To Have A Husband

Harrie gave him a frowning look beneath lowered dark lashes; he made those ‘three daughters’ sound like hellions! Something she knew they most certainly were not!

‘But a lot of fun and happiness, too,’ Rome added affectionately.

‘Mmm,’ Quinn agreed distractedly, still moving restlessly about the room. ‘My sister married five years ago, but unfortunately her husband died of cancer two years later. Corinne was, naturally, devastated,’ he murmured heavily. ‘She was inconsolable for the first year after Paul died. And then, when she finally felt able to look at the world again, she—she made a mistake,’ he added firmly, looking challengingly across the room as he did so.

For her own part, he could have saved himself the trouble, Harrie puzzled thoughtfully; she was no nearer knowing what point he was trying to make than she had been when she’d arrived a few minutes ago for this meeting! Although she very much doubted that Rome, despite his encouragingly friendly expression, was as uninformed…

‘It happens to the best of us,’ Rome conceded gently.

Quinn McBride’s mouth set grimly. ‘Not to the woman who is about to marry the MP tipped to be a future prime minister of the country!’

Corinne Westley, Harrie suddenly realised dazedly; Quinn’s sister was Corinne Westley. Up till now she’d been going on the surname McBride, which had totally thrown her, but Corinne’s previous marriage now explained that mistake.

Corinne Westley… Tall, beautiful, blonde, elegant, engaged to marry the MP, David Hampton. The wedding was to take place later in the summer, and her photograph, usually at some charity occasion or a political function, appeared in the tabloids nowadays almost as much as the equally elegant and beautiful Princess Diana had once done.

And a reporter working on Rome’s newspaper had uncovered some sort of scandal involving the beautiful Corinne that could bring all of that particular castle tumbling to the ground…

No wonder Quinn McBride was worried! Although, in the circumstances, she didn’t know what he expected Rome to do about it.

‘Why don’t you sit down again, Quinn?’ Rome invited smoothly. ‘I’ll have some fresh tea sent in.’ He picked up the telephone and rang down in the kitchen. ‘And then you can explain all this to us quietly and calmly.’

Harrie could see by Quinn McBride’s momentarily irritated expression that he was about to argue the point, that he already considered he was discussing all of this ‘quietly and calmly’! And then he obviously thought better of it, sitting back in the chair he had so recently vacated, staring rigidly out of the window as Rome dealt with the ordering of the fresh pot of tea.

It gave Harrie chance to study the younger man further. At thirty-nine, he was ten years her senior, but she could see from the faint sprinkling of grey in the dark hair at his temples, the lines beside his nose and mouth, that those ten years hadn’t been easy ones. And, from the sound of it, the reasons for that were understandable; Quinn McBride had had the onerous burden of responsibility thrust upon him at a very young age, both for his younger sister and, even more heavily, as chairman of a bank. His own youth had probably been put permanently on hold!

She reached out impulsively and lightly touched his arm as it rested on the side of the chair. ‘I’m sure Rome will help sort this out,’ she assured him softly; underneath all that money and power, she knew that Rome was really a softie at heart.

Aqua-blue eyes were turned to her glacially. ‘Unfortunately, this isn’t something that can be “sorted out” by the gift of a diamond bracelet, or the promise of a weekend in Paris,’ Quinn answered her contemptuously.

Harrie pulled her hand away from his arm so quickly it was as if she had been burnt. She’d been right about him earlier; he did think she was Rome’s mistress. And a very shallow one at that!

She looked at Quinn with narrowed green eyes, back in her role of lawyer now, deeply regretting her completely feminine reaction to his obvious worry concerning his sister. ‘The price of happiness comes a little higher than that nowadays,’ she bit out harshly.

Those aqua-blue eyes also narrowed. ‘I’ve heard something similar to that once before today…’ he murmured in a puzzled voice.

Harrie’s gaze didn’t waver. ‘If your attitude continues to be as unyielding as it appears to be today, my guess is you’re going to hear it a lot more in the future, too!’ she told him scornfully.

His mouth thinned angrily. ‘I—’

‘Tea will be here directly,’ Rome put in cheerfully. ‘I don’t suppose you would like to join us for dinner this evening, Quinn?’ he pressed lightly.

Harrie turned to him with accusing eyes. Quinn McBride, despite his obvious genuine love and concern for his sister, was one of the rudest most arrogant men Harrie had ever met—and that was saying something! The last thing she wanted at this moment was the anticipation of having to sit down to dinner with him this evening too!

Quinn’s mouth twisted ruefully. ‘Perhaps you should wait and hear the rest of what I have to say before making such an invitation,’ he drawled mockingly.

Rome laughed softly. ‘I doubt that will make the slightest difference,’ he assured, obviously enjoying the other man’s company despite the gravity of the situation Quinn wanted to discuss with him.

Quinn gave an inclination of his head. ‘Nevertheless, I think—’

‘Ah, tea,’ Rome said with satisfaction as, after the briefest of knocks, the door opened. ‘Delivered by the beautiful Audrey, no less!’ He smiled his thanks to the other woman as he moved to take the laden tray from her.

Audrey Archer, forty-two years of age, petite and blonde, and undoubtedly beautiful, had been Rome’s secretary and assistant for the last twelve years—and her slightly exasperated glance in Rome’s direction as he took the tray from her unresisting hands showed she wasn’t in the least impressed by his flattery. Flannel, Audrey called it. And she was undoubtedly right!

But at least the light-hearted incident had diverted the attention for a few minutes, giving Harrie time to recover from the insult Quinn McBride had delivered to her without so much as a second’s hesitation. He’d obviously summed up not only her, but also what he believed to be the situation between Rome and herself. Pompous ass! she inwardly repeated her earlier summing up of him.

She rejoined the conversation to find that Rome had introduced Audrey to Quinn McBride, but also to hear Rome inform Audrey to tell Cook there would be one more for dinner. Obviously Quinn McBride was staying whether he wanted to or not!

‘Leave the number for dinner as it is, Audrey,’ she told the other woman pleasantly. ‘I have to go back to town in a couple of hours,’ she explained at Rome’s questioning look.

She noticed there was no such look from Quinn McBride, the mockery of his gaze telling her he knew exactly why she was leaving earlier than obviously expected—and that he was amused by the fact!

Whereas Rome didn’t look at all pleased by her change of plan. ‘You made no mention of that this morning,’ he bit out, giving her a frowning look.

Harrie decided he could frown all he liked; she would not subject herself to any more of Quinn McBride’s insulting company than she had to. And for the moment she’d no choice but to sit out the rest of this meeting, but this evening, she considered, was her own time, and she would spend it how she wanted to—and that most assuredly did not include being in Quinn McBride’s arrogant company!

She shrugged unconcernedly. ‘I’m sure you’ll cope without me,’ she mocked lightly.

‘That’s hardly the point,’ Rome bit out impatiently. ‘You—’

‘Andie is feeling a little better now, Rome,’ Audrey cut in smoothly. ‘I said you would probably pop up later,’ she added in parting.

‘Half an hour or so,’ Rome promised in a pleased voice.

From the abrupt change in Rome’s mood at the mention of Andie’s recovery, Harrie knew Audrey had succeeded in what she had set out to do—namely divert Rome’s displeasure away from Harrie. She turned to give Audrey a grateful smile before the other woman left the room, receiving a conspiratorial one back before Audrey closed the door softly behind her.

But Harrie’s smile faded as she turned back to find Quinn McBride watching her with narrowed eyes, obviously well aware of the silent exchange between the two women—and as obviously drawing his own conclusions!

Well, let him; she wasn’t answerable to him or anyone else for anything she did or said! Although Rome’s next comment wasn’t conducive to that impression!

‘Would you like to pour the tea while Quinn and I continue our discussion?’ he invited distractedly, his thoughts having already returned to the matter in hand. ‘You were about to tell us about your sister’s “mistake”,’ he prompted softly.

Quinn McBride looked grim once again. ‘I don’t think I was about to go that far,’ he bit out curtly. ‘It’s enough that the mistake was made, without going into the details. It’s this reporter’s reaction to the knowledge of it that is really the point at issue,’ he added harshly. ‘I—ugh!’ He grimaced his distaste after distractedly taking a swallow of the tea Harrie had just poured for him.

In the absence of any preference from him as to how he liked his tea, Harrie had added milk and two sugars before placing the cup of tea on the table in front of him.

‘Too sweet?’ she prompted too ‘sweetly’ herself!

He carefully put the delicate china cup back down onto its matching saucer before turning to look at her. ‘For future reference—I do not take sugar in either tea or coffee,’ he bit out grimly.

For ‘future reference’, she had no intention of ever pouring him either brew ever again!

Rome’s narrowed gaze in her direction was sternly disapproving, bringing an end to her mental berating of the man who was fast becoming more than just an irritation. ‘Please—take mine.’ She held out a second, as yet untouched, cup to him. ‘And for your future reference, I don’t take sugar in tea or coffee, either,’ she added pleasantly, knowing by his throaty chuckle that Rome, at least, wasn’t fooled for a moment by that pleasantness.

‘I’ll bear that in mind,’ Quinn McBride acknowledged dryly before turning back to the older man. ‘Did you know that at least one reporter on your newspaper isn’t averse to using blackmail in exchange for information?’

Harrie was stunned by the question, although, having come to know a little of Quinn McBride in the last fifteen minutes or so, not nearly so much so by the bluntness with which it was made!

Blackmail…? What on earth was he talking about?