SECRETS

Sarah was torn between wanting to tell him where to put his deal and not wanting him to see more of this vulnerable side of hers. She could agree to the charade verbally but he could hardly hold her to anything without having her sign something.

'‘I’ll go with you to the hospital because I’ve always liked your father. That’s if you think he’d like to see me?’'

'‘He would like to see you,’' Sarah said and wiped off her tears .

Drake searched through the papers on his desk for something, muttering a curse word in the process.

'‘Is this what you’re looking for?'’ Sarah handed him the pages that had fallen from his desk. He probably thought he picked all but he didn't.

He took it from her and, reaching for a pen, slid them in front of her on the desk. '‘Sign here.’'

She ignored the pen and met his steely gaze. ‘'Do we have to do it now? my father is—'’

'‘Sign it.’'

Drake could feel her will preparing for battle. Her spine stiffened to concrete, her jaw set to stone and her gaze sent a round of fire at his. ‘'I’m not signing it unless you give me time to read it.’'

'‘Damn it, Sarah, there isn’t time,'’ Drake said, slamming his hand down on the desk. ‘'I need to see to your father quickly . Trust me, okay? Just for once in your life trust me. I can’t let your Padre down. I can’t let you fail him. He’s depending on you to get him through this. Along with Ben’s medical supplies , I’ll pay you a lump sum of ten million too.’'

Sarah’s eyebrows shot up so high she thought they might hit the light fitting above her head. '‘Ten...million?’'

The line of his mouth was white-tight. '‘If you don’t sign in the next five seconds the deal is off. Permanently.’'

Sarah took the pen from him, his fingers brushing hers in the exchange, sending a riot of fiery sensations from her fingertips to her feminine core. The pen was still warm from where he’d been holding it. She remembered all too well his warmth. The way it lit the wick of her desire like a match on dry tinder. She could feel the smouldering of his touch moving through her body, awakening sensual memories.

Memories she had tried so hard to suppress.

She took a shaky breath and ran her gaze over the document. It was reasonably straightforward: three years of sponsorship for Ben and giving her a lump sum of ten million on signing. While it annoyed her he’d used money as a lure, she realised it was the primary language he spoke. Money was his mother tongue, not Italian. Well, she could learn to speak Money too. Ten million was a lot of money. She will start a business and be successful in her business but with ten million in her bank account she could expand in every area of her life .

But then she realised how trapped she would be once she signed that agreement. She would have to spend three months with Drake . She needed time to think about this. She had rushed into a relationship with him in the past. How foolish would it be to rush into this without proper and careful consideration? She left the document unsigned and pushed it and the pen back to him. ‘'I need a couple of days to think about this. It’s a lot of money and... I need more time.’'

He showed no emotion on his face, which surprised her given how insistent he had been moments earlier. But maybe behind that masked expression he was already planning another tactic to force her to comply with his will. ‘'We will discuss this further after we’ve been to the hospital.’ He put the paper under a paperweight and, picking up her overnight bag, ushered her out of his office.

" I will sign now" Sarah said with so much confidence as she took a pen on his table

" Here" he placed the contract in front of her watching her sign

He worked her through the door then spoke a few quick words to his secretary Ellen, explaining what was happening, and Ellen expressed her concern and assured him she would take care of everything back here at the office. Sarah felt a twinge of jealousy at the way the young woman seemed to be such an integral part of the business. She wondered what had happened to the receptionist who had worked for him during their days of dating. Drake liked surrounding himself with beautiful women and they didn’t come more beautiful than Ellen, who looked as if she’d just stepped out of a photo shoot.

Sarah waited until they were in Drake’s car and on their way to the hospital before she brought up the subject. ‘What happened to your other receptionist,Benice?’

'‘I fired her.’'

She rounded her eyes in surprise. She’d thought his relationship with the middle-aged Benice had been excellent. She’d often heard him describe Bernice as the backbone of the business and how he would be lost without her. Why on earth would he have fired her? ‘Really? Why?’

He worked his way through the gears with an almost savage intensity. ‘She overstepped the mark. I fired her. End of story.’

'‘Overstepped it in what way?’'

He sent her a speaking glance. ‘'Could we leave this until another time?’'

Sarah bit her lip. ‘I’m sorry."

"It is fine.'’

There was a long silence.

‘He’s all I have,’ Sarah said in the same hollow-sounding voice she’d used back in his office. '‘I’m not ready to lose him.’'

He wanted to reach for her hand or to put his hand on her thigh the way he used to do, but instead he kept to her side of the car. She probably wouldn’t welcome his comfort or she might push her away, which would be even worse. He did not want to pass the wrong message too.

'‘You still have your dad, don’t you?’' she said.

‘No.’ He made another gear change. ‘He died. Car crash. He was driving under the influence and killed himself and his new girlfriend and seriously injured a couple and their two children travelling in the other car.’He spoke like he had no emotion

‘I’m so sorry...’ Sarah said. ‘I didn’t know that.’

It pained her to think Drake had gone through such a tragic loss since she’d left and she’d known nothing about it. She hadn’t even sent a card or flowers. Had he kept his dad’s death out of the press? Not that she went looking for news about Drake and his family...well, not unless she’d had one too many glasses of wine late at night when she was feeling particularly lonely and miserable.

He shrugged off her sympathy. ‘He was on a fast track to disaster from the moment my mother died when I was a child. Without her steadying influence he was a train wreck waiting to happen.’

Sarah had rarely heard Drake mention his mother’s death. It was something he never spoke of, even in passing. But she knew his relationship with his father had never truly recovered after his father was charged with fraud when Drake was barely out of his teens. The shame on the family’s name and the reputation of the bespoke furniture business had been hard to come back from, but coming back from it had been Drake's blood, sweat and tears mission and he had done it, building the company into a global success.

‘I guess not everyone gets to have a father-of-the-year dad,’ she said, sighing as he turned into the entrance of the hospital. ‘Both of us lucked out on that one.’

Drake had pulled into a parking spot and glanced at her again with a frown. ‘What do you mean? You’ve got a great dad. Daniel’s one of the most decent, hardworking men I’ve ever met.’

Sarah wanted to kick herself. She even lifted one foot to do it, welcoming the stab of pain from her high heel because she was a fool to let her guard slip. A damn fool.

‘Yes...yes, I know. He’s wonderful...even since the divorce he still makes an effort to—’

‘Then why say something like that? He’ll always be your dad even though he’s divorced from your mother.’

‘Forget I said it. I... I wasn’t thinking.’ Sarah hated that she sounded so flustered and hoped he’d put it down to the emotion of her seeing her father under such tense and potentially tragic circumstances. She had a feeling if she hadn’t been in such a rush to see her father before the surgery he might well have pushed her to explain herself a little more. It was a reprieve, but how long before he came back to it with his dog-with-a-bone determination?

It was a timely reminder she would have to be careful around Drake. He knew her in a way few people did. He knew her body like a maestro did an instrument. He knew her moods, her likes and dislikes, her tendency to use her sharp tongue as a weapon when she got cornered.

He didn’t know her shameful secret , but how soon before he made it his business to find.