Tasmanian Tangle Read Online Free PDF Page A

Connie gave a grim smile. 'I guess he didn't wrap it up, the time had come for plain talk, and you know Kade, he doesn't mince his words.' She sighed deeply. 'The trouble was, one of the employees who was looking for Kade heard that last part of it and cleared off to spread the news. Kade quickly put a stop to that, though, and the episode was completely wiped off the records.' She shrugged. 'But you know how folk are, they relish things like that, although no one would dare to repeat the story for fear of losing their job, not around here anyway.'
    She gave Tanya a curious look. 'What did you do to infuriate her? She could lose her job, you know, if Kade finds out.'
    Tanya's eyebrows lifted in surprise, 'Melanie lose
     
    her job?' she repeated with a slightly sceptical air. 'I thought she was Kade's right hand.'
    Connie gave a grim nod at this. `So she may be, but anyone else could fill the same position given the years she's worked for him. She's not the only efficient secretary around, although she thinks she is. Well? You still haven't told me how she came to tell you something that ought to have remained buried in the past.'
    Tanya pushed back a strand of her white-gold hair that had fallen across her forehead, with a weary gesture. She wanted to forget that part of it, but she never would; up until then her life had been full of expectation, now it was empty and echoed with bitter memories of the past. She was grateful to Connie for putting the record straight, not that it made things any easier for her, for in essence Melanie had told the truth.
    Her wide grey-green eyes rested on Connie, but there was no light in them now, for they were haunted with sadness. Connie was waiting for an answer—she owed her that much at least, she thought. Tanya told her about how she had challenged Melanie's decision to fire Mr Davidson and how she had got him reinstated, ending tiredly with, 'I don't think she would have taken it so badly if I hadn't happened to be in the office and overheard Kade tearing a strip off her.' She shrugged her slim shoulders. 'I couldn't help overhearing, his office was open when I went into her office, and I wasn't able to get out fast enough.'
    Connie nodded sagely. 'That must have hurt her pride,' she commented, with a certain amount of satisfaction in her voice. 'But it's about time someone stopped her gallop. I know for a fact that she's got rid of several of the old hands long before they were due to
     
    retire. It's been a case of you either get on with the secretary or you were out, she's gathered a nice bunch of cheer leaders around her as a result.' She nodded her head again. 'She's had it all her own way up to now, and it's gone to her head, but I wouldn't mind betting she's doing a bit of nail-biting now for ripping into you like that, she must be terrified that Kade will find out she's blabbed.'
    Tanya's mouth set in a firm line. 'He won't find out from me,' she said grimly. 'The less I see of him the better. If he's such a good manager he ought to have known what was going on in the offices,' she added cryptically.
    Connie gave her a surprised look, then pursed her lips in a disapproving way. 'He's a busy man, Tanya, as long as the work is carried out that's all he worries about.'
    'Precisely!' Tanya bit out. 'The man's a machine! I doubt if he has any personal sentiments on anything.'
    'Now you've no call to talk like that,' exclaimed Connie quickly. 'As for being a machine, you're not talking about the business, are you? It's my guess you're thinking of your mother!' At Tanya's quick glance away from her searching eyes, she continued, 'Would you have expected him to have an affair with his employer's wife? If you did, then you don't know Kade. Your father helped his father out years ago when a big holding of his stocks crashed. Your father stood surety for him, and he's never looked back from that day to this. He owns the largest chemical complex in the country now, but he would have been