Reluctant Date

by Sheila Claydon

  Talking to Claire, sitting opposite her, watching the expressions change on her mobile face had just made him want to know her more. But he was out of luck because from the very first minute they met she had made it abundantly clear that, despite having signed up to a dating agency, she wasn’t remotely interested in settling down. Meeting someone and falling in love was quite obviously the last thing on her mind.

  Chapter Two

  Searching in her purse for change Claire didn’t notice the taxi driver getting out of the car until he opened the passenger door, exposing her to the harsh glare of the street light.

  “It’s been paid for already luv,” he said, waving away her proffered coins. “Gentleman said I was to make sure you got home safe. Told me to walk you to your door.”

  A bubble of laughter threatened again as Claire scrambled out of the cab. He was at least four inches shorter than her, and by the time he had climbed the steps up to her apartment he’d developed a wheezing cough. Some Sir Galahad!

  He seemed to see the funny side of the situation himself because he grinned at her as she unlocked her door. “It’s earned me a good tip,” he said by way of explanation as he turned back to his car.

  Closing the door behind her, Claire dumped her bag and hat on the table. Then, without pausing to remove her coat, she hurried across to her computer and switched it on. Within moments she had logged into the Dating Agency site but when she searched for Daniel Marchant there were no matches for his name.

  She sat back in her chair, ignoring the two emails in her message box. He had deleted his profile already. Not that she was actually interested in seeing him again. She just wanted to read his details because she had learned very little about him during their meal. He’d told her he worked in tourism, and said he travelled a lot, but apart from that he hadn’t told her anything else at all. And now it was too late.

  It was her own fault for not doing her homework. Once she realized most prospective dates exaggerated their profiles she had lost interest in actually checking out anything but the most basic information, preferring to rely on a face-to-face meeting for the truth. Consequently she knew next to nothing about Daniel Marchant. She had only agreed to meet him because she needed a final date, he had asked her, and he looked good.

  Except he hadn’t asked her of course! It had been his brother Carl. And during the meal Daniel had kept their conversation concentrated on Claire. He’d asked about her job and what she did in her spare time and, flattered by his interest, she had found herself telling him about her work and then about her photography. She’d even told him that her long-term dream was to find a job where she could combine her library training with her camera skills.

  Now, reflecting on their conversation, she was amazed she’d told him so much. She was normally fairly reserved with strangers and yet, somehow, Daniel Marchant had coaxed most of the details of her life out of her. He knew she was a librarian. He also knew she was an only child, and that her parents had been quite old when she was born.

  “They’re still old hippies,” she had explained with a laugh as she related a few outlandish anecdotes from her childhood. “They’ve always been so alternative and eccentric that I more or less brought myself up. They never really told me what to do. That’s probably why I’ve ended up working in a library. I’m sure a psychologist would say it’s some sort of inner bid for order after the chaos of my upbringing.”

  He had laughed with her, but the wistful note in his voice hadn’t escaped her. “Very different from my childhood then,” he’d said. “I come from a deeply conservative and buttoned up sort of family with rules for everything.”

  And now she would never know. Her only way of contacting him had been via the website message box because nobody with any sense gave out their telephone number or address. Instead, they saved such personal details for later, for when they were sure they wanted to meet again. So now she couldn’t even thank him for the meal because he had chosen to take himself off the market before he went to bed. Not that she blamed him. She was going to do exactly the same thing. The sooner she forgot about the fiasco of her affair with the Internet, and particularly her brief encounter with Daniel Marchant, the better.

  * * *

  The rest of the week dragged. Not even the prospect of a visit from a class of primary school children raised Claire’s spirits. Normally she enjoyed showing them how the library worked and asking about their favourite stories. Days before they were due she would choose bookmarks, prepare quiz sheets, and download colouring pictures from the Internet. Then she would search for a book of the right length so she could read them a ten-minute story at the end of their visit. This time, however, she found everything a chore.

  By Friday morning, the cheerful middle-aged women who worked with her had started looking at her with worried expressions. She forced a smile and assured them she was fine. And she was fine except…except she couldn’t get the memory of Daniel Marchant out of her head.

  “I just need a change of scene,” she told them. “Some fresh air. A walk along the beach.”

  “You’ll be going to visit your parents then?” they said.

  She nodded. That was exactly what she would do. She knew she was always welcome at the big rambling house her parents had bought when their advancing years had finally persuaded them to settle down. Old and battered, it took the full brunt of the northwest wind that blew with varying degrees of force for most of the year, but she loved it. She visited often because it was close to the sea, and to a nature reserve full of the things that she loved to photograph.

  If she finished work early she would just have enough time to go home, throw jeans and a sweater into a bag, and catch the six o’clock train.

  Happier now she had something to look forward to instead of mooning around all weekend pretending Daniel Marchant hadn’t happened, she checked the time. As she did so the double doors burst open and a class of solemn seven-year-olds came in followed by a harassed teacher and two classroom aides.

  Claire smiled at them and told them to pile their coats and hats onto one of the reading benches well away from the busier part of the library. Then she led them through to the children’s section. For the next hour she answered questions and talked about books. Not until she finished reading the final page of the story she had chosen did she remember a leaflet that had arrived with the morning’s post.

  “Who likes poetry?” she asked.

  Twenty-four hands shot into the air.

  “Good, because I’ve the very thing for all of you. A poetry competition! I’ll photocopy the details for your teacher while you collect your belongings.”

  She was smiling as she led them back into the main library, a smile that faded into a look of total disbelief when she saw Daniel Marchant standing there. Something about the way he was leaning against the counter told her he had been waiting for quite sometime.

  “Hello,” his eyes had golden flecks that she didn’t remember. He didn’t smile.

  “I…I…what are you doing here?”

  “Looking for you. It’s taken me quite a while to track you down.”

  He didn’t look tired now, and without the shadows under his eyes he was even more attractive than the first time she met him. Something inside her that might have been her heart, shifted slightly. She pulled herself together. She was at work and Daniel Marchant wasn’t interested in dating. He had made that very clear when they met.

  “Just let me finish what I’m doing and then I’ll take an early lunch break,” she said. Then she ignored the knowing looks that her colleagues gave her and did her best to concentrate on photocopying the poetry leaflet.

  * * *

  Ten minutes later she and Daniel were hurrying across the road to the local sandwich shop, their heads down against a sudden squall of rain. Claire pushed open the door and Daniel followed her inside.

  “This wasn’t quite what I had in mind,” he said with a wry nod towards the huge chalkboard that listed the day�
��s sandwich fillings.

  “Sorry, but I’ve arranged to have a short lunch break today so I can leave at four o’clock. I’m going to visit my parents,” she added as she studied the chalkboard and wondered why she didn’t feel hungry.

  Once they had collected their order she grabbed a table well away from the door so they wouldn’t be interrupted by the steady flow of people who were ordering food to take out.

  “Why are you here?” she said. It came out more forcefully than she intended because she didn’t for one moment think Daniel Marchant was a stalker. Nor was he a weirdo, or an eccentric, or any of the other things she had learned to avoid when she arranged her dates.

  He held up his hands in silent apology for his unannounced intrusion into her working day. “I’ve come to offer you a job,” he said.

  Whatever Claire had expected, it wasn’t that. She stared at him in disbelief.

  He smiled at her bemused expression. “You did say you were in a rut and maybe a solution was to change your job,” he reminded her.

  She nodded. While half of her was intrigued by the prospect of something so unexpected happening to her, the other half felt deflated. So he hadn’t come searching because he wanted another date. No! It was because he had a job vacancy and she fitted. Remembering how skillfully he had uncovered all the details of her life as they chatted over their shared meal, something sharp twisted in her heart. Daniel Marchant had been interviewing her. He wasn’t interested in her personally at all.

  “Don’t you want to know what it is?” he asked.

  “I suppose so,” she knew she sounded grudging but it was difficult not to when her head was warring with her heart, and her heart was winning.

  “I run a small company involved in coastal research and I need someone to photograph and catalogue the results of the work we are doing.”

  Claire’s eyes widened. “It sounds interesting but why me?”

  “Because you have the right qualifications and, unless my memory has failed me, a keen interest in wildlife. You also told me you thought travelling or a new job might be what you needed. If you decide to take the job, you can do both.”

  “Well yes, but...did you say travelling?”

  “Mmm,” Daniel spoke around a mouthful of sandwich. He swallowed it. “The job is in Florida.”

  Claire stared at him. She was lost for words. Florida! A dream job in Florida, and all she could think of was that Florida was a long way away and she didn’t know anything about him. The jumble of thoughts loosened her tongue.

  “Your profile said you work in tourism.”

  “I do,” he pushed the plate of sandwiches towards her. “As well as my research company I manage a holiday property development business. It’s a family concern started by my father. My real interest is ecology though. Eventually I want to develop some eco friendly properties where people can spend a few days close to nature and learn all about the world we live in.”

  “But I don’t know anything about you, or your companies,” she protested. She wished her parents had passed on the ‘try anything once’ gene that had coloured her childhood. She knew her mother would already be packing by now, far too excited by the prospect of an adventure to worry about the disruption to her life. Claire, however, remembered the anxiety of being uprooted and sent to yet another school in another town only too well. Even after all this time her stomach still churned and she still felt sick when faced with a new situation. She stared at Daniel, panic building.

  He pulled a couple of business cards from his pocket and handed them to her. Both had website addresses. Then he pushed back his chair and stood up.

  “Look I know it’s too much for you to take in right away, so how about I leave you to think about it. Check out the websites. One is for the family business and it will tell you everything you want to know about me. Call the company if you want to. Ask anything you like. You don’t need to worry that Carl will answer because he doesn’t work there,” he gave her an unapologetic grin.

  “The other one is for my own research company. You’ll be able to see what it has achieved so far and what the plans are for the future. That way you’ll have your questions ready when I collect you from work at four o’clock. I’ll drive you to your parent’s house so we can discuss it on the way.”

  “But my parents live miles away,” she protested, standing up as well.

  “I know where they live Claire. You told me on Monday,” he reminded her. “It’s not a problem. What is a problem, however, is the fact that I have to be back in the States by Monday evening so we don’t have much time to tie this up. Now are you going to eat your sandwiches or not?”

  “Not,” she said. She didn’t know whether to be excited by his offer or to be angry at the way he was trying to organize her life.

  “In that case I’ll have them,” he said, scooping them up. He bit into the first one as he made for the door.

  Claire sat down again and remained at the table for another ten minutes, her coffee growing cold. She knew why Daniel Marchant thought she would be prepared to give up her life and her friends and travel to Florida, because she had already told him. She had said she was in a rut and needed a change at the same time she told him she didn’t want a husband or even a date. As far as he was concerned she was a safe bet in a world where his family seemed determined to marry him off. She would never be a threat to his self-imposed bachelorhood.

  She drew in a long breath as she remembered his height and the width of his shoulders under his well-cut gray suit. Then she remembered his long, lean thigh muscles as he stretched his legs out under the table. She pulled on her coat with a sigh. If only he knew!

  Chapter Three

  True to his promise, Daniel was waiting for her outside the library when she left work at four o’clock. He was at the wheel of a black sedan that was parked half-on and half-off the sidewalk. Claire got in hurriedly as a traffic warden approached.

  Daniel grinned at her, switching on the ignition as he did so. “Just in time! Which way now?”

  “I need to go home to collect some clothes,” she told him as she directed him down the nearest side street. “Then we need to beat the rush hour.”

  “Fine. I’ll drop you off and go and find a gas station. Will twenty minutes be okay? ”

  She nodded; relieved he didn’t expect her to invite him into her apartment. Although she had learned quite a lot about him from a quick trawl of the company websites before she left work, she wasn’t about to let her guard down. She had every intention of keeping her distance while she considered his job offer. However tempting it sounded, she would still tell him she needed the weekend to think about it.

  * * *

  Half an hour later they were aiming for the motorway. The traffic was too busy for serious conversation so they kept it to pleasantries while Daniel negotiated his way out of the city. Once on the open road, however, he filled her in on the details of the job he had in mind.

  “The company has only been operating for a little over three years. At the moment we are concentrating on coastal habitats and the effect of climate change on migrating birds and marine life. Later on we’re going to research terrestrial animals too. It’s still a fairly small affair but thanks to a skeleton staff and lots of volunteers, it’s beginning to influence coastal and wetlands conservation. It’s doing good work, but slowly. I want to speed it up by employing someone who can catalogue the research and photograph some of the results. That’s where you come in. With your experience you could set up some educational programs too.”

  Claire looked at him. It was dark now but she could see his profile, the way he was concentrating on the road ahead. He glanced across at her. Their eyes met for a fleeting moment before he returned his gaze to the rain-spattered windscreen. It was enough, though, for Claire’s heart to start pumping double time.

  She couldn’t do this. She knew she was being ridiculous, knew she should grasp the opportunity he was offering her with both hands, but she co
uldn’t do it. It was bad enough that her stomach was already churning at the thought of moving somewhere new without the added complication of Daniel Marchant.

  The memory of what it felt like to have her heart broken was still with her even though it was years since she’d been betrayed. When she was twenty she had fallen in love with an older man and started dreaming of the life they would have together. For a long time he had seemed to want the same thing, so when he left her for someone else she’d been utterly devastated. Unwilling to accept his rejection she’d made a fool of herself, pleading with him to give their relationship another chance. She had abandoned all pride; sure that he would soon realize his mistake. Nothing in her life had prepared her for the pain of having her heart thrown back in her face.

  Five years on, although the hurt had gone, the memory of his betrayal still coloured her attitude to relationships. It was the main reason she was still footloose and fancy free because the experience had persuaded her it was better to stick to uncomplicated friendships. Until now she had only indulged in relationships that left her heart intact and her emotions untroubled.

  This attitude had got her to the here and now without too many problems, but she knew Daniel Marchant was a different matter. Tall, tanned, and sun-bleached, he was the shadowy figure who roved through her barely acknowledged dreams. He even shared her interests. There was only one problem. He was so not interested in her except as an employee, that she could feel her heart breaking all over again as they drove along the dark ribbon of motorway.