would be about every seven minutes, on average.
He collected a double espresso from the café on the ground floor—on a morning like this one, a mug of the instant stuff in the staff kitchen just wasn’t going to cut it—and stomped up to his office, completely bypassing the team. What he needed right now was music. Loud enough to drown out the world and drown out his thoughts. A few minutes with headphones on, and he might be human enough again to face his team without biting their heads off even more than he normally would on a Monday morning.
And then he stopped dead.
On top of the post he’d been expecting to see, there was a neatly wrapped parcel and a thick cream envelope. It wasn’t his birthday, and the parcel didn’t look like a promo item. It was the wrong shape for a CD or vinyl, and in any case most unsigned artists pitching to him tended to email him with a link to a digital file on the internet.
Intrigued, he untied the ribbon and unwrapped the shiny paper from the parcel to discover a box of seriously good chocolates.
Whoever had sent them had excellent taste. But who were they from and why?
He opened the envelope. Inside was a hand-drawn card: a line-drawing of a mournful-looking rabbit with a speech bubble saying ‘Sorry’. Despite his bad mood, he felt the corner of his mouth twitch. Whoever had sent this was saying they knew he wasn’t a happy bunny—and Hugh had a very soft spot for terrible puns.
He opened the card to find out who’d sent it, and a wad of banknotes fell out.
What?
Why on earth would someone be giving him cash?
He scanned the inside swiftly. The writing was beautifully neat and regular, slightly angular and spiky—the sort you’d see on hand-drawn labels in an art gallery or upmarket bookshop.
Dear Mr Moncrieff
Thank you for rescuing us on Friday night and I’m very sorry for the inconvenience we caused you. I hope the enclosed will cover the cost of valeting the taxi, dry-cleaning your suit and replacing your shoes. Please let me know if there’s still a shortfall and I will make it up.
Yours sincerely
Bella Faraday
He blinked. She’d said something on Friday evening about reimbursing him, but he really hadn’t been expecting this. Since the parcel and the card had been hand-delivered, that meant that their new graphic designer must already be at her desk. Most of his team didn’t show their faces in the office until nearly ten, so she was super-early on her first day.
And, although he appreciated the gesture, it really wasn’t necessary. His shoes had survived and the rest of it hadn’t cost that much. He really ought to return the money.
He picked up his phone and dialled his second-in-command’s extension. ‘Can you send Ms Faraday up?’
‘Good morning to you, Tarquin, my friend,’ Tarquin said dryly. ‘How are you? Did you have a nice weekend? What’s new with you?’
Hugh sighed. ‘Don’t give me a hard time, Tarq.’
‘Get out of the wrong side of bed, did we? Tsk. Must be Monday morning.’
Hugh knew he shouldn’t take out his mood on his best friend and business partner. Particularly as Tarquin dealt with all the stuff Hugh didn’t enjoy, and with extremely good grace, so Hugh could concentrate on the overall strategy of the label and actually producing the music. ‘I’m sorry. All right. Good morning, Tarquin. How are you? Did you have a nice weekend?’
‘That’s better. Good, and yes, thank you. I’ll send her up. And be nice, sweet-cheeks—apart from the fact that it’s her first day, not everyone’s as vile as you are on Monday mornings.’
‘Yeah, yeah,’ Hugh said, but he was smiling as he put the phone down again.
* * *
Bella was leaning back in her chair, eyes closed, listening to the music. Lacey, the singer, had a really haunting voice, and the song was underpinned by an acoustic guitar and a cello. The whole thing was gorgeous, and it made Bella think of mountains, deep Scottish lochs, forests and fairies. Maybe she could design something with mist, and perhaps a pine forest, and...
She yelped as she felt the tap on her shoulder; reacting swiftly, she sat bolt upright, opened her eyes and pulled off the headphones.
Tarquin was standing next to her, his face full of remorse. ‘Sorry, Bella. I didn’t mean to give you a heart attack.’
Bella’s heart was galloping away. ‘You did give me a bit of a fright,’ she said. ‘I was listening to the CD—it’s really good.’
‘Yeah, we think so, too.’ He smiled. ‘Lacey’s a bit of a character. She always performs barefoot.’
‘Like a fairy.’ The words were out before Bella could stop them. ‘Sorry. Ignore me. Did you want something?’
‘Yes. Hugh just called down. Can you go up to his office?’
Uh-oh. This must mean that Hugh had seen her parcel and her card. And she had absolutely no idea what his reaction was going to be. ‘Um, sure,’ she said.
‘Don’t look so worried. The boss knows it’s your first day, so he probably just wants to say hello and welcome you to Insurgo,’ Tarquin said kindly.
Bella wasn’t so sure. If that was the case, why hadn’t Hugh come down to the open-plan office? She had a nasty feeling that she wasn’t going to be hearing a welcome speech but a ‘goodbye and never darken our doorstep again’ speech. Clearly the parcel she’d left on her new boss’s desk hadn’t been anywhere near enough of an apology.
Her fears must have shown on her face because Tarquin said, ‘His bark’s worse than his bite. He just isn’t a Monday morning person, that’s all. Whatever he says, don’t take it to heart, OK? Everyone else in the office will tell you the same—and if he does say something horrible to you, he’ll come and apologise to you in the afternoon when he’s human again. It’s just how he is.’
‘Right,’ Bella said, forcing a smile she didn’t feel. ‘I’ll, um, be back in a minute, then?’ She switched off the music, scribbled the word ‘mist’ on a pad to remind herself what she’d been thinking about, and then headed for Hugh’s office, her stomach churning. Hesitantly, she rapped on the closed door.
‘Come in,’ he said, sounding brusque.
Tarquin obviously hadn’t been joking when he’d said that the boss wasn’t a Monday morning person.
And then her jaw almost dropped when she walked in. The last time she’d seen Hugh Moncrieff, he’d been clean-shaven and wearing a formal suit. Today, he was wearing black jeans and a black T-shirt with the Insurgo Records logo on it, and his dark hair looked as if he’d dragged his fingers through it instead of combing it. Teamed with the shadow of stubble on his face, it made him look as if he’d just got out of bed. He should’ve looked scruffy and faintly disgusting. But the whole package made him seem younger and much more approachable—not to mention sexy as hell—and her mouth went dry. Oh, help. She really had to remember that he was the boss, not just another one of the team. That made him totally off limits. And, besides, she didn’t want to risk her heart again. Which gave her a double reason not to act on the desire flickering through her—even if he was the most gorgeous man she’d ever met.
He indicated the box of chocolates sitting on his desk. ‘Why?’
Hugh was clearly a man of few words when it came to work. Or maybe it was his Monday morning-itis. ‘Why the gift? Or why chocolates?’ she asked.
‘Both.’
‘The gift is to say thank you, because you went way beyond the call of duty on Friday night. They’re chocolates, because I can hardly buy a man flowers,’ she said. ‘Did I give you enough money to cover everything, or do I still owe you?’
He