She rushed on furiously with her work in an attempt to control the riot of her feelings, and had some semblance of composure as the door to the inner office finally opened and Marcus came out, pushing Audrey in her wheelchair.
Hayley felt a heavy black cloud descend around her head.
He said matter-of-factly, ‘I’m just taking Audrey home. Hold the fort. I’ll be back.’
Audrey’s eyes met hers with a look of triumph. ‘Goodbyee!’ she crooned sweetly. ‘I hope you have lots of luck finding a new job.’
After they’d gone Hayley threw her half-eaten bun into the bin and rinsed her cup under the tap in the small basin in her office.
Her eyes felt dry and hot, which was preferable to tears, she thought gloomily. Perhaps a fresh cup of tea might help matters, because nothing else was going to.
She met Liz Jarvis in the corridor and groaned silently at the look of overt enjoyment on the blonde girl’s face.
‘Was that Audrey Blake I saw earlier?’
Liz invariably went for the jugular, Hayley thought with cynical amusement, but perhaps that was better than more usual veiled hints.
‘Yes.’
Liz snorted. ‘I thought it wouldn’t be long. Once she saw what you looked like, ten broken legs wouldn’t have kept her from scooting back.’
Hayley decided against pointing out that Audrey only had two.
‘But Audrey’s never seen me,’ Hayley countered drily.
‘Not in the flesh,’ Liz agreed. ‘But you can bet your best boots she saw the company mag. There’s a picture of you in this month’s issue, in glorious Technicolor, saying you were dreamboat’s new secretary. No wonder she got her skates on, or should I say her wheelchair wheels?’
Hayley ignored the cruel little joke, shaking her head in puzzlement. ‘A picture of me? But where on earth would they get a picture of me?’
Liz shrugged. ‘It’s your mug shot, probably. You know, the one you had taken for your security tag.’
‘But surely they would have asked me first?’ Hayley said in utter astonishment. ‘I might not have been agreeable.’
‘During working hours you’re company property, my dear,’ Liz said cynically. ‘And there isn’t a thing you can do if they want to publish the fact.’
Hayley swallowed a peculiar little lump in her throat. ‘I suppose not.’ But her first appearance in print had certainly brought her bad luck, she mused gloomily.
Liz’s mind was obviously running on similar lines.
‘Still, it’s bad luck it brought the fire-breathing dragon back before time.’ She sounded genuinely sympathetic. ‘She just couldn’t take the risk of you succeeding where she’d failed. She must have reckoned that with looks like yours you’d have a head start. All you’d need would be time.’
‘I’m afraid I don’t follow.’
‘Don’t you?’ Liz tilted her head disbelievingly. ‘You don’t seem dim to me, but I’ll spell it out. She’s in love with him. Has been for eight years. Not that it’s got her anywhere. The man’s got better taste.’
Hayley shook her head. ‘But doesn’t she know? He’s got Felicity Braun.’
‘And before her there was Lauretta Newson and before her Elise something or other. She knows he’s never serious about his glamour girls. And every time one bites the dust she thinks she’s in with a chance again.’ She pulled a wry face. ‘Some chance! There’s no fool like a blind fool.’
Hayley thought grimly that that, at least, was true. She must try to remember it.
Liz said breezily, ‘Has he given you the sack yet?’
Hayley gave a short, unamused laugh. ‘Not yet. But no doubt he will when he gets back.’
But he wasn’t back by five-fifteen, which was the time they finished on Friday. She sat at her desk, chewing her nails and trying not to keep going over in her mind all Liz Jarvis had told her.
There was one thing both Liz and Audrey were wrong about anyway, she thought ironically. Given any amount of time, there was little hope that Marcus Maury would ever see her as anything but an efficient machine, there simply to take some weight off his shoulders and to make life a little easier for him.
The occasional teasing and the kissing were little side-dishes to his meal of life. Something to add relish, but not to sustain. Unlike Audrey’s, Hayley’s eyes were wide open to that fact. No amount of time would make her a main dish.
And she could never be anything else. When and if she fell in love, it would be with a man who knew how to be faithful...if there was such a rare creature and she was lucky enough to find him.
But, whoever he was, he wasn’t Marcus Maury, and it was time she understood that.
She tried not to dwell on the fact that he was with Audrey. Perhaps Liz wasn’t as clued up as she thought. Perhaps there was, after all, something more substantial than hope that kept Audrey Blake hanging on.
By a quarter to six, the suspense was unbearable, and in a flash of temper she gathered up her belongings and left. She was going home, and if he wanted to give her the boot tonight he would have to elongate his foot that far, she thought rebelliously. Otherwise he would have to wait until Monday. Always supposing she turned up to face the final curtain.
The sunny day had faded into grey evening, a far more fitting backdrop for her present frame of mind, she thought morosely.
And, on top of everything else, she came out of the office building to find she’d just missed her bus, and, with a sigh of exasperation, she watched it trundling out of sight around the next corner.
Too restless to stand idly waiting for another, she began to walk on to the next stop, stepping out briskly in the hope of clearing her head.
She was standing on the corner of a side-street, waiting to cross, when a car drew into the kerb. The driver’s window wound down.
‘Here! Hayley! Get in and I’ll drive you home.’
For a moment she stared blankly. Then, as she recognised Marcus, who was peering out at her, an irritable expression on his face, she shook her head.
‘No, thanks. I’d rather not.’
Marcus Maury stared at her in surprise, then, as the lights changed and a horn blared behind him, he snapped, ‘For heaven’s sake, woman! I’m holding up the traffic. Get in! And that’s an order.’
Hayley was tempted to tell him he no longer had the right to give her orders, but, seeing the thunderous descent of his brows, she walked around the bonnet and got into the passenger seat.
So he’d finally decided to come back, she thought, her anger still simmering. Did he think his ungracious offer of a lift home was sufficient to make up to her for her pain and disillusion?
Bordering on mild hysteria, she almost laughed aloud. Because he didn’t know—how could he?—that she was suffering more than the disappointment of having lost her job.
Leaning back with her head against the rest, she let out a long, shaky breath.
Marcus drove on for a while before he said in an ironic tone, ‘Are you going to tell me what all that was about?’
Hayley sat beside him, feeling the colour return to her pale cheeks, along with a surge of defiance.
‘Nothing to tell. I just felt like a walk.’
He shot her a frowning sideways glance, but there was a hint of laughter in the vivid blue eyes.
‘Audrey got under your skin, did she? Irritating other women is something she’s good at, I agree.’
She said tightly, ‘But she doesn’t have the same effect on men, apparently.’ Her mouth curled contemptuously. ‘But then men rarely look beyond the obvious.’
He made a grim sound. ‘I thought you promised me Miss Pushy was out of my life for good.’
She said, with a hint of bitterness, ‘That was when I worked for you. Now I don’t, we’re on even ground. I can choose to be whom I please, and there’s not a thing you can do about it.’
‘Is that so?’ His voice was deceptively soft, his darting glance alight with a challenge so intimate that it almost took her br
eath away. ‘Does that mean I can indulge my own choices too?’
She shrugged. ‘Certainly. As long as they don’t involve me.’
He shot her a glance and then, without warning, pulled off the road and into the car park of a nearby inn. She stared at him in surprise and he laughed.
‘I think you need a drink. It will help to calm your nerves.’
‘But you’re driving,’ she protested.
He grinned, a sudden relaxed expression lighting his face, chasing the lines of tiredness away. ‘I didn’t say my nerves needed calming. I’ll have a mineral water to keep you company while you have a brandy.’
As she opened her mouth to protest he placed his lips against hers in a light, brief kiss.
‘No harassment intended,’ he teased. ‘Just a little gentle persuasion.’
As he got out to open her door for her she absently touched her fingers against her lips, which burned like the hottest flame. Feeling a little dizzy, she followed him into the warm, pleasantly lit bar and allowed him to seat her in a cosy alcove.
She thought unwillingly of Frank Heaton. How was it some men could steal kisses without the least offence, while others...?
She shuddered, and put Frank firmly out of her mind.
It helped to watch Marcus as he walked to the bar, her volatile senses excited by the view of his tall, lithe figure, moving easily, belying the dynamic vitality of him, and she felt her pulses begin to race.
The magic he wove over her was as strong as her resistance was weak, she acknowledged with a feeling of helplessness. Perhaps Audrey had turned up in the nick of time after all. But she couldn’t take consolation from the thought.
Soon there would be no more of this daily heady excitement, she acknowledged miserably. And, like a beggar at a feast, she let herself go on watching him, drinking in every last detail of his powerful masculinity.
She had her head down, trying to control the rise of colour her thoughts had released, as he came back towards her, carrying two glasses.
He was right. The brandy warmed her through and she felt the tension gradually easing out of her body.
As they settled back into the comfortable alcove, she stole a look at him and found that he was studying her also. She looked away in confusion, and he laughed.
‘No penalties for looking,’ he said, gently mocking.
‘I suppose not,’ she muttered. Hadn’t she been doing the same thing herself only seconds ago? Although it was doubtful if his thoughts were going in the same direction as hers.
‘Now, then!’ he began firmly, in a voice that caused her to tense again.
Here it comes, the closing knell, she thought, with a silent sigh of resignation. She steeled herself to look unconcerned.
He gave her a direct look. ‘Bring me up to date. Just when did you stop working for me?’
Her soft brown eyes widened in surprise. ‘I’d have thought that was obvious! From the moment Audrey Blake walked back into her office, or should I say wheeled back?’
He ignored the intended humour, looking at her impatiently, as though expecting her to go on.
She said, somewhat irritably, ‘Well, that’s it, isn’t it? The job was mine until she came back, you said. And now she’s back.’
He shrugged. ‘Have I given you notice?’
‘Not yet. But of course you will.’ Meeting his frowning look, she said, trying for nonchalance, ‘It’s all right. That was the arrangement, so I’ve no hard feelings.’
Except against fate and that damned photograph, she added silently. If it hadn’t been for that, I might have had a few more weeks of... She caught herself up with a silent gasp. Hadn’t she already decided Audrey turning up might be a blessing in disguise? Since otherwise she’d only end up making a fool of herself.
His blue eyes probed hers, as though searching for answers to unasked questions. His intensity started her heart banging again, and she wrenched her eyes away.
He seemed exasperated. ‘Are you saying you’d be happy to go?’
She made a short, impatient sound. ‘Not exactly happy...but not unprepared.’
Why was he holding an inquest on the situation? she wondered resentfully. Why couldn’t he just get it over with and let the matter drop? Perhaps, in his conceit, he expected a few tears. She had a feeling she might shed a few later on...but not now.
He gave a short laugh. ‘Don’t you think you’re jumping the gun a little? Audrey isn’t coming back. At least, not yet.’
‘Not coming back?’ Hayley’s heart gave a leap of pure joy. ‘But I thought...’
‘You thought,’ he repeated with that enigmatic look that drove her wild. ‘But not carefully enough, or you’d have realised that Audrey coming back now would be impossible.’
‘Impossible?’ She was confused.
‘That’s right. With all the merger meetings coming up, I need a secretary who is mobile. Audrey simply isn’t up to it.’
A peculiar kind of pain was starting deep inside her, and she dug her nails into her palms. For one wild moment she had thought he had meant it would be impossible for him to let her go...
He was watching her carefully through narrowed lids, waiting for her reaction.
‘Well? Are you interested in staying on?’
Hayley said, ‘Can I think about it?’
He gave an amused laugh, the sound making Hayley’s toes curl faintly. Everything about this man, she realised with a pang, seemed capable of drawing some response from her.
‘How long would you need to think?’
Hayley began to feel like a condemned prisoner facing the possibility of a reprieve. A bubble of excitement was struggling to surface, but she pushed it firmly down.
‘And when the mergers are over, what then?’
He shrugged. ‘That won’t be for a long time, if I’m any judge. Some of the take-overs look like being pretty messy. From here on in, things are likely to be chaotic. But I have a feeling we’ll manage it together, don’t you?’
A pulse began to beat in her throat as she struggled with her growing excitement. She wanted desperately to say yes, but found herself hanging back. The job itself would be only a minor challenge in comparison to the one she would have to set herself. Could she work that closely with him and not come to grief? It was time to admit to herself that her feelings were already past the stage of idle fascination and into something much deeper. Which could lead her nowhere...except heartache.
And, if he ever found out, it would no doubt cause him some amusement, she surmised. It wasn’t the first time his secretary had fallen in love with him. She had a shrewd suspicion that more secretaries than Audrey Blake had done her best with that one, and been dashed against a rock.
‘How did Audrey take the news?’ she asked, hearing the hint of bitchiness in her voice with dismay, but still going on. ‘Did you have to offer her your own unique brand of consolation? Is that why you didn’t bother to come back to the office on time?’
For a moment he seemed disconcerted, then his well-shaped mouth thinned into a cool smile. He said in a clipped voice, ‘She was disappointed, naturally, and I was sorry. We’ve worked together for a long time, and Audrey isn’t one to enjoy being idle. But in the end she understood.’ His eyes probed Hayley’s almost brutally. ‘I was late back because of the usual peak-hour traffic.’ His blue gaze relented a little. ‘Did you think I was making love to Audrey?’ he jeered softly. ‘Do I seem the type to take advantage of an invalid?’
Hayley felt her colour rise, and lowered her eyes in acute embarrassment.
‘No. Of course not. Why should I even think such a thing?’
He shook his head in slow amusement. ‘I can’t imagine. But women are the strangest creatures, at the best of times.’
Hayley groaned silently. Dear God! Had he really recognised the green emotion behind her gibes?
‘I’m sorry. I didn’t think of the traffic. I suppose I was a bit strung up, thinking you were going to...’
She ground to a halt, aware that her voice had cracked.
‘Dispense with your services?’ he suggested gently.
She nodded. ‘Something like that. I just wanted to get it over with.’
‘Never a pleasant experience,’ he agreed with a nod. ‘But, now we’ve sorted out that little misunderstanding, do you feel a little better?’
She found it difficult to meet his eyes, still trying to define the tumult of her emotions. She was on dangerous ground, she knew, and would need to think things out very carefully before committing herself to what, for her, would be much more than just a job. Would she be able to cope with his magnetism...the feelings he already aroused and which could only grow stronger...?
She gave a silent gasp as she realised the trend of her thoughts. Good grief! That was all the man was offering her...a job, not a love-affair. She’d have no one to blame if she tried to read anything more into it. He hadn’t asked her to stay on out of warm feelings for her...or a reluctance to see her go. He needed her...but only to keep the work wheels turning.
She heaved a sigh. ‘As I said, I have to think about it.’
He nodded his head.
‘OK. You do that. But I’d like your decision next time we meet.’
Which would be on Monday, she thought, feeling a little sad. Audrey’s unexpected appearance had forced her to confront her real feelings about working for Marcus and brought a subtle change in their relationship. It marked the end of an era, and she wasn’t at all sure she could cope with the beginning of the new one, whichever way it went.
CHAPTER SIX
ANTHEA called from her bedroom as Hayley came in the front door.
‘Is that you, Hayley? I was getting worried.’
‘You needn’t have worried.’ Hayley trailed in and sat on Anthea’s bed, watching her apply, with a quick, sure hand, her flamboyant make-up. ‘Why the war-paint?’
‘I’ve got a date. His name’s Lenny Barnes.’ Anthea could still talk while lavishly applying her violet lipstick. ‘I met him at a party more than a month ago. It’s taken him this long to ring. He’s taking me to dinner.’
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