Web of Deception (5 page)

How could this be happening? Though she didn’t like to think she was at the mercy of her hormones, it was clear that’s exactly what was happening. No point denying it.

Daniel
stretched his arm out across the empty chair beside him and laughed, turning his head as he did so. His lips curled to a confident smile as his eyes locked with hers and for a few moments he made her feel as though they were the only two people in the room.

Kate felt something unfurling deep in her belly, something undeniably sexual. Her bo
dy was telling her one thing while her mind was telling her another.

She turned to Mark. “I don’t think this was such a good idea.”

“What do you mean?”

“I shouldn’t have come.”

Mark took her hand. “I’m not going to force you to stay if you don’t want to. You’ve been seen with me which is the main thing. I can tell them you’ve got a headache.”

She’d come here as Mark’s partner to help him out. That’s what friends did for each other. All she had to do was sit there an
d make pleasant conversation. This was one of Sydney’s top restaurants and the food would undoubtedly be excellent. How hard could it be? She was here, so why not enjoy it?

With this new sense of resolve, she felt wonderfully calm as she turned to face
him. “I’m going to stay, after all.”

Kate
handed her coat to an attendant, pleased she could now uncover her dress. Sleeveless with a simple round neck, it showed off her arms but other than that it wasn’t revealling in the slightest. It was, however, designed to shimmer and cling to her figure in all the right places.

She’d bought it largely because it was the same shade as wisteria in bloom, a colour which brought out the best in her pale complexio
n, however that wasn’t why she’d chosen it for this evening. Her girlfriends had told her how good she looked in it and she wanted to get that same buzz. She hadn’t felt good all week and this dress lifted her spirits just a little.

The issue, Kate thought as she walked towards the table, wasn’t the dress. It was Daniel Webb’s searing gaze. He couldn’t get his eyes off her and it seemed he didn’t care who noticed.

He was doing it to her again. He made her feel like she was the only woman in the world, as if she was put there just for his pleasure. It was an unusual sensation. She wasn’t used to such blatant admiration.

Suddenly she heard Mark’s voice in her ear. “I hope you don’t mind but I’m going to take the seat next to Ray Price.”

Kate shrugged. “Sure.”

“He’s head of the selection committee and I want to stay in his good books.”

She’d agreed so easily but as she slid down into her chair, she had the feeling she was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Perhaps she didn’t know quite what she was in for.

“I’m pleased you could make it tonight,” Daniel said.

His voice as smooth as silk, he was as confident as always. It made her feel that even the simplest statement was loaded.

“Why wouldn’t I?” she replied.

“To tell you the truth, I wasn’t sure you
were
Mark’s fiancée.”

He’d called her bluff. She hadn’t thought he’d be so blunt.

“I’m here, aren’t I?”

“Did you enjoy the party the other night?” he asked. “You left in a hurry.”

“I had a lovely time, thank you. I’m just not one for late nights, that’s all.”

“I couldn’t help but notice that Mark didn’t take you home.”

“I’m a big girl. I can leave a party on my own.”

That night she hadn’t wanted to leave on her own but Mark
had been having a good time and had wanted to stay on. Suddenly it struck her that, even though there had been over a hundred people at the party, Daniel had a noticed they’d left separately.

“Were you keeping tabs on Mark and me?” she asked.

“Not at all. He was one of the last to leave. It was hard
not
to notice.”

“Oh.”

Daniel’s lips curled to a smile. “I’d rather you’d been the one to stay.”

“Why’s that? So you could take me to bed. Obviously, that wasn’t going to happen.”

“I only meant you were welcome to have stayed as long as you liked.”

She had him now, she thought. “I
did
stay as long as I liked.”

He laughed.

“I don’t see what’s so funny,” she said. “I wasn’t joking. I didn’t want to stay and take you up on your little offer.”

Daniel looked her in the eye. “You’ll change your mind.”

She leaned back in her chair and took a sip of white wine. “I’m sure you’ve come up with that line many times before. You should hear yourself. You have no idea how conceited you sound.”

“Perhaps.”

“Perhaps you’ve used that line before or perhaps you’re arrogant?”

He shrugged. “I don’t care if I sound conceited.”

“So you think nothing of just telling me I’m going to end up sleeping with you. That’s what you’re saying, isn’t it?”

He leaned forward. “I’m not being mean, Kate. Just honest, probably more honest than any man you’ve dealt with before.”

She knew about at least one past business discrepancy which wasn’t completely honest but this wasn’t the time for that, not when she was getting so much out of their little discussion.

Shaking her head, she said, “Daniel, this is not a done deal.”

“Isn’t it?”

Kate nearly choked on her wine. “Of course not. You can’t make me do something I don’t want to do.”

He smiled. “Oh, I won’t be forcing you.”

One thing was for sure. If she ever got together with this man, it would be on her terms. She would be in charge.

“I’m surprised you manage to get any woman into bed if you talk like that,” she said.

He held her gaze. “I’m very frank when it comes to business but I don’t normally talk this way out of the boardroom. You must be bringing out the worst in me.”

Perhaps he was right. She recalled the words he’d said to her when they first met.
Before
they met, in fact. What else would explain that particular outburst? But she didn’t want to bring that up again.

“Y
ou’re very successful at what you do,” she said. “But if that’s the way you talk in the boardroom you must really have rubbed a few people up the wrong way.”

“I hope that’s not what I’ve done to you. Upset you.”

“Actually, I’m made of fairly sturdy stuff.”

She hadn’t always been. Her upbringing, though wonderful, had been quite sheltered. She’d been a good student at school, always had lots of friends and got on well with her older sister. Her parents, both teachers, had a loving relationship, the kind she wanted.

Kate only wished she’d had a relationship that had gone nearly as well as that of her parents’. She seemed to have got off to a bad start at university when she’d chosen a boyfriend who ended up telling her she was boring, then followed up with a series of other lousy choices.

She could really pick them.
Still, the experiences had hardened her, made her determined with what she wanted out of life.

“So
, tell me, what happens in the boardroom?” she asked. “It’s a callous business you’re in.”

He shrugged. “I’m always getting someone’s nose out of joint. It happens when you’re the one who wins the deals.
One person wins and someone else loses. But I don’t believe in being underhanded. I think if you do that, it always comes back to bite you. I just tell it the way I see it. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

She wasn’t going to let him off the hook that easily. Mark had told her bits and pieces, and she’d worked out that Daniel was the kind of man who didn’t care who got in his way, didn’t care who he had to tread on to get what he wanted. There was the Mills building for one thing, a recent purchase he’d won through ruthless tactics.

“So everything you do at Webb Corp is one hundred percent honest?” she asked.

“It’s all above board, all legal.”

“Legal is one thing, and honourable is another. I’m sure you have a team of lawyers finding loopholes and other ways of helping you along. I just don’t see how you could have got so far ahead in business with honesty as your motto.”

“Getting ahead was never the problem. That’s easy once you’ve got started. I had a helping hand.” He shrugged. “I’m not ashamed to admit it. I still had to make something of myself after that.”

Kate thanked the waiter who delivered her soup, then waited while Daniel’s first course was placed in front of him.

She was intrigued. “Go on.”

“My father is an entrepreneur, a property developer. Always knew how to spot a good opportunity and make the most of it. That’s one thing I got from him even though he was never much of a father to me.”

“You said your parents were divorced?”

He shook his head. “They never officially divorced but they haven’t been together for decades. Dad left when I was nine. Went to live in Singapore and we barely saw him. Then, a few years later, he noticed all his children were growing up and he didn’t know them any more. For whatever reason, he decided he wanted to do something for the kids. So he did.”

Kate already knew he came from a
wealthy family. “Half your luck.”

“But I didn’t get anything. I’ve got four s
isters, all much older. They received millions. They were set for life. I was twelve, just a kid. I got zilch.”

“How can that be? You were his child too.”

“I was a kid. That’s how he saw it. But I wouldn’t let it rest and I gave my father a big human rights speech about how I wasn’t a second class citizen and he finally agreed to give me something. A child’s share because I was a child.”

Daniel quoted an amount which
, though significant, didn’t seem like much for a millionaire father to be giving his child.

She
wasn’t sure what to say. “And that…was it?”

“It doesn’t seem like much
now but twenty-two years ago that was enough to buy a small piece of land. Just a block, no house. So when I was thirteen I bought my first real estate.”

Kate looked at him. “You were thirteen? Who’d sell property to a child?”

“I was six foot two even then and no one questioned it at the auction. I needed the signature of an adult so I raced home as fast as I could. I’ve never pedalled so hard in my life.”

She raised her eyebrows. “You rode your bike to a property auction?”

He shrugged. “It was either that or walk. Then I had to do some quick talking to my mother to get her to countersign.” He shook his head. “I deal with some hard people in business but they’re nothing compared to my mother.”

This was such a strange story. “Didn’t she think there was something odd about a thirteen year old buying a piece of land?”

He laughed. “Not this thirteen year old. No, she wasn’t surprised. And that land went up in value astronomically. Money in the bank wasn’t going to do that. It was a good deal. Anyone could have seen that.”

Kat
e didn’t think it was quite that simple. If it was, everyone would be rich.

“Then what?”

“I sold that property when I was eighteen. To buy a piece of land at the bottom of the hill on the waterfront. It was one of the best little deals I ever made. It was a small block with one huge advantage. I knew it didn’t have any height restrictions.”

“How did you know that?”

“Boy scouts.”

Her brow crinkled. “What does that mean?”

“I used to ride my bike around doing odd jobs in the neighbourhood. Thanks to boy scouts, I knew every street, every house, everything that was going on.”

“Really?”

He smiled but she could tell he wasn’t joking. “Yes. After I bought the land, I went to the bloke who lived behind it and offered it to him first. He didn’t want anyone blocking out his views. I knew he’d buy it. The guy was loaded. Easiest money I ever made, my first million. I was still a teenager.”

“That’s some story.
”

“A true story.” He shot her a look as if to say she shouldn’t doubt him. “I knew what I was doing.”

“I’m sure you did.”

“I always know exactly what I’m doing.”

Having finished first course, Daniel pushed his plate away, his arm brushing against hers. It sent a tingle up her spine, putting her momentarily on edge. This shouldn’t be happening, but it was.

Minutes later, their plates were cleared and the main courses arrived.

Daniel cut into his fillet steak. “Your fiancé seems to be ignoring you tonight.”

She wished
he wouldn’t use that word. Wished she hadn’t used it in the first place however that had been her decision. It made her realise she hadn’t given Mark a second thought since they’d sat down. Daniel had taken up her complete attention.

“I hadn’t noticed,” she replied.