Face the Wind and Fly by Jenny Harper Read Free Book Online

Cuzzer we could finish the game we’re playing on the X Box.’
    It didn’t seem like an ideal solution, but Kate really had to go. She kissed Andrew briefly. ‘Right then. Sorry love. Must dash.’
    She hurried towards the door, but was caught by Frank Griffiths.
    ‘About Summerfield,’ he growled, blocking her path, ‘you do realise, don’t you, how disastrous the project will be for us all?’
    She was late. She was put out by Harry’s hypocrisy. Under these pressures, diplomacy deserted her. ‘I’m sorry, Frank,’ she said, her voice crisp, ‘I don’t have time to discuss this right now, but you’re absolutely wrong.’
    ‘AeGen absolutely cannot be allowed to go forward with this plan.’
    ‘We’re just putting a mast in, that’s all.’
    ‘We’ll be opposing it.’ He leaned forward, his face so close to hers for a moment that their noses almost touched. His face was ruddy with pent-up anger but she didn’t retreat by an inch and it was Frank who gave ground first. He gained control of himself, swivelled on his heel, and marched off. Kate drew a breath and felt her body soften, as if a moment of danger had passed. She turned to the door for the second time, but just as she did so, someone stepped in front of her. It was Ibsen Brown. ‘The Germinator’.
    He grinned. ‘Oops.’
    She stepped the other way. So did he. She frowned in exasperation and his grin widened.
    ‘Sorry.’ She moved again. He mirrored her move.
    ‘Dear me,’ he said with a smile that split his face. Despite her irritation, she couldn’t help liking the effect. ‘We’ll have to sort this out, won’t we?’ He took her firmly by the elbows and her arms tensed like springs at his touch. He moved her to one side. ‘There. I wait, you move. Right?’
    ‘Thank you.’ She said it coolly, though she was finding the intense blue of his eyes extremely disconcerting.
    ‘What did you say your name was?’
    Had he really forgotten? Her ego punctured, she said, ‘Kate. Kate Courtenay.’
    ‘Suits you. Short and spiky.’
    She was taken aback at the judgement and couldn’t help showing it.
    ‘No offence meant. Sorry to get in your way.’ Again, the grin flashed. Each line in his face, she suspected, told a story. Not one of his features was quite even, but there was something about its liveliness that was definitely interesting.
    ‘No problem.’ She swung away. Now she really was short of time.
    ‘Kate,’ he said.
    She turned, puzzled. ‘Yes?’
    ‘Nothing.’ There was a gleam in his eyes. ‘Nice to meet you again, Kate.’
    Kate and Andrew’s bedroom had the elegant proportions typical of early Georgian architecture. It was roughly square, which she liked, but its best feature was the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the garden. There was one on either side of Kate’s dressing table, where she kept the miniature gargoyle Andrew had brought her from Melrose Abbey (his first gift), her grandmother’s scent bottle – a treasured relic of her childhood – and the small box with Ninian’s first baby tooth. The room was perhaps looking a little shabby now because it hadn’t been redecorated for years, not since she’d blitzed the place with the enthusiasm of a new owner, but the deep pile cream carpet and pale blue silk curtains still pleased her. It was a calming room – and calm was what she needed by the time her long days drew to a close.
    When she got back from the dinner, Andrew was already in bed, reading. He was wearing a black tee shirt. For his age, he was still enormously attractive.
    ‘Interesting book?’
    He angled it towards himself and showed her the cover. It was a history tome. Nothing new there. ‘You look tired.’
    ‘Mm. But I must read these papers.’ She held up her briefcase. ‘I’ve got a meeting first thing and what with your book launch and that damned dinner—’
    ‘Oh, right,’ he mumbled, immersing himself once more in his book.
    Kate blinked. Things had changed and she