Page 26 of Hidden Heir With His Housekeeper

‘She disappeared...’ her sister said again, then gave a deep sigh.

Her shoulders wilted, the fierce expression fading. She paced to the large bay window which gilded the suite in spring sunshine. With her back to him, he could see the temper draining away, until all that was left was tension.

‘Bea can be flaky at times, but one thing she would never do, unless she was having a major crisis, is cavort around London while not looking her best,’ she said, her voice trembling slightly. ‘Appearances are important to her because she hasn’t got a lot else to bolster her self-esteem, thanks to our pig of a father.’

‘What did you mean, she’s disappeared?’ he asked, his stomach twisting.

He hadn’tmeantto hurt her when they’d made love, that much was true, but hehadmeant to hurt her the next morning, and he was feeling less comfortable about that now.

Katherine Wolfe turned to face him.

‘She’s not at our father’s place. And her phone has been switched off since Saturday night, because Jack pulled a few strings to get the mobile company to check it. I discovered this morning that she’s emptied her savings account and the safe deposit box where she was keeping her ID documents. But I’ve contacted all her friends...or, rather, her acquaintances, as Bea doesn’t really have any close friends...and no one’s seen her.’

Katherine sighed, the vulnerability in her eyes reminding Mason of Beatrice for the first time.

The Medford sisters were nothing alike physically. Katherine was shorter, with an abundance of curves and a shock of in-your-face red hair—while Beatrice was slender and tall, her naturally blonde hair giving her a fragile grace. But as Katherine stared back at him, looking scared, he could see a definite resemblance... Because, like Beatrice, when he had unloaded on her and she’d said nothing, Katherine had the same hopelessness in her eyes.

‘I’ve been begging her to get away from our father for years, so maybe this is a good thing,’ she murmured. ‘Our father would have seen the press pictures from the Cascade launch, so he will have had expectations about your relationship. Expectations he would have tried to bully Beatrice into fulfilling for him, because that’s the way he operates.’ She tugged her bag strap in a nervous gesture as the last of her temper deflated. ‘She definitely hasn’t contacted you since she left you on Saturday?’

Mason’s stomach churned. The picture Katherine Wolfe had just painted of Beatrice’s dysfunctional relationship with her father was not the one he had assumed.

‘No, she hasn’t,’ he murmured—which was the truth. But not the whole truth.

He had to find her and speak to her. To make sure she wasn’t pregnant.

But he could see now that the reason she hadn’t contacted him might be more complicated than he had assumed. Maybe she wasn’t just sulking or trying to enhance her bargaining position.

Had he overreacted on Saturday morning because he’d always hated being taken for a mug? It triggered stuff from way back. But had he let that baggage from his childhood cloud his judgement where she was concerned? Because he hadn’t given her much of a chance to explain herself...

‘I need to get back.’ Katherine glanced at her phone. ‘If she does contact you, would you let me know? Or, better still, get her to contact me. Or I’ll worry.’

‘Sure,’ he said, although he knew Beatrice wasn’t going to contact him.

‘Look, I’m sorry I went off at you,’ Katherine added, the easy and apparently genuine apology surprising him even more. ‘But I’ve been frantic. I’ve always looked out for her. She’s my baby sister.’ She sighed heavily. ‘But maybe it’s time I let her stand on her own two feet.’

‘Actually, there is something,’ he said as she turned to leave.

‘Which is?’ Katherine asked, a flicker of impatience joining the concern. But for some reason it didn’t annoy him as much now.

The two sisters obviously had a close relationship. The sort of relationship he had never experienced and didn’t really understand. But which he could probably use. Because if Beatrice was going to contact anyone, it was likely to be this woman.

‘She may be pregnant,’ he said.

‘She...How?’ Katherine Wolfe replied, the searing look back with a vengeance. ‘Do you mean to say you didn’t use protection?’

‘I used a condom,’ he said before she could work her way back up to a full head of steam. ‘It burst.’ He decided not to mention that he hadn’t checked the use-by date, because none of this was any of her business. ‘I made an appointment for her with my doctor. If she is pregnant, I want to know about it.’

‘Which is code for what, exactly?’ Katherine’s voice rose as she got way ahead of herself again. ‘That you plan to make her have a termination?’

‘Did I say that?’ he snapped back, as the anger he’d managed to bank returned. He didn’t explain or defend his actions or his choices to anyone, not any more. ‘The point is, I have a pressing reason to find her too. So ifyoulocate her, you need to letmeknow.’

Katherine’s eyes narrowed, but then she swore—a word he wouldn’t have expected to hear from the mouth of a member of the British aristocracy. But then Katherine Wolfe was turning out to be almost as much of a surprise as her sister.

‘Fine.’ She sighed again. ‘IfBea contacts me, I will tell her you wish to speak with her. But that’s all I’m prepared to do. It appears my little sister has finally decided to start making her own decisions, and the least I can do is respect that,’ she said, each word loaded with a thinly veiled warning. ‘I think the least you owe her is to respect her choices too,’ she added pointedly, before sweeping back into the lift and stabbing the button.

As the doors closed behind her, Mason tugged out his mobile and tapped out a text to his PA.

Hire the best private detective you can find. Cost not an issue. Beatrice Medford has done a runner and I need to locate her ASAP. NO STONE UNTURNED.

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