had been waiting outside to begin her session with him.
‘Nice life if you can get it,’ Malcolm Reader mocked lightly, sitting on the edge of Lindsay’s desk.
‘I’ve heard that you have,’ she said dryly, looking up at him guilelessly.
He chuckled softly. ‘The beautiful Mrs Robin has heard of my reputation, hmm?’
Lindsay nodded. ‘And all of it exaggerated, no doubt,’ she mocked.
‘Very little, I’m afraid,’ he drawled derisively.
She had to laugh at his honesty, feeling humour when a few minutes ago she had thought she would never laugh again. ‘That’s interesting to know,’ she smiled.
‘Only interesting?’ He looked disappointed. ‘Most women are eager to find out the truth for themselves.’
‘I’ll be happy to take your word for it,’ she teased lightly, liking this man in spite of his outrageous sense of humour.
‘Pity,’ he drawled. ‘Did you give some thought to my dinner invitation?’ He quirked dark brows. ‘As I recall you hadn’t answered me when we were interrupted.’
Her amusement instantly faded. ‘It’s very nice of you to ask me, Mr Reader——’
‘When a beautiful woman calls me “Mr” then I know I’m going to be turned down!’ he grinned ruefully. ‘And I was hoping you would show me the highlights of London.’
‘I don’t know that many,’ she shrugged. ‘And I’m sure you’ve been to London before?’
‘Many times,’ he nodded. ‘It’s a fascinating place.’
‘Surely no more so than New York?’
‘In a different way,’ he replied thoughtfully. ‘And I find most of my enjoyment of London by seeing it through the eyes of other people.’
‘Women’s eyes,’ she teased.
‘Women’s eyes,’ he confirmed with a smile. ‘Have you ever been to New York?’
Lindsay shook her head. ‘I’ve never been out of England.’
‘Joel should have brought you with him, I would have enjoyed showing you my home town.’
If she had been invited by Joel to go on his business trip maybe she wouldn’t have left him. But although their last night together had been spent in a frenzy of lovemaking Joel hadn’t once suggested she accompany him. ‘Someone had to run the office while he was away,’ she said with forced brightness.
‘I guess so,’ Malcolm Reader conceded. ‘Although it seems a pity we couldn’t have met earlier.’
If they had met before he would now know her to be Joel’s ex-mistress. The two of them had never broadcast their living arrangements, but they had made no secret of it either, admitting it if asked directly. If they had gone to New York together then Malcolm Reader would know exactly what she was. And somehow she didn’t want him to know.
‘Is there already a man in your life?’ Malcom was asking her now.
Lindsay looked up with a start, having been lost in thought. ‘Sorry?’
‘Am I stepping on some lucky man’s toes by making the dinner invitation?’ he explained.
‘No!’ She blushed as she realised how sharply her denial had come out, almost guiltily. ‘No, it isn’t that,’ she said more calmly. ‘It’s just——’
‘It’s okay, Lindsay,’ he chuckled as he stood up. ‘I Can take no for an answer without putting you on the rack. I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t making an absolute idiot of myself if I kept asking. And I will keep asking, Lindsay,’ he added seriously. ‘You’ll find I’m not a man who gives up easily.’
‘That’s okay,’ her own voice was light, ‘because I don’t give in easily either.’
He smiled his appreciation of her show of independence, little knowing that she was all the more determined not to be charmed by him because she had so recently been hurt by a man with even less charm than him. ‘Good girl,’ he straightened. ‘But I’ll be seeing you soon.’
It was a promise, not a threat, and Lindsay was left with the feeling that Malcolm Reader was a man with as much strength of will as Joel, that he wouldn’t give up easily either, although perhaps his method of getting his own way would be more subtle than Joel’s. But Cally had been right about one thing—Malcolm Reader certainly didn’t have a problem!
‘Planning to replace me already?’ Joel rasped harshly.
Lindsay looked up at him coolly, although her heart rate accelerated considerably, having been unaware of the model leaving and Joel watching her. ‘Hardly,’ she drawled. ‘Although Mr Reader seems a very charming man,’ she added challengingly.
‘Oh, he is,’ Joel scorned. ‘Maybe he could even charm you into living with him. But if you think I’m a bastard you should—God, I’m sorry,’ he groaned as he saw her pale. ‘I didn’t mean it that way. Lindsay? Lindsay——!’ he questioned sharply as she suddenly stood up to collect her jacket and handbag.
‘I’m going to lunch,’ she told him stiffly. ‘I know it’s a little earlier than my usual time, but I—I feel as if I need the break now. I’ll be back in an hour,’ she added firmly as she heard her voice begin to quiver with emotion.
‘Lindsay——’
‘An hour, Joel.’ She couldn’t even look at him as she rushed from the office and out of the building, not looking back once as she hurried down the street, not even sure where she was going, just needing to get away, away from Joel and his power to hurt her with every word he spoke.
Never before had Joel chosen to hurt her the way he was doing at the moment, seeming to hit out at her on purpose, something he had never done before today. Oh, he had a temper, a whiplash tongue at times, but his remarks had never been personal before; never designed to hurt and go on hurting.
She didn’t stop walking for the next hour, although she never afterwards knew where she went, only that she walked and walked, sightlessly pushing Joel to the back of her mind.
But finally she had to think of him, of facing him again, and if he was still in that cruelly hurtful mood when she did, when he could taunt the way she had loved him enough to move in with him, she didn’t know what she would do.
He was sitting at her desk when she got back, watching her warily as she woodenly hung up her jacket and smoothed her hair. ‘I’m sorry,’ he finally spoke, his voice husky. ‘I didn’t mean that remark about Reader.’ His eyes were a stormy tawny gold as he looked at her searchingly. ‘Do you believe me?’ he prompted at her continued silence.
‘Of course,’ she acknowledged flatly.
He stood up, coming round to the front of her desk, the warmth of his body reaching out to her in the confines of the room. ‘He did ask you out, though, didn’t he?’ his eyes narrowed.
She
