Web of Deception (11 page)

Roger Webb insisted they peruse the menus immediately, clicked his fingers for a waiter, and they ordered quickly. Main courses only. They wouldn’t be lingering over a long, relaxed meal.

That didn’t bother Kate but she wondered about Daniel, for she was sure he wanted to spend some time with his father. That was the main reason he’d come to the mountains this weekend.

“I’m glad you could
make it, glad we could catch up.” Daniel handed his menu back to the waiter and nodded thank you before turning to his father. “A lot has happened since I last saw you and I wanted to see how you were doing. Also to tell you how things were going with me, of course.”

His father leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. At last he looked interested.

“Yes, yes,” he said. “We need to talk about Jennifer and Douglas and that shopping centre they’ve bought.”

“That’s not what I meant.
” Daniel added for Kate’s benefit, “Jennifer is my oldest sister. She and her husband are having some business problems.”

“Business problems!” Roger rolled his eyes as though Daniel didn’t understand the meaning of the term. “That’s an understatement. They’ll go bankrupt if we don’t help them. They’ve poured a hell of a lot of money into that investment. Put their hearts and souls into it. Done everything they could.”

Daniel’s gaze didn’t waver from his father’s face. “That’s not quite true. They put a modest amount of money into the business. I told them there were two tacks they could take – leave the business running exactly as it was and accept a modest return, or pump a huge amount of money into it and expect good returns. They did neither of those things. I can assure you they haven’t put much money into it at all.” He looked away. “Or much strategic thought, either.”

“That’s nonsense,” Roger said. “They’ve lost hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

“No, that’s probably the amount Douglas has gambled away in the time they’ve owned the property.”

Roger shook his head.
“Jennifer said he doesn’t go to the casino nearly as often as before. She also says he works so hard he needs some entertainment.”

Daniel raised his eyebrows, appearing more
bored more than angry. “Jennifer doesn’t know the meaning of hard work. You made sure of that when you gave her all that money years ago. Anyway, she’s probably spent more than Doug on jewellery and changing her car every six months.”

Kate recalled Daniel telling her that his older sisters all received enormous amounts of money from his father while he got only a token amount. His tone indicated he did
n’t bear a grudge. Still, it seemed very unfair to Kate.

Roger Webb
stared at his son. “They’ve been working hard at this business. It hasn’t been easy for them learning how to manage a shopping centre but they’re trying to make a go of it. They haven’t been lucky like you.”

“Luck had nothing to do with it.”

“You don’t know what they’ve been through. They need our help.”

Daniel shrugged.
“Some people can’t be helped. Before they bought that damn property, I had my accountants go through the books and I told them from the start it wasn’t going to be a huge cash-cow. They thought they knew better. Thought it’d be easy money. It’s no different from last time when they bought into that factory.”

Roger’
s lips formed a thin line. “You can’t stand by and watch them go bankrupt.”

“In fact, I can. I’ve bailed them out before and I’m not doing it again.”

“Then
I’ll
do it. Jennifer deserves my help.”

Daniel shrugged.
“That’s up to you. You’ve already thrown a lot of cash in her direction and all of their schemes have failed.”

His father’s lip curled in disgust.
“No thanks to you.”

A knot of anger twisted
in Kate’s stomach. The man was infuriating. He wasn’t listening to a word Daniel said.

Did he really think it was Daniel’s job to bail out his sister?

Did he always play his children off against each other this way?

She wanted to g
rab the man by the shoulders, shake some sense into him and tell him what for.

Yet Daniel didn’t seem riled. Perhaps he was used to it. Still, it made Kate wonder why she should feel insulted when
he wasn’t perturbed. Why was she suddenly getting so protective of him when he was more than capable of taking care of himself?

“I’ve made my own way in life,” Daniel said. “I’ve got some new deals I wanted to tell you about. You know the market as well as I do so I think you’ll be able to appreciate this.” Roger didn’t respond so Daniel continued. “I bought the Mills Building in the city.”

His father’s expression was deadpan. “You’re going to knock it down, of course.”

Kate didn’t know the full history and nuances of Daniel’s family so she hadn’t thought it appropriate to interject
in the conversation earlier. However if they were discussing the Mills Building, that was a different matter.

As an architect, she specialised in modernist building but she also appreciated the architecture of times past. Buildings like that one should be respected and restored, not knocked down. Once they were gone, that was it. It was too late. And Sydney had already lost enough of its historic buildings as far as she was concerned.

“He can’t knock it down,” she said. “It’s heritage listed.”

“There are ways around that,” Roger replied. “He could fight it. That’s what the courts are for.”

She looked him in the eye. “No, the courts are for people with genuine problems. This is a superb art deco building we’re talking about. It’s the single finest example of the architecture of that era that the city has. No one has the right to knock it down. It should be preserved for future generations.”

Roger leaned back in his chair. “Restoration work is very expensive. It costs a fortune. Do you have any idea how much that would come to on a building that size?”

“I have a pretty good idea. I’m an architect.”

“
But obviously not a businessperson. So, tell me, Kate, is that why you’re so interested in my son? Have you got the contract to restore the Mills Building?”

“Father,” Daniel interrupted. “That’s way out of line. You don’t know anything about her.”

Kate placed her hand over Daniel’s to indicate she would speak to Roger herself.

She held the man’s gaze.
“I work in a different field of architecture and, believe me, I’m very good at my job. I’ve never slept with anyone just to win a contact.” She raised her eyebrows. “Have you?”

Roger looked confused. “Of course not.”

“Then don’t change the subject,” she said. “We were talking about the value of restoring a classic building like the Mills. There’s a reason it’s protected by heritage laws. Surely you’ve heard of that builder…what was his name? Allessandro. He did just what you’re suggesting and ended up with a fine so hefty it sent him bankrupt.”

“That’s all very interesting but it doesn’t change the fact that dollars are always the bottom line.”

“What about integrity? I wouldn’t be here with Daniel if all he was interested in was money. He owes it to the public to treat that building with respect.”

A pang of guilt struck Kate. She wanted to think Daniel had high moral standards but his past wasn’t exactly spotless. He’d been underhanded in order to buy the building in the first place. Mark had told her all about it.

Roger looked away. “He owes them nothing.”

“Then he should have bought a different building or a different plot of land,” Kate
said.

Roger opened his mouth as if to argue, then his expression softened. “I hate to admit it but that’s a very astute observation.”

“Kate knows what she’s talking about,” Daniel said. “You should credit her with a little more intelligence. Don’t forget, I’ve been in business a long time too. I can make money on the project
and
treat the building with the respect it deserves. That’s exactly what I plan to do.”

“I hope you know wha
t you’re getting yourself into.” Completely out of the blue and despite his son’s rebuttal, Roger Webb grinned and looked across at Kate. “I like a woman with spunk. Just not too much.”

Kate laughed. What else was she to do? The man had been impossible but he was also so damn charming she couldn’t help herself.

The conversation had been tense so she was relieved when their meals arrived and discussion turned to less antagonistic subjects. Roger was genuinely interested in much that she had to say. More interested than he appeared to be in his own son. There were times when she thought she had his complete attention and, though flattering, she noticed he didn’t afford Daniel the same respect.

The meal was over much more quickly than she expected.

*          *          *

His father took to his feet as soon as their plates were cleared away. It was the kind of thing that had bothered Daniel greatly when he’d been younger but he didn’t care about it now. His time with his father was limited
, a fact he simply accepted.

As they stood from
the table, Roger took Kate’s hand into his own, leaned over and placed a kiss on the back of her hand. “It was a pleasure meeting you.”

Daniel actually believed he meant it. He’d clearly
enjoyed talking and sparring with her. Nevertheless the man probably didn’t expect to see her again. Not surprising really. Daniel didn’t keep the same woman for any length of time and he saw his father so rarely. Perhaps every six months.

But there was something his father didn’t know. Kate was different. She wasn’t like the other women in his life. He had plans for her.

“Make sure you think about Jennifer and Douglas,” Roger said, before turning and leaving.

The man simply couldn’t leave it alone
. He had to make that one final dig. As though after all Daniel had said, he would now change his mind and throw good money after bad because of his sister’s half-baked plan.

His father spent far too much time worrying about Jennifer and very little on his son. That was abundantly clear.

Daniel had amassed a fortune, and money was the one thing his father respected above all else but even that hadn’t earned him his father’s respect.

Still,
he seemed to approve of Kate. That was one thing, at least.

Looking a
cross, Daniel saw her brow was knotted in thought so he reached for her hand. “Penny for your thoughts.”

Kate looked up. “You don’t want to know.”

“Try me.”

“I was just thinking
that your father is impossible.” She paused, as if waiting for a reaction, then added, “He didn’t seem slightly interested in you, what you’ve been doing, the business, the deals you’ve made. I got the feeling you could jump off the top of the Empire State Building and he wouldn’t bat an eyelid. He was a lot more interested in your sister. And in me, for that matter.”

Daniel shrugged. “He’s always been like that.”

“That’s hardly an excuse.”

“I didn’t say it was, but he
is
my father. The only one I’ve got.”

“I’m sorry.” Kate looked down, then back up at him. “It’s just that I know you went to so much trouble to catch him. You came all this way just to see him for an hour or two. And I kept you from him when I went tobogganing.”

Daniel squeezed her hand. “No, you didn’t. I would still only have had an hour or two with him, regardless.”

“
That doesn’t stop me from feeling bad about it.”

“Don’t.” He stood, motioned for her to do the same, then slipped his arm around her waist as they walked towards the foyer. “My father wasn’t the only reason I came here, remember? We’ve got two days skiing ahead of us. The whole weekend together. And we can’t let that perfectly good hotel suite go to waste, now can we?”

Kate’s lips curled to a sultry smile. “No, we can’t.”

“There are
two queen size beds. We’ll need to test both of them out.”

She nodded. “Absolutely.”

“Not to mention the sofa by the window.”

“Of course.”

“Then there’s the spa,” he added.

“We’ll have to make the most of that too.”

Daniel squeezed her waist as they stepped into the lift. “I’m so glad you agree.”

She looked up at him. “I certainly wouldn’t want to be wasteful.”

“You can make the most of it in more ways than one,” he said in a low voice.

“What do you mean?”

“You can show me exactly how little chemistry there is between us. Show me how little I mean to you, how shallow this relationship is.”

She stepped out of the lift ahead of him
and glanced back. “I can be very, very shallow.”

Daniel quickly unlocked the door to their suite, ushering Kate ahead of him. Closing the door behind him, he looked up to see Kate was already sitting on the bed, leaning back on her palms.