always were.’
‘If you think that after you…’ She stopped, appalled at having been goaded so far.
‘Do go on, Jayne,’ he invited silkily. ‘You hold me fascinated. Are you implying that marriage to me put you off men altogether?’
No. There simply hadn’t been anyone with Dan’s sexual magnetism. Not for her. Dressed in a formal dinner suit, as he was tonight, he was as lethally attractive as ever, and Jayne was swamped with the feeling she would never really want any other man.
The reverse obviously wasn’t true for Dan. She reminded herself forcefully of that by looking straight at the child he’d had with another woman. ‘Where’s the baby’s mother?’ she asked point-blank. If he wanted to talk lovers, let him answer to her!
‘She died soon after Baby was born.’
Jayne’s fire wilted. ‘I’m sorry.’ The words tripped out automatically, with no real sincerity. She was plunged into a state of confusion, pain mixed with relief, guilt, shame…
Here was a little baby girl, robbed of her mother virtually from birth. It was terribly, terribly wrong to feel glad the woman was permanently out of Dan’s life. It wasn’t as if she wanted to resume life with Dan, certainly not on the same terms as before. Besides, for all she knew, he could have formed another relationship by now. There might be more babies on the way!
This one didn’t look uncared for. In fact she was beautifully, lovingly dressed in festival clothes. She wore a gold silk tunic with a little Mandarin collar. Underneath it were long pants in scarlet silk. There were beaded gold slippers on her tiny feet and scarlet ribbons tied around her head. She appeared to be as much adored and cherished as Chinese babies were by their parents.
‘Do you have someone to help look after the baby?’ Jayne asked, pursuing her thoughts to their logical end.
‘No. I do it myself.’
‘Everything?’ Jayne’s eyes flew up to his in sceptical amazement.
‘Do you find something wrong with that, Jayne?’
It wasn’t what most men would do. But then, Dan had never been like most men. He was a law unto himself and the only way to deal with him, live with him, was on his terms.
‘I didn’t think you’d take a child this young into the field with you when you’re planting explosives,’ she answered.
‘Why not?’
‘Because it’s dangerous.’
‘Not with me.’
‘The noise…’
‘Baby likes big booms, don’t you, sweetheart?’
‘Boom-boom,’ the baby crowed back at him, clapping her hands as a chorus.
Jayne gave up the unwinnable argument and resumed walking, mortified at the thought that Lin Zhiyong had probably witnessed that incautious little scene. She fiercely vowed she would not be trapped into any more personal conversation. There was nothing to be gained by it and it only inflamed the heartburn that was eroding the composure it was vitally important for her to keep.
Dan wasn’t about to change his rootless way of life. He was even bringing up his child to accept it as normal, carting her with him everywhere as though she didn’t need anything but him. If she didn’t, it made nonsense of Jayne’s contention that children required a proper home base to give them a sense of security. Was Dan proving a point to her? Was that why he had come?
She mentally shook her head. It was far too extreme, even for Dan, to fly from Morocco to China to show her she was wrong. An infant didn’t prove his case anyhow. Wait until Baby reached school age and see how she liked an ever-changing environment!
Dan had to intend taking up Monty’s contract. Jayne felt compelled to pin him down to some firm decision before the competitor for his services arrived. It would not favour her position if Dan appeared to be weighing one offer against another in front of Lin Zhiyong.
‘Monty told me you visited him this afternoon,’ she began.
‘Yes. He was able to curl his left fingers around Baby’s hand. It’s a good sign for recovery.’
‘The doctors say his progress is very promising. He’s well enough now to be flown home to Australia but he wants to settle everything with you first. Do you see some problem with fulfilling the contract?’
‘No.’
‘Monty said you deferred discussing it until tomorrow.’
‘I like to scout a deal before committing myself to it.’
‘What do you need to scout? You said the job was simple.’
‘Other things aren’t so simple.’
‘For example?’
‘Don’t push me, Jayne.’ The warning was spoken in a low, harsh tone. ‘I’ll do what I choose to do in my own time.’
It wasn’t easy to quell her vexation at his elu-siveness but she knew the warning was not an idle one. Persistence would irritate him, any attempt at persuasion would be treated with scorn, and she didn’t have the power to seduce him from his self-set course, She had become bitterly resigned to that last fact before she had made the decision to leave him two years ago.
Their path had circumnavigated the pond and was now approaching one end of the bridge. Jayne looked toward the pavilion where most of the guests had gathered to enjoy the refreshments laid out for them. She didn’t want to join them, not while she was still riven with uncertainty about Dan’s intentions. She would probably choke on the moon cakes she would feel obliged to eat, especially since they were a symbol of reunion.
This meeting with Dan could hardly be classed as a reunion!
She felt sick with tension. Nothing was how she had expected it to be. She was sure she would have coped much better if Dan had been with another woman. That would have killed off any personal element straight away.
The baby really hurt. Dan as a devoted father hurt more. If she had stayed with him…no, she couldn’t start thinking that. She had achieved something for herself over the past two years and she would not let Dan diminish that now. It was important to her to have an identity of her own, to know she was worth something by herself. Although the way things were going, Dragon Lady might very well end up a big fizzle this evening.
Baby pointed up to the full moon that was now dominating the clear evening sky and spurted forth a babble of baby pleasure that brought Dan to an attentive halt. He smiled indulgently at her, then turned his gaze to the object of her delight.
‘If you look hard enough you’ll see the lady in the moon,’ he crooned softly.
‘The man,’ Jayne corrected, reacting sharply to being shut out of their closeness.
Dan slowly turned his head and looked at her with heart-twisting derision. ‘You’re in China, Jayne. Don’t you know the old Chinese legend?’
Wherever
