Free The Billionaire's Secrets by Meadow Taylor Page A

ex-boyfriend."
     
     
     
    Gaelan looked at her and wondered if he'd let his paranoia get the better of him this time. She could be telling him the truth, but he would not know that for sure until he made some inquiries of his own in the morning. He was confused now. He didn't know whether to apologize or fire her.
     
     
     
    She seemed to be reading his thoughts. "So, are you going to fire me again? Or am I going to quit? Or am I just going to go eat my dinner and pretend this didn't happen?"
     
     
     
    "Go eat your dinner," Gaelan said. He walked around the desk and to the door, opening it for her.
     
     
     
    She didn't leave immediately but stood only inches from him, looking up at him with those defiant green eyes. "I don't know what happened to you, but you should learn not to be quite so suspicious. It must be a pretty lonely existence."
     
     
     
    He didn't know if he was filled with such mixed emotions because she had hit the proverbial nail on the head or because she was standing so very close to him. Did he want to fire her or kiss her? "I think it's my turn to say it's none of your business," he said at last , and he went back to his desk and picked up the phone .
     
     
     
    * * *
     
     
     
    The next afternoon, Chloe suggested to Sophia they go for a walk along the cliff. She told Sophia she wanted to see her new surroundings, but mostly it was because she was feeling anxious and irritable. She hadn't seen Gaelan since she'd left his office yesterday.
     
     
     
    She had the impression when she left his office that he had believed her version of events, but she knew he wouldn't let it rest. He would continue to make his inquiries. He was determined to find fault with her , determined never to trust her, and she wondered how she could bear to stay at Widow's Cliff in such an atmosphere.
     
     
     
    When Sophia took her hand and smiled up at her, Chloe felt a rush of love for the child. She would stay as long as Gaelan let her for Sophia 's sake. She could not leave her alone with such a loveless man.
     
     
     
    As for her attraction to Gaelan Byrne with his dark, romantic, sexy looks, she would get over that. His personality, she decided, more than cancelled out his looks.
     
     
     
    Chloe and Sophia walked along the cliff hand in hand. It was cold, and the wind coming from the north nipped at their cheeks until they glowed bright red. On the ground, the dead grass was littered with patches of old snow. There were no trees along the ridge and no shelter, so one felt the elements full force. An occasional flake of snow drifted on the wind, and it seemed that the day could not decide what it wished to do. They walked down into a hollow a little out of the wind, and Sophia pointed out a bird flying out over the ocean in pursuit of a gull.
     
     
     
    “What is it?” Chloe asked.
     
     
     
    “A peregrine. It's after that gull.” They watched as the bird of prey dove repeatedly at the gull, each dive resulting in a narrow miss. Some bigger gulls came to the aid of their comrade, launching their own attacks against the now outnumbered peregrine. The peregrine made a few more attacks on the smaller bird before finally giving up and flying back toward the shore. Chloe knew the peregrine had just been outwitted out of its breakfast, but she breathed a sigh of relief on behalf of the gull all the same.
     
     
     
    “Now look,” Sophia sai d, this time pointing inland. “A bald eagle!” Chloe watched the almost mythical bird as it soared above them, the wind under its wings.
     
     
     
    “You know a lot about birds too, I see,” Chloe said, impressed with the girl’s knowledge.
     
     
     
    “Windy taught me, and I put seed on the bird feeders outside t he kitchen window. My favourites are the chickadees. I’m going to be an ornithologist when I grow up. ”
     
     
     
    “ That’s a very big word for such a little girl. Do you know the song about chickadees?”
     
     
     
    Sophia shook