Carole Mortimer Romance Collection. Carole Mortimer
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got over the pain of walking out on the only family he had.
Ten years. It was a long time not to have recognised your family. As far as Juliet was aware Liam seemed to have no ties now either; he seemed to go wherever he wanted. What he seemed to have spent his time doing during the last ten years was building himself a business empire in the world of hotels and leisure, becoming more successful in that field than his father’s business could ever hope to be. Perhaps as a way of hitting out at his father? Juliet was no psychologist, but that was more than a possibility.
And it seemed that he had now finished hitting out at her for her involvement with his father, that the game was now over and she could have Carlyle Properties as far as he was concerned!
She didn’t doubt for one moment that Liam meant what he said; she was sure that he was a man who always meant what he said. But how could she take something which she knew she had no right to? Her initial reaction on being told that she owned half the company had been to give Edward Carlyle all of it; after all, she had no real right to it. But his elusiveness over the last two months had shown her only too clearly just how interested he was in the company.
Even so, she couldn’t just walk away with all of the company. That would be so totally wrong. And it obviously wasn’t what William had wanted at all.
‘Still here?’ Liam rasped as he swung easily out of the pool, picking up a towel to begin towelling himself dry. ‘You’ve got what you came for, Juliet,’ he derided. ‘We have nothing further to discuss.’
Her eyes flashed a warning. He might have been hurt by William in the past, might now have reason to believe that she had been his father’s mistress, but that did not give him the right to talk to her in that way!
‘There will be papers to sign——’
‘Send them to my London office.’ He waved a hand in dismissal. ‘My lawyers will deal with them.’
‘But——’
‘Juliet,’ he cut in quietly—too quietly, ‘haven’t you realised by now that I have no interest in anything to do with the Carlyle family?’ His eyes glittered deeply blue.
‘Your name is Carlyle——’
‘For my sins,’ he accepted abruptly, the towel draped about his neck now. ‘But a name doesn’t make me one of them.’
She frowned across at him. He spoke of his father and brother with real hatred, a hatred that went very deep…
‘Don’t look so shocked, Juliet,’ he said derisively. ‘Not everyone can love the family they’re given.’
She stiffened. ‘I wouldn’t know about that,’ she bit out.
He looked at her blankly for a moment, and then winced as he realised exactly what she meant. ‘Oh. God, I’m sorry.’ He shook his head.
Having a family of her own had been something she had longed for when she had been younger, but for some reason the mother she had never seen had refused to let her be put up for adoption, and the series of foster homes she had gone to had all become just a blur of kind, well-meaning people who could never really allow themselves to become too attached to her, or her to them. And then her mother had died when she was fifteen. At that age Juliet had been far too old to be wanted for adoption, and had left foster care, as soon as she was old enough, to make a life for herself.
That was why William’s kindness to her, both before and after Simon’s death, had been so important to her; why she felt such an obligation, despite Liam’s insults concerning her relationship with his father, to try and reach his older son now.
‘It isn’t important,’ she dismissed.
‘Yes, it is, damn it,’ Liam rasped. ‘Look, let’s have some lunch, Juliet, and then maybe both of us will have calmed down slightly.’
As far as she was aware, she wasn’t upset, but if Liam chose to see it that way that was up to him. And she really did need one more chance to change his mind about Carlyle Properties.
‘I won’t change my mind about any involvement with my father’s company.’ He seemed to read her mind as they went into the house to prepare lunch. ‘I cut myself off from that once, and I intend to remain away from it! ‘Liam…’
‘Juliet…’ he returned mockingly, his ill humour from a few minutes ago definitely abating. ‘Don’t try and interfere in things you don’t understand,’ he advised quietly.
‘But—’
‘Lunch,’ he announced firmly as they entered the kitchen—a bright open room, its general clutter fitting the rustic image.
Liam went to the fridge and began to take out salad stuff and cold meats and cheeses. This obviously really was his retreat from the outside world, a place where he was completely alone. Usually. But unfortunately, Juliet knew, her presence here meant nothing; Liam really was adamant about Carlyle Properties.
They worked together in silence preparing the meal, taking their laden plates back outside to sit beside the pool and eat the food.
‘And I expect you to eat that,’ Liam warned as she picked at the food on her plate. ‘By the look of you, someone should have taken you in hand years ago!’ He ate his own food with obvious enjoyment.
Juliet looked at him impatiently. ‘Not only are you thoughtless, you’re arrogant too!’
He grinned at her unconcernedly. ‘It has been said,’ he acknowledged with a nod.
A man in his position could probably afford to be arrogant, but Juliet found it more than a little unnerving being ordered about in this way. She and William had always worked as a team and since his death she had been the one giving orders, to household and company staff alike.
‘The house,’ she said abruptly. ‘What do you want me to do with that?’
Liam’s eyes narrowed. ‘As far as I’m aware that was left to you,’ he dismissed harshly.
So he had read the letters sent to him by the lawyers, and probably hers too, even if he had chosen to ignore them! Which proved that he wasn’t quite as unconcerned about his father as he liked to appear.
She shrugged. ‘It’s your family home——’ She broke off as she saw the darkening anger on his face. ‘It’s called Carlyle House, Liam,’ she reasoned.
‘Then change its name. Or your own,’ he rasped. ‘It’s something I should have done myself years ago!’
‘I——’
‘Wine.’ He stood up abruptly. ‘We should have some wine with this,’ he announced before striding back into the villa.
Juliet stared after him. He really was the most difficult man to understand. In fact, she wasn’t even bothering to try any more! One minute he was civil and the next he was on the attack again. Admittedly, the attacks only came when the conversation veered on to his family, but considering that was all they really had to talk about it was a strain, to say the least!
She wordlessly took the glass of wine he handed her a few minutes later, sipping gratefully at the golden liquid.
‘Eat,’ he instructed harshly.
She looked at him over the rim of her wine glass. ‘Liam——’
‘Just eat, Juliet,’ he said impatiently. ‘I didn’t ask for you to come to Majorca, to seek me out— and too much of that wine on an empty stomach and I’m likely to have a drunken woman on my hands!’
He really was the most insulting man! She had never been drunk in her life, rarely touched alcohol, in fact, and Liam certainly had no right to imply that she was going to get drunk on one glass of wine.
Thoughtless. Difficult. Arrogant. Insulting. He had been all four of those already this afternoon, was there anything nice to say about this man?