know.â
âWhatâs that?â
âThe wedding planner, Sophie Turner, sheâs claiming to be Fletcherâs sister.â
Jo whistled through his teeth. âI never knew Fletcher had a sister.â
âNeither did I. Thatâs one of the things I want you to check. If sheâs not his sister, sheâs probably in on some kind of percentage from a settlement to make him disappear. And if she is his sisterâ¦â
âGiven her scum dog of a brother, sheâd be even less trustworthy.â
âExactly what I was thinking,â Daniel agreed before he hung up, still leaning over his desk, hauling air into his lungs as his brain made the connections. Fletcher had to have taken Monica to Hawaii for two reasonsâfirst, to ensure nobody could arrive in Brisbane while Fletcher wasnât around and bundle her on the next flight back to Cairns to talk her out of making the biggest mistake of her life, and secondly to suck her further and further into his web.
Meanwhile the sweet Miss Turner had the job of playing the supporting role at home to make it look like the wedding was real, no doubt in the hope it would crank up any pay-off offered to Fletcher.
He growled. If sheâd been speaking the truth, then heâd had Fletcherâs sister right here in his office and heâd let her walk away. God, heâd even held her in his arms and all but kissed her. Fletcherâs damned sister. What had he been thinking?
But he hadnât been thinking then, not beyond the silky-smooth perfection of her skin, the unusual blue of her eyes, and the tantalising scent of woman.
So much for wanting to make a point about the irrationality of things happening too quickly. If she hadnât stopped him, if she hadnât pushed him away, he doubted he could have stopped himself.
Not the point heâd been trying to make at all. But Monicaâs news had thrown him for six. No wonder he hadnât been thinking straight.
But he was thinking straight now.
The old and familiar competitiveness cranked back into life. Fletcher would soon be sitting in his five-star hotel suite waiting to hear from his sister about Danielâs reaction, rubbing his hands together in glee while he waited for a nice plump offer for him to disappear to drop into his lap.
The last thing heâd be expecting would be for Daniel to join in the game. If Fletcher wanted to play âwhisk away the sisterâ, why couldnât Daniel do likewise?
Maybe he should just whisk away one Miss Sophie Turner for however long it took.
And he sure as hell wouldnât let her go again until he knew Moni was safe.
He glanced at his watch. They should be nearing the airport by now. Miss Turner would be thinking she was just about home free.
He picked up the telephone again, punching in another number and smiling for what felt like the first time today, already anticipating her confusion. âCedric, thereâs been a change of plansâ¦â
Â
Sophie pushed back into the butter-soft upholstery, willing herself to relax. Sheâd almost turned her back on the car waiting for her when sheâd emerged from the lobby. Sheâd had enough of Daniel Caruana for one day, and sheâd wanted nothing more to do with him and his. But the driver had greeted her with a friendly smile and, much as she resented his boss, sheâd had no reason to be rude to an innocent driverâespecially one who was probably smiling in relief because it wasnât Mr Arrogance himself that he was picking up. Besides, sheâd had no idea how long it would take to wait for a taxi this far north of Cairns, and the sooner she made it to the airport, the better chance she would have of catching an earlier flight back to Brisbane.
So sheâd allowed herself to be handed into the spacious interior of the luxury sedan, satisfied at least that every minute took her another kilometre from Daniel Caruana.
She