He indicated the spare seat next to them. ‘Won’t you join us, Marc?’
‘For a few minutes.’ With a brief glance at his gold wristwatch he sat down directly facing Sabrina. ‘I just wanted to tell you that Mother has changed her plans and won’t be coming back until after the weekend. She decided to fly down to Nice for a couple of days to see her sister.’
‘Oh...’ Garth frowned. ‘There is nothing wrong, is there?’
‘No, no. Just a spur-of-the-moment whim,’ Marc assured him swiftly.
‘Well, I’m glad you told me. I was going to ring her at your home in Paris tonight. I would have been concerned if there had been no answer.’
‘Well, as usual she is staying at the Sheldon in Nice. Why don’t you ring her now, Garth? I’m sure she will be having an early night tonight. She left Paris early this morning but, knowing my mother, she will have been into every boutique in Nice by now.’
‘Yes, and probably bought them out.’ Garth grinned and turned his attention to Sabrina. ‘Will you excuse me for a moment while I go and ring my wife?’ he asked with his usual gentle courtesy.
Before she had time to open her mouth, however, Marc Kingsley was answering for her. ‘Of course she will—I’m sure that Miss Harrington wouldn’t dream of standing in the way of true love.’ Although his voice was light, the eyes that met hers across the table were deep and somehow disturbing in their intensity.
Why did she feel that answering that statement could be decidedly dangerous? It was merely a light-hearted jesting comment...wasn’t it?
Garth obviously thought that it was, because he was smiling down at her as he got to his feet. ‘I won’t be long; don’t let my stepson charm you too much while I’m away.’
Sabrina for some reason felt a little embarrassed by that comment. She gave Marc a polite smile that was a trifle nervous.
He didn’t return the gesture, just continued to look across at her with unfathomable eyes.
‘So, Miss Harrington, is this a working dinner or a more pleasurable interlude?’ he asked in a low tone.
Was it her imagination or was there a cutting edge in his voice? She toyed with the glass in front of her with long nervous fingers. Although Garth had introduced her as his secretary, in point of fact she no longer worked for him. She contemplated telling Marc Kingsley that, then changed her mind. It would be far safer just to go along with what Garth had said. ‘Just a working dinner,’ she said lightly.
‘Really?’ There it was again, an almost sarcastic edge in the velvety deep voice. Candlelight flickered over the strong, handsome features without lending any softness to the harsh, remote countenance. ‘How long have you been working for my stepfather, Miss Harrington?’
She hesitated. ‘About a year.’ She felt as if she was being interrogated, and shifted restlessly in her chair.
‘I see.’ He met her eyes directly. ‘And where do you work now?’
The blunt question made Sabrina’s nerves flutter. ‘Now?’ She looked at him with wide blue eyes, her brain seizing up with panic.
‘Now that you no longer work for Garth,’ he said easily.
Their eyes met and held. He had known all along that she was no longer Garth’s secretary!
He smiled, showing even white teeth. ‘My mother let it slip that Garth was looking for a new secretary and that you were very hard to replace.’
‘Oh... I see.’ She struggled to gather her thoughts together. She felt for one moment like a frightened little mouse trapped in a corner by a large cat. ‘Well, I haven’t got another job yet.’ She kept her voice cool with a great effort of will. ‘So I still do a bit of work for Garth at home...just odd bits of typing really.’
‘I see,’ he drawled with a smile. ‘Lucky Garth. I wish I had someone like you. Someone I could call on for the odd bit of typing.’
There was something about the almost sardonic note of his voice that sent shivers of alarm racing through her. Was he casting some kind of nasty suspicion on her relationship with Garth?
She looked across at him with a frown, and he smiled. It was a pleasant enough smile. Maybe she was just paranoid, she told herself crisply. She felt uncomfortable dining here with Garth and because of that she was reading things into this man’s words—things that probably didn’t exist.
‘I am very highly qualified and there are some things that Garth likes me to take care of personally for him,’ she emphasised crisply. ‘Just until he gets a new permanent secretary.’
‘Oh, I’m sure that you have all the necessary qualifications.’ For a brief second his eyes moved away from her creamy complexion and down the slender column of her neck to where the top buttons of her jade silk blouse were undone.
‘And you are very easy on the eye...a definite bonus,’ he drawled lazily.
She could feel her sensitive skin prickling with the heat of embarrassment. She didn’t know what to say to that.
He smiled, his gaze moving over the peach glow on her high cheekbones to lock with her eyes. ‘Yes, very beautiful... sensuously so.’ The dark eyes moved to the softness of her mouth, a feature that she had always considered a little too full for her liking. ‘On the whole, Sabrina Harrington, I would say that you are one dangerous package.’
The air between them was charged with tension and some strange emotion that Sabrina could not define. She tried to steady her erratic breathing so that she could make some kind of a reply to his outrageous comments, but with those dark eyes boring into her she found it impossible.
Garth’s return caught her by surprise but seemingly not Marc, for he turned with an easy smile towards his stepfather as he took his seat beside him. ‘Well, did you manage to get through to Mother?’
‘Yes, I did.’ There was a heaviness in Garth’s voice that brought Sabrina’s attention winging sharply back towards him. His skin had a grey tinge to it, and the lines around his eyes were more deeply etched.
‘Is everything all right?’ she asked in sudden concern.
‘Yes, I’m just feeling a little tired. If you are finished, Brina, I think I would like to leave.’
‘Yes, of course.’ In her agitation she didn’t notice that he had slipped into using his pet name for her, something they had agreed not to do. In public they had agreed to keep things strictly formal. She bent to pick up her handbag, anxious to get away from the intimidating stranger opposite and find out the real reason why Garth was suddenly looking so ill.
‘Seeing that you are tired, Garth, why don’t I run your secretary home for you?’
The casually proffered suggestion had Sabrina straightening very quickly, a refusal forming on her lips. She would rather take a taxi than ride with Marc Kingsley. He made her feel so on edge it was untrue.
‘Would you mind, Marc? I would be very grateful,’ Garth got in ahead of her, however.
‘Not at all; it will be my pleasure.’ Dark eyes gleamed as he noticed that she was not exactly overjoyed by the situation. ‘Stay where you are and I will go and ask the doorman to bring the cars around for us. Have you got your keys?’
As soon as Marc had moved away from them Sabrina leaned across towards Garth. ‘What on earth is the matter?’ she asked nervously.
‘Nothing, sweetheart.’ His voice strove to reassure her but the worried light refused to die away from her eyes. He sighed. ‘Nadine and I just had a slight argument. It was nothing much but I hate to upset her like that.’
‘What was it all about?’
He hesitated for a moment. ‘She wants me to fly out to Nice tomorrow and spend the weekend there with her. I told her I couldn’t