shorthand on screen when the telephone rang. She ignored it at first, trusting that Estelle would pick up the call, but it just went on ringing until she finally felt bound to lift the receiver herself.
‘Sorry to interrupt the flow,’ said Lee, before she could speak, ‘but I’ve an urgent request to make. Can you spare Kerry to bring me the blue file I left on the desk? I need it urgently or I’d send someone out for it. A taxi should get her here within half an hour.’
‘This is Kerry,’ she said coolly. ‘No one else appeared to be answering the phone so I took the call myself.’
There was a brief pause before he answered in an altered tone, ‘Where are you?’
‘In the study,’ she confirmed, and heard him say something short and sharp under his breath.
‘That’s a separate line. My secretary got the wrong number. No matter. You’re obviously not taking dictation right now so I’m sure Mother won’t mind you bringing me the file. You’ll find the taxi number on my desk pad. There shouldn’t be any difficulty at this hour.’
Kerry bit back the rebuttal trembling on her lips. Estelle was paying her for her time. If there were any rebuttals to be made at all she was the one to do it.
‘Certainly, Mr Hartford,’ she said tonelessly instead.
She cut contact before he could make any reply. Not, she supposed, that he needed to say anything else. No byplay this morning, she noted. In all probability he had decided the game wasn’t worth the candle where she was concerned Well, that suited her fine!
As anticipated, Estelle was more than prepared to let her go, although she did ask if she minded. Kerry phoned for a cab, and spent the five minutes until it arrived touching up her make-up and running a comb through her hair. If she had to do this at all, she told herself, she was not going to arrive looking as if she’d dropped everything to fly to his bidding!
The pre-luncheon traffic proved light enough to allow arrival at the imposing tower block within the half-hour. Kerry could have found her way up to the appropriate floor but was bound as a visitor to report first to Reception. The man on duty had her name already on his list and sent her right up.
There were several other people waiting at the lifts, among them a blond-haired young man she recognised immediately though not with any particular pleasure.
‘Who are you taking over for this time?’ he asked after they’d exchanged greetings.
‘I’m not,’ she said. ‘I’m only here to bring Mr Hartford a file he left behind.’
His brows shot up. ‘You work for the big boss?’
‘His mother,’ Kerry corrected. ‘I’d better get a move on. He’s in a hurry for it.’
The grin was meaningful. ‘I’ll bet!’
Kerry ignored the innuendo. It was what she might have expected from Jason King. She’d gone out with him once while she’d been working here, but hadn’t cared to repeat the experience after he’d made his interests only too clear. Yet another good-looking, out-for-what-he-could-get dissolute!
He got off at the fourth floor, leaving her to continue one more to the executive floor. She had never had occasion to enter the hallowed premises before, and was tentative about it now as she approached the desk where Lee’s secretary held jurisdiction over further progress.
An attractive brunette in her late twenties, the latter took the file from her with what Kerry considered an unwonted chilliness in her manner.
‘Mr Hartford asked that you wait,’ she said. ‘He’ll be through shortly.’
Kerry took the indicated seat with reluctance. He had better, she thought, have a good reason for keeping her here! She was going to be on the margin for lunch as it was: Mrs Ralston always served promptly at one. Hopefully, Estelle would be feeling more inclined towards work this afternoon.
‘Shortly’ turned out to be a good twenty minutes. Kerry sat fuming, on the verge of walking out by the time the inner office door opened at last. The two men who came out looked like bankers—an unmistakable breed in her estimation. Lee was right behind them, the meaningful lift of that mobile left brow as he looked across at her sending a sudden ripple down her spine.
‘Sorry to have kept you so long,’ he said. ‘Come on through.’
She did so, weathering another somewhat frigid glance from his secretary. The kind of hostility that might be extended by the discarded towards the apparently newly favoured, Kerry conjectured, although she would have thought even Lee would draw the line at his own secretary, no matter how attractive.
The office was huge, with several easy chairs arranged in a casual grouping off to one side of the room, in addition to the usual accoutrements, and a stylish decor that managed to suggest affluence without being overdone. The window went almost wall to wall, affording a magnificent view out over the river.
‘Impressive,’ Kerry commented, refusing to be intimidated by it all. ‘You really do yourself proud.’
‘I get by.’ Closing the door. Lee indicated the conversation area. ‘How about a drink before we go to lunch?’
She looked at him sharply, taken aback by the casual statement. ‘I didn’t come for lunch.’
He returned her gaze equably. ‘But you’re here and it is lunchtime. I’d hardly send you back hungry.’
‘I’d have been back by now if you hadn’t kept me waiting,’ she pointed out. ‘If I’d realised—’
‘If you’d realised you’d have given me the same cold shoulder you’ve been giving me since we met,’ he interjected. ‘It’s time we came to a better understanding.’
Kerry regarded him in silence for a moment, registering the purposeful gleam in the grey eyes. The dark blue pinstripe he was wearing might give him an air of respectability, but underneath lay the soul of a born philanderer. As one who so far had shown resistance, she presented a challenge his pride wouldn’t allow him to forgo.
So why not take up Sarah’s proposal? came the sudden and reckless thought. Why not allow him to believe he was achieving a breakthrough? It would be immensely satisfying to lead him up the garden path, if only for a while.
‘Your mother will be expecting me back,’ she said with what she hoped was just the right amount of hesitation.
Lee shook his head. ‘I spoke to her after you left and told her we’d be lunching together. She said not to bother going back afterwards. She’d prefer a fresh start in the morning.’ He was moving as he spoke, crossing to a side table holding bottles and glasses. ‘About that drink?’
Any vacillation she might have felt was swept aside by the sheer gall of the man. No matter what it took, she was going to give him his comeuppance, Kerry vowed savagely. Just see if she didn’t!
‘I’ll have a mineral water, if you have it,’ she said, and was gratified to hear how level her voice sounded.
‘Ice and lemon?’
‘Please.’ Seated in one of the comfortable chairs, she watched him as he poured the drink, her eyes following the tapering line from shoulder to lean hip and assessing the muscular length of leg beneath the fine wool. Whatever his deficiencies in character, he was a perfect specimen physically, she was bound to admit. Fit as a lop, as her mother would say—although exactly what a lop was heaven only knew!
She lifted her gaze no further than the knot of his tie when she took the glass from him, trying to ignore the sudden tingle as his fingers brushed hers. ‘Thanks.’
He was drinking the same thing himself, she noted in some surprise as he took a seat himself and lifted the glass to his lips—at least, that’s what it looked like.
‘I never drink alcohol when I’m driving,’ he advised, correctly reading her thoughts.
‘That’s