Harlequin Dare October 2018 Box Set by Caitlin Crews

Author:Caitlin Crews
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2018-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWO

Vita

‘YOU’VE GOT TO be kidding.’ I stared at my father in shock. ‘You want me to marry who?’

Dad had that hard expression on his face, the one he always got when he wanted his own way. ‘Leon King, of King Enterprises. The one who—’

‘I know who he is,’ I interrupted, folding my hands in my lap so he wouldn’t see them shake. ‘The whole city knows the King brothers.’

Property developers who’d made a lot of money in a very short space of time. Ex-criminals, some would say. Still criminals, said others.

I had no opinion on the subject since it didn’t interest me. At least, it hadn’t interested me. Not until my father had called me—a shock in itself since I hadn’t had contact with either of my parents for about six months—and asked me to come to his downtown office for a meeting.

I hadn’t wanted to—I had a report I had to write for my job as a research assistant at Sydney University and the last thing I felt like doing was trying to pretend I still had a relationship with my family. But he’d insisted. Told me it was important. That it concerned my sister.

That I owed them.

He wasn’t wrong. I did owe them. In fact, I’d been waiting ten years for him to call in that debt, because I’d had no doubt at all that he would. And now he had it was a relief in many ways.

Except that he wanted me to marry some total stranger in place of my sister.

‘Why me?’ I tried to keep my voice calm and level because there was no point getting emotional. I’d learned that the hard way. ‘Did Clara say no?’

Dad moved around behind his massive oak desk and sat down, giving me the cold judgemental look he’d perfected over the years. ‘Not exactly. I haven’t told her about it.’

I blinked. This whole thing was getting weirder and weirder.

Odd enough that Dad had called me out of the blue to ask me to take Clara’s place and marry some criminal, but that he hadn’t even told Clara about it…?

‘You’re going to have to explain,’ I said carefully. ‘Because I don’t understand how you can not tell Clara. Or even why you’re asking me, for that matter.’

Dad was silent, staring at me as if weighing up what he wanted to say.

I stared back. If he thought I was going to fall in line, like Mum and Clara always did, he could think again. Years ago, he’d sent me away to an aunt up north and I’d gone without protest, finishing my schooling away from Sydney society and its far-too-bright lights, burying myself in the relative obscurity of a tiny town and concerning myself only with my studies.

But I wasn’t the same person now as I’d been back then. I wasn’t seventeen for a start, and I was happy out of the spotlight. In fact, out of the spotlight was where I wanted to stay.

I had a nice, quiet, comfortable life in the labs at the university, completely separate from my family.

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