the telephone on his desk was ringing and he quickly crossed the room then lifted the receiver to his ear.
“Mike Conway.”
He was surprised when Rebecca’s voice came down the line as he had recently left her at the hotel.
“You can call your watchdog off Mike, he’s wasting his time and the firm’s money,” she stated, and his eyebrows rose in astonishment. “I left the hotel by another entrance that you didn’t have staked out.” There was an ominous silence for a moment and when she continued. There was a warning tone to her voice. “I’ll allow you this one mistake Mike, don’t make another one.”
Once again, the line went dead. He was becoming accustomed to that occurring by this time.
Mike sank into the executive chair behind his desk as he placed the receiver onto its cradle and smiled in admiration at her actions.
He would have to stop thinking of her as an unsophisticated girl. That was one smart woman on the other end of that telephone line, and he fully intended to heed her warning. There would be no more tricks.
Obviously, she had been aware of the security officer he had placed in front of the hotel with orders to follow her if or when she left the hotel.
His laugh echoed around the office. She had sure taught him how the game was played, and he idly wondered who had taught her how to remain anonymous. Whoever it was, they had taught her well.
His laughter disappeared as he picked the telephone up and punched in the numbers that would connect him with Dominic’s office. What he was about to do was no laughing matter.
It was bad enough that he had made arrangements for a meeting between Dominic and Rebecca that Dominic knew nothing about, now he was about to drag Meg into the conspiracy as well.
But he had no choice. Meg was the only person who could clear Dominic’s calendar for the following day and ensure that he was in his office in the morning. Although that would not be hard to arrange, he acknowledged in despair. He practically lived there anyway.
“Dominic Farrell’s office.” Meg’s voice interrupted his thoughts.
“It’s Mike,” he announced. “And before you ask why I’m calling you on the phone and not using the intercom it’s because this conversation is strictly between you and me.”
He grimaced when he heard her suck in a sharp breath.
“You mean private from Nick?” she gasped incredulously.
“Especially from him,” he stated firmly then emphasized the point he was making. “Nick’s the last person I want to know about this call.”
Meg almost fell off her chair in shock. In the ten years the three of them had been working together, they had never kept any secrets from Dominic, and he had never hidden anything from them.
He had even confided in them about his crazy plan to acquire a son and heir without bothering to fall in love with a woman before he married her. He had ignored them both when they had advised him not to do it.
Mike took a deep breath. He knew he was about to give Meg the shock of her life, which seemed fair to him. After all, he had received the shock of his life when Rebecca had called him yesterday.
“I want you to cancel all his appointments for tomorrow but don’t let him know that you’ve done it,” he ordered and heard her suck in a surprised breath.
For a moment he felt sorry for the series of shocks she was about to experience. If she thought she was surprised now, she should wait until she heard what else he intended to tell her in a moment.
“Have you been drinking?” Meg demanded suspiciously.
It was the only reason she could think of for his absurd behavior. Either that or he had suffered a mental breakdown.
Mike ignored her question, admitting honestly to himself that he could do with a drink or two at that moment.
“Rebecca’s in town and wants to see him,” he stated bluntly and waited patiently for her to get over her disbelief and amazement.
Two minutes later he was still waiting.
“Meg, you haven’t fainted on me have you?” he asked with a chuckle, and he was only half joking.
“Please tell me you’re serious, that this is not a joke,” she finally managed to gasp, her voice a curious mixture of hope and skepticism.
Mike decided to take pity on her and inform her of the arrangements he had made with Rebecca for the following day.
“I’ve just spent over an hour with her making arrangements for her to be in your office at ten o’clock in the morning.” He paused then sighed deeply. “She’s changed Meg.”
“Changed?” Meg asked suspiciously. “In what way?”
If Rebecca was coming here to hurt Dominic again then she would have her to deal with, Meg decided ominously. Her midnight flit five years ago almost cost him his sanity. There was no way she would allow that to happen again.
“She’s grown-up Meg. She’s not a ragamuffin child anymore,” Mike stated and there was a touch of sadness in his voice. “She’s a sophisticated woman now.”
Well what did he expect, Meg scoffed silently. Good heavens it had been five years, of course she had grown up.
She would be twenty-five now. No longer a naïve young girl and she wondered what type of woman she had become. Well, she would find out in the morning.
“Did she say where she’s been during the past five years?” Meg asked curiously and was surprised when Mike groaned loudly.
“You remember I visited a town in Queensland named Tannum Sands just after she disappeared?” he asked and when Meg answered in the affirmative, he added drily “Well, that’s where she’s been living.”
Silence settled over the line for a few moments, each of them recalling those hectic, first few months after Rebecca disappeared completely out of their lives.
“I’ll clear his schedule for the entire day,” Meg declared. “I’ll invent a family full of dying aunts if I have to.”
Chapter Three.
The Encounter.
At ten o’clock the following morning Meg watched in amazement as Mike ushered a perfectly groomed young woman into her office, unable to believe that this refined woman was Rebecca.
Her memories of Rebecca were of faded T-shirts, torn jeans and a ponytail tied up with a piece of string.
At that moment she understood why Mike had been so surprised by her appearance.
“You look as if you’ve never seen me before Meg.” Rebecca smiled warmly as she walked across the room toward the front of the desk. “Mike had a similar expression on his face when he first saw me yesterday.”
Meg glanced across at Mike standing
