Audrey!
Of course, her father’s assistant of the last twelve years was sure to know exactly what was going on. She might not tell Danie, perhaps, but she couldn’t possibly be as clam-like as these two men had turned out to be!
‘I think I’ll give coffee a miss, if you don’t mind.’ Danie put her dessert fork neatly down on her plate before standing up. ‘I have a few things to do before flying back this afternoon,’ she told her father as he looked across at her enquiringly.
They were seated very cosily around the dining table; Danie grimaced at the scene: her father at the head, Jonas and herself sitting either side of him, facing each other across the table. Jonas’s appetite, Danie had noted disgustedly, had been more than healthy in comparison with her own picking at the food. Obviously the seriousness of his work didn’t affect him!
‘Of course, darling,’ her father accepted lightly. ‘I’ll give you a ring when Jonas needs to go. Oh, and I shouldn’t bother to go and see Andie,’ he added, looking concerned. ‘She was sleeping when I called in on her room earlier.’
‘Perhaps you should get Dr Noble to look at Andie before he leaves?’ Danie suggested tauntingly.
‘What on earth for?’ her father exclaimed.
She shrugged. ‘This flu seems to have been dragging on a long time. Or perhaps general medicine isn’t his field?’ she questioned challengingly.
Brown eyes levelly met the mockery in her gaze. ‘It’s been a few years,’ Jonas conceded dryly. ‘But I’m sure I could manage.’
‘I—’
‘And it’s Mr Noble, Danie,’ Jonas continued hardly. ‘Or Jonas, if you would prefer that?’
She would prefer to know exactly what sort of doctor he was! But she knew, especially since lunch, that she would get nowhere on that subject with either of these men. A talk with Audrey definitely beckoned!
‘I’ll see you later—Jonas,’ she dismissed him pointedly—after all, he’d called her Danie without ever having been invited to do so!
It wasn’t too difficult to locate Audrey; the other woman was as much of a workaholic as Rome, busy dealing with some correspondence in his study when Danie entered there a few minutes later.
The older woman looked up with a warm smile, having become like another member of the family in the twelve years she had worked for Rome. At forty-two, she was tall, blonde, and beautiful.
‘Uh-oh.’ Audrey grimaced, putting aside the letter she had been working on. ‘Who’s been upsetting you?’
Danie scowled, sitting on the side of her father’s desk. ‘Is it that obvious?’
‘Yes!’ Audrey laughed unabashedly.
Danie chose her next words carefully. Very carefully. Because, although she knew Audrey was fond of all of them, the older woman was also completely loyal to Rome. And the last thing Audrey would ever do was break a confidence of his, business or private.
‘Have you met Jonas Noble?’ Danie asked lightly.
Audrey frowned. ‘The man who was with Rome earlier?’
Danie looked at Audrey searchingly. Was she just delaying answering, or did she really not know anything? Danie would be surprised if it were the latter; Rome trusted his assistant implicitly. But if that should turn out to be the case… It made the whole situation seem even more ominous!
‘That’s the one.’ She nodded casually.
‘As a matter of fact, no,’ Audrey replied. ‘Who is he exactly?’
Danie frowned. ‘I was hoping you might be able to tell me that!’
‘Sorry,’ Audrey said. ‘But I don’t have a clue.’
Damn, damn, damn! This was much worse than Danie had thought. Never having married herself, Audrey had become one of the family, and Danie knew that Rome had absolutely no secrets from the other woman. But it now appeared Rome hadn’t told Audrey anything about Jonas Noble, either…
‘All I’ve managed to find out is that he’s some sort of doctor,’ she told Audrey.
‘Oh,’ Audrey murmured slowly.
Was it her imagination, or did Audrey’s expression suddenly look guarded? But the other woman had told her she knew nothing about Jonas Noble, and Danie believed her. So why did Audrey suddenly look so wary?
‘Any help?’ Danie went on, watching Audrey intently.
Audrey turned away from the intensity of that searching gaze. ‘Not particularly. Rome simply hasn’t mentioned him.’
Rome might not have mentioned Jonas Noble, but Danie was sure that revealing his identity as a doctor had given Audrey some idea of exactly what he was doing here…
And why shouldn’t it have done? Audrey spent more time with her father than anyone else, was sure to be aware if Rome was ill. Even if she wouldn’t talk to anyone else about it…
Danie stood away from the desk, knowing she would get nothing further out of Audrey. ‘I had better go and see if he’s ready to leave yet.’ She pulled a face at the prospect of spending yet more time in the company of Jonas Noble.
‘Have fun,’ Audrey replied distractedly, her thoughts obviously elsewhere.
Were they with Rome? Danie pondered as she walked slowly back to the dining-room. Because she had no doubt whatsoever, now that Audrey knew Jonas Noble was a doctor, she also knew exactly what he was doing here!
Danie gave an impatient sigh. If her father was ill, then she had a right to know. She wasn’t a child; for goodness’ sake, none of them was, and, although it would be upsetting to find out Rome had serious health problems, it couldn’t be any worse than how not knowing was turning out to be!
‘Why the long face, Danie?’ her father asked as he met her out in the hallway.
He was alone. Which posed the question; where was Jonas Noble?
Although, for the moment, Danie put that question aside, and looked intently at her father. ‘What’s going on, Daddy?’ she demanded.
Her father steadily held her eyes. ‘I—’
‘And don’t try and fob me off by telling me you don’t know what I’m talking about,’ Danie cut in determinedly, her expression mutinous. ‘Because you know exactly what I meant!’
Her father raised blond brows reprovingly. ‘I wasn’t about to do that, Danie,’ he answered softly, that very softness telling her that he was becoming angry himself. ‘But I’ll talk to you—to all of you—when I’m good and ready.’
Danie drew in a sharp breath. Her father was tough when it came to his business dealings, had needed to be to become the successful man he was, but he rarely, if ever, became angry with any of his daughters. The very fact that he was angry with her now told Danie just how serious this all was…
‘Where’s Jonas Noble?’ she asked tautly.
Her father relaxed slightly, a teasing light entering the blue of his eyes. ‘Unless I’m mistaken, you didn’t seem in too much of a hurry to spend time in his company earlier.’
Danie grimaced. ‘You weren’t mistaken. But as it appears I don’t have any choice in the matter—’
‘Oh, but you do.’ Rome grinned. ‘I’ve had Charles drive Jonas back to London,’ he explained at her sharply questioning look.
Danie blinked her surprise. Jonas Noble had already left? He was being driven back to town?
‘And whose idea was that?’ she snapped resentfully. Damn it, she might not have wanted to spend any more time in the man’s company,