'You were a little emotional,' Jennifer said reprovingly, 'but perhaps he likes a bit of melodrama now and again. Anyway, it ought to be me who is mortally offended.'
'Why aren't you?' Katie asked shrewdly.
'Because you were only speaking the truth,' Jennifer answered disarmingly. Katie remembered this tactic of her sister's from the past—she always used it to devastating effect, especially when accompanied by the sheepish grin that, as she was doing now, melted the rather sharp features. It didn't mean anything but it was hard to resist, she thought wryly. 'Come on, Katie, I know I'm a pig but it's just the way I'm made,' Jennifer continued persuasively. 'Give me the gen on this Reef man, please.'
'There's not much to tell,' Katie said slowly, knowing she was being duped but beyond caring. 'Dad apparently approached him to go into this business deal with him and—'
'I don't mean that,' Jennifer interrupted caustically. 'What about his love life? Has he got a girlfriend? Is he keen on you? Any skeletons in the cupboard that you know of?'
'Jen!' Katie jerked upright in the bed as she brushed the hair out of eyes that were beginning to spark. 'Can't you forget you're a reporter for a few minutes?'
'Well, if I could, he's the man to make me,' Jennifer said dreamily. 'You must have noticed what a dish he is, Katie. I know your sex drive isn't particularly frenzied but that physique coupled with those incredible eyes of his must have caused a few tremors, surely?'
As Katie opened her mouth to deny it she remembered the kiss of the night before and the way it had fired her body, and blushed scarlet, the protest dying on her lips.
'I thought so.' Jennifer narrowed her eyes at her sister, her expression thoughtful. 'But he has a certain reputation, little sister, in business and out of it, for going straight for the jugular. I wouldn't mess with him, sweetie; leave it to the experts.'
'Like you?' Katie slanted her eyebrows at Jennifer even as she had to laugh at her sister's outrageous manoeuvring.
'Exactly.' Jennifer stood up gracefully, stunning in white ski-pants teamed with a pure white cashmere sweater that would have cost Katie a month's salary. 'You never know, I might be able to…persuade him to do something to help us out.'
'You really do have the morals of an alley-cat, Jen,' Katie said lightly, half serious and half teasing.
'I know.' Jennifer seemed pleased at the comment. 'But life's so short, sweetie, and I do find sex such fun.' The feline eyes narrowed still further at the expression on Katie's face. 'Oh, hell, I've shocked you again,' she drawled lazily. 'When were two sisters ever such opposites as you and I?' She sauntered over to the window and pulled the curtains wide open, gazing down into the shining white world outside. 'I suppose you haven't met anyone since we spoke last?' she asked idly, without turning round.
'If you mean am I still a virgin why don't you just come straight out and ask?' Katie said tightly, well aware of the hidden question in her sister's apparently innocuous words.
'Oh, Katie, you've going to grow old and die here without ever having any fun if you're not careful.' Jennifer yawned as she sw
ung round and walked towards the door. 'What, or who, are you waiting for anyway? I haven't noticed many Prince Charmings beating a path to your door.'
'Jennifer, we're different; let's just leave it at that,' Katie said firmly. 'You can go from man to man without it bothering you an iota; I just couldn't. And I do have fun, anyway. I go on dates when I feel like it and I've loads of friends—'
'These are the 1990s, Katie.' Jennifer stopped at the door with her hands on her hips as she frowned across at her sister. 'People just don't go on dates without following through.'
'Well, I do.' Katie was determined to end the conversation as soon as possible. 'And now I want to get dressed, so if you don't mind vacating the premises…? And Dad is waiting for a visit, don't forget.'
'I know, I know.'
'And later you are going to have to go through some of the legal implications with me, Jennifer,' Katie added warningly.
'Oh, hell, darling, how tacky.' Jennifer wrinkled her nose disapprovingly. 'Can't we just leave it to Dad and the solicitors?'
'Jennifer, when are you going to get it through your head that he is an ill man?' Katie asked tightly. 'A very ill man. He shouldn't be worried—'
'Well, you refused Carlton when he offered to help,' Jennifer snapped back abruptly, 'and frankly I think that that was a hell of a moment to get on your high horse.' She flounced out of the room before Katie could respond, banging the door in her wake.
Katie stared after her, her face dark with anger, before she relaxed against the pillows with a deep sigh. Why did five minutes with Jennifer always resemble several rounds with Muhammad Ali? she asked herself silently, although in this case she had to admit that that parting shot had been justified.
She shut her eyes tightly as she forced down the sick panic in her chest. She would have to ring him and ask if he would still help them, to eat humble pie… She pictured the scene in the hall in her mind's eye and shook her head helplessly. He was going to just love this. He must think he'd got them all exactly where he wanted them.
Perhaps she ought to leave him to Jennifer after all? she thought numbly even as something in her repudiated the thought of her sister in an intimate embrace with Carlton Reef. He was the sort of man who could well want a particular form of thanks for his assistance. She felt a little shiver of excitement flicker down her spine and despised herself for it. All this was sending her crazy.
The ringing of the phone downstairs interrupted her thoughts abruptly and a few moments later Mrs Jenkins popped her head round the door. 'Jennifer said you were awake,' she said cheerily as she placed a cup of tea on the bedside cabinet. 'And Mr Reef is on the phone—wants to speak to you and you alone.' The housekeeper's face twisted in a rueful grimace. 'That didn't go down well with your sister.'
'No, no, it wouldn't.' Katie's stomach had performed a violent cartwheel and she took a deep breath before lifting up the bedroom extension at her elbow. He was going Ho be mad, so mad. Was he going to make her crawl for help?
'Katie?' It was the deep, impatient voice she would have known, anywhere and again that subtle little shiver trembled down her spine. 'Are you free this morning to go over those papers?'