.

Читать онлайн книгу.

 -


Скачать книгу
sake, she fumed impatiently—the doorbell sounded and she went to answer it with her hair left as it had been.

      ‘You found us all right,’ she murmured, remembering her manners as she invited him into her home. He ignored her sociable enquiry. She wondered why she had bothered. ‘Come into the sitting room,’ she said, polite still, and led the way. ‘Would you like coffee?’ she stayed polite to enquire civilly.

      He shook his head. ‘I want to be away long before twelve-thirty,’ he replied succinctly.

      Well, he needn’t bother. She wanted him out of her home long before Dianne dropped Pip off. Determined to stay civilised, Leyne took a seat on one of the several easy chairs in the room, and relaxed a little when he followed suit. Jack Dangerfield was tall, and somehow, even sitting down, he still seemed to dominate the room.

      Leyne was staring at his jet-back hair, her gaze flitting to his eyes, green, and identical to those of her niece, when he interrupted her inventory. ‘Your niece is out somewhere, you said?’

      Quickly Leyne gathered herself together. ‘She and her friend Alice more often than not swim on a Saturday morning,’ she replied. And, lest he should think his daughter neglected in any way—for all he had not yet admitted to being Pip’s father, ‘Dianne, Alice’s mother, and I have an arrangement where one or other of us does the ferrying around. Dianne will keep an eye on the girls this morning.’

      She could have saved herself the breath, Leyne realised—he was not the least bit interested. ‘You’re still insisting that I’m the child’s father?’

      That same raven hair! Those same green eyes! Add that to what her mother had told her. ‘There’s no doubt about it in my mind,’ she answered firmly.

      Jack Dangerfield favoured her with an impatient look. Clearly he did not want a daughter foisted on him, particularly a daughter he had never known about. ‘Her mother’s abroad?’ he questioned.

      She had already told him that! ‘South America at the moment,’ Leyne informed him.

      ‘I thought you said she was in Australia,’ he threw her by stating.

      Leyne blinked—where had Australia come from? ‘No, I didn’t!’ she replied sharply.

      He did not seem convinced. ‘But she has been to Australia?’ he pressed.

      ‘Max has never been to Australia,’ Leyne told him bluntly. ‘It may be on their itinerary before she comes home, hopefully in time for Pip’s next birthday, but it will be Max’s first visit there.’

      He shrugged, but accepted what she said. ‘I must have been thinking of someone else.’

      ‘No doubt,’ Leyne replied. She would not be at all surprised if he had many ex-women-friends in all corners of the globe.

      ‘Well, I have to tell you, Miss Rowberry—’ he began, and looked so serious that she stared at him from her wide blue eyes, expecting some quite shattering announcement. But as he stared back—his eyes on her eyes and on the earnest look of her—he checked. And, after a moment when—ridiculously, she later thought—time seemed suspended, he merely added, ‘That I—hmm—would like to take up your offer of coffee after all.’

      Leyne went to the kitchen and could not help feeling a little let down. Though quite what she had been expecting him to say she wasn’t sure. He seemed determined not to acknowledge Pip as his—and Leyne was not at all certain what she could do about that.

      She returned to the sitting room with a tray of coffee, knowing that for her niece’s sake, and no other, she must be equally determined.

      ‘Oh, if only Max had not lost her cellphone.’ She mumbled her thoughts out loud as she handed him his coffee and took her coffee back to the chair she had been seated in a short while ago.

      ‘Cellphone?’ Jack enquired politely.

      Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

      Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

      Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

      Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.

/9j/4R1xRXhpZgAATU0AKgAAAAgADAEAAAMAAAABAzkAAAEBAAMAAAABBLAAAAECAAMAAAADAAAA ngEGAAMAAAABAAIAAAESAAMAAAABAAEAAAEVAAMAAAABAAMAAAEaAAUAAAABAAAApAEbAAUAAAAB AAAArAEoAAMAAAABAAIAAAExAAIAAAAeAAAAtAEyAAIAAAAUAAAA0odpAAQAAAABAAAA6AAAASAA CAAIAAgALcbAAAAnEAAtxsAAACcQQWRvYmUgUGhvdG9zaG9wIENTNiAoV2luZG93cykAMjAxNDox MToxNSAxMTo0Nzo0NAAAAAAEkAAABwAAAAQwMjIxoAEAAwAAAAH//wAAoAIABAAAAAEAAAH0oAMA BAAAAAEAAALXAAAAAAAAAAYBAwADAAAAAQAGAAABGgAFAAAAAQAAAW4BGwAFAAAAAQAAAXYBKAAD AAAAAQACAAACAQAEAAAAAQAAAX4CAgAEAAAAAQAAG+sAAAAAAAAASAAAAAEAAABIAAAAAf/Y/+0A DEFkb2JlX0NNAAL/7gAOQWRvYmUAZIAAAAAB/9sAhAAMCAgICQgMCQkMEQsKCxEVDwwMDxUYExMV ExMYEQwMDAwMDBEMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMAQ0LCw0ODRAODhAUDg4OFBQO Dg4OFBEMDAwMDBERDAwMDAwMEQwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAz/wAARCACgAG4D ASIAAhEBAxEB/90ABAAH/8QBPwAAAQUBAQEBAQEAAAAAAAAAAwABAgQFBgcICQoLAQABBQEBAQEB AQAAAAAAAAABAAIDBAUGBwgJCgsQAAEEAQMCBAIFBwYIBQMMMwEAAhEDBCESMQVBUWETInGBMgYU kaGxQiMkFVLBYjM0coLRQwclklPw4fFjczUWorKDJkSTVGRFwqN0NhfSVeJl8rOEw9N14/NGJ5Sk hbSVxNTk9KW1xdXl9VZmdoaWprbG1ub2N0dXZ3eHl6e3x9fn9xEAAgIBAgQEAwQFBgcHBgU1AQAC EQMhMRIEQVFhcSITBTKBkRShsUIjwVLR8DMkYuFygpJDUxVjczTxJQYWorKDByY1wtJEk1SjF2RF VTZ0ZeLys4TD03Xj80aUpIW0lcTU5PSltcXV5fVWZnaGlqa2xtbm9ic3R1dnd4eXp7fH/9oADAMB AAIRAxEAPwD1VJCyhe7GtbjODby0+m48B0e1YvSWdbGFVXS5rfRsc2xmSyxri39E9jWOdTV+9b+l /Sf6P+d/mEp30liub9aKqbLLbsY7WtMsZY6AwVeu9tDWPttfd6eU6ulj/Z69VX6X0vUsy6+q9U6j mW9LGXVU2prcjIu3NaRU5o2UVmv3Wtue9mTbdV6Xo4ttOH61WXb9qSXRhKVkA0PmIHyvSu6hitc5 gc6xzDDxUx9u0j81/oNs2P8A5LkTGyacqlt9Dt9bpAMEEFpLHsex217LK3tcyyt/vresZnU34eJT hY78e3NyPZjwBViMdA/R1PG12RTS76FeP6mQ/wDR1W+j6nqq/g143S8ZmJdksdfFmRdY8tY6xznG 7LyvTH0K/Vt/qU/zaS+WOo3REifSD+lH9KXC30kB2diNyKcY2tN+QC6qsaktaNzrPb9Gv/hHexEZ dTY97K7GvfUYsa0glpOu14H0UmOj2Pdmkgty8R7yxt1bnh5qLQ4E+oB6jqon+caz3+mo2dQwK32V vyKm2VAOsrL27mhxDWbmTv8Ae5zWsSVwy7FsJIePfVk0V5FDt9NzW2Vv1EtcNzHe795qk9pcxzQ4 tLgQHDkT+ckgitC1q+rdOtLRXe1xcQ0ATMmABH9pW1m09HNT2RkE1sc1xq9KoAlu3b7vT3/4Ov8A OWkkp//Q9VSQvUTeqjSkyxHfV91WE12O+t/VaL7MyrLezaHXWuc66u0M3O9DIpf9jf8AT9Oj0v8A CUVLW9UJeoEKXQySj8p62fH/ANBcFmIzqec7qbHX7g6rdU0VNtx7qBYx2Jb69mzZ+sPu9L7P77LP tNOS+r0U93SMTMyraci26jKvr20bw0uFcs+12V2H16L8q36HqfTw6fs/oUU+n+l1bsPFuuF7mlt4 bt9atzq3lo1DHvqLPUra4/zdnsSrxaWWtucX22sBDH2OLtoP0tjfoM/r7d6VM3v9QSKFR02r5Rf7 rSd9XS2/Ifi5b8SvIx2Y7TU0G6sV7/5vKt9T2v8AU936P1/0dXp5FfpVouJ0GnEda2m1zMe3b+ia A10MbsbT6zNr/s+7ff6dfpfp78myyyz13rQ3p/U8UmM5shFE9ug6bOPj/ViqkUH7S511ZfbbfsZv de9vpMyK9zX147Mar1KsbFbX9nrrf/pK/VTD6t2fZcap2RWX4rmOkUkMs2C3+lN9f7RfY6zJuyN3 2v8ApP6X0v5z1Nn1AlvCVJ+8Zf3vwj/L9JHh030Me2+71yXksdtDIZpsr2tOz2fyNiPKGbAkXhJj JJNlJKUoZsCf1Akh/9H0H7SPH8E7clrnRMA6HgcrFN7Rq4/MkpvWLmnYQ2QQHtAcWzpu93/fkOLx X8HgzxutdQdgdDIc227qON6mTYaja7e2mrIL20478Vrd77H7/wDoK+Op2DqzsO8

Скачать книгу