whilst their women are the homemakers and nurturers.’
Harriet hadn’t agreed with Emily, hoping the world had moved on from expecting women to be happy with such narrow roles in life. No way was she going to settle for less than what she wanted in life, which was an interesting career, as well as a husband who ticked all of the boxes on her Mister Right checklist. Dwayne had certainly ticked the first three, but had begun seriously falling down on the rest. His suggestion a month ago that she buy her wedding dress second-hand on the Internet had been the last straw!
‘So has the kettle boiled?’ Alex asked, interrupting Harriet’s none-too-happy thoughts.
‘Should have,’ she said.
Dropping the cat gently on the tiled floor, she set about getting two mugs down from the overhead cupboard. ‘It’s not like you to be late,’ she added, doing her best to ignore the instant churning in her stomach. Maybe she wouldn’t tell him today after all...
‘I slept in,’ he replied. ‘Then traffic was bad. I’m going to need a bagel with my coffee.’
‘Fine. Oh, and, Alex...’ she said before he had the opportunity to walk away and before she could procrastinate further. ‘When you have a minute, I...um...I need to talk to you about something.’
He sighed a rather weary-sounding sigh. ‘Look, Harry, if you’re going to complain about the way I spoke to you yesterday, then don’t bother. I’m sorry. All right? I was in a bad mood and I took it out on you, which I realise was unforgiveable, but I’m only human. If you must know, I broke up with Lisa at the weekend.’
‘Oh,’ she said, not really surprised. Of the three girls Alex had dated during the time she’d worked for him, Lisa had been the most annoying with that silly laugh of hers, not to mention the way she would drop into the office unannounced. Alex hadn’t liked that, and neither had Harriet. ‘I’m sorry,’ she added a little belatedly.
‘I’m not. Not really.’ Alex stared at her hard for a long moment. ‘You’re not going to quit, are you?’
Her shocked expression must have soothed him, for his eyes immediately softened. But it underlined to Harriet that Alex was not a man who responded well to being crossed or thwarted. She’d always known he was a tough businessman, but she’d never seen him seriously angry. It wasn’t in his nature to be mean, but she suspected he had a temper, like most men.
‘No, nothing like that,’ she said quickly.
‘Then out with it, Harriet. I don’t like to wait for bad news.’
‘It’s not bad news,’ she said, startled by his calling her Harriet like that. She’d always liked the way he called her Harry. There was a subtle intimacy about it which made her feel like his friend as well as his assistant. Obviously, she’d been deluding herself in that regard.
‘Well, not bad news for you,’ she went on sharply, doing her best to control a whole range of emotions which began bombarding her. The sudden lump in her throat alarmed her.
‘The thing is, Alex, I...I’ve broken off my engagement to Dwayne.’
His expression carried a measure of shock, quickly followed by one of genuine sympathy.
When tears pricked at her eyelids, panic was only a heartbeat away.
‘I’m very sorry to hear that, Harry,’ he said gently. ‘Very sorry indeed.’
His calling her Harry like that completed her undoing, bringing a wave of emotion which shattered her pretend composure and sent a torrent of tears into her eyes.
ALEX’S SHOCK AT Harriet’s news was eclipsed by her bursting into tears. For not once during the months she’d worked for him had she ever cried. Or come close to it, except perhaps over the cat. She was the epitome of common sense and composure, pragmatic and practical under pressure at all times. Even when he snapped at her—as he had yesterday—she just ignored him and went on with her job. Which he admired.
He didn’t care for women who cried at the drop of a hat or used tears as a weapon. He’d been brought up by a woman who’d been very stalwart by nature, a legacy perhaps of being born poor in war-torn Hungary, she and Alex’s father having migrated to Australia when they’d been just newlyweds. They’d hoped to make a better life down under. Unfortunately, that hadn’t happened. But his mother had never complained, or cried.
‘Crying doesn’t get you anywhere,’ his mother had told her three children often enough.
She had cried, however, when she’d found out she was dying of cervical cancer, a condition which could have been cured if she’d been diagnosed early enough.
Don’t think about that, Alex. Attend to the here and now. Which is your usually calm PA sobbing her broken heart out.
After standing in the doorway for far too long, wondering how he’d forgotten that Harry was a woman with a woman’s more sensitive emotions, Alex launched himself across the room and gathered her into his arms.
‘There, there,’ he said soothingly as he stroked her soft brown hair.
If anything she sobbed even harder, her shoulders shaking as her hands curled into fists and pressed against his chest. Romany meowed plaintively at his feet, obviously sensing distress in the air.
‘Stop crying now,’ he advised gently. ‘You’re upsetting the cat.’
She didn’t stop crying and Romany ran off, the insensitive deserter. Alex wished he could do likewise. He didn’t feel entirely comfortable holding Harry like this. He was never comfortable with excess emotion. Neither was he a touchy-feely kind of guy. He touched a woman only when he was about to make love to her.
‘Oh! S-sorry.’
Alex’s head swivelled round at the sound of Audrey’s startled apology. Audrey was forty, divorced and a cynic and the expression on his receptionist’s face suggested she’d instantly jumped to the conclusion that something of an intimate nature was going on between her boss and his PA. Alex knew he had to nip that idea in the bud before nasty rumours started flying around the office.
‘Harriet is upset,’ he said rather brusquely. ‘She’s broken off her engagement to Dwayne.’
Audrey’s finely plucked eyebrows formed an even greater arch. ‘Really? What did he do?’
Alex rolled his eyes at the woman’s lack of compassion. All she seemed interested in were the grisly details. Though, now that he thought about it, Alex was curious about the circumstances as well. He could not imagine Dwayne being unfaithful. He wasn’t that kind of guy. Not that he knew him well. He’d met him only twice.
Alex had actually been surprised by Harriet’s choice of fiancé. She was a very attractive girl—and smart as a whip—whereas Dwayne was just, well, ordinary, both in looks and intelligence. Alex had found him quite boring to talk to. He would have expected more interesting conversation from a high school history teacher, but Dwayne had come over as being interested in only his pay cheque and his holidays.
‘More time to play golf,’ he’d said rather avidly.
Perhaps that was what had gone wrong. Maybe he’d been spending too much time on the golf course and not enough time making love to his fiancée. Alex knew that if he was engaged to Harriet, he would spend quite a lot of time making love to her. Having her in his arms reminded him what a good figure she had.
When such thinking sparked a prickling in his groin, Alex decided to bring a swift end to his hugging Harriet so closely. Stepping back from the embrace, he leaned over to snatch a handful of tissues from the box that was kept on the counter and held them out towards her still-clenched hands.
‘Dry your eyes,’ he ordered.
She did as she was told, blowing her nose quite noisily.