Then the same thing happened the following week. A check arrived, but without a letter this time.

“Another check,” Connie said tightly, slapping the envelope down in front of him, as if everything were his fault. She smacked another piece of paper on top of it and blurted, “And here’s my resignation.”

His head snapped up. “Your what?” He didn’t wait for her to answer. “What the—Why?”

She straightened her slim shoulders, color coming into her cheeks. “I’m afraid I can’t work for you anymore, Flynn. Not like this.”

He exhaled an impatient sigh and leaned back in his chair. This was Danielle Ford’s fault. Damn her. And damn Danielle’s flashing blue eyes, those enticing lips above the intimate underside of a chin that more often than not was raised in the air at him.

“So you’re going to throw away five years of working for me because some…” he hesitated to say lady “…woman owes me money?”

“Yes.”

From his experience he knew females were often unpredictable, but he’d never actually thought of Connie that way. She’d been his right-hand man, always on top of things, never one to pull these kinds of tricks.

“She’s not worth it, you know.”

Connie met his gaze levelly. “I think she is. She’s a real lady, Flynn. Classy. She deserves better than this.”

No, Danielle was just good at fooling people, though he had to admit that not many people fooled Connie. And that just went to prove that his assistant wasn’t infallible.

“She owes me a great deal of money,” he pointed out.

Connie continued to stand her ground. “I’m sure she had her reasons.”

His mouth thinned with derision. “That means she spent a great deal of money, or hadn’t you thought of that?”

“I don’t care. A pregnant woman shouldn’t have to worry about getting a second job to pay the bills.”

“Then maybe she shouldn’t have borrowed the money in the first place.”

Her expression was resolute. “That may be so, but she’s genuinely trying to pay the money back now.” A wave of concern crossed her face. “Look, her husband is dead, she’s pregnant and she has a debt that is obviously weighing heavily on her. It could affect her health.”

“No,” he growled. He wasn’t going to have that on his shoulders.

Connie hesitated for a second, then a determined look filled her eyes. “Flynn, I never told you this before but I was pregnant once.”

His brows met in a frown. They’d never discussed her private life. She worked long hours at times and had never complained, so he assumed she lived alone.

“You never mentioned being married.”

“I wasn’t.” Her eyes didn’t waver from his. “I hope that doesn’t change how you think of me.”

“That’s a fool thing to say,” he said brusquely. “Of course it doesn’t make a bloody difference.”

Her features relaxed with slight relief. “Thank you,” she murmured, but there was inner pain flickering at the back of her eyes. “Let me tell you a little about my baby. I lost him before he was born. You see, I’d been in poor health for some years, I had no family and the man I loved had left town before he even knew I was pregnant. I thought I was too proud to accept charity, but when you lose your baby…” her voice grew slightly shaky “…when that baby no longer warms your womb and you have nothing in your arms to hold…” She took another breath. “Accepting charity suddenly looks the better option.”

The world briefly shifted out of focus as memories of his mother rose to the surface again.

Then he looked at his PA. To think Connie had gone through a similar thing…

His mouth firmed with purpose. “Put your resignation away, Connie. I’ll go see her.”

Of course, he couldn’t just drop everything right there and then, but a few hours later after moving a mountain of paperwork, he eventually left to go see Danielle, the loan contract tucked inside his jacket. He knew he was playing right into her hands by coming to see her, but how to tell his PA that? The first check and accompanying letter had been a brilliant idea, but the second check was sheer stubbornness. It was obvious Danielle was determined to get his attention.

And he was equally determined not to give it. Not in the way she wanted, anyway.

Still, she wouldn’t be complaining too loudly once he’d finished talking. He was about to officially cancel the loan, thereby letting her walk away with two hundred thousand of his dollars. Not a bad day’s work for some.

However the first thing he saw when he turned his sports Mercedes into her street was the reckless idiot in a red sedan who cut across the road and slammed on his brakes in front of her building.

Flynn swore as he pulled up behind the car and turned off the engine.

Bloody hell! Danielle was in that car. In the passenger seat. He’d recognize her profile anywhere.

And then he saw the young thug in the driver’s seat next to her, his tattooed arm leaning out the window. Fear for her safety chilled his blood. The young man looked as if he’d just got out of prison, and the vehicle as if it had been driven by one too many drunks. The trunk of the car had a huge scratch down the middle and the back left-hand side had a dent in it the size of Kakadu National Park. There was a For Sale sign on its back window.

He swore again. Why on earth would she get into a car with such a man? She didn’t belong there. It made his skin crawl just to see her sitting inside it.

And why buy that piece of garbage? She lived in a lavish penthouse apartment for God’s sake, with a mesmerizing view of the marina and the vast Timor Sea beyond that. A view that even the most jaded would appreciate.

And then he figured out what she was really up to. She’d known he’d come here this afternoon and had somehow planned this, waiting in the afternoon heat and humidity, wanting him to feel sorry for her over the car and her condition. She’d probably counted on charming her way into his life. His nostrils flared with fury. She had about as much chance of that as of it snowing here in Darwin.

He was about to start the engine and go back to the office when he remembered his promise to Connie. If he went back now without speaking to Danielle, the older woman would hand in her notice. And then it would take too much time and trouble to find anyone half as efficient, let alone that he’d darn well miss her around the office.

Just then Danielle opened the car door and started to get out of the vehicle. Against his will, his pulse shifted upward when he glimpsed a pair of slim ankles encased in pretty white sandals more suited to getting out of a Mercedes than a run-down wreck. But it was the other car door being flung open and the jerky way the driver got out of the car that suddenly drew his attention.

Something was going on here.

Something not right.

Instinct told him this wasn’t part of Danielle’s plan.

Danielle had just been for the ride of her life. Not only was her stomach still trying to catch up from where “Turbo” had left it back there on a lonely stretch of the Stuart Highway, but her heart was still in her mouth. Living up to his name, he’d scared her half to death by crossing the other side of the road then coming to a screaming stop in front of her building.

Holding on to her stomach, she took a breath and opened the car door. Nothing would make her buy this car now, no matter how cheap. Her dear mother had always said you got what you paid for, and Danielle wasn’t about to use some of her precious savings just to drive her baby around in a bomb like this one. She’d rather catch the bus into the city center the way she did now, where she worked three days a week helping Angie in the boutique. Of course, once she had the baby she’d need to stop at the day-care center before and after work.

“I’m sorry, but this really isn’t what I’m looking for.” She pushed herself off the passenger seat, wanting to get out of the car and away from this man who was making her uneasy.