pulled apart to find Emily standing in the bedroom doorway, rubbing her eyes.
‘Hello, sweetie,’ her mother said. ‘You feeling better now?’
‘I’m thirsty. And my eyes are sore.’
Jessie gave a small sigh. ‘I’ll get you a drink of water. Kane, where are those eye drops?’
‘Over here on the coffee-table. I’ll get them.’
Their eyes clashed momentarily, Kane seeing that Jessie was watching him for signs of impatience.
Instead, he smiled, then hurried over to sweep Emily up into his arms. ‘Did you have a good sleep, princess?’
She tipped her head on one side. ‘Were you kissing Mummy just then?’
Jessie stopped breathing.
‘I sure was,’ Kane said. ‘It was very nice, too. Do you mind my kissing Mummy?’
‘No. Will you kiss me, too?’
He laughed and planted a peck on her forehead. ‘There. Now let me get those eye drops into you.’
‘Do you have to?’ she wailed.
‘Yes. I have to,’ Kane returned firmly.
Jessie heaved a great sigh of happiness. Even more wonderful than everything which had happened today was having someone else put Emily’s eye drops in.
WORK the following Friday came to a halt by lunch-time, at which point the males on the staff pitched in to transform the main office floor into party land. Several of the central cubicles were dismantled to provide a more than adequate dance floor. Desks were cleared and decorations and disco lights went up.
Peter—who apparently loved playing DJ each year—set about filling his area with his latest hi-fi gear, whistling Jingle Bells as he worked. Kane and Karen took charge of stocking up the temporary bar, whilst Margaret roped Jessie and Michele into helping her with the food, which they spread out, buffet-style, on several desks pushed together. A local catering company had supplied a wide selection of cold meats, seafood and salads, with some delicious cream-topped cakes for the sweet tooths, plus loads of snacks.
Jessie thought that there was way too much to eat and drink for their small staff, but when she remarked on this to Michele, she was informed that their office party was so popular that loads of other people in the building came, along with clients, past and present.
‘And everyone’s other halves usually drop in as well,’ Michele added. ‘Tyler’s sure to be late, workaholic that he is, but he’ll make an appearance at some stage, even if only to see me safely home.’
Tyler, Jessie knew by now, was Michele’s husband.
‘And speaking of other halves,’ Michele said after a glance over at Kane, ‘yours is looking very bright-eyed and bushy-tailed tonight. What have you been doing to him, girl?’
Absolutely nothing of what Michele was implying. There’d been no actual lovemaking, despite their spending every evening this week together. Kane didn’t seem to mind stopping at a goodnight kiss. He’d even promised he wouldn’t press her for more in any shape or form here at the party tonight.
‘He does look yummy in black, doesn’t he?’ Jessie said with that swirl in her stomach that always occurred whenever she looked at the man she loved. It had been difficult controlling her own desires these past few days, but it had been more important to her to know that Kane’s love was not just sexually based than to indulge in some passing pleasure.
‘You haven’t told anyone else here about our being engaged, have you?’ she added swiftly. She didn’t mind Michele knowing. They were fast becoming firm friends and she just couldn’t keep her good news totally secret.
Still, it was good that Kane hadn’t bought her a ring yet. That way he couldn’t be annoyed with her for not wearing it at work. Jessie was still worried over what the other people at Wild Ideas might think.
‘No. I haven’t told anyone else,’ Michele said with a sigh. ‘But if you keep looking at each other the way you do, people will begin to suspect something is going on.’
Kane turned his head at that moment, and their eyes connected. His smile carried so much obvious love that Jessie could see what Michele meant.
‘OK, everyone!’ Kane announced to the room. ‘Everything’s ready for the party. Time for the girls to go and put their glad rags on. The guys too, if you’ve brought something more colourful to change into.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘At three o’clock, the doors will be thrown open and it’ll be all systems go. Though speaking of systems, please make sure that your computers are safely turned off, passwords hidden and all important files discreetly locked away. I don’t want Harry coming home and finding that all your wonderfully wild ideas have been stolen, or sabotaged. OK?’
‘OK, boss!’ they all chorused, Jessie included.
How proud of him she felt, this wonderful, gorgeous, sensible-thinking man who loved her.
Twenty minutes later, she was nervously viewing herself in the full-length mirror that hung on the back of the ladies’ room door. Her cocktail dress was brand new, and very sexy. Black silk with turquoise swirls on it, it had a halter neckline, a wide, extremely tight waistband and a swishy skirt.
Her shoes were new, too. Turquoise, in the currently fashionable slip-on style, which showed off her pretty ankles and scarlet-painted toenails. This time she’d been able to afford fake tan, so her bare legs and arms glowed a nice honey colour. Her hair was down for once, and not too bushy, courtesy of the more expensive hair products she could also now buy and which tamed the frizz somewhat. She was wearing more make-up than she would usually wear in the office as well, and considerably less underwear. No bra for starters and just the briefest thong underneath.
‘Wow!’ Margaret said when she saw her.
‘Yes, wow!’ Karen agreed.
Michele just raised her eyebrows in a knowing fashion.
Kane’s reaction when he saw her was not quite as enthusiastic. He wasn’t too pleased, either, when Jessie was subjected to instant male attention. The men flocked around her, getting her drinks, constantly asking her to dance and pretending to be devastated when she refused.
Jessie suspected Kane was jealous, but if so, why did he keep his distance? Why didn’t he come and ask her to dance? She wouldn’t have said no to him.
Finally, after the party had been raging for over two hours, he walked over to her, his expression tight.
‘Could I have a private word, Jessie?’
‘Of course,’ she replied, and threw her circle of admirers a bright smile. ‘Won’t be long.’
Kane’s grip on her elbow was firm as he steered her away from the party and along the corridor towards his office. Jessie quivered inside at his forcefulness, but it was a quiver of excitement, not nerves. A few glasses of champagne had dispensed with her earlier worries, replacing them with a deliciously carefree attitude.
‘I said I wasn’t going to do this, remember?’ she remarked blithely, all the while quite happy with the prospect of being ravished on Kane’s desk.
‘I haven’t brought you here for sex,’ Kane snapped as he banged the door shut behind them.
‘Oh…’
‘Look, I know you’re worried about the rest of the staff thinking you weren’t hired on your merits. And I’ve tried damned hard tonight not to embarrass you by staking my claim on you publicly. But you are my woman, Jessie,’ he pronounced firmly. ‘Mine. And it’s time everyone out there knew that.’
‘Oh…’