‘Yes!’
He drew his breath in raggedly, his expression harsh. ‘And if I asked you not to do it?’
This wasn’t the same Luke Randell she had met at Nikki’s wedding a week ago, this was Luke Randell the lawyer, and she could see just from this brief glimpse of him that in a courtroom he would be formidable, even more lethal than his father had been at the height of his career.
‘It wouldn’t make any difference,’ she told him distantly. ‘I was employed as Mr Hammond’s secretary, I prefer to leave if I’ll no longer be working for him.’
‘I don’t think your employment was ever discussed by Claude and myself,’ he said coldly. ‘I believe Claude had faith in your loyalty to the firm. But if you would prefer to work for Paul I’m sure that could be arranged.’
‘Nikki is Paul’s secretary.’
‘All the more reason for the change. I don’t think it’s a good idea for a man and wife to work so closely together.’
‘You don’t think?’ Lori bristled indignantly on her friends’ behalf.
‘Maybe you didn’t understand the situation clearly, Lori,’ he said abruptly. ‘Or maybe you weren’t listening properly.’ His silky tone implied that he had known of her inattentiveness during the meeting, that his shrewd grey eyes had missed none of her withdrawal from the proceedings. ‘I am the new senior partner. In future we shall be known as Randell, Hammond and Hammond.’
‘Paul—’
‘Knows all about it,’ he said harshly. ‘And has done for some time. Although what that has to do with you I have no idea. Unless Paul means more to you than just your friend’s husband—’
‘How dare you?’ Lori gasped her outrage. ‘How dare you say such a thing to me?’
‘Quite easily, I can assure you,’ Luke drawled hardly. ‘Although by your reaction I realise I was way off on this one.’
‘You certainly were!’ She glared at him.
‘Yes,’ he nodded, ‘I can see that. But would you hold back on your resignation for a few months at least?’
‘I—’
‘Luke, my dear boy,’ Claude Hammond came into the room. ‘And Lori,’ his smile softened apologetically, ‘I hope you’ll forgive me for my surprise announcement just now, my dear. But I’m sure you’ll agree with me that Luke would be an asset to any law firm.’
She could see the derisive twist of Luke Randell’s mouth out of the corner of her eyes, and her resolve to leave deepened. ‘I—’
‘Maybe Lori doesn’t share your opinion, Claude,’ Luke drawled.
‘I’m quite sure you’re an excellent lawyer.’ And she was!
‘Oh, he is,’ Claude confirmed. ‘I could hardly believe my luck when he consented to join us.’
‘But it—it’s so sudden,’ she licked her lips nervously. ‘I—I thought your retirement wasn’t until next year?’
Claude suddenly looked evasive, the smile no longer reaching the warmth of his eyes. ‘Luke was able to come to us earlier than expected. And—well, Ruth has been wanting a long holiday for years now. I’ve decided to take her next week.’
‘Next—? But—’ she was stopped by a warning look in Luke Randell’s eyes, frowning as he gave a barely perceptible shake of his head. Her consternation showed in her face, and he gave yet another shake of his head, more forceful this time, an angry glitter to the grey of his eyes. Lori chewed on her inner lip for several seconds, finally looking up at her employer.
With sudden clarity she saw the strain about Claude’s eyes, the hollow greyness of his cheeks, the weight-loss she hadn’t been aware of; her thoughts had been occupied with her own problems this last week.
‘Where are you going?’ she asked with bright interest.
‘Oh, we thought a cruise of the Greek islands would be nice,’ Claude dismissed casually. ‘Now, I just have some last-minute things to see to in my office before I go. Luke?’
‘I’ll be through in a moment,’ he told the other man. ‘I’m still trying to persuade Lori into thinking I’m irresistible,’ he added lightly.
Claude laughed. ‘Good luck, my boy. I have a feeling you’re going to need it!’ He gave him a hard slap on the back, still chuckling as he went through to the adjoining office.
Luke Randell’s own humour faded the moment he and Lori were alone again. ‘Thank you,’ he said softly.
Lori sat back in her chair, very pale. ‘There is no holiday, is there?’ she queried huskily.
‘Not for some time, no,’ he confirmed.
‘Claude isn’t well, is he?’
‘No,’ Luke sighed. ‘He has a heart condition—’
‘But he’s had that for years,’ she protested with a frown.
Grey eyes were narrowed on her. ‘You knew about it?’ he said slowly.
She nodded impatiently. ‘I often have to remind him to take his tablets. And he had regular check-ups—He had one two weeks ago,’ she realised dully. ‘What’s wrong with him?’ she asked sharply.
‘His condition had worsened at the last check-up,’ Luke spoke in a blunt, to-the-point voice. ‘He needs an operation.’
‘And so next week—’
‘He’s going into hospital.’
‘Oh, God!’ she groaned in genuine distress. She had become very fond of Claude Hammond since coming to work for him. ‘Nikki and Paul…’ she trailed off.
‘Have no idea,’ Luke answered her unfinished question. ‘If they had they would have cancelled the wedding. And Claude didn’t want that. But the operation is vital, so—’
‘He sent for you,’ Lori said dryly.
‘Yes,’ Luke bit out, ‘he sent for me. And I don’t care for your sarcasm. It wasn’t exactly convenient for me to pack up my life and return to England at such short notice,’ he scowled.
‘I’m sorry,’ she flushed. ‘I can see it can’t have been easy for you.’
‘I doubt it,’ he said dismissively. ‘But your understanding isn’t that important to me. Claude is, and that includes his peace of mind. I’m here because he wants me here. He and Paul have always been close to me, I couldn’t let them down.’
‘Just as I can’t,’ she realised dully, staring into space, looking up at him reluctantly. ‘I have to stay on here, don’t I.’ It was a statement, not a question.
He gave an inclination of his dark head, looking older in his grimness. ‘I think so. But of course, the decision lies with you. If you leave now it will upset Claude, but neither I nor anyone else can make you stay.’
She was trapped, he knew she was. Claude was the sort of man who couldn’t leave any ends untied. Knowing how he felt about organisation, he was probably already deeply upset about having to leave Luke after only a week. If she turned round, the person who knew almost as much about Claude’s cases as he did, and told him she was leaving, he was just as likely to refuse to go in to hospital at all and stay on here himself. She couldn’t do that to him.
But neither could she work for Luke Randell! It would be like working with the son of her father’s murderer, because Jacob Randell had killed her father as surely as if he had kicked the chair away from beneath his dangling feet.
Some of what she was feeling must have shown in her face. ‘As soon as Paul gets back from his honeymoon,’ Luke rasped, ‘I promise you you can go and work for him. Nikki will probably suit me better anyway.’
The last was said as a deliberate insult, Lori could tell that by the hard glitter of his eyes. And yet she refused to rise to the bait. ‘I think that might be for the best,’ she gave a distant nod of her head.
‘Okay, Lori, if that’s the way you want it,’ he bit out. ‘And let me assure you that in future our own relationship will be purely business.’
She eyed him coolly. ‘It’s never been anything else as far as I’m concerned.’
‘If I had the time…’ Luke muttered grimly.
‘Yes?’ she challenged.
He towered over her, the leashed power a tangible thing. ‘If I had the time I’d melt that ic
e right down to your bones,’ he told her savagely. ‘But in the meantime I’ll concentrate on making sure my efficient secretary remains that way.’
‘Mr Hammond has never had any complaints,’ she said stiffly.
‘I’m not Claude,’ he derided. ‘And I have my own way of doing things.’
‘I can assure you my personal dislike of you will not alter my efficiency,’ Lori snapped.
‘I wish I could be as sure of my desire for you,’ he muttered. ‘But only time will tell.’
It would indeed. Time when, even though she might hate it, she was going to have to work for this man. She knew the time was going to pass very slowly.
Luke left Claude’s office half an hour later, stopping beside her desk. ‘I’ll see you on Monday morning,’ he told her abruptly. ‘Nine o’clock sharp.’
‘I’ll be here,’ she said through gritted teeth.
‘I’m sure you will,’ he scorned. ‘The capable Miss Parker!’
Lori ignored the barb, and heard him leave a few seconds later. She was not at all surprised when Claude sent for her, and schooled her features into a casual smile, her pad and pencil in her hand ready for dictation.
‘You won’t need those, my dear,’ he dismissed with a smile. ‘Luke told me he’s talked to you, so there’s no longer any need for pretence between us.’
Her smile instantly faded. ‘Oh, Mr Hammond—’
‘I know, I know,’ he softly accepted her show of distress. ‘But I’ll be out of hospital before you know it, then I’ll take Ruth on that holiday. And when I get back I’ll still be involved here in an advisory capacity. I can still show the young ones a thing or two!’
‘I’m sure you can.’ Lori blinked back the tears at the brave face he was putting on things.
He cleared his throat noisily, showing he wasn’t as unaffected as he appeared to be. ‘Now what I really wanted to say,’ he continued briskly, ‘is that I’m pleased you’ve decided to stay on and work with Luke. He’s a fine man, we’re lucky to get him.’
‘I’m sure you are,’ she agreed noncommittally.
‘He wasn’t actually supposed to have joined us until next year,’ Claude spoke almost as if to himself. ‘But he very kindly agreed to give up a very lucrative consultancy for an oil firm in the States to come back now. I can’t tell you how much that means to me.’
He didn’t have to, she could see it in his face. But something puzzled her. ‘Why didn’t he ever join his father’s practice?’ It seemed logical that he would have done.
Claude shrugged. ‘I don’t know the full story, but I do know Luke and his father had a strong clash of personalities—they always have. It was never even a possibility that Luke would go in with his father. Besides, Jacob is retired now.’
If Luke Randell clashed with his father perhaps he wasn’t all bad after all! But that didn’t change the fact of who he was; that the same cruelty ran through the son as the father.
* * *
Lori was preoccupied the next evening as she sat across the dinner table from Jonathan, unaware of the admiring glances coming her way, of the male attention her daringly cut black dress was attracting.
But Jonathan was very aware of it, flushed with the pleasure of being the man accompanying the most beautiful woman in the room.
‘Is it bothering you that Randell is joining the firm?’ he finally asked.
The gold droplet earrings glittered as she swung her head in his direction, the slender necklace about her throat a perfect match in design. They were the only two pieces of jewellery she wore, her fingers were completely without rings, although Jonathan had an idea he was far from the first man to want to be able to put one there.
‘I’m sorry?’ her voice was husky.
He shrugged. ‘I just wondered if you were worried about working for Randell.’
‘Didn’t I mention that it wouldn’t be for long?’ She went on to tell him about the change-over with Nikki when she got back from her honeymoon. ‘Mr Randell doesn’t approve of married couples working so closely together,’ she added scathingly.
‘Neither do I,’ Jonathan told her ruefully, not missing her sarcasm. ‘It certainly isn’t any way to conduct business, and it can’t do the marriage much good either, to be in each other’s pockets in that way.’
‘Maybe not,’ she conceded, although it didn’t stop her resenting the fact that Luke Randell felt the same way. ‘Don’t you think it’s a little early to start issuing orders?’
Jonathan shrugged. ‘Not if that’s the way he feels about it.’
Lori held back her angry retort. Jonathan was obviously suffering from a severe bout of hero-worship, and for the moment nothing she said would change his opinion of the other man.
She fended off his invitation to go out for the day on Sunday, not wanting to become that involved with him, aware that she had only accepted this second invitation to put Luke Randell off, an act of pure desperation, and not one she was proud of. Jonathan was much too nice a person to be used in that way.
She returned his kiss with only a lukewarm response, reaching up to kiss him on the cheek. ‘I had a lovely evening,’ she smiled at him. ‘Have a nice weekend,’ she told him before escaping into the flat, realising from the hollow silence that Sally was once again in bed and asleep before her.
Sally was also up and dressed before her the next morning, and woke Lori with a cup of coffee. ‘I’m going out for the day soon, and I thought I’d ask how your date went last night?’ She sat cross-legged on the bottom of Lori’s bed as she sat up to drink the coffee.
‘Fine,’ Lori said evasively. ‘Are you going out with Dave?’ she changed the subject.
‘Mm,’ her friend nodded.
‘Are you serious about each other?’ she frowned.
Sally blushed. ‘I—I like him—a lot.’
‘And Dave?’
Sally shrugged, standing up. ‘He likes me too. Come on, I’ll cook you breakfast before I go, as I’m feeling generous.’
Lori took the hint that Sally didn’t want to discuss Dave any more than she wanted to talk about Jonathan, although she had a feeling it was for different reasons. No matter how many times she met Dave she couldn’t quite bring herself to like him, but Sally was an adult, and maybe she knew a different Dave from the one Lori did. Maybe…
‘Going out with Jonathan today?’ The two of them had eaten breakfast, and Sally had come back from the bedroom after dressing for her date.
‘Not today.’ And never again if she was sensible. Jonathan was the sort of man who would eventually want marriage, the sort of man who could get hurt by her.
‘Then I insist you sit down and have another cup of coffee and read the newspaper.’ Sally’s actions suited her words as she sat Lori down in a chair, putting a cup of coffee in one hand, the newspaper in the other. ‘Have to build your strength up for tomorrow with the new boss,’ she added teasingly.
‘And you have a nice day too!’
Sally laughed at her sarcasm. ‘Don’t wait up for me.’ She sobered, blushing. ‘I could be late.’
Lori knew that meant her friend might not be home at all, but she refrained from making any comment, giving a cheerful goodbye as Dave knocked on the door.
It was nice to sit back on the sofa and put her feet up, having been under more of a strain this last week than she realised. At this rate she was likely to be a physical wreck at the end of another three weeks! Her only consolation was that it had proved to be as much of a strain for Luke Randell as it was for her—but for completely different reasons. She could feel him watching her all the time, knew that his desire for her burnt just below the surface. In a way she could feel pleasure in the rejection he must feel at her indifference, and yet in another way she wished they had never met. She had hardly recognised herself this last week, the bitterness, the coldness, and she could feel it once again taking over her life.
At that moment an article in the newspaper caught and held her attention, pain such as sh
e had known only once before ripping through her, and once again tearing her apart.
It was a photograph, of Nigel. And standing next to him, looking ecstatically happy, was his bride! The picture told its own story—Nigel in a grey morning suit, the bride in a white silk dress and flowing veil, both of them looking happy.
Nonetheless, Lori read the short article beneath, and the details of Nigel’s marriage the previous day, to Caroline Maughan, an old friend of the family, the daughter of Lord Maughan, knocked all the breath from Lori’s body.
Yesterday had been the anniversary of the day her own wedding to Nigel should have taken place, five years ago to the day he should have married her!
CHAPTER FIVE
HER first reaction was, how could he? Her second, a little calmer, why shouldn’t he?
When they had parted just over five years ago Nigel had made it obvious that he never wanted to see her again, that who she was, who her father was, disgusted him. Surely she hadn’t been clinging to the dream that he would one day realise he still loved her, that he would return to her like a knight on his charger, sweep her up in his arms and tell her he still loved her? That was romantic nonsense, and could never be reality, not with Nigel.
But she had thought that, in the secret recesses of her heart she knew she had; she had lived on that hope for the last five years. Now she had nothing, nothing except an emptiness she would never be able to fill—and a burning anger towards the people who had done this to her. The Randells!
There was no way she could get back at Jacob P. Randell, not now he had retired, but Luke Randell was all too available. And she had the perfect way of getting to him—his own desire for her!
She didn’t cry about Nigel’s marriage, she had cried herself out five years ago over him. No, anger had once again taken over, and the Randell family, Luke Randell in particular, were going to know all about that anger.
She took one last tormenting look at the photograph of Nigel, at the way his hair still waved slightly, despite being kept styled short, at the warmth of his eyes, his handsome face. He would be thirty-four now, ten years older than her, and yet he remained lean, his morning suit as superbly tailored as his other clothes had always been. He looked as he should have looked on their wedding day, as he would have looked without his father’s interference.
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