by India Heath
"Arizona! You have to be kidding me, Daddy. What on earth would I do in Arizona?" Jade leapt agilely out of the large leather chair and began pacing her father's office with ill-concealed irritation. Her honey-blonde hair swung about her shoulders in thick silky waves and her blue eyes sparkled.
"What on earth are you doing here?" William Lomax returned dryly, a thick Savannah cigar hanging from the corner of his mouth. "Nothing, except moping around feeling sorry for yourself."
Jade pinned her father with a pouty glare. "I have every right to wallow in a little self pity, Daddy. My fiancé has just betrayed me."
William ground out his cigar in the large marble ashtray on his desk and snorted dismissively. "The man indulged in a little pre-marital flirting, that's all. A lot of fuss over nothing if you ask me."
Jade swallowed the little bubble of hysterical laughter that lodged in her throat. "He slept with my best friend!"
"Yes but it didn't mean anything to him, Jade. It's you Bradley loves. It's you he's marrying next month and it's you who wears his ring."
Jade held her bare left hand aloft in bitter triumph. "Not any more. He can go rot in hell for all I care."
William recognised the familiar indignation in his daughter's voice and knew it was her pride that was injured, rather than her heart. She had a stubborn streak in her a mile wide and if she had decided the wedding was off then that was that, pity though. He sighed; Bradley Cunningham came from good stock. His cousin was even related to royalty. Business wise, he would have made Jade a good match. "Darling, are you sure you're not just letting your temper get in the way of common sense? Bradley messed up but that doesn't mean it has to be the end of the whole relationship."
Jade expelled a long weary sigh and sat back down. Her father would rather see her married for wealth than happiness. There was no point in arguing with him. They would never see eye to eye over it. William Lomax viewed marriage like everything else in his life, as a business deal. "It's over, Daddy," she stated firmly. "I just need to get my life back together."
"Of course you do, darling. And what better way to do that than by having a complete break, away from it all?"
Jade's soft mouth twisted cynically. "In Arizona?"
"Exactly. Fresh air, new scenery. It will do you the world of good and the company a great service."
"Daddy, when you belatedly jumped on the band wagon for conservation as a means to increase sales in paper products, I supported you wholeheartedly. It was my idea, for heaven's sake. But I had no idea that you would expect me to go to the Tonto National Forest and plant the damn trees myself."
William nodded in agreement. "Of course not. But that's because you were about to be married to one of the most eligible bachelors in London. Now you're back on the shelf again and you need a distraction in your life. It will be good PR, Jade, having the chairman's daughter out there spearheading the replanting programme. It will lend credibility to our new caring image. Sales have already increased since the project began. With the added publicity I could get out of you, we could see sales go up by as much as 10 per cent."
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