Stronger than Yearning by Penny Jordan

Author:Penny Jordan [Jordan, Penny]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781488082054
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 1986-11-23T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

‘YES…structurally it’s fine…’ Jenna cradled the telephone receiver against her shoulder as she listened to the surveyor’s report on the old Hall, scribbling down notes with her free hand.

Maggie came in, grinning from ear to ear as she deposited a typed message on Jenna’s desk. Jenna frowned as her eyes flicked over it.

‘Lunch at 1 p.m. with James,’ Maggie had written.

Damn, she had already planned to work through lunch today. There was an awful lot to do if the Hall was going to be ready for them to move into in the time James had stipulated. She could, of course, tell him that what he wanted was impossible, but Jenna had the unpleasant feeling that if she did, somehow he would find a way of proving her wrong.

Picking up the note, she scribbled across it, ‘Okay’, and handed it back to Maggie.

Ten minutes later, when she had finished on the phone and her secretary had come back into the office, Maggie enquired lightly, ‘Dare I ask if this is more than merely a business meeting, or will. I get my head bitten off?’

Without lifting her head from the papers on her desk Jenna said calmly, ‘James and I are getting married.’

For a moment there was silence, and then Maggie said weakly, ‘Tell me if I’m hearing things. You and James Allingham are getting married?’

‘That’s right.’ Jenna stood up and walked briskly over to a filing cabinet, pulling open a drawer. ‘Yes, that’s right…At the end of the month.’

‘But, Jenna…’ Maggie swallowed with visible effort, and asked helplessly, ‘Where have I gone wrong? Why doesn’t some gorgeous-looking millionaire sweep me off my feet and ask me to marry him?’

Jenna could have told her, but instead she smiled rather grimly, and wondered what Maggie would say if she told her she was welcome to James and his millions just as long as she was allowed to keep the old Hall.

‘The end of the month? Rather a rush.’

‘James has business in the Caribbean, and he thought we might as well combine it with a honeymoon,’ Jenna told her, grudgingly appreciating James’s wisdom in suggesting his Caribbean trip as a good excuse for their haste.

‘Lucky you. He’s involved in a holiday complex development out there, isn’t he?’ Maggie asked, wrinkling her forehead. ‘Wow! Isn’t Richard going to be sick! Is there any chance of us getting any business from the complex?’

‘James is talking about using us as consultants for the more luxurious part of it,’ Jenna told her. ‘From what little he’s told me about the complex, I think most of it’s already completed.’

‘Richard will be sick,’ Maggie claimed positively with another grin. ‘This will beat the Spanish contract he’s got from Harry Waters into a cocked hat.’

‘If the contract actually comes off with Harry Waters,’ Jenna agreed. ‘You know what he’s like for wriggling.’

‘Mmm, but word on the grapevine is that he’s one of Richard’s backers.’

So much for her accusation to James, Jenna thought wryly. She should have guessed that Harry Waters might have a hand in Richard’s defection.

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