Read Paradise Park for Free Online

that?’ she asked.
    Priscilla turned to look. ‘Handsome, isn’t he? His name is Guy Fairchild, and he’s an entrepreneur from London.’ She touched Jayne’s shoulder. ‘No good staring at him, Jayne. You’re married, remember?’
    â€˜I remember,’ Jayne said, ‘but there’s no harm in looking.’ She got to her feet. ‘I’d better go and check the dinner. I think it should be ready.’ As she threaded her way through the guests she glanced towards her husband. He was smiling affably and it seemed that he was getting on well with Guy Fairchild. Just then, the man looked round and his eyes met and locked with hers. Jayne felt an unexpected thrill of pleasure run through her. He nodded to her and, hastily, Jayne left the room. ‘You silly little fool!’ she said to herself. She was far too old and sensible to be mooning over another man. In any case, he was probably married, too, with a tribe of children at his coat-tails. But then she thought of those lovely eyes looking into hers, and her heart beat a little faster.
    â€˜Do you really want me to seduce your wife, Dafydd?’ Guy asked, in a low voice. ‘She’s such a beauty, and if she was mine I wouldn’t let another man within a mile of her.’
    â€˜No, not seduce,’ Dafydd Buchan said sharply. ‘What I want is for you to worm your way into Jayne’s good books. She’ll trust you, and you’re such a genius with money you can’t fail to impress her.’
    â€˜But these shares you want her to sell, are they so very important? You’ve already got more money than you can spend so why do you need shares in this railway venture?’
    â€˜It’s not so much need as want,’ Dafydd said. ‘She and her father never stop rubbing it in that they have plenty of shares while I have none.’
    â€˜And why should she agree to sell them to me?’
    â€˜Because you’re a charmer, Guy. Why do you think half the women in London are chasing after you?’
    â€˜But your wife looks like a lady with a good head on her shoulders. I shouldn’t think she’d let her heart rule her head in matters of finance.’
    â€˜No, but money talks and if you offer her enough I’m sure she’ll accept – especially if you turn on the charm.’
    â€˜Do you trust me to charm your wife?’ Guy smiled. Couldn’t Dafydd Buchan see that Jayne was not only the most beautiful but the most intelligent woman in the room? She had almost touched him as she went into the hall, and on the way back she had smiled at him. Her pale hair gleamed like spun gold in the candlelight and she had an intriguing innocence about her.
    â€˜I’d trust her with anyone.’
    â€˜How touching.’ Guy felt a dart of disappointment. ‘Is she so much in love with you that she won’t even look at another man?’
    â€˜No, I don’t think Jayne’s in love with me at all. She might have been once, but things were never good between us.’ He paused, leaning closer to Guy as one of the guests brushed past him. He looked up and saw Priscilla smiling at him as she pressed herself against him.
    â€˜Ah,’ Guy said. ‘Your wife discovered you had a roving eye, is that it?’
    â€˜Something like that.’
    â€˜Then why do you trust her so unquestioningly?’
    â€˜She’s frigid,’ Dafydd said.
    That was a challenge to any red-blooded man. ‘In that case, why should you think she’ll listen to anything I’ve got to say?’
    â€˜Jayne is not impervious to charm and good looks, Guy, and she likes intelligence in a man. I think you might be the right one to persuade her to sell.’
    â€˜Well, if you really think so, Dafydd, I’ll do my best. Come, everyone is going into dinner and the last thing we want is for your lady wife to think that we’re plotting anything.’
    He followed