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Chapter Thirty Nine
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BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Chapter Fourty
Five years ago. Dan. His brother was late, the restaurant was crowded, noisy, the kind of fashionable look at me I have arrived place he loathed, and Dan wished he had made an excuse, stuck to his original plan to have a sandwich at his desk as he worked through the evening. A rush of cold air as the door opened behind him gave him hope that his ordeal would soon be over, but as he turned he saw that it wasn’t Nate but a young woman rushing to get in out of the rain. She paused momentarily, framed in the entrance, spotlit by the bright lights of the cocktail bar against the darkness outside. Time stretched like elastic. The earth stopped turning. Everything slowed down. He felt as if he could count every one of the raindrops sparkling in her corn gold hair. It was tousled, as if it had been caught by the gusting wind that she seemed to have brought into the restaurant with her, stirring everyone so that they turned to look. Kept on looking. Maybe it was because she was laughing
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Chapter Fourty one
Dan. The words for what he was feeling hadn’t yet been invented. The loss, the pain, the regret that the last time he’d seen his brother, Nate had been at his worst. It had been deliberate, of course. A ploy to make him angry. And he had risen self righteously to the bait… Neither of them had come out of it with any glory. But she had lost the man she loved. The father of her child. How much worse must it be for her… He stepped forward. ‘I’m sorry I couldn’t get here sooner, Mira.’ ‘Ten days. Time enough to have got from almost anywhere, I would have thought.’ He wanted to ask her why she’d left it so late. Too late. ‘I wish I could have relieved you of the burden of organising this.’ His voice seemed to belong to someone else. Someone cold, distant… ‘Oh, please. Don’t apologise. Your secretary rang, offering to help I imagine Nate’s lawyer must have called your office but a funeral is a family thing. Not something for strangers.’ He wasn’t talking about the funeral, but the m
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Chapter Fourty Two
Dan. ‘Is that a fact?’ Her eyebrows rose to match her interest. ‘Then you must be Dan, the rich, successful older brother who no one ever talks about. You don’t look like Nate, ’ she added, without waiting for confirmation. ‘We were half brothers. Same father, different mothers. Nate favour's, well favored his. Mother.’ ‘Should one speak ill of the dead at his own funeral?’ she enquired, with a refreshing lack of sentimentality. Then, clearly not expecting an answer, ‘I’m Matty Lang,’ she said, offering her hand. ‘Mira’s cousin. So what’s the mystery? Why haven’t we met? There’s no mystery. I’m a geologist. I spend a lot of time overseas in remote places.’ Then, because he didn’t want to elaborate on why he didn’t include family visits when he was in London, he said, ‘Mira must be glad to have you here. Her parents live overseas, I understand.’ ‘They do. In separate hemispheres to avoid bloodshed. As for the rest of them, they’re all too busy to waste time at a funeral that won’
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Mira. No one needed her in the kitchen, although she was just in time to prevent connie from loading crystal glasses into the dishwasher. Matty had simply been giving her a chance to escape, Mira realised belatedly. Dan, too, although it hurt to acknowledge that he might have even one kind bone in his body. She should go back. People would be leaving, but she couldn’t face the drawing room again. The polite condolences which, for the most part, simply masked the unasked questions she could see in everyone’s eyes. They were sorry Nate was dead, sympathetic, but their concerns were with the future. Would the company go on? Would they have their jobs at the end of the month? Survival was the name of the game. For them, just as much as those two tactless imbeciles who undoubtedly wanted to know when their bills would be paid. Questions to which she had no answers. It occurred to her that she was now the owner of a business that she knew next to nothing about. She’d talked about going
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Chapter Fourty Four
Mira was shaking so badly that she had to sit down before her legs gave way. Toby struggled to free himself, but she clutched at him as if he was the only thing standing between her and some dark chasm that yawned in front of her. She had been so sure that Dan wouldn’t come today. It had been pure relief when his secretary rang to tell her that although she had finally managed to get the news to him he was unlikely to make it home in time, even for the funeral. Easy enough to assure the woman that she understood,decline all offers of assistance. She should have known he would move heaven and earth. Nate had once told her that his brother was a man who simply refused to contemplate the impossible, that only once had he backed down, retreated from the challenge to get what he wanted. Dan was a dark, unseen shadow that had seemed to haunt Nate . She should have, could have, done something to change that, she thought guiltily. Made an effort to bridge the gulf that had opened up between
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Chapter Fourty Five
All he had been able to do was wish them well, be glad that Steve had finally found what he’d always been searching for. Someone who loved him. Someone who would always be there. A family of his own. And live with it. Attempt to carry on a normal conversation. ‘Where are you planning to live?’ he’d asked. ‘Steve’s flat isn’t big enough for two, let alone a baby.’ It was like prodding himself with a hot needle. ‘We are looking around for just the right place…’ Then, with a casual shrug, Steve added, ‘Fran and I looked at the Elton Street house yesterday.’ His heart missed a beat as he forced himself to turn to Mira, include her in the conversation. ‘Did you like it?’ ‘It’s a beautiful house,’ she said, not quite meeting his eyes. ‘Fran fell head over heels in love with it,’ Steve said emphatically. ‘I would like to come and see you tomorrow. Talk about it.’ He ignored the opening his brother had left him. Maybe he was the one avoiding eye contact. Avoiding a repeat of that momen
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Mira. ‘No, but as I said’ ‘And because we didn’t go through some totally meaningless ceremony i will? Have to pay it?’ ‘Well, yes. That’s the present situation, I’m afraid.’ ‘But that’s outrageous! We have lived together for nearly three years. We have a child…’ ‘If you had lived together for twenty three years and had ten children it would make no difference, I’m afraid.’ After the brief stunned silence she asked, ‘What’s the liability threshold?’ ‘$250,000. After that forty percent of the estate goes to the Inland revenue.’ ‘But…’ Dan had thought she looked pale. He had been wrong. Colour leached from her skin, leaving her ashen. ‘But surely the house alone is worth ten times that?’ ‘You don’t have to worry about the house, Mira’ ‘You mean the house is free of inheritance tax?’ Mira asked. ‘I mean that Nate did not own the house.’ She shook her head. ‘No. That’s not right. Nate bought it from Dan, three years ago.’ She turned to him. Looked up at him. ‘We have lived the
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Chapter Fourty seven
Chapter 47.THERE was a long, still moment after Tom stopped speaking when itseemed that everyone had forgotten to breathe.Then Dan said, ‘Is that right, Tom? You have the tickets?’‘Yes, but—’He held out his hand and the lawyer reluctantly passed the travel folderto him. Fran watched in disbelief as he calmly opened it and checked thedocuments before turning to her.‘It’s next week, Mira. Is that convenient for you?’ he asked. As ifhe was talking about dinner or a seat at the theatre and with about as muchemotion. His face might have been hewn from wood for all the expressionin it. His eyes chiselled from cold steel.Confronted with so little feeling, something hot and painful clenchedinside her and she recognised it for what it was.Fear.‘This is a joke.’ She looked to the lawyer for backup. ‘This is Naten’sidea of a practical joke…’ If she’d hoped they would both laugh and admitit, she was disappointed. Tom looked down at his desk as if he wished hewas anywhere else. D
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