When the Devil Drives Read Online Free PDF Page B

one lithe, controlled movement.
    Like some jungle animal, she thought, flinching inwardly, flexing
    itself before the kill.
    'I told you my terms two years ago, Joanna. They haven't changed. I
    want you.' He looked at her levelly. 'Come to me and I'll write off
    Simon's personal obligations to me, and his bookie friend.'
    Joanna stood rigidly, feeling the colour drain out of her face. It was
    like standing in the dock, she thought dazedly, knowing you were
    innocent, but hearing a life sentence pronounced just the same. She
    wanted to scream aloud, to hit out in anger and revulsion, but a small,
    cold inner voice warned her to keep cool—keep talking—keep
    bargaining.
    She lifted her chin. 'What about this house—our home? Do you
    intend to take that too?'
    'Originally,
    yes,'
    he
    said.
    'But
    if
    you
    behave
    with
    sufficient—er—generosity to me, I might be prepared to match it,
    and leave it in Chalfont hands for your father's lifetime at least.' He
    smiled at her sardonically. 'Its fate rests entirely with you, beauty.'
    She bit her lip, her whole being cringing from the implications in his
    words. 'And the Craft Company? Will you leave that alone too?'
    'I think you're beginning to overestimate the price of your charms,'
    Cal Blackstone said drily. 'No, my investment in the Craft Company
    stays—as insurance, if you like, for your continuing good behaviour.'
    Joanna closed her eyes for a moment. She said evenly, 'I suppose
    there's no point in appealing to your better nature. Reminding you
    that there are normal standards of decency.'
    'Tell me about it,' he said laconically. He glanced up at the portrait
    over the fireplace and his expression hardened. 'At least I'm not
    evicting you without notice, throwing you on to the street.'
    'And if I tell you that I do have standards—that I have my pride and
    my self-respect? And that I'd rather starve in the gutter than accept
    any part of your revolting terms?'
    He shrugged again. 'Then that can be quite easily arranged,' he
    returned. 'The choice is yours. But I strongly advise you to think my
    offer over. You've got twenty-four hours.'
    'I don't need twenty-four seconds,' she said bitingly. 'You can do your
    worst, Mr Blackstone, and go to hell!'
    'I shall probably end there, Mrs Bentham,' he said too courteously.
    'But first I mean to order that independent audit I mentioned into the
    Craft Company's accounts.' He paused. 'Simon may well find himself
    facing more than a bankruptcy court. How will the Chalfont pride
    cope with that, I wonder?'
    'I don't believe you. He wouldn't do such a thing.' Her voice shook
    with the force of her conviction.
    'Ask him,' he said. 'Some time' during the next twenty-four hours.
    Then call me with your final answer.'
    'You've had all the answer you're getting, you bastard!' she said. 'I'll
    see you damned before I do what you want!'
    He gave her a sardonic look, as he retrieved the papers from the
    coffee-table and slipped them back into his pocket. 'Don't count on it,
    beauty. I promise one thing—when you do call, I won't say that I told
    you so.'
    Knuckles pressed to her mouth, Joanna stood like a statue as he made
    his way across the room to the door. As it closed behind him, she bent
    and snatched up a cut glass posy bowl, hurling it with all the force of
    her arm at the solid panels.
    'The swine!' she sobbed, as it shattered. 'Oh, God, the unutterable
    bloody swine!'

    She was like a cat on hot bricks for the rest of the day waiting for
    Simon to return. It took all her self- control not to drive over to the
    nursing home and confront him there. She was sorely tempted, too, to
    drive over to the Craft Company and do her own spot check of the
    books.
    But she discarded the idea. Such action would be bound to provoke
    just the kind of comment she wanted to avoid. And if, by the remotest
    chance, there was something even slightly amiss... She caught at
    herself. That was the kind of poisonous reptile Cal Blackstone was,
    she