life,’ he said.
‘A month?’ she echoed in disbelief.
‘That should do it.’ He nodded. ‘I assure you, you’ll be richly compensated—both financially and physically.’
A month! Her hands clenched. Two years since they’d met and the wounds he’d inflicted still hadn’t healed, yet he thought he could dismiss her after a month?
‘No compensation would be worth spending any amount of time with you.’ She let frost coat every word.
‘Mrs Bennett, are you there?’
Relief flooded through her when she recognised the priest’s voice. Her absence at the wake must have been noted and the priest was searching for her.
‘I’m coming, Father,’ she called.
With a pointed glance, she looked at where Jake continued to manacle her wrist with his hand. ‘Do you want to explain to the priest why you’re detaining me?’
Before he released her he reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card. ‘Call me,’ he told her, slipping the card into the pocket of her jacket. ‘Lloyd may have left you a rich widow, but I’m sure no amount of wealth is ever enough for a woman like you.’
Eager to escape further confrontation, she didn’t waste time handing the card back or ripping it to pieces in front of him. ‘Goodbye, Jake.’
‘I’m letting you go for now, Amanda, but it isn’t over between us. You will be back in my bed and you’ll stay there until I’m ready for you to leave.’
Chapter 4
Amanda Bennett is waiting in your outer office.
Jake froze as he read the note handed to him by his personal assistant. After Bennett’s funeral, he’d instructed her to notify him as soon as Amanda made contact. But he’d been expecting a telephone call, not a personal visit.
He was sitting in a meeting at a critical stage of negotiations that could seal the acquisition of a national television network into his media empire—common sense demanded he keep Amanda waiting. But his usual ironclad control deserted him and he couldn’t focus on the meeting any longer.
Amanda was here.
Each of his senses surged into an acute state of alert.
‘Jake, are you okay?’ his ex-wife asked him quietly. The other people in the room were too caught up in a troublesome clause to notice the exchange. Sophie was sitting in on this meeting as a representative of the Board of Directors. Upon their marriage, she’d taken her grandfather’s seat on the board.
He looked at her with regret. Sophie was a stunningly-attractive redhead. She was smart, sexy, talented, loyal and kind—everything a man could want in a woman. He wished with all his heart he could have felt the same degree of attraction to her as he did for Amanda.
‘Jake?’ Sophie pressed.
He passed her the message he’d received. The instant she read it, she turned troubled green eyes to his and shook her head. ‘You’re not going to see her are you?’
‘I asked her to come.’
It had been a month since Bennett’s funeral. In that time, he’d telephoned the Bennett household only to find the number was disconnected. He’d driven to the Bennett estate a couple of times but nobody answered when he buzzed for admission. Short of scaling the high, wrought-iron front gates and contending with the two Dobermans that stood growling at him from the other side, there was nothing he could do except bide his time and wait for Amanda to come to him.
He’d been sure she would. The passion burning between them was too hard to ignore. Hell! He’d tried and failed dismally. Amanda had been a thorn in his side—a lover he’d never been able to forget, or to forgive.
‘Jake, what in God’s name are you thinking?’ Sophie demanded quietly with a frown of concern.
‘Mr Formosa?’
All the men and women seated at the long conference table looked at him, waiting for him to respond to whatever it was that had been suggested. It was impossible for him to keep his mind on business proceedings. He had to go to Amanda.
‘Ladies and gentlemen, you’ll
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