stroke. Matt’s been dealing with the company in his absence.’ She paused, and then added unwillingly, ‘In any case, he’s probably left the company by now. He’s moving to the Bahamas—to write a book.’
‘You’re kidding.’ David was incredulous, not realising he was treading on dangerous ground. ‘Perhaps he thinks if he tells you he’s leaving NovCo, you won’t fleece him for as much alimony, eh?’
Joanna resented his suggestion that Matt might cheat her. Yet wasn’t that exactly what her father had said? She sighed, bending her head. ‘I don’t want any alimony,’ she declared stiffly. ‘Matt knows I can support myself.’
A sudden awareness of the baby and the problems it might create came into her mind. It was stupid, she knew, but she was dreading telling David. He apparently already thought she was gullible. He had yet to discover how gullible she’d been.
‘You’re crazy!’ he said now, and for a moment Joanna was afraid she’d spoken her thoughts aloud. But when he continued, she soon realised she’d been mistaken. ‘If I was in your shoes. I’d take him for every penny I could get.’
Needing confirmation of her condition, Joanna made an appointment with her doctor. And came out of the surgery with a handful of leaflets in her hands.
Okay, it was definite. She was expecting a baby. In the spring, Dr Foulds had told her. He would make an appointment in a few weeks for her to have her first scan at the local hospital, and they would be able to give her a date for when the baby was actually due.
Despite all her misgivings, Joanna found the prospect exciting. How ironic it was that she’d become pregnant now after only one night of lovemaking, when in the past she’d begun to believe she couldn’t conceive.
She was having a baby. What was less certain was how Matt would feel about it. She’d finally decided that she had to tell him. Matt was the baby’s father. It wouldn’t be fair to keep it from him.
To that end, she waited until a time she could be reasonably sure he would be at the New York apartment. It was a little over a month since he’d visited London, but with Oliver still so ill, perhaps he might not have moved to the Bahamas quite yet.
She phoned in the early morning, New York time. Which meant she’d had to sneak out of the gallery so David didn’t hear the call. She chose the little café where she often shopped for cappuccinos in the middle of the morning. Finding an empty booth, she ordered a diet soda, and made the call.
The phone seemed to ring for an unconscionable amount of time before it was answered. Joanna had been on the point of giving up, having decided that Matt had either left early for the office or he’d already sold the apartment.
Then the receiver was lifted and a languid female voice said, ‘Do you know what time it is?’
Joanna swallowed convulsively, unable to think of anything to say. The woman’s voice was not familiar and it was easy for her to think the worst. That Matt had taken a mistress, as David had said.
She was tempted to end the call, but she forced herself to speak. Swallowing again, she said, ‘Is that you, Sophie? Is Matt there? I’d like to speak to him.’
The woman—girl, whoever she was—gave an impatient sigh. ‘I’m not Sophie,’ she said shortly. ‘And Matt’s not here. In any case, he wouldn’t appreciate you calling him at this hour of the morning. Whatever it is, call him on his mobile. We usually find that’s the safest thing to do.’
Joanna’s mouth was unpleasantly dry, but she had to go on. ‘I know the office number, but I don’t know his mobile,’ she admitted unwillingly.
The girl sighed again. ‘If you give me your name, I’ll tell him you called.’
‘No.’ All Joanna wanted to do now was end the call. ‘No, it’s not important. I—I’ll catch him later.’
‘Okay.’ The woman sounded as if she didn’t care one way or the other. Then, offhandedly, ‘I don’t know his mobile number either. But they might be willing to give it to you at the office.’
Joanna doubted it, but she said, ‘Thanks,’ and rang off. Annoyingly, she found she was shaking. She almost spilled the diet soda the girl brought for her, and, thrusting a five-pound note down on the table, she made her escape.
Outside, in the street, she couldn’t prevent the hot tears that filled her eyes at the knowledge that someone else was staying in Matt’s apartment. Someone who didn’t know his mobile number, which was odd.
Was she just some female escort he’d brought home with him? Surely he hadn’t had time to start a more permanent affair. But they were obviously sleeping together? Why else would a strange—sleepy—woman answer his phone at six o’clock in the morning?
She considered ringing again in the evening. But the thought of giving him her news, maybe in the presence of a new girlfriend, filled her with distaste. Remembering the angry way he’d left her apartment weeks ago, and now this morning’s phone call, she was no longer sure what his reaction would be.
She sighed. Well, for the present, she would keep the baby’s existence to herself. She would tell Matt, she assured herself. When she was ready. But he couldn’t blame her for being secretive if he was keeping secrets of his own.
MATT NOVAK SWUNG the tiller of his sleek racing dinghy towards the shore, and, ducking to avoid the boom, he guided the craft smoothly into the landing at Long Point.
It was still comparatively early in the morning. These days he found it difficult to sleep beyond six a.m., and in consequence he’d started taking the dinghy out before many of his fellow yachtsmen were on the water. Which suited him just fine.
While he was gradually adapting to the island lifestyle, he had no desire to get to know other ex-pats like himself. He had come to the Bahamas to escape the corporate world. Not to make friends with the kind of people he’d left behind.
‘You okay, Mr Matt?’
Henry Powell was waiting for him on the jetty and caught the rope that Matt threw to him, expertly fastening the craft to an iron mooring ring.
‘I’m good,’ Matt responded, checking that the sail was secure before vaulting onto the landing. He raked back his unruly hair with a careless hand. ‘Beautiful morning, Henry.’
‘All mornings on Cable Cay are beautiful mornings,’ declared Henry proudly.
He was an older man, of medium height and thick-set, his dark face leathery, lined from the sun. He and Matt had known one another since Matt was a boy, when his father had first brought him here on holiday all those years ago.
Oliver Novak had bought the villa at Long Point, but in recent years, he’d taken to renting it out during the winter months, with Henry acting as his steward. But Henry had been delighted when Matt had decided to buy the place from his father and occupy it on a more permanent basis.
Matt occasionally spent a week in New York, acting as his father’s deputy, but since Sophie was making such a success of her tenure as CEO of NovCo, it was no longer such a necessary chore.
Henry paused now, and then added significantly, ‘You ready to go up to the villa now, Mr Matt? ’Cos I have to tell you, you got a visitor.’
Matt stifled a curse and gave the older man a grim look. ‘A visitor?’ He could only think of his mother and he definitely did not want to see her.
‘Yes, sir, Mr Matt.’ Henry evidently sensed it was not news his employer wanted to hear. ‘It’s Ms Sophie. She spent last night in Nassau and flew out here this morning.’
‘Sophie?’