Finders Keepers Edie Baylis (phonics readers .TXT) 📖

you then.’ Replacing the phone on the cradle, he folded his arms. ‘See? Ye of little faith! That was a new customer – he’s coming on Friday. Very interested in the gold Audi over there.’

Heath sighed. ‘Oh good, that will sort everything out!’

‘You can scoff, but someone doesn’t come all the way from Ireland to look at a car if they’re not serious!’

Heath smiled patronisingly and stuck out his hand. ‘I’m off now.’

Mike reluctantly shook hands with his son. ‘Whatever you’re doing, promise me you’ll be careful, ok?’

Flashing his father a self-assured grin, Heath sauntered through the showroom. By the time all of this had come off he’d never have to bother setting foot in a car sales showroom again, unless he was buying a flash motor for himself, of course.

Fifty Six

AFTER LOSING HIS TEMPER and throwing the photograph into the fireplace, Jonah hadn’t planned on telling this stranger about Lena, but there was something about Teagan Fraser which had unexpectedly opened the gates. He had just about blanked what Lena had done from his conscious mind enough to function, but his reaction proved her betrayal was still eating away at him every single minute of every single day and that chafed hard.

‘I really didn’t mean to pry,’ Teagan said quietly, the pain on Jonah’s face raw. To make the man believe he was going to be a father was low. Really low. What sort of woman would lie about something so important?

‘Don’t worry about it.’ Jonah stared at his fourth glass of whisky. He hadn’t intended drinking so much and was beginning to feel the effects. His eyes rested back on Teagan and suddenly he laughed loudly. ‘It’s ridiculous! I didn’t trust anyone to start with and I certainly won’t now!’

Teagan forced a smile. She felt very similar.

‘At least you’ve got Robert,’ Jonah said gruffly. ‘When he shows up again, that is.’ Where the hell was the man?

Against her will, Teagan’s bottom lip quivered. She wouldn’t cry. She wouldn’t. This drink – it made her guard slip. Stupid, stupid. ‘I don’t know why everyone thinks we are together?’

‘I suppose they just presumed... I know I did. People presume a lot of things...’ Jonah frowned, suddenly noticing the bereft expression on Teagan’s face. ‘Has something happened?’

Teagan flushed. ‘Just something Robert said,’ she muttered, looking at her feet with embarrassment.

Jonah walked over, his dark eyebrows knitting together. ‘Is he not behaving decently?’

Teagan raised her head, surprised to find Jonah had moved so close without her sensing it and found her gaze travelling over the strong sculptured lines of his jaw and the shadow of dark stubble under his skin. She had a strong urge to reach out and touch his face to see if she could feel it. The man exuded raw power and it was hypnotising. ‘Robert has no obligation to treat me in any specific way.’

‘Yes he does,’ Jonah said. ‘You’re a woman and women should always be treated decently and with respect.’ He watched Teagan’s eyes moving over his face, trying to read him and found himself drawn to her mouth, wondering what she’d do if he traced his thumb across her lip, wondering what she tasted like...

His groin aching with the beginnings of arousal, Jonah shook his head angrily. He clearly needed to get a grip. It had obviously been too long, but his thoughts and reaction were unforgivable, considering this woman had recently been attacked. For fuck’s sake, what the hell was wrong with him? Perhaps Gwen was right after all – maybe he should cut down on the drink.

Jonah purposefully moved his vision over to the mangled photograph of Lena – that would quell his urges straight away. Christ, was he some kind of wanker, like Saul?

Teagan watched Jonah scowling at the image of the woman in the smashed frame. ‘I know she hurt you, but do you think you could forgive her? You must have felt something if you were getting married?’

Jonah’s eyes flashed. ‘Married? The only reason I was marrying the stupid bitch was because of the baby – you know, the one that didn’t exist!’

Teagan blanched with the raw vitriol in Jonah’s voice, his sporadic temper scaring her. They were all the same, these people. She’d lost sight of that for a split second.

‘And no I wouldn’t forgive her even if she wasn’t dead!’

‘D-Dead?’ Teagan spluttered. No one had mentioned anything about a woman having died? What else did she not know?

‘Yeah, dead,’ Jonah spat. ‘They’re all fucking dead.’

Teagan felt like she might pass out. Had Jonah killed them all? Saul, his fiancée, Joe and that other man? ‘So it was you? You that...?’

Jonah swung around. ‘It was me, what?’ he barked. ‘Go on... say it! Accuse me!’ He smiled viciously. ‘I dare you...’ He was so sick of everything being so bloody wrong.

‘Is everything alright?’ Gwen entered the room, eyeing Jonah first, then Teagan and finally the shards of glass and pieces of picture frame around the hearth. Her eyes narrowed accusingly at Jonah seeing the glass in his hand and then looked at Teagan. ‘Teagan, could you give us a moment?’

Not needing any excuse to get away from this man and his loose temper, Teagan scrambled towards the door a little unsteadily. ‘I’ll be upstairs.’ She nodded at Jonah and then quickly left the room, heart pounding.

In the hallway, she leant against the wall and inhaled deeply, hearing the raised voices of Gwen and Jonah muffled behind the closed door. She couldn’t be around men like this – especially when her body wasn’t responding to logic.

STANDING IN THE HALLWAY AT FOOTLIGHTS, Robert listened carefully – every fibre of his body alert.

A strange tingling, vibrating sensation thrummed in an incessant hum along his veins. The anticipation, the nerves, the anger; expectation and apprehension all rolled into one. He was doing this come hell or high water.

He could have had something. For the first time in his life, he could have