A Ruthless Passion. Robyn Donald

told me, they now own some piece of equipment I can’t even spell, let alone pronounce.’

      ‘It’s a—’ She bit back the words.

      He drew the car to a halt outside the house. ‘Yes, I thought you’d know all about it. How much did it cost?’

      Cat stared at the dark window that indicated her shabby room. If she’d known Juana was going to need this second operation she’d have kept twenty thousand dollars back, but she couldn’t regret that the clinic now had a functioning surgery ward and theatre.

      Eventually she said, ‘It’s none of your business. All you have to do is see that the income from the trust goes to the right place once a year.’

      ‘If you think that’s all a trustee does,’ he said cuttingly, ‘you should, perhaps, re-read the relevant pages in your textbooks. Glen certainly didn’t intend you to send it all to a hospital in Romit. I don’t need to tell you he’d be horrified to see his wife waiting in a restaurant, however good the chef. He wanted you to be taken care of.’

      She said distantly, ‘I can look after myself.’

      Nick switched off the engine and turned to look at her, both hands still on the wheel. ‘Not very well. You’ve got dark circles under your eyes.’

      She remained stubbornly silent.

      ‘All right,’ he said, dismissing the subject, ‘forget it. If it makes you happy, spend every cent you get on the clinic. I have a favour to ask of you.’

      ‘A favour?’

      Glen had used to grumble about Nick’s damned, stiff-necked pride. Nick followed his own road with a self-contained authority and confident determination that got him where he wanted without asking for help. A sideways glance revealed his profile—granite-hard and uncompromising.

      A flash of white indicated his narrow smile. ‘You heard,’ he said crisply. ‘It won’t be easy, and it will involve moving in with me. You’ve heard of the Dempster Cup, I assume?’

      ‘I do read the newspapers,’ she retorted, her heart lurching in her chest. Steadying her voice, she added, ‘Next to the America’s Cup it’s the most prestigious yacht race in the world, and this year it’s in Auckland. And so, of course, are all the rich people who follow rich yacht races in their super-yachts. What on earth does a sailing competition have to do with a favour from me?’ In a tone edged with sarcasm, she added, ‘Especially one that involves moving in with you.’