give it away to relatives.’
‘Oh, dear,’ she said, embarrassed. ‘I suppose it’s because I told him about paying for Timmy’s operation.’
‘No. He didn’t mention anything specific. Who’s Timmy?’
‘My sister’s little boy. She’s a single mum and doesn’t have any private health insurance. Timmy needed his tonsils out but would have had to wait eighteen months to have it done. She couldn’t afford the operation so I paid for it to be done privately.’
‘I see,’ he said, his tone sceptical.
A degree of anger pushed aside Abby’s embarrassment. ‘Please don’t think my sister’s a user because she’s not. She’s doing the best she can under the circumstances. Megan didn’t ask me to pay for Timmy’s operation. That was my idea. She won’t come and live with me, even though I said she wouldn’t have to pay any rent. Your uncle got the wrong idea.’
‘Possibly, but that’s irrelevant now. I have no alternative but to follow through with Craig’s dying wishes. He was most specific in his letter about what he wanted me to buy for you. A new car is the first cab off the rank. Then he wants me to give you twenty-five thousand dollars. For your travel fund, he said.’
Abby’s mouth dropped open. ‘Twenty-five thousand! But…but that’s way too much. What will people think?’
‘Who cares what they think?’ came his arrogantly dismissive comment. ‘And who are they?’
‘My sister for starters. She’ll think I’ve done something I shouldn’t have with your uncle to get him to leave me all that money.’
‘Really. Such as what?’
‘You know what,’ Abby shot back.
‘True,’ he said drily. ‘In that case I suggest you don’t tell her about your unexpected windfall.’
Abby gave a snorting laugh. ‘Hard to hide a brand-new car.’
‘True again. So what do you want me to do, Abby? Go against my uncle’s wishes? Forget everything?’
She looked at him with pained eyes. ‘I couldn’t do that. I don’t care so much about the new car, but I couldn’t turn down the travel fund money. It’s my dearest wish to go overseas and see the world. And I’d like to go before I get too old.’
Jake laughed. ‘You’re hardly ancient, Abby.’
‘I might be by the time I save up twenty-five thousand dollars.’
He seemed startled by this statement. ‘Do I pay you that poorly?’
‘No. But I have a house and a lot of bills.’ And the remainder of a debt for porcelain veneers.
Jake frowned. ‘You have a mortgage?’
‘No. My husband’s life insurance paid that off. But I still have a lot of bills. Maintaining a house is expensive.’
‘Tell me about it,’ he said with the first hint of a smile that day. He really wasn’t much of a smiler. Not with her, anyway. He smiled on television a lot though. Abby wished he would smile more. It really transformed his face from cardboard handsome into a likeable human being.
Unfortunately, his smile also did things to Abby which she was finding hard to process. Her stomach curled over and she found herself staring at his mouth and thinking totally unacceptable things. Like what would it be like to be kissed by him? And not just on her mouth.
Lord, but this wasn’t like her. She didn’t even enjoy sex that much, unlike her sister, who couldn’t live without it. Sex with Wayne had been okay, but nothing to write home about. She’d done it whenever he wanted, more for him than herself, because she’d loved him so much. In her mind, making love was a natural part of loving. Of marriage. She’d never been into sex for sex’s sake.
Why then was she looking at her boss and thinking that here was a man who just might change her mind on that subject?
Not that she’d ever have the chance to find out. Not only did he have a gorgeous girlfriend but he was totally off-limits. He was her boss, for heaven’s sake! On top of that, he clearly didn’t fancy her. A girl knew when a man fancied her and Jake definitely didn’t.
Her eyes dropped from his to her near empty coffee cup.
‘I’m still finding it hard to believe all this,’ she said, glancing up again once she had her wayward thoughts under control. ‘In one way it’s like a dream come true. But I still can’t get over your uncle dying like that. And all alone.’
‘Indeed,’ Jake said, that hint of a smile disappearing as quickly as it had come. ‘I’ve been thinking,’ he went on, his face very businesslike again. ‘I’ll put next Saturday aside so that I can take you to visit Craig’s grave in the morning, then we’ll go on and buy you a car afterwards. It’s not far from Rookwood Cemetery out to the major dealerships at Parramatta. Do you trust me to pick out a car for you, or do you want to choose one yourself?’
‘Well, I… I don’t know,’ she stammered, startled by how quickly he wanted to organise everything. ‘I’m not much of a car buff. But if it’s going to be mine I think I would like to look up a few possibilities on the internet.’
‘It’s a good idea to buy something that is cheap to repair,’ he advised firmly. ‘I would suggest you look at the Japanese cars. Or the Korean ones.’
‘All right,’ she agreed. He seemed to know what he was talking about, whereas she was pretty ignorant when it came to cars.
‘And what bank account would you like the twenty-five thousand put into? The same one your salary goes into, or do you want to start up a special travel fund account?’
Abby was taken by surprise when her chin began to quiver. But really today had all been a bit much.
‘Don’t you dare start crying again,’ he commanded.
Abby bit her bottom lip and blinked madly.
‘Sorry,’ she muttered through gritted teeth. ‘I’m not usually a cry baby.’ Which was true. Nowadays, Abby kept her emotions under tight control. There had been a time when she’d cried too much. And too often. But no longer.
Lifting her chin, she speared her boss with a dry-eyed and rather rebellious glare.
‘Good,’ Jake snapped, making Abby want to hit him. How on earth she could have been sexually attracted to this man—even for a moment—was beyond her.
‘You should go home,’ he went on in that same brusque manner. ‘You look tired. Ring me when you’ve decided on the brand of car and we’ll make arrangements for Saturday. You can tell me then what account you want the money put into.’
‘All right. Bye then,’ Abby went on rather sharply, gathering up her things and taking off before she could say or do something which might jeopardise her job. Or Craig’s remarkable legacies.
She almost slammed the front door, just getting control of her temper in time. She did slam the door
