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“Yes. Like getting on with work,” Amy tersely reminded him.
“You might need help in shifting to a new apartment.”
“I like the apartment I’ve got, thank you.”
“Not a good idea, keeping it, Amy. Memories can be depressing. I realise shifting would be another upheaval you might not want to face right now, but a clean break is the best medicine. Gets rid of the hangover.”
“Well, I’m sure you’d know that, Jake,” she said with blistering sarcasm.
The acid didn’t make a dint. “I’ll help you,” he said, as though she’d conceded to his argument instead of commenting on his quick turnover in women.
“I don’t need your help.”
He smiled and blithely waved her protest aside. “Consider me family. It’s times like these that family bucks in and picks up the slack. Since I’m the closest thing you’ve got to family…”
“I do not…remotely…associate you…with family,” Amy stated emphatically.
“Well, yes…” One shoulder lifted and fell. Devilment danced into his eyes. “…That probably would be a bit incestuous, wouldn’t it?”
“What?” she squawked.
“I can’t lie to you, Amy,” he declared loftily. “What zips between you and me could not be called sisterly…or brotherly…or motherly…or fatherly.”
She flushed, biting her tongue so as not to invite more along this line.
“However, I am genuinely concerned about you,” he said, projecting such deep sincerity it swallowed up the devilment and threatened to suck Amy in right after it.
She fought fiercely for a bank of common sense, needing some safe ground between her and Jake Carter. The danger of him infiltrating her private life felt very acute and every instinct told her it wasn’t wise. He could badmouth Steve as much as he liked but was he any better? His record with women was hardly in his favour!
“I’ll ask around,” he burbled on. “Find you a nice apartment. Closer to work so you won’t have far to travel. Bondi Beach isn’t really suitable for you.”
“I like Bondi,” she protested.
He frowned at her. “Not good for a woman on her own. A lot of undesirables gather out there at weekends. You wouldn’t be safe going out at night without an escort.”
He had a point, but where was safe at night without an escort? Life without Steve was going to take some adjustment.
“Why not have a look around Balmoral if you want to live by a beach?” Jake suggested. “It’s a respectable area. Doesn’t draw any trouble.”
She rolled her eyes at him and his big ideas. “It’s also a very expensive area.”
“No more than Bondi. And being on the north side of the harbour, it’s much handier to Milsons Point. You won’t have to drive across the bridge to work.”
“I can’t afford it. I can’t afford where I am without a partner.”
“I said I was upping your salary. Let’s say another twenty percent. That should let you live decently.”
Amy’s mouth dropped open. Her mind flew wildly into calculation mode. “That’s more than Steve earns!”
He grinned. “You’re worth it. I’ll just go and ring a few estate agents I know. See what they can come up with. In the meantime, send these off.” He handed her the replies she’d printed out. “They’re all fine.”
He hitched himself off her desk and left her gaping after him like a goldfish caught in a bowl, looking out at a foreign world. Jake Carter had always been a shaker and a mover, but never before on her behalf. Was it out of concern for her or did he have other motives up his sleeve?
Amy ran her fingers through her hair, trying to steady the mad whirl in her mind. What could she believe as irrefutable fact? Both Jake and his sister were into gameplaying, scoring points. Nothing they said could be taken too seriously.
On the other hand, Jake always delivered what he promised. He wouldn’t backtrack on the money. Her salary would now be more than she’d ever dreamed of earning, putting her on a financial level where she was truly independent. Which meant she had options she didn’t have before.
A grin broke across her face.
Such a large salary would certainly make her life considerably brighter and it was wonderful to be valued so highly. This morning she’d felt her future had fallen into a black hole, but it wasn’t true. There was life after Steve. And she was going to make the most of it, thanks to Jake.
Though if her devious boss was thinking he could attach personal strings to that big hunk of money he’d just handed her, he could think again!
CHAPTER SIX (#ulink_f689e64b-202a-55a8-b458-982601789732)
AMY had just finished filing copies of the letters she’d sent when Jake erupted into her office.
“Grab your handbag,” he commanded. “We’re off.”
“Where to?”
“I’ll explain on the way.” He checked his watch as he crossed her office to the door. “We’ve got precisely twenty-five minutes to make the rendezvous.”
Amy grabbed her handbag and scooted after him.
Jake had the door open for her. She strode into the corridor and summoned the elevator, glad they were going to be involved in some outside activity. Jake would be busy with other people who would take his focus off her and she could get back to feeling relatively normal in his company again.
She always enjoyed these meetings with clients, watching Jake work his brand of magic on them. “Who’s the target?” she asked as they stepped into the elevator together.
“Not who. What,” he said enigmatically, pressing the ground floor button.
“A new boat?”
He shot her a look of exasperation as the elevator descended. “We do not deal in boats, Amy. Only in yachts,” he reminded her.
“Sorry. Slip of the tongue.”
“Watch it,” he advised darkly. “I want my P.A. to impress the man we’re going to meet.”
“What’s his name?”
“Ted Durkin of Durkin and Harris. Big property dealers.”
The name meant nothing to her but clearly it was well known to Jake. The elevator opened onto the re-ception area before she had time to question him. Jake steered her out and pointed her to the stairwell that led down to the back of the building where he parked his car in a private yard reserved for himself and clients.
“Kate,” he called to his front woman, “we’re out of the office. Take messages.”
“When will you be back?”
“Don’t know. If it’s anything urgent I can be reached on my mobile.”
He hurried Amy down the stairs and outside, using the remote button on his key to unlock the BMW M3 supercar which he currently fancied. Amy headed for the passenger side of the two-door coupe. Haste precluded courtesy. They both took their seats and Jake handed her a folded piece of notepaper as he switched on the ignition.
“What’s this?”
“Where we’re going. Better get out the Gregory’s Street Directory and navigate for me. Haven’t got time for wrong turns. I’m right to Military Road. After that, you direct me.”
She extracted the guide book from the glove box and settled back for the ride. The scribbled list on the notepaper did not enlighten her as to their destination. In fact, it looked as though Jake had picked up the wrong sheet. What was written appeared to be information about a woman.
Her mouth curled. It seemed he did research on them, as well. “This says, ‘Estelle, 26, 8, no smoking, no pets, no WP…”’
“Wild parties,” Jake elaborated. “The address is 26 Estelle Road, Balmoral. Apartment 8. The rest are the conditions for rental.”
Amy’s sardonic humour dried up. Her heart per-formed a double loop. She waited until it settled back into seminormal rhythm, counting to ten in the meantime. “I take it this is for me,” she said as calmly as she could.
“If you like it and if we can swing it.”
“Jake, this is not your business.” He’d been en-croaching on her private life all morning. She had to put a stop to it before it got completely out of hand.
“I said I’d look into it for you,” he replied, unshaken from his purpose.
“You said you’d make some calls, not escort me to view places during business hours. I cannot accept…”
“It’s almost the lunch hour,” he reasoned. “You’re always obliging about working overtime in emergencies. The least I can do is this small favour in return.”
“This is not an emergency, Jake,” she argued, barely holding on to her temper. “I can look for an apartment—if I want to move from the one at Bondi—in my own time.”
He frowned at her. “Why are you nit-picking? There’s no harm in looking at a place you might like. It could be the ideal change for you.”
Amy stubbornly stuck to her guns. “You could have given me the address and…”
“No good! You need me with you for this one. I’m your reference. I pressured Ted into showing it to you ahead of his listing it and he’s on his way there now to meet us. He’s a handy business contact, Amy. I wouldn’t like to waste his time.”
She heaved an exasperated sigh, accepting she’d been outmanoeuvred. He was her boss. It would be wrong for her to mess with his contacts. But a stand had to be taken. She didn’t want him pulling strings on her behalf, entangling her in them without her knowledge or permission.
“You should have discussed it with me first. I haven’t made up my mind on this.” And she hated the feeling of being steam-rollered by Jake.
“There’s no obligation to take it. Sounded like a great deal for you, though. Worth seeing if it’s as good as Ted says. And I might add, he’s proved spot-on in his advice to me in the past.”
“What’s so great about it?” she demanded tersely.
“Location for a start. Ted reckoned it was a pearl for the rent being asked.”
“How much?”
He rolled out a sum that was only marginally lower than the rent for the Bondi apartment. Even with her new salary, it would take a bigger chunk of her income than she felt was reasonable for her.
“Ted told me it could command a much higher rent,” Jake burbled on. “But the owner’s fussy about getting the right tenant in and has scaled the rent to suit. The apartment was recently purchased and is in the process of being refurbished. The owner doesn’t want any damage to it, so…”
“No smoking, no pets, no wild parties.” Amy looked at the list again. “What does ‘SCW’ stand for?”
“Single career woman. Someone who respects property and has a tidy mind.” Jake flashed her a teasing smile. “I said you fitted the bill. Never met a woman more intent on keeping things in order.”
Including you, Amy thought darkly. He was such a tempting devil, too attractive for his own good, and he thought he could charm his way into anything. Not my life, she fiercely resolved. It was bad enough being dumped by Steve. If she let Jake get too close to her, she had a terrible suspicion he had the power to steal her soul. Then where would she be?
Every self-protective instinct screamed alarm in his presence and today the scream was louder than ever. Raw and vulnerable from the weekend’s revelations, Amy admitted to herself she was frightened of Jake slipping past her guard, frightened of the consequences. She fretted over the knowledge he now shared that Steve couldn’t be used as a barrier between them anymore.
Though that wasn’t entirely right.
Steve had been much more to her than a barrier against Jake.
Much more, she insisted to herself.
She opened the Gregory’s Street Directory and started plotting their course to Estelle Street, trying her utmost to ignore the man beside her. His power was threatening to swamp her; powerful masculinity, powerful car, powerful friends, and they were all being used on her. Or so it felt.
We’ve got Amy Taylor right where we want her.
Not precisely.
A bit of manoeuvring.
The provocative words clicked through her mind again, conjuring up another scenario. An apartment in Balmoral was Jake’s idea. He’d given her a raise in salary so she could afford it. He’d found one for her, supposedly to order. He’d tricked her into his car so he could take her there, pressured her with the importance of a business contact.
Was it some kind of put-up job between him and his friendly property dealer, Ted Durkin?
But why?
What good would it do Jake to have her in Balmoral?
He was screwing her up again.
The only way to be sure of anything was to thwart him by making her own decisions her own way. In the meantime she’d play along like a good little girl. Which meant giving directions from the directory.
Amy had never lived on the north side of Sydney and didn’t know the Middle Harbour area at all. Her only previous reference to Balmoral was an interview she’d read about a TV celebrity who lived there and loved it. Which undoubtedly meant it was very classy. And expensive. Any place on the harbour was expensive.
Having found Estelle Street on the map, Amy stared at its location with a sense of disbelief. It was only one block back from The Esplanade which ran around the beach. It faced onto a park that extended to The Esplanade, giving residents a view of greenery, as well an uninterrupted vista of the water beyond it. This had to be a prime location.
She frowned over the rental Jake had mentioned. It was steep for her to pay alone, but it had to be amazingly cheap for an apartment on this street. Even the most run-down place would surely command double that amount, and Jake had said it was being refurbished.
“This doesn’t make sense,” she muttered.
“What?” Jake inquired.
“I’ve found Estelle Street. It’s almost on the beach. The property there has got to be million dollar stuff. Even with the strict rules, the owner could ask a really high rent.”
Jake must have made some under-the-table arrangement with Ted Durkin. She just didn’t trust this sequence of events. Or coincidences.
“I did tell you Ted said it was a bargain. For the right person,” Jake reminded her. “There is the catch of the six months’ lease,” he added in the throwaway tone of an afterthought. “But even if this is only a stopgap place for you…”
