It gave her an uneasy feeling to know that it really had been that easy. She had thought she was safe, protected, and now she felt more than a little vulnerable.
‘You can imagine my surprise when the occupant turned out to be one Laura Shipley, owner of Shipley Publishing,’ Liam explained hardly.
Surprise sounded the least of his emotions!
‘And here you are,’ she said brightly. ‘I believe you have an appointment with Perry in forty minutes or so—’
‘Forget Perry,’ Liam rasped. ‘It’s you I came here to see—’
‘I’m sorry, Liam, but I’m afraid I have another appointment in twenty minutes, and as I have to drive there—’
‘Cancel it,’ he grated harshly.
Her eyes widened incredulously at his arrogance. ‘I most certainly will not,’ she replied indignantly.
Laura was due to meet Bobby from school today. She usually took him to school in the mornings, and Amy collected him in the afternoons, but on Tuesdays, Amy’s day off, Laura always collected Bobby too. There was no way she would ever be late in doing that, let alone just send Paul to collect him in the car.
Although she had no intention of sharing any of that information with Liam!
Liam moved to sit down in the chair facing her desk, his long length slouched against the leather, his eyes narrowed as he studied her thoughtfully. ‘You take all of this quite seriously, don’t you?’ he finally said. ‘Shipley Publishing,’ he added as she looked at him blankly.
Laura’s thoughts had all been on her son, and it took a moment for her to realise exactly what Liam had said. ‘Of course I take it seriously,’ she snapped. ‘You obviously considered this publishing house good enough for your manuscript,’ she pointed out.
He looked over at her with scornful eyes. ‘That was before I realised you ran it.’
She bridled at his deliberate insult. ‘And what difference does that make?’ she challenged.
His mouth twisted. ‘A lot!’
She drew in a sharp breath. ‘You’ve signed nothing yet, Liam, and are under no obligation—as we aren’t—to take this any further. In view of that—’
‘In view of nothing, Laura,’ he cut in forcefully. ‘What did you think of Josie’s World?’ He watched her with narrowed eyes. ‘And don’t tell me you haven’t read it—because I won’t believe you.’
‘One thing about you hasn’t changed in eight years, Liam—you’re just as arrogant as you ever were!’ she said disgustedly.
He remained unmoved by her outburst, his face expressionless as he continued to look at her. ‘Well?’
Laura sighed. ‘I’m sure you’re aware that Josie’s World is a brilliantly written, wonderfully emotional book.’
‘Is it?’
She looked at him sharply. For the first time since they had met again yesterday she heard a note of uncertainty in Liam’s voice…
Did he really not know how good his book was?
She could see anxiety in those deep blue eyes now, tension about those sculptured lips as he waited for her answer.
Could it be, that after an absence of eight years, Liam had actually lost confidence in his ability to judge the worth of his own writing? It wasn’t an inconceivable idea. It was just totally unexpected from a man with Liam’s arrogance!
But she could see from the stiff set of his shoulders, the tension that emanated from him, that her answer to his question was very important to him.
Part of her, she inwardly admitted, wanted to play down the brilliance of the manuscript he had presented to them, if only to wipe some of the remaining arrogance off that handsome face. It might also make Perry’s job easier later if she played down how good Josie’s World was…
But another part of her, the entirely truthful part, couldn’t do that, not even if she did feel Liam needed to be taken down a peg or two. In the face of his obvious—to her!—professional uncertainty, to negate the brilliance of his manuscript would not only be cruel in the extreme, it would be dishonest.
Liam might bring out a lot of emotions in her, but dishonesty was certainly not one of them!
‘It is,’ she confirmed abruptly, shifting some papers on her desk so that she didn’t actually have to look at him and see the look of triumph she was sure would be on his face now. ‘There’s a problem with the name of the author, of course—’
‘How long did it take you to realise I had written it?’ Liam interrupted interestedly.
The first chapter. The first page. The first paragraph.
‘Not long,’ she responded carefully. ‘Perry believes the subterfuge is because of a desire on your part not to repeat what happened eight years ago…? The excess publicity, et cetera…’ She looked at him questioningly.
Liam gave a slight inclination of his head. ‘You have a very bright-senior editor there, Laura,’ he drawled dryly.
‘I like to think so,’ she agreed. ‘In view of your obvious satisfaction with his capabilities, I’m sure you will have no problem dealing together—’
‘Only the one,’ Liam cut in softly.
Laura eyed him warily now, not liking the gentleness of that tone at all. ‘Which is?’
‘I—’ He broke off as the telephone rang on her desk. ‘You had better take that,’ he advised. ‘It’s probably your watch-dog, Ruth, checking that I haven’t strangled you!’
Laura gave him a withering glance before picking up the receiver, colour entering her cheeks as she discovered that Ruth was indeed the caller. But not to check on whether Laura had been strangled by Liam!
‘I’ll be right out,’ she told her secretary abruptly before ringing off, looking across at Liam as she did so. ‘My car is waiting downstairs,’ she informed him, standing up. ‘I’m sure Ruth will be happy to provide you with a cup of coffee while you wait for your appointment with Perry at four o’clock.’
Liam also stood up, instantly dwarfing Laura. ‘And I’m sure that the only thing Ruth would be happy to provide me with is the door! Besides, I have no intention of seeing Perry at four o’clock—or any other time.’
Laura’s wariness returned. ‘You’ve decided to go to another publisher?’’
From Shipley Publishing’s point of view, she would be very sorry if that were the case. But from a personal point of view…? She could only feel relief at having the possibility of seeing Liam on a regular basis effectively removed!
‘Not at all,’ he dismissed. ‘I’ve just decided I would prefer to have you as my editor rather than Perry Webster.’
Laura
