Claiming His Wedding Night by Lee Wilkinson Read Free Book Online

to have a fake passport made!’
    ‘Not at all. It’s the genuine article.’
    ‘It can’t be!’
    ‘I assure you it is.’
    As she struggled to take in the implications of that, he added, ‘And, in the hold, there’s a suitcase carefully packed with everything you should need for at least the next couple of weeks.’
    Common sense insisted that it couldn’t be so, that he just had to be lying. Yet she knew he wasn’t. Somehow he’d managed to acquire both her passport and a case full of clothes.
    But how?
    Even if he’d known exactly where she lived and where to find her things, he could hardly have walked in and taken them himself. Someone must have helped him. It was the only explanation that made sense.
    But who?
    A moment’s thought convinced Perdita that there was only one person who could have helped him, and that was Sally.
    Sally, whom they’d grown fond of. Sally who, instead of being merely a housekeeper, had become like part of the family.
    No, no, she couldn’t believe that Sally would do such a thing!
    But even as she tried to refute the charge, Perdita recalled that morning and how flustered the other woman had looked as she’d insisted, ‘I really do have your best interests at heart’.
    Jared, who had been watching her expressive face, smiled. ‘I didn’t think it would take you too long to work it out.’
    Gritting her teeth, she asked, ‘How on earth did you get Sally to do your dirty work for you?’
    ‘She doesn’t regard it in that light. She sincerely believes that what she did is for the best.’
    ‘I don’t believe you.’
    ‘Then you should.’
    Bogged down, unable to think straight, Perdita said helplessly, ‘I don’t understand how you managed it. How you got to know her…’
    ‘As luck would have it, we first met when she and her husband lived in California. When I discovered she was your housekeeper, I asked for her help.
    ‘Initially she refused, saying it would be quite wrong and disloyal. But, in the end, after I’d told her everything, she agreed. She thought that she was helping to put things right.’
    ‘What things?’
    ‘Past mistakes.’
    Perdita let that go and attacked from another angle. ‘How did you know where we lived?’
    ‘As soon as I was on my feet again, I set about tracing you. It wasn’t easy, but eventually I discovered where you lived and also that your father’s business was in trouble.
    ‘I thought out a plan that I knew might, or might not, work. Discovering that I knew your housekeeper was an unexpected bonus, and when she finally, and I must admit reluctantly, agreed to help, I went ahead with that plan.’
    Studying her face, and noting how pale and exhausted she looked, how disillusioned , Jared sighed. ‘Try not to blame Sally. While I gather she has little time for Martin, she’s extremely fond of you and your father.’
    ‘And you think that makes everything all right?’
    Avoiding a direct answer, he said, ‘I would be sorry if you turned against her. She genuinely believes that everything she’s done is for the best.’
    ‘You mean that’s what you’ve managed to brainwash her into believing!’
    ‘Not at all. She’s an intelligent woman and a moral one and before she would agree to my suggestion I had to convince her it was justified.’
    ‘And how did you do that?’
    ‘I simply told her the truth.’
    ‘And she believed you?’
    ‘I’m pleased to say she showed a great deal more faith in me than you did.’
    Hearing the bitterness in his voice, Perdita bit her lip. If Jared was still so caught up in the past, it didn’t look as if he had married and moved on as she had first hoped…
    There was a knock and the door slid aside. ‘Excuse me, sir,’ Henry said, ‘but Captain Benedict would like a word with you.’
    ‘Will you tell him I’ll be with him in just a moment or two.’
    ‘Certainly, sir.’
    Jared turned to Perdita and said, with a show of concern that wrenched at her heart, ‘You look