Australia’s Most Eligible Bachelor (19 page)

“So why didn’t she try to find me?” Miranda asked, showing painful emotion.

“Maybe secrecy is her creed? Just like Leila.” Corin struck a sombre note. “Don’t upset yourself, Miranda. It will be easy enough to find out everything you need to know about your paternal grandparents. Only then, I think, will you be in the position to decide what you want to do.”

Zara went off to bed a short time later.

“So, what was Peter whispering about?” Corin asked.

Anxiety spiked. “He warned me that Leila
knows
.”

“Peter doesn’t miss much, does he?” Corin observed dryly, moving about to turn off lights.

“He’s very observant. And to think I’d been concentrating on not looking at you for over-long.”

“Then Leila intercepted a glance. She has a genius for that.” He allowed his gaze to rest on her. “You look wonderful tonight. Small wonder Leila was flooded with jealousy. And you got Dad’s attention. He was captivated.”

“I don’t think that worried Leila.” She looked up at him as he stood above her. There was usually such pleasure in studying every aspect of his striking face—broad forehead, high cheekbones, sculpted chin, the brilliance of his dark eyes. Now she felt like a pinned butterfly, unable to withstand that dark scrutiny. She hadn’t properly taken on board that Corin was already a powerful personality, and that power would only increase. Right at that moment she felt hopelessly outmatched. Yet she persisted. She needed to push for answers. “She’s going with you to China. A lot can happen in a week.”

“Like what?” He stared at her, his expression pure challenge.

Now she felt thoroughly flustered. Didn’t reply.

“I thought we’d been over this, Miranda.” His gaze eased. “What bothers you, exactly?”

Tell him.

“I have this premonition of trouble. So ominous! It makes me feel like I’m lost at sea. I don’t know where all of this will ultimately lead. Leila is a powerfully sexual woman. She never stops trying. I’m frightened your father will suddenly whip off his blindfold and see what’s been right in front of his eyes.”

Corin started to circle the room like a big cat on the prowl. “Then he’ll see I have no liking—let alone
love
—for Leila.” Miranda’s concern, the worry in her eyes, were driving him to strengthen his case. Only
what
case, for God’s sake? He had done nothing wrong. But he knew he had to deal with Miranda’s fears. She was handling an extraordinary situation remarkably well, but she was clearly in a state of crisis, trying hard to keep her feelings under control.

Leila, the mother she had never known, was suddenly on the scene. A
major
player. Leila, the stepmother for whom he and his sister felt only contempt, the woman who had deliberately gone about destroying his parents’ marriage and ultimately their mother’s life. He had long divined what was eating away at his father. It was
guilt
. With Zara, a constant reminder, fourteen thousand miles away, his father had been able to shuffle off the burden for much of the time. But many people outside family were still deeply troubled by the way his mother had died.

Miranda’s voice brought him out of his tormented thoughts. “I hate liars,” she said. “They’re such dangerous people. Leila is not unlike a wild animal. If she’s cornered, she’ll lash out.”

“Or move in for the kill.” Corin spoke with a contemptuous rasp. “Leila is a stalker. There are women like that. Women who want vengeance for being scorned. Please let me deal with her. Don’t forget she has a lot to hide.”

“She does indeed,” Miranda agreed, quietly intense. “I’m not forgetting anything, Corin. But neither of us can hide from the fact I came out of my mother’s body. No matter how dark her journey through life, I don’t want to hurt her. She’s my
mother
. It’s very strange how life works out. I’m not a vindictive person. My ambition is to be a healer. As for Leila, so much depends on just how long your father will remain captive to her. He is at the moment. So Leila could well concoct a story he might well fall for. She could claim I’ve threatened her with exposure. Demanded money from her. Blackmail, no less. She could be doing it right now for all we know.”

He made a very impatient slicing movement with his hand. “Guesswork is tiring and unproductive. I don’t like to see you so upset. Come down to the apartment now. I’m sick to death of hearing about Leila. You were so happy, so hopeful. I hate to see that change. No one is happy with Leila around, Miranda. Not even Dad. Our being separated even for a week doesn’t sit easily with me,” he confessed.

Corin closed the apartment door as if he was closing out the world. “If Leila is going to make some move she’ll wait until the Beijing trip is over. I don’t think it would be wrong to do some threatening myself.” He shrugged out of his dinner jacket, undid the black tie. “It might even be a pleasure. Trying to make Dad see me as someone who desires her would be absolutely crazy, even for Leila. My father
knows
me. He knows better than anyone his children think Leila should burn in hell.”

Miranda couldn’t prevent a sick moan. “Burn in hell? She’s my
mother
, Corin! I feel more pity for her than anger or a thirst for revenge.” She went to stand in front of one of Zara’s shimmering landscapes, hoping it would calm her. “Do you see anything of her in me?” she turned to ask.

The anguish in her beautiful sparkling eyes made Corin move with swift, unleashed power. He pulled her into a long kiss. Not gentle. A kiss of craving that contained a high degree of emotional frustration. “No, no, a thousand times
no
! I refuse to allow you to distance yourself from me with these worries,” he muttered, his mouth still pressed against hers. “Leila erased you from her life. You must do the same to her. I have such
need
for you, Miranda. Can’t you feel it? I can’t
stand
to be apart. I want to bind you to me in marriage.”

Marriage?

Shock left her momentarily speechless. For a minute she thought she was weightless. Ready to take wing. She all but lost her breath. Hot blood rushed to her face. She felt wildly elated, astonished, wanting to follow wherever he went yet fearful of the consequences. She put trembling fingers to his lips. “Corin,
no
!” she whispered, as though their futures were already in jeopardy. “You must think of the fall-out!” His was no ordinary family. Dalton Rylance was an industrial giant. Corin was his son and heir. Her heart was beating so fast she might have been running…running…running.

But Corin wanted to marry her! She wanted to give herself up to the ecstasy, but terror stripped it back.

“Do you love me or don’t you?” He gripped her shoulders, very much the dominant male.

She heard the hard challenge in his tone. She took a deep breath. “You know I love you. It’s just that I can’t keep seem to keep up with all the shocks! I’m thrilled out of my mind you want to marry me. I’m honoured. But you must see better than I how talk of marriage right now might affect Leila? When it comes to you, I don’t think she’s quite sane.”

“Ah, to hell with Leila!” he cried, near violently. “She might go after what she wants, but so do
I
. I want
you
.”

“You have no
doubts
?” It was almost impossible to centre herself, so high was she soaring.

“None whatsoever!”

“When we know Leila is the enemy? One who will stop at nothing? She made her position very plain to me. If she is to suffer any consequences, she’ll make sure we all do. She could hurt the people I love as a way of hurting me. There could be public scandal. A huge rift in the family. And what of your standing in Rylance Metals? Could that be undermined? We’re dealing with a woman who would lie and lie and lie. The most outrageous lies are often believed. I believed all my life my grandparents were my parents.”

A wave of anger for what had been done to
all
of them swept him. “Your grandparents were good people, doing everything they could to protect you. You had a happy, stable childhood. It shows. You might consider I’d suffer much more if I heeded your concerns about Leila. If secrets are to come out, let them. Hold them up to the light of day. There’s nothing and no one who could make me give you up.”

She felt like weeping at the depth of emotion in his face, in his voice. Love from Corin, when her mother was spitting hate. “Maybe it’s best if I go home.”

“Well, yes, I want you home,” he confirmed strongly. “But of course Leila has the greatest chance of tracking our every movement there. Not that I care. We have to deal with her sooner or later. She might be crazy mad, but not mad enough to risk having her story come out. Dad isn’t a man to privately let alone publicly humiliate. Leila could well get more than she bargained for.”

“Would you like to unmask her?” She lifted her eyes to him, loving him with all her heart, but knowing Leila had caused a shift in the landscape.

“Yes,” he said with certainty. “But I want
you
more than I could ever want to bring Leila unstuck. It’s as Zara and I have told you. We abide by your decision. The fact that Leila is your mother is irremediable. We can’t change it. We can work around it. She’s not a fool. She’s got very used to being rich. The houses, the clothes, the jewellery, the travel.”

“So we lie to your father?” She broke gently away. She couldn’t think clearly with his arms around her. “You want me to live a lie? I suppose I have to. I can imagine the effect on him if I told the truth. It could destroy their marriage!”

“Forgive me if I don’t think it a tragedy,” Corin said caustically, fuelled by frustration. He wanted Miranda desperately, yet knew she was withholding some part of herself. “You can’t have it both ways, Miranda. You can’t protect your mother
and
not suffer some harm to yourself.”

“But think what a huge target I’d make if we suddenly announced our engagement.” Her turquoise eyes dominated her small face. “
Think
of it. You’re a Rylance. Dalton Rylance’s heir. The press would want to know everything about me. They’d send some hotshot reporter to check on me and my background.”

He had given that situation plenty of consideration. If Leila overnight suddenly revealed she had been triumphantly reunited with her long-lost daughter, all hell would break loose.

“Corin, you
must
listen.” Her eyes had been truly opened to her mother. She was chillingly self-centred.

He lifted a quelling hand. “Let me work it out, Miranda. There has to be a resolution. You don’t want your mother brought to account. So be it. The press side of it can be handled. We have people whose job is to take care of that. No one has unearthed any story on Leila, for a start. Very likely my father saw to that. Any story can be killed if enough influence is brought to bear. My father is a very powerful man. You really don’t know how powerful. He’s an industrial giant. God knows what fairy tale Leila told him, but if he didn’t entirely swallow it he certainly took care of it. I’ll take care of this.”

He gave her a little space of time, then he went to her, drawing her into his arms. “I think I’d die without you.” He bent to kiss her, the touch of his mouth exquisitely tender.

She felt its imprint right through her body. He kissed her under the chin, along her neck, making every pulse jump and her eyes glisten with tears.

“Do you believe, as I do, there’s only
one
person for us in life, Miranda?” He laid a tender hand on her breast. “
One
person out there for us to find. Some never manage it, no matter how hard they search for their soul mate. The
blessed
do. That’s how I feel about you. You’re my
one
person. We can and will marry. And no one will be allowed to stand in our way.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

T
HE
Peninsula Beijing was his father’s five-star hotel of choice when in the great city on business. It boasted everything he wanted. Understated elegance, top-notch amenities and an English-speaking staff. To keep Leila happy there was a luxury shopping arcade where she could spend his money to her heart’s content. His father never set a limit on her.

Queensland’s vast mineral resources and its mining boom had earned mining magnates like his father enormous wealth. Dalton Rylance’s total preoccupation was making money. Huge profits for Rylance Metals. Corin had been arguing strongly for some time now for the industry to tackle other issues that needed to be acted on. Like promoting a higher standard of living for their mining communities for a start. God knew, enough money was being generated. He had been speaking on an off to other members of the board, taking the issue right to them, and been gratified to learn they weren’t turning a deaf ear like his father. Such a high level of prosperity demanded the big players like Rylance address problems within the industry. When his day came—hopefully before then—that would certainly be the case.

China was a monolith. A great power and a most highly valued trading partner. Their negotiations with one of its leading corporations had spun out for several additional days. There were difficulties, always difficulties, trying to arrange a “marriage”, but finally they had an outcome that both parties could agree on. A significant mining investment in Rylance Bauxite would be made. A decision that had brought a hugely satisfied smile to his father’s handsome face.

“Great idea of yours, son, learning Mandarin like our PM,” he said proudly, punching Corin’s shoulder. “By the way, Lee wants to take us in his private plane to the Anhui Provence. We haven’t been there. The landscape is supposed to be magnificent—lots of scenic wonders Leila might enjoy. Great men were born in the province, I understand, and it’s famous for its arts and crafts—that sort of thing. I’d like you to come. Liang wants you along as well. He’s formed a very high regard for you.”

“And me for him,” Corin said sincerely. “I’ll think about it, Dad.”

“Do,” Rylance urged. “Regular flights shuttle around, of course, but Lee loves piloting his own plane. He knows the whole province like the back of his hand. I’d like us all to enjoy it—and his hospitality.”