The Girl in the Hard Hat by Loretta Hill Read Free Book Online Page B

‘You’re going to be heaps of fun. I’m Lena. Lena Todd. Very, very pleased to meet you!’
    Wendy held out her hand and found it shaken warmly.
    ‘So you’re Mike’s niece, are you?’ Lena asked.
    ‘You know Mike?’
    ‘Yes, you could say I know Mike extremely well.’ Lena exchanged a glance with Sharon.
    ‘Sounds ominous.’
    ‘Oh it’s nothing.’ Lena rolled her eyes. ‘Past tense really.’
    But Wendy’s curiosity was caught. ‘No, tell me.’
    Lena’s eyes narrowed on her. ‘You honestly don’t know, do you?’
    ‘Don’t know what?’ Wendy spooned a little mash into her mouth.
    ‘Your uncle didn’t share his intel with you?’
    That caught Wendy’s attention. ‘No.’
    ‘The truth is, I’m dating the client. Which is a little controversial in these parts. Mike found out about it when Dan and I were trying to keep it all a secret.’
    A couple of cog wheels in Wendy’s head slipped into gear. So this was the leverage her uncle had thought he had over Dan Hullog. Made sense, considering everyone at Barnes Inc seemed to hate everyone at TCN – it would have caused one hell of a Romeo and Juliet scandal.
    She winced. ‘He didn’t threaten to expose you, did he?’
    ‘Well,’ Lena cleared her throat. ‘I wasn’t going to mention it. But turns out your uncle does have a taste for blackmail. Luckily, Dan doesn’t give a damn what people think and neither do I. I’ve proven that I can do my job well without any special favours from the client.’
    Wendy nodded. ‘Good for you.’
    ‘So how are you and Dan going anyway?’ Sharon asked, and for a moment the two friends forgot about Wendy and her uncle.
    Lena’s face seemed to light like a bulb although she swatted the air with studied casualness. ‘We’re fine. But I mean, we only just went went public.’
    ‘And the guys aren’t still hassling you?’ Sharon wanted to know.
    ‘Are you kidding me? This morning Dan exited his donga accompanied by “Unchained Melody” played from his neighbour’s two loudspeakers.’
    Sharon grinned. ‘Nice.’
    Wendy licked her lips. ‘I’m sorry if my uncle is one of those people who’ve been heckling you.’
    Lena looked at her in surprise. ‘No, Mike’s a lot of things, but he’s not juvenile.’
    Wendy looked the engineer dead in the eye. ‘You don’t like him, do you?’
    Lena’s lids fluttered open. ‘Oh, it’s not that he’s . . .’ Her shoulders slumped. ‘Okay, we don’t get on but I’m sure he’s a fabulous uncle.’
    Wendy grinned. ‘He’s not.’
    ‘You mean he’s moody with you too?’
    Wendy nodded. ‘Pretty much.’
    ‘So I take it you’re not close.’
    More like dysfunctional. Wendy’s mouth twisted. ‘Not really. Never saw much of him when I was growing up. He put a lot of people’s noses out of joint back in the day and has kind of stayed out of reach of the family. Even my grandmother thinks he’s strange and he’s her son.’
    ‘That’s a shame.’ Lena sighed. ‘Here I was thinking there might be a different side to him. You know, the nice side he reserves for his loved ones.’
    ‘Well if he’s got loved ones, I’m not one of them.’ Wendy nodded a little sadly. ‘When I ran into him in Karratha by accident, I thought I might be able to mend a few fences but it just didn’t work out. So,’ she changed the focus to Sharon, ‘do you have a boyfriend too?’
    Sharon coloured up. ‘Yes, it’s Carl.’
    ‘As in Carl Curtis?’
    ‘That’s the one.’
    ‘Wow!’ Wendy laughed but her brain was doing flips. She’d just run into the two Alpha Women of the site, each one bonded to a powerhouse. She was going to have to be careful around these two. However, they had already lost interest in her again and returned to their previous conversation.
    ‘I can’t believe Dan is your boyfriend. It’s so weird.’ Sharon was shaking her head.
    ‘It’s not weird,’ Lena protested. ‘But I can see what you mean about the word “boyfriend”.