you.’ Courage responded to his smile with one of her own—one of equally tepid warmth.
From what Gideon Reynolds had told her her job ran parallel to Chris’s, not either below or above it, but she suspected that the PA would try to manoeuvre himself into a slightly superior position to her if he thought he could. She had no wish to get involved in any kind of power struggle with him, but neither was she going to allow him to manipulate her.
It was a warm spring day, and Courage had opted for a slightly more casual but still businesslike outfit than the one she had had on for her initial interview: a soft, spotted silk culotte suit, in brown with cream spots, and a toning cream short-sleeved jacket. Like her ‘Chanel’, she had had it made in Hong Kong.
As she knocked briefly on the half-open study door, and then walked in on Gideon’s command, she noticed him looking briefly at her legs in an automatic male reflex gesture. Nothing was particularly personal in the brief look he gave her, but nevertheless it made her wish she had worn a longer skirt—and tights. Not because of his look but because of her own reaction to it. She was acutely conscious of the tiny frisson of unwanted sensation that ran quickly across her skin.
‘Please sit down,’ Gideon commanded her. ‘I’m afraid I don’t have a lot of time. My Californian appointment has been brought forward and I’m flying out tonight instead of on Monday. Here’s a copy of your contract. If you’d like to read through it…’
Dutifully Courage took the document from him, reading it as quickly as she could. She had just got to the bottom of the penultimate page when she stopped abruptly, lifting her head in astonishment.
‘What’s this?’ she demanded uncertainly. ‘You didn’t say anything about making me a loan of ten thousand pounds when you interviewed me.’
‘I didn’t think about it until after you’d gone,’ Gideon told her dismissively. ‘In fact, it wasn’t until I was drawing up the contract that it occurred to me that by advancing you a part of your salary it would enable you to arrange for your grandmother’s operation.’
‘Advancing part of my salary?’ Courage protested. ‘But…’
‘If you read on you’ll see that the contract covers a two-year period with five thousand being deducted from each year’s salary to repay the loan, which will be interest-free as it is as much in my interest as it is your own.’
‘As much in your interest?’ Courage’s forehead creased, pleated in a small frown. ‘I’m sorry, but I just don’t understand how…’
‘As you’ll soon discover, once you start working for me, I demand one hundred and twenty per cent concentration all day, every day from my employees… That’s what I pay them for. I do not want their minds wandering to personal matters while they’re supposed to be concentrating on their work. Therefore, it makes sense to do all that I can to ensure that their minds do not have cause to wander. It’s obvious from what you told me that you are extremely concerned about your grandmother’s health—to the point, I suspect, where there could be occasions when your concern for her could have a detrimental effect on your work. And that is something I do not want.’
‘But you said nothing about offering me a loan when you offered me the job,’ Courage protested, still not totally able to take in what she had just read.
‘Simply because at the time it hadn’t occurred to me. However, if you feel you’d prefer not to take it, I can…’
‘No, no, of course not… I…I’m very grateful to you for… It has come as such a shock… I wasn’t expecting…’
To Courage’s embarrassment she could feel her eyes suddenly starting to fill with tears as her throat closed up with emotion.
It was just beginning to dawn on her what Gideon Reynold’s offer of a loan would mean. Her grand-mother could have her operation; her life would no longer be in jeopardy. And she would have to remain here working for Gideon Reynolds for the next two years.
Courage frowned. Why should that knowledge daunt her? She knew she was up to the job—more than up to it… So what was it that bothered her? And something did, she knew that from the small sinking feeling which had followed her initial sense of stunned relief. Was it the man himself, Gideon Reynolds who daunted her? But why? Why should he?
She had come across powerful, egocentric men before—plenty of them. She had come across sexually magnetic men before, as well. Yes, but none of them had been quite so… None of them had been… None of them had caused that small, shocking quiver of sexual sensation which had raced through her when she had seen Gideon Reynolds looking at her legs. Was that what she was trying to tell herself?
Oh, come on, she derided herself mentally. He caught you off-guard, that’s all. He looked, you responded—that’s all. It doesn’t mean anything. Not to you and certainly not to him.
She could see Gideon flicking back his cuff and glancing frowningly at his watch, a none too subtle reminder to her that he was in a hurry.
She looked back down at the contract. Ten thousand pounds. It would be enough to cover the cost of Gran’s operation, and with the rest of her salary there would be something to provide for her recuperation. She’d been a complete idiot even to think of not accepting. For Gran’s sake, as well as her own.
It was just that it had come as such a shock and she had been so unprepared, she decided ten minutes later as she handed her signed contract back to Gideon. That was why, instead of feeling euphoric and overjoyed, she felt oddly tense and anxious.
She didn’t like having surprises sprung upon her, even pleasant ones. Just as she didn’t like being in situations over which she did not have at least some control. No doubt an analyst would tell her that her apprehension, her fear, sprang from the time of her mother’s second marriage.
‘Good. I’ve got the cheque here for you.’
Shakily Courage focused on Gideon Reynolds’ face as he reached into a drawer at the side of his desk and removed a cheque.
Three things struck her as he handed it to her, all of them slightly disturbing. The first was that the cheque was drawn on his personal account, the second that he had obviously been sure enough of her acceptance to have had it made out already, and the third that there was something almost gloating in the unexpectedly brilliant gleam of his eyes as he handed the cheque over to her.
Just for a moment Courage had the oddest impulse to hand it back to him, to tell him that she had changed her mind. What if their working relationship didn’t work out and she was committed to a two-year contract and no way of paying the loan back? But she found herself accepting the cheque, smiling her thanks and pushing her worries to the back of her mind.
‘I shall be leaving shortly, but Chris will show you round the house so that you can familiarise yourself with its lay-out. I shall be returning from California on Wednesday, if all goes to plan. On Thursday evening I shall be holding a dinner party for twenty or so guests, some of whom will be staying overnight. Chris will fill you in with all the details. Oh, and I’ve also given him instructions to arrange for a couple of cars to be delivered for you to test-drive.’
Without realising she had been doing so, Courage had been playing with the chain on the small seed-pearl locket which hung around her neck. Her father had given it to her mother as an engagement present, and when she had gone to live with her grandmother her mother had given it to her. Courage wore it all the time and a small, distressed protest left her lips as the chain suddenly snapped under the pressure of her nervous fingers, the locket spinning across the desk towards Gideon Reynolds.
Courage reached out to retrieve it, but Gideon moved faster, covering it, stopping its escape with his hands just seconds ahead of her, so that it was impossible for her to stop the downward movement of her own fingers which brought them on top of his.
Immediately she was aware of the male warmth of his flesh. It made her own skin tingle in shocked awareness of the tremendous physical power in the lean strength of his fingers. Her own