herself to as a Christmas present from Jamie.
‘You said we had a lot still to talk about,’ she reminded him when he made no attempt to open conversation but simply sat there studying her. ‘Such as what?’
‘Such as where you disappeared to after you walked out of your job for a start. It was as if you’d vanished off the face of the earth!’
‘I went home for a while,’ she said flatly.
Dark brows drew together. ‘You told me your parents were divorced, your father somewhere unknown, and your mother remarried to a man you had no time for and vice versa. That hardly sounds like home.’
‘Nevertheless, it’s where I went.’ Regan ironed out any emotion from her voice. ‘Why the follow-up, anyway?’
‘Guilty conscience,’ he admitted. ‘I’d played you a lousy hand. I wanted to make sure you were okay.’
‘Thoughtful of you.’
‘Wasn’t it?’ The irony was self-directed. ‘I know you’ve been with Longmans four years, but—’
‘How do you know?’ she demanded.
‘I had a chat with your boss.’
Green eyes darkened. ‘You’d no right to drag him into this!’
‘I was under the impression he was already in it, if you remember.’ He made a wry gesture. ‘It’s all right. I took full blame for the mistake.’
Whatever Hugh had told him about her, it obviously hadn’t included the fact that she had a child, Regan reflected gratefully. All the same, she had to get Liam out of here.
‘I really am tired,’ she said, pretending to stifle a yawn against the back of her hand. ‘I appreciate the offer to help me out, but it’s totally unnecessary.’ She added levelly, ‘I hope I haven’t caused you too much of a problem.’
His shrug was light. ‘Nothing I can’t handle. And the offer still stands. You know where to contact me if you change your mind.’
He got to his feet, the coffee barely touched. Regan rose with him, picking up his jacket from the chair and holding it out for him to slide his arms into the sleeves. She was taken totally by surprise when he stepped closer to enclose her face between his cupped fingers, unable to form a protest as his lips found hers in a kiss that transported her right back to that first, never-to-be-forgotten time.
Senses swimming, she could summon neither the immediate will nor the strength to break free. The jacket dropped from hands turned nerveless, kicked aside by Liam as he drew her closer to bring her tingling breasts into contact with the hard breadth of his chest. His mouth was a source of infinite pleasure, soft and firm at one and the same time, persuading her lips to part, to allow him access to the tender flesh within, the silky caress of his tongue arousing an unbridled response.
‘I want you,’ he breathed. ‘I always wanted you!’
So much so that he married someone else, came the thought, dragging her back from the brink.
‘Just go, will you?’ she said huskily. ‘I’m not playing that game again!’
Anticipating dissension, and ready for it, she was taken aback when he released her with a wry little shrug.
‘If that’s what you really want.’
‘It is.’ She made every effort to infuse certainty into her voice. ‘And I’m sorry for the trouble I’ve caused between you and Paula.’
His smile was fleeting. ‘No, you’re not. As a matter of fact, you’ve done me a favour.’
‘Oh, sure! You were racking your brains for an excuse to dump her!’ Limbs shaky, Regan bent to pick up his jacket from the floor, holding it out to him, eyes dark green pools. ‘Since when did you need help in that direction?’
He took the jacket from her and put it on without responding to the accusation, expression unrevealing. ‘It was good seeing you again, regardless,’ he said. ‘Take care.’
He was gone before she could draw breath to answer, leaving her standing there like a dummy. She had to force herself into movement, going over to lock the door in his wake. She still had her secret; that was all that mattered. It had to be all that mattered!
CHAPTER TWO
HUGH proved more intrigued than angry about the mix-up.
‘I gather Bentley has something of a proprietary interest in you himself,’ he said on Monday morning when Regan apologised to him. ‘A pretty long-standing one in fact. Paula was spitting cobs when he walked out on her. Not that I can blame him. She didn’t exactly keep the discussion under wraps.’ He paused, eyeing her shrewdly. ‘He is the father, isn’t he?’
There was little point in attempting to deny it, Regan acknowledged. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘And thanks for not telling him about Jamie.’
‘I was in a bit of a dilemma, considering you’d already apparently let the cat out of the bag, but I reckoned you’d sort it out for yourself. What I can’t understand,’ he added curiously, ‘is why you kept it from him to start with. You were entitled to maintenance at the very least.’
‘I didn’t want anything from him!’ she said with force. ‘I still don’t. Jamie’s mine!’
‘Does he feel the same way now he knows about him?’ Hugh raised his eyebrows when she failed to respond. ‘You still haven’t told him?’
‘No.’ Regan looked down pointedly at the notebook ready-opened on her knee, wishing, not for the first time, that he would use a dictating machine like most people did these days. ‘You were giving me a letter.’
The hint was ignored, curiosity still unsatisfied. ‘Assuming he followed you home, as he said he was going to do, how the devil did you manage to keep him from finding out?’
‘Jamie was in bed. I convinced him I’d simply been indulging in a little payback.’ She put pencil to paper. ‘All’s well that ends well.’
Payback for what, exactly? was the question obviously hovering on Hugh’s lips, but he refrained from voicing it, for which she was thankful. Suggesting he mind his own business was hardly on the cards when she’d involved him in the situation herself. Hopefully, he would let the subject drop.
He did. For the time being, at any rate. Whether he would be content to let it go completely was something else. The problem with becoming personal friends with one’s boss, Regan reflected a trifle wryly. He’d have already put Rosalyn in the picture for sure.
Try as she might, she hadn’t been able to put Liam out of mind herself over the weekend. Seeing him again, having him near her again, had eroded every bit of armour she had built up over the years. She’d wanted him the same way he’d wanted her Friday night—hadn’t been able to sleep for the hunger he had aroused in her. It had been so long since she’d felt that need; so long since her whole body had come alive that way.
And it had to stop right here! she told herself forcibly, concentrating on the VDU in
