Kerry. So refreshingly astringent! Makes me wonder if that’s the real you—or if there’s a softer side underneath it all. Be interesting to find out.’
Kerry took a hold on herself, aware of being got at. ‘If there is,’ she said with withering scorn, ‘you’re unlikely to find it!’
‘Now that,’ he returned, ‘is quite definitely a challenge!’ Still smiling, he turned back to the desk and added over one shoulder, ‘Make sure the heads are properly parked when you exit.’
‘I always do,’ she snapped, resenting both the instruction and the mockery. ‘I’ve used computers before.’
‘That’s OK, then.’
Kerry was seething as she despatched the afternoon’s work to the printer, standing there and ostensibly reading the print-out as it emerged. Lee had taken a seat behind the desk and was going through some papers. She could see him from the corner of her eye, dark head bent, one lean hand wielding a pen—her presence obviously forgotten. He’d had his fun with her—that was all it had been—and now it was back to the important things in life. So far as she was concerned, he could go to hell!
With the hard copy safely stored, and both machines switched off at last, she was free to leave. It would be less than adult to stalk out without a word, she decided, and steeled herself to murmur a short, ‘Goodnight.’
Lee looked up, his lean, hard-boned features illuminated by the desk lamp he had switched on. For a fleeting moment he appeared on the verge of putting some question, but the words didn’t materialise. ‘Have a good evening,’ was all he said.
Estelle was watching children’s television in her sitting room. She looked round without embarrassment when Kerry went in to take her leave.
‘I adore Blue Peter, don’t you?’
‘I’ve never really watched it,’ Kerry confessed.
‘No, I suppose you’re always on your way home from work when it’s on.’ She added unexpectedly, ‘Why don’t you stay and have dinner with us tonight? Lee will run you home.’
‘It’s nice of you to invite me but I have a date tonight,’ Kerry improvised hastily. ‘In any case, I wouldn’t dream of dragging your son across town.’
‘I’m sure he’d be more than willing, but if you already have an engagement...’ The older woman paused, eying her speculatively. ‘Someone special, is it?’
‘Just a friend.’ It was time to go, before she got herself involved in further lies. She gave her employer a smile. ‘The hard copy is in the top drawer, if you want to go through what we’ve done up to now.’
‘I think I’ll leave it until we’ve got a bit further,’ Estelle returned. ‘I hope Lee didn’t disturb you too much.’
‘Not at all.’ Another lie, but the only answer she was prepared to give. ‘See you on Monday.’
Coming out of the cloakroom some minutes later dressed for the street in the camel coat which had cost her almost a week’s salary, she was disconcerted to find Lee waiting for her in the hall. Leaning against the staircase newel post, he looked deceptively benign.
‘I ordered a taxi for you,’ he said. ‘From now on there’ll be one on tap every evening. All you have to do is make a call whenever you’re ready to leave. The bill will be taken care of.’
A munificent gesture, Kerry was bound to acknowledge, though not one she cared to take advantage of, coming as it did from him.
‘Thanks, but I’m quite happy taking the tube,’ she said shortly.
The rejection made little noticeable impact. ‘I’m more concerned with your reaching it safely. It’s already dark out there. No time for a woman to be walking the streets on her own.’
‘I’ve done it the past three years without coming to any harm,’ she pointed out.
‘Not in this area, with few other people about. Anyway, it’s all arranged.’
She drew in a long slow breath, opposing the autocracy with every fibre. ‘Do you take it on yourself to organise everyone’s life for them? I don’t need a taxi!’
‘You’re getting one, nevertheless.’ Neither tone nor expression left any doubt of his adamance. ‘My mother will be in total agreement. She said only last night that she worried about you leaving after dark.’
‘Thoughtful of her, but—’
‘But nothing.’ This time there was a definite edge of impatience to his voice. ‘If you want to continue coming here at all this winter then you accept the situation.’
‘Surely,’ she said, ‘that’s up to your mother to decide?’
‘Not in the circumstances.’
‘Oh, I see. It’s your house, and you make the decisions!’
‘If you want to see it that way. Most people would be only too happy to have a door-to-door ride home at the end of the day.’
He was right there, but she wanted no favours from him. ‘I’m not most people,’ she declared frostily.
‘Obviously.’
He had straightened away from the post, standing with hands thrust into trouser pockets and suit jacket pushed back to reveal a broad expanse of sparkling white. Kerry found her eyes drifting involuntarily downwards over the flat waistband and lean hips, warmth singeing her cheeks as she dragged her gaze forcibly upwards again to see his mouth slant.
‘Devastating, isn’t it?’ he said softly.
‘What is?’ she parried.
‘Sexual attraction. I was aware of it the moment we met.’ The pause was meaningful. ‘We both were.’
‘There’s such a thing as over-confidence,’ Kerry retorted caustically. ‘I’d say you had it in spades!’
‘Uncertainty is no asset,’ came the smooth response. ‘If you weren’t as drawn to me underneath all that antagonism as I am to you, you wouldn’t be making such a song and dance about it.’
‘I am not...’ she began furiously, breaking off abruptly as she saw the glimmer in his eyes. It was all a big joke to him—a game he was expert at playing. The temptation to fling Sarah’s name in his face was almost overwhelming. It took a real effort to resist it Sarah herself might not want Kerry championing her cause.
The hoot of a horn from the street outside was something of a relief, despite her reluctance to accept the arrangement.
‘I suppose that’s the cab,’ she said.
Lee inclined his head in ironic agreement. ‘Let’s not keep it waiting.’
He accompanied her out, opening the cab door for her.
‘I’d suggest we meet over the weekend,’ he said as she brushed past him, ‘but I suspect you’d turn me down just for the hell
