A Stranger's Kiss

by Liz Fielding

  If Beth noticed that Tara was tense as a spring, jumping every time the telephone rang she made no comment. Gradually though, as the day wore on and she became more deeply immersed in following up the opportunities for work for her girls, she began to uncoil. Once or twice she caught Beth looking at her sympathetically. It had a bracing effect, straightening her back, reminding her to paint the smile back on her face.

  ‘I’m just going to get some sandwiches for lunch,’ Beth said suddenly, at about twelve.

  Tara didn’t look up from the telephone directory. ‘Fine. Get me—’ But Beth hadn’t waited to hear what she wanted. The door closed with a bang. Tara looked up, exasperated. ‘Well, thanks...’ The words died on her lips as she saw Adam standing in the doorway.

  ‘I believe that is what is known as a strategic withdrawal.’ He flicked the lock.

  ‘What do you want, Adam?’

  ‘Is that any way to greet someone bearing gifts?’

  ‘I don’t want any gifts from you.’

  He perched on the edge of her desk, not in the least put out by the sharpness of her tongue. ‘But this isn’t from me.’ He produced a small box from his pocket and an envelope. ‘It came by courier this morning. All the way from Bahrain.’

  He handed her the small leather covered jeweller’s box. She looked up at him, puzzled. ‘What is this?’

  It was his turn to be sharp. ‘Open it and see.’

  She pressed the catch. On the bed of velvet nestled a pair of creamy pearl ear studs. ‘Oh, how beautiful.’ He took the box from her hand and examined the contents.

  ‘Yes. A pair of pearls, matched for colour and size. Quite exquisite. From the Bahrain pearl beds of course.’ He regarded her with wintry eyes. ‘Hanna has excellent taste. They will suit you perfectly.’ He handed them back to her. ‘Try them on.’

  ‘Hanna sent them for me?’

  ‘The letter was sealed, but I took an educated guess. Who else could it be?’

  ‘You didn’t steam it open to make certain?’ She snapped the box shut. ‘I don’t want his letter and I don’t want his pearls. Send them back.’

  His lip curled slightly. ‘There’s no need to be so dramatic. It’s simply his way of apologising.’

  ‘I don’t need his apology. As you took so much trouble to point out, I had no one but myself to blame for what happened. Send them back,’ she repeated, stubbornly.

  ‘I can’t do that, Tara. If I send them back he will simply assume that I never gave them to you.’

  ‘And that matters to you?’

  ‘I may have mixed feelings about the man, but he is a brilliant money broker. For the moment we are partners in raising funds for my latest project.’

  ‘I’m afraid that’s your problem. I don’t want them.’

  He smiled slightly and stood up. ‘You could always sell them. The money would make a quite a dent in your overdraft.’

  ‘What do you know about my overdraft?’ she demanded.

  ‘I didn’t know anything. But your reaction tells me plenty.’

  ‘Adam!’ she protested, as he moved to leave. ‘You can’t leave these here.’

  But he had already opened the door, carefully replacing the catch. ‘Consider it a bonus, Tara. After all, you clearly earned it on your visit to the beach pavilion. I’m sorry I misunderstood the scene in the summer house. If I hadn’t interrupted you would surely have had the necklace to match.’

  She flung the stapler at his head but too late. He had already gone. It bounced harmlessly off the wall and fell to the floor.

  Beth bent and picked it up as she returned, replacing it on the desk without comment. ‘I bought you cream cheese and smoked salmon. You look as if you could do with a treat.’

  ‘Bribery will get you nowhere, Beth Lawrence. How dare you skip out like that and leave me alone with him!’

  Beth had the grace to blush. ‘I’m sorry, but he didn’t look as if he wanted an audience.’

  Tara sighed. ‘No. I don’t suppose he did.’ She opened the envelope. There was a small certificate from the jeweller guaranteeing the authenticity of the pearls, and a note.

  Hanna had been brief. “Forgive me, beautiful Tara. I did not understand. Hanna.”

  She picked up her pen and wrote simply, “Forgiven. Tara.” Then she called an international courier service and sent the pearls back.

  * * *

  Mary Ogden, white lipped and quivering with indignation, came into the office just after three the next day. ‘I’m sorry, Tara. I did my best, but that man is impossible to work for.’

  Tara’s heart sank. ‘You’ve left Mr Blackmore?’

  ‘My ability has never been questioned before.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Mary. I know he’s not the easiest man in the world to work for and I — er — believe he’s been under some strain recently. But I really thought you would have been able to cope.’

  ‘Of course I could have coped. I simply asked him to slow down a little when he was dictating.’ She assumed a look of injured dignity. ‘He said his last secretary could keep up with him!’ She made a noise that suggested no one could keep up with him. ‘There’s nothing wrong with my shorthand and I told him so.’

  ‘And that’s when he asked you to leave?’

  ‘Not in so many words.’ She compressed disapproving lips. ‘He simply suggested that if I was having a problem keeping up with him I had better look for a less demanding job. I told him that I have worked for—’

  Tara smothered a groan. ‘Yes, Mary. Your experience is without question. Sit down and have a cup of coffee.’ She soothed the ruffled feathers, promised to try and find her another job as quickly as possible and heaved a sigh of relief when she finally departed.

  Beth chuckled. ‘Do you think he’s trying to tell you something?’

  ‘What?’ Tara snapped.

  Beth raised her hands in surrender. ‘Sorry. None of my business. What are you going to do now?’

  ‘I’m not quite sure,’ she said, reaching for the telephone, ‘but I’d better do something.’ She made arrangements with another of her temps to take Mary’s place.

  ‘Don’t you think you ought to have warned her?’ Beth asked, when she replaced the receiver.

  ‘No. It’ll only make her nervous.’ Beth looked sceptical as she dialled Adam’s number and waited with growing trepidation for him to pick up the phone.

  ‘Adam Blackmore,’ he barked down the phone. Tara waited. ‘Hello?’ Marginally more friendly she thought, crossly. But not good enough. There was a pause then a soft laugh that sent shivers down her spine. ‘Hello, my lady. I wondered how long it would be before you phoned.’

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  HER grip on the telephone was painful, her knuckles white with the strain of holding onto her temper.

  ‘Good afternoon, Adam,’ she said, crisply. ‘I have reason to believe you need another secretary.’

  ‘I do. And would it be too much to ask for one who can take down a few simple notes without having hysterics this time?’

  ‘Mary has never had hysterics in her life,’ she said, coldly. ‘I don’t understand your problem, Adam. She was exactly what you asked for. Even down to the underwear,’ she added rashly, her fingers firmly crossed. ‘With the added bonus that she can actually type.’

  Beth’s eyebrows were working overtime on the other side of the office, but Tara studiously ignored them, furiously wishing she hadn’t allowed herself to say anything so stupid. The common sense she had always prided herself on appeared to have deserted her. She wondered if Adam Blackmore had stolen it, along with her heart.

  ‘You remembered?’ he asked, softly.

  She swallowed. Of course she remembered. She would never forget anything he had said or done. She would never forget the way he had held her, the kiss that had driven every thought from her head leaving only him to fill her mind, until the cold draught of sanity had dragged her back to reality.

  ‘Tara?’ he prompted.

  ‘O
f course I remembered,’ she said, with all the outward appearance of calm. ‘Nothing is too much for a client. Any client,’ she added, and quickly continued. ‘You can expect a suitably qualified senior secretary by the name of Lisa Martin at nine o’clock tomorrow morning.’ He made no response to this and Tara was beginning to find it difficult to breathe. ‘She is our very best shorthand secretary. She doesn’t normally work during the school holidays, but I have managed to persuade her to work for you,’ she rushed on.

  ‘I’m glad you have a good memory. It will help keep you warm on cold winter nights.’ His voice was without emotion, yet as he dropped the receiver back onto the cradle she shivered.

  She put the phone down quickly and snatched her hand away as if somehow he could reach out through the receiver and hold her. She had tried to be business-like, but he continued to torment her. Why? He was the one who said he didn’t want to see her ever again. So why couldn’t he just leave her to get on with her life?

  What life? forlornly echoed back in her head. Before she had met Adam she’d had work, a new business to build up with Beth, a pleasant social life and a godmother in the Lake District who emerged only for weddings and funerals these days and who she didn’t see enough of, but who she loved dearly.

  She still had all those things, but none of them seemed to matter very much. Perhaps if she had had a family, brothers and sisters it would have been different. But she had never known her parents. Mr and Mrs Lambert had taken her in when she was orphaned as a baby. She smiled at the memory of that life. She had been lucky she knew. They had cared for her as if she had been their daughter and she had always thought of Nigel as a nothing more than a big brother until he went away to college to study design.

  She had missed him so much more than she had expected. Other girls seemed to quarrel endlessly with their brothers, but Nigel had always been there for her, protecting her, the very best friend she had ever had. When he asked her to marry him it had seemed so obvious, so right.

  She sighed. There had been none of the searing, blazing passion that Adam generated by his very presence, by the sound of his voice on the telephone. Nigel hadn’t turned her bones to jelly, her blood to fire. It had been a comfortable, easy relationship. They would have been happy, given the chance. But a small doubt niggled at the back of her mind. If she had met someone like Adam Blackmore, would it have been enough? Perhaps that’s what Jane’s marriage had been like. Comfortable. Until Adam Blackmore settled like a thorn under her skin.

  The afternoon seemed to drag interminably. Despite work left on her desk, as soon as the clock turned five-thirty Tara pulled on her coat.

  ‘What’s the hurry?’ Beth asked, surprised.

  ‘I’ve had enough. I need a hot bath, a bowl of spaghetti and a very large bar of chocolate. In no particular order.’

  Beth looked sympathetic. ‘I recognise the symptoms. Go and wallow. You’ll feel so guilty tomorrow that you won’t have to time to worry about the heartache.’

  Tara was going to deny it, but it would be pointless. Beth was an incurable romantic, falling in and out of love at the drop of a hat.

  ‘Is it like this for long?’ she asked.

  ‘It varies, sweetheart. What was it like when Nigel died?’

  Tara tried to remember. ‘It wasn’t like this, Beth. I grieved for Nigel. I loved him. I’d loved him all my life.’ She shook her head. ‘But it wasn’t like this.’

  Beth shook her head. ‘Maybe you should go away for a few days. You could do with a break.’

  ‘Perhaps, later.’

  ‘Not later. We’ll go to Alberto’s and have a carbfest. Pasta, Chianti and some of that amazing chocolate cake he makes. It’s the very best sticking plaster for a broken heart, I promise.’ She grinned. ‘Trust me, I know. You can fall into the bath later.’

  Tara suddenly laughed. ‘Fall is probably the right words, but you got me at chocolate cake.’

  ‘Oh, well done.’ Beth said, approvingly. ‘You’re going to make an excellent patient.’

  Beth had her giggling through the meal, telling her the most outrageous stories about the many boyfriends she had had over the years. ‘I don’t believe it,’ she finally, protested. ‘That’s too much.’

  Beth shrugged. ‘Ah, well. It’s my contention that you should never spoil a good story by sticking too closely to the truth.’

  When they parted in Victoria Road to go their separate ways, Tara felt better. The laughter had helped. She didn’t think it would last, but tonight she would have a soak in the bath and she would sleep.

  ‘Good evening, Mrs Lambert.’ The security guard raised his hand in salute as she passed him.

  She let herself in, her good mood evaporated in the space of a second. She glared at the telephone. She should ring him and tell him to call off his watchdog right now, but the morning would do. And she wouldn’t telephone. She would have to keep her distance from Adam if she was ever to recover her equilibrium. She would send him a polite little note instead.

  The light on the answering machine was winking and she pressed the play button. There were a couple of calls from people she hadn’t seen for a week or two. A message from Jim, sounding quite desperate, asking her to ring him. The last call was a voice she had heard before, but couldn’t quite put a name to.

  ‘Tara? I hope this is the right number, I got it out of the phone book. I wondered if you would come into the clinic and see me if you can spare the time? Perhaps at the weekend. Saturday at about four o’clock would be a good time.’ Jane? ‘Sorry, this is Jane Townsend. I should have said that first. I’m absolutely hopeless with these things. I’m rather worried about Adam and I think it’s time we had a little a chat.’

  Oh, yes, it was Jane. That warm breathless charm was unmistakable. And she wanted to have a little chat about Adam. Warn her off, more likely. Under the circumstances she would probably feel the same way. She angrily turned the taps on in the bathroom, her mood destroyed completely, wondering what friendly little voice at Victoria House had taken the trouble to pass on the information that she should watch her back.

  Well, she would go. She owed the woman that. She would reassure Jane that she had no intention of disrupting her domestic arrangements with Adam. For her own peace of mind she hoped never to speak to the man again.

  And Jim was back on her trail. It was time she put an end to that once and for all. She dialled his number but there was no reply. Then with a squeal of panic fled to the bathroom just in time to prevent a flood.

  * * *

  She did sleep. She awoke heavy eyed and heavy limbed to the alarm clock, hardly sure what day it was. She lay still for a moment collecting her thoughts. Thursday. The week was apparently endless. But it was Thursday, her busiest day. Time to get up.

  She climbed out of bed. The paperboy had pushed the local weekly through the letterbox and the postman had delivered his usual quota of bills. She picked them up and dumped them on the kitchen table and went and stood under the shower to finish waking up.

  She checked her diary. There were several appointments which caused a frown to gently furrow her brow. She and Beth had to make up the salary cheques for the girls today for collection on Friday. And there was the local newspaper to scan for advertisements for vacancies and follow-up contacts to make offering to take the pain out of staff hunting.

  She swallowed her tea, grabbed the mail and newspaper and hurried to the office. It was only just past eight o’clock when she arrived, but Beth followed her in with the same idea of getting an early start.

  They both settled down immediately to their respective newspaper advertisements and had a list to work through by nine-thirty. Beth did quite well, despatching a couple of her people for interviews and then prepared to depart for her chat with Jenny Harmon.

  ‘I can’t wait to see the inside of Victoria House. The atrium is lovely. Such gorgeous shops. So individual, not all carbon copy replicas of every other shopping centre.’

  Tara half smiled. T
hey might not look it, but every one of them was part of a countrywide chain. Like the wine bar they were all part of the Blackmore empire. A very small part. But instead of working at an instantly identifiable image, each shop had been individually designed for its locality and given its own name. Women who wouldn’t be seen dead in a chain store used them every day without a qualm.

  ‘The whole building is quite stunning. I’d love to be able to afford a suite there. People would have to take us rather more seriously if we could boast Victoria House as our address.’

  ‘Hey, listen, lady,’ Beth said, sternly. ‘We are being taken seriously these days. Business is looking up and the holiday season hasn’t started yet.’

  ‘Yes, you’re right.’ And there was the added bonus of her fee for working for Adam. Financially at least, things were getting better, and not just because of Victoria House, word seemed to be getting around. ‘It’ll be all smiles at the bank next week.’

  ‘Oh, it has been this week, my love. Quite a change of atmosphere. The manager actually spoke to me yesterday. Just to pass the time of day.’

  ‘Wonders will never cease. Here we go.’ The temps began the lunch time rush with their time sheets.

  ‘I’ll bring you back a sandwich.’

  When Beth returned triumphant some time later, Tara took the opportunity to walk down by the river for a blow of fresh air. March had tipped over into April and suddenly it was warmer, spring-like, with blossom everywhere. She sat on a bench watching the river. The leisure-craft were being moved into position for the summer season and there was a general bustle about which would normally have enchanted her.

  Nothing seemed to register, however. Tara watched it all happening as if she were seeing events taking place on a stage a long way off. She was no longer involved.

  She sighed and opened the newspaper and instantly her eye was drawn to a photograph of a young dark-haired woman, baby cradled at her elbow, a smiling man leaning over to touch the tiny fingers.