Carly frowned. Lucy looked and sounded strained and uncomfortable. She couldn’t help wondering if Lucy was trying to protect Nick by taking the blame for his negligence.
She ought to be grateful to this as yet unknown potential client for giving her the opportunity to escape—if only for a while—from her growing discomfort about the way Nick was using the business’s bank account as though it were his own private account. Since Lucy had made it clear that Nick was to have carte blanche to withdraw money from the account whenever he liked, there was no legitimate objection she could make. Nick had shrugged aside her concern about their growing overdraft by telling her that the deficit would be made good from Lucy’s trust fund, but to Carly it seemed shockingly unbusinesslike to waste money paying interest on an overdraft.
‘They’ll be here in a few minutes. God, I hope we get his business.’ Lucy yawned. ‘I am sooo tired—and we’ve got dinner with the folks tonight. How about you? Have you got anything on?’
‘Only my writing class,’ Carly answered.
‘I don’t know why you’re still going to that,’ Julia told her ruefully.
Originally they had decided to attend the writing group together, at Julia’s suggestion—mainly, Carly suspected, because Julia had been dating an up-and-coming literary novelist. But after a couple of weeks the romance had faded, and Julia had taken a period of extended leave to visit her sister in Australia, leaving Carly to attend the weekly meetings on her own.
‘Mmm…’
‘Well, it won’t hurt to miss one class, surely? Unless, of course, it’s Miss Pope’s turn to read one of her poems?’ Julia giggled.
Carly tried and failed to give her a quelling look.
‘They are pretty awful,’ she agreed, joining in her laughter.
‘What project has the Professor given you all to write about this time?’ Julia gave a small shudder. ‘It’s not litter again, is it?’
‘No,’ Carly confirmed carefully, ‘it isn’t litter. Actually it’s fantasy sex!’
It was amazing what the word sex could do, she reflected ruefully as both her friends turned to stare at her.
‘Fantasy sex?’ Lucy demanded. ‘What, you mean like…imagining sex with a fantasy man?’ She started to laugh. ‘Why?’
‘Professor Elseworth wants us to stretch our imagination and take it into a new dimension.’
‘Right now, any kind of sex is a fantasy for me,’ Julia remarked gloomily, before adding, ‘But I can’t imagine you writing about fantasy sex, Carly. I mean, you don’t actually do it at all, do you?’
Carly bared her teeth in a ferociously fake smile.
‘No, I don’t. And I won’t until I find someone worth doing it with!’
‘Well, okay—I mean, I don’t have a problem with that—but how on earth are you going to write about fantasy sex when…?’
Carly gave her a withering look.
‘I’m going to use my imagination. That is the whole point of the exercise,’ she told her with awesome dignity.
‘Rather you than me!’
‘No talking about sex during working hours,’ Lucy began mock primly, and then stopped as, to Carly’s relief, their newest recruit arrived with Lucy’s espresso.
In all honesty she would be only too happy to have an excuse to miss out on her writing class and its assignment. She certainly didn’t want to write about fantasy sex—or indeed sex of any kind. She knew there was a barrier between her and the potential enjoyment of her sexuality. But how could she ever give herself freely and openly, to a man and to love, when she could never imagine being able to reveal her emotional scars to him? How could there be true intimacy when she herself was so afraid of it? So afraid of being judged and then rejected? Didn’t events such as the one she had attended last night confirm all that she had always thought and feared? Giving yourself in and with love to another human being meant giving yourself over to being judged as not good enough, not acceptable, not worthy, and ultimately to rejection. And she had learned very young just how much that hurt.
Her game plan for her life involved focusing on emotional and financial security: building her career, enjoying the company of her friends, ultimately travelling—if she could afford to do so—but always ensuring that she never made the mistake of falling in love.
She had decided that she was only going to have a sexual relationship if she met a man she wanted physically with intense passion and hunger—a man with whom she knew she could share the heights of physical pleasure in a relationship that carried no health risks. A serial male sexual predator was not an option. And at the same time she would also have to feel one hundred per cent confident that she would never be at risk of becoming emotionally involved with him. Add to that the fact that she wasn’t even actively looking for this paragon, and it seemed a pretty foregone conclusion that she was likely to remain a virgin indefinitely.
Not that the prospect bothered her.
CHAPTER TWO
‘AND you’re sure my requirements won’t be a problem for you, Nick? I know you don’t have a large staff,’ Ricardo said blandly.
‘Absolutely not. Lucy said that Carly jumped at the chance. In fact she begged for it.’ Nick laughed. ‘And I don’t suppose anyone can blame her. After all, when you’ve been used to the best of everything all your life and suddenly it isn’t available any more, and you’re a decent-looking woman, I suppose you’re bound to look forward to spending time with a rich man.’
‘She’s looking for a rich husband?’
Nick grinned.
‘Who said anything about marriage? Anyway, come up to the office and I can introduce you to her.’
‘I think you said earlier that she is your wife’s partner?’
‘Employee. The three of them—Lucy, Julia and Carly—were at school together. Neither Julia nor Carly have put any money into the business, though.’
‘So financially the partnership is—’
‘Just me and Lucy,’ Nick informed him.
‘Carly normally does all the financial and administrative stuff, but to be honest I don’t think she’s up to the job. You’d be doing me a favour by taking her off my hands for a week or two, so that I can get the financial side of things sorted out properly. Lucy’s a loyal little soul, and devoted to her friends—you know the type, all breeding and no brains.’ He shrugged. ‘I don’t want to say too much to her. Anyway, having Carly with you won’t be too much of a hardship—she’s a good-looker, and obliging too, if you know what I mean—especially if you treat her generously. Like I said, Carly has her head screwed on.’
‘Are you speaking from personal experience?’ Ricardo asked him dryly.
‘What? Hell, no. I’m a married man. But let’s just say she let me know that it was available if I wanted it,’ Nick boasted.
He was well aware that Carly didn’t like him, and it amused him to think of what he was setting her up for. Discrediting her wouldn’t do him any harm in other ways either, he congratulated himself. For one thing she wouldn’t be able to go tittle-tattling to Lucy.
‘Carly is very good at getting other people to pay her bills for her—as both Lucy and Julia already know. She’s even managed to blag a rent-free room in Julia’s flat. If she can’t find a rich man to finance her, then the lifestyle that working for Prêt a Party gives her is the next best thing. All that first-class travel and accommodation provided by the clients, plus getting to mingle with their guests.’ He winked at Ricardo. ‘Ideal for her type of woman. Once I’ve introduced you, I’ll