A Vow of Obligation by Lynne Graham

Author:Lynne Graham
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781408973981
Publisher: HarlequinUKLtd
Published: 2012-03-30T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

‘TAWNY! I saw you walking up the drive from the window. Navarre will be relieved—he’s been looking everywhere for you!’ Catrina told her brightly as Tawny mounted the front steps, muddy and windblown and embarrassed by her long absence and untidy appearance. It occurred to her that her hostess had never smiled at her with such welcoming warmth before but she was in too troubled a state of mind to be suspicious.

‘I went out for a walk and got a bit lost,’ Tawny muttered apologetically. ‘Have I missed breakfast?’

‘No. Navarre was worried that you had seen that story in the newspapers and been upset by it … it’s so embarrassing when these things happen when you’re away from home,’ Catrina commented with unconvincing sympathy.

Tawny had frozen in the hallway. ‘What newspaper story?’

Catrina helpfully passed her the tabloid newspaper she was already clutching in readiness. ‘I’ll have breakfast sent up to your room if you like.’

Tawny opened the paper and there it was: Billionaire and Maid? There was a beaming picture of Julie, her self-elected best friend, who she could only assume had spilled her guts to a reporter for cash. She supposed that in the absence of any more colourful story about Navarre going with an engagement that had to be a fake must have seemed worthwhile. Almost everything she had ever told Julie that could be given the right twist was there in black and white from Tawny’s brief time in foster care as a child to the recent mysterious breakdown in family relations. Oh, yes, and what Julie described as Tawny’s frantic determination to meet and marry a rich man through her work … yes, Julie had had to find an angle to make Tawny sound more interesting and that was the angle she had chosen. Tawny was a rampant gold-digger in search of a meal ticket. According to Julie Tawny had used her employment as a chambermaid to sleep with several wealthy guests in a search for one who would offer to take her away from cleaning and spoil her to death with his money for ever. What insane rubbish! Tawny thought furiously, wondering who on earth would believe such nonsense.

‘Wouldn’t you prefer to have your breakfast in your room?’ Catrina Coulter prompted expectantly.

‘Have all the guests seen this?’ Tawny enquired.

Catrina gave her a sympathetic glance as unconvincing as her earlier smile. ‘Probably …’

‘I’ll be eating downstairs,’ Tawny announced, folding the paper and tucking it casually below one arm to march into the lofty-ceilinged dining room with her bright head held high and a martial glint in her gaze. A moment too late she recalled that her hair was in a wild tangle and her jeans spattered with mud, but she had to tough out that knowledge because her fellow guests turned as one to watch her progress down the length of the long table towards the empty chair beside Navarre.

Navarre, sleek and sexy in a striped shirt and a pair of designer chinos, stood up as she approached and spun out the chair for her.

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