Note: Upgrade your browser if you can't see the images.
Di CESARE PREGNANT MISTRESS - Chapter 18
You are reading Di CESARE PREGNANT MISTRESS Chapter 18 at mangacake.
Please use the Bookmark button to get notifications about the latest chapters of Di CESARE PREGNANT MISTRESS next time when you come visit our manga website
Unsolicited calls were annoying enough during the day, but it was late at night, and if she hadn’t still been here James would have struggled out of bed to answer it.
‘Miss Stewart—what a surprise,’ a familiar accented voice drawled sarcastically. ‘Although perhaps I should not be surprised by your tenacity, bella. James is a very wealthy man.’
‘Alexander.’ Stephanie’s heart leapt into her throat, and to her disgust her hands shook and she had to grip the phone. ‘Um… I suppose you want to talk to James—but he’s in bed, and I’d rather not disturb him.’
‘Have you worn him out, bella? Spare me the details, please.’
The hateful mockery in Alexander’s voice ignited Stephanie’s anger, and she coiled the telephone cord around her fingers and briefly imagined wrapping it around his neck.
‘You are disgusting,’ she hissed. ‘The only reason I haven’t told James about your despicable treatment of me and your foul accusations is because I know it would upset him,’ And James had enough to deal with right now.
‘Really? I thought it was because you’re worried he might realise the truth.’
‘The truth being that I’m a greedy gold-digger, I take it?’ Stephanie said coolly, while her insides boiled. ‘James is tired because we’ve had a busy day. I’II ask him to return your call tomorrow.’
Alexander’s eyes narrowed at the dismissive note in her voice. He wasn’t used to being dismissed—especially by a hoity-toity English miss whom he had good evidence to prove was a conniving bitch. He couldn’t believe she was with James, and whitehot anger jabbed his gut as he closed his mind to the image of her in James’s bed.
‘I’m intrigued, bella,’ he murmured. ‘A busy day doing what, exactly?’
Stephanie thought of the hours she had spent with James in the hospital. He had needed blood tests, some of his notes had gone astray, and they’d had a long wait in the oncology unit before he’d received the cocktail of drugs that were fighting his cancer. He had been sick on the way home; fortunately his chauffeur, Hargreaves, had managed to pull over in time, and once back at his flat he had gone straight to bed, dismissing her plea that he really must tell Luciana and Jennifer about his illness with assertion that he was determined to fight it on his own.
‘We went window shopping,’ she lied to Alexander. ‘James is thinking about redecorating Ditton Hall, and we looked at fabrics and things, putting some ideas together.’
Alexander gave a harsh laugh that grated in her ear. ‘And I suppose your next step will be to suggest staying at Ditton Hall while you draw up plans for its renovation? You think you’re clever, Stephanie,’ he grated in a low, cold tone that sent ice slithering down her spine. ‘But I warn you, I’m one step ahead of you, and I will do everything in my power to prevent you from hooking your claws into James.’
Stephanie urgently tried to contact her brother over the weekend, but he was away fishing, and her calls to his mobile went unanswered. She spent most of her Monday at one of her project sites, chivvying contractors who had fallen behind schedule and trying to track down a consignment of silk wallpaper that had disappeared seemingly from the planet, and her temper was at boiling point when she finally marched into the offices of Spectrum Development and Design.
‘Why didn’t you tell me about Spectrum’s financial problems?’ She launched an attack on her brother the moment she saw him. ‘I had a right to know. You asked me to join the company,’ she said angrily, ‘and you were the ones who said you wanted to involve me in the decision making.’
‘I’do,’ Daniel muttered, tapping the end of his pen on the desk and not quite meeting her gaze. ‘But I didn’t want to worry you, Moving from an established, successful design company like Carter and coults to Spectrum was a big leap of faith for you. How could I tell you six months after you’d joined me that I’d mucked up big-time? I should have known that turning the house in Mountfield Sqaure into flats would go over budget, but I couldn’t foresee that the rise in interest rates would deaden the housing market so that flats didn’t sell.’
‘But we were close to bankruptcy!’ Stephanie cried. ‘Don’t you think I would have noticed when the administrators moved in?
‘It wasn’t as bad as that,’ Daniel insisted.
‘No, because James Grainger bailed us out.’ Stephanie felt the familiar sickness in the pit of her stomach that had been with her since she’d learned that Alexander had been right. James’s investment in Spectrum had saved it from collapse, and it was little wonder that Alexander was suspicious of her friendship with the wealthy Earl. ‘I wish you’d told me,’ she muttered miserably.
‘One of the reasons I didn’t was because James thought you might feel awkward,’ Daniel explained. ‘I admit that I used your friendship with him…’
‘Oh, Daniel!’
‘…..when I approached him and asked him to put money into the company, But I didn’t really expect him to agree—and I made it clear that I didn’t. To my surprise he was interested. He offered to put up the money to keep the bank happy until the Mountfield flats are sold—and he’ II get a good return on his investment now that property prices are picking up again.’
Stephanie’s face mirrored her doubts, and Daniel sighed, ‘stop fretting, Steph; everything’s going to be fine. We just need a couple more good deals and we’ll be in the black again. The interiors side of the company is doing great, thanks to you. Oh, and you’re seeing a prospective new client tomorrow. You’re meeting him at the Haighton Hotel at twelve, so don’t be late. I need you to make a good impression,’ He grinned and pushed his over-long hair out of his eyes. ‘I’m counting on you, sis.’