A Man Without Mercy Read Online Free PDF Page A

mistress, the one who probably didn’t even exist. Why she’d invented her, Vivienne had no idea. But she vowed to put her and what Jack did with her right out of her head.
    But typically that was easier said than done. As she put on her underwear—white cotton bikini briefs and a white stretchy bra, which minimised rather than enhanced her double-D-cup breasts—Vivienne started wondering what kind of underwear mistresses wore. Something very sexy, no doubt. Nothing made of cotton, that was for sure. Or possibly nothing at all.
    ‘Oh God!’ Vivienne cried, and dropped her head into her hands.

CHAPTER FOUR
    J ACK ANSWERED FIVE missed calls, arranged for a man to come and look at Vivienne’s bathroom door tomorrow and booked them a table for a late lunch in the time it took Vivienne to make her reappearance, dressed in bone-coloured slacks, a white T-shirt and a black linen jacket. Her hair was still down and she was wearing only a minimum of make-up, especially around her eyes, which were bloodshot and red-rimmed.
    ‘You’ve been crying,’ he said stupidly before he could think better of it.
    Vivienne shot him a droll look. ‘No kidding. It’s what women do when the man they love turns out to be a two-timing rat. I’m sorry, Jack, but if you want me to work for you in the coming weeks you’ll have to risk being on the end of a few crying jags.’
    ‘Fine,’ he said. ‘As long as you don’t expect me to do anything about them.’
    She looked taken aback. ‘Like what?’
    ‘I have two sisters and a mother,’ he informed Vivienne. ‘If I didn’t hug them when they cried in front of me—which is depressingly often—I would be banned from their lives for ever.’
    ‘You have two sisters and a mother?’
    Jack laughed at the astonished expression on her face. ‘What did you think—that I was a foundling, abandoned on a building site when I was a few days old?’
    She smiled. She actually smiled. Not a common trait of Vivienne’s. She was one serious girl.
    ‘Not quite,’ she said. ‘But you don’t come across as a man in touch with his feminine side.’
    ‘Then you’d be wrong. Living with three women for a good chunk of my life meant I had no choice. Though it was more their feminine side I had to be in touch with rather than my own. I have to confess I’m not the kind of guy who cooks and cleans and sends soppy cards, but I do hugs very well.’
    ‘And you bring the right flowers, when required.’
    Jack wasn’t sure if she was being sarcastic or witty.
    ‘Which I haven’t thanked you for,’ she went on with seeming sincerity. ‘Sorry, Jack. It’s not like me to be rude. Or ungrateful. I guess I’m not myself at the moment.’
    ‘Apology accepted. Now, shall we get out of here? Time’s marching on and I’ve booked us a table for lunch.’
    She blinked. ‘You have? Where?’
    ‘Why don’t I just surprise you again?’
    * * *
    He certainly did surprise Vivienne again, in more ways than one. Not only by taking her to a very trendy seafood restaurant which overlooked nearby Balmoral Beach, but by the way he was treated there by the staff—like he was an extremely valued client who deserved the very best table and the very best service. Which he definitely got, with drinks brought and their orders taken in no time flat.
    Clearly, Jack had been there more than once, which gave rise to the speculation that he might not be as much of a workaholic as she’d imagined him to be. Maybe he did have an active social life. And a proper girlfriend as opposed to a mistress. Not that she would ever ask such a personal question. Not directly.
    But a certain amount of curiosity got the better of Vivienne in the end.
    ‘I gather you come here often?’ she said casually as she lifted her glass of mineral water to her lips. She’d declined his offer of wine. If she started drinking, she might become maudlin again.
    ‘Often enough,’ he replied noncommittally. ‘My mother lives on that hill over