was entirely up to him. She had done her part. Although a niggle of conscience told her she could do more. And should do more if more was needed to get Dan here. It was not only for Monty’s sake. Lin Zhiyong had to be satisfied, as well.

‘Give me your location and the name of the hospital.’

She complied with the demands, bridling at the thought that Dan intended to check the facts she had given him before making a decision. His next statement stunned her.

‘I’ll get there as soon as possible.’

For a moment, Jayne couldn’t take it in. Dan was coming. Just like that. Just as Monty said he would. The assurance should have lifted a huge burden off her shoulders but it didn’t. She felt the pressure of her mettle being tested, and Dan wasn’t even here yet. It took an enormous effort of willpower to rise above the uneasy prospect of coming face-to-face with him again and concentrate on the more immediate problems to be resolved.

‘How soon will that be?’ She was amazed at how matter-of-fact she sounded.

‘Mmmh…a little tricky. I was about to close a deal with Sheikh Omar El Talik, whom I don’t care to offend.’

He could offer Baby as a candidate for the sheikh’s harem, Jayne thought, then silently castigated herself for the shockingly sexist idea. She excused herself on the grounds that she needed Dan Drayton without any other ties. Monty needed him, she swiftly corrected, 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.