to see you only to drag me out here the minute I step foot through the door.’
‘Drag you out here? You have a way with words, don’t you?’
‘I’m sorry,’ Jessica said stiffly, ‘I didn’t mean to appear rude.’
‘Oh, feel free to speak your mind. I appreciate honesty in a person.’
‘In that case, I might as well tell you that I’m a great believer in discussion. I don’t like being commanded to do things. I realise that you’re my boss...’
‘And have the authority to tell you precisely what I want you to do...?’ His voice was soft and when he drank his wine he continued to look at her over the rim of his glass.
‘Theoretically.’ The conversation seemed to be getting out of hand and she wondered when they had veered away from the conventional boss-employee line of chit-chat. ‘You did say that you wanted me to be honest,’ she said a little defensively, in anticipation of criticism.
‘Oh, I know. And there’s no need to look so alarmed. I’m not about to invoke the wrath of Khan on you for your temerity. After all, we will be working together to some extent. We might as well make sure that we can co-operate. I’m a great believer in the open forum.’
‘Except for tonight.’
‘Except for tonight,’ he agreed, half smiling.
‘Because...?’ She looked at him, and tried to let that suggestion of great charm wash over her. ‘Because...’ Bruno Carr did things for a reason. ‘You wanted me at your office...at that precise moment...because...’ It suddenly clicked. ‘Because you wanted to get rid of your girlfriend and my appearance was the most convenient way of doing that... am I right?’
‘You have a suspicious mind,’ he answered, leaning back slightly as plates of food were put in front of them, and vegetables were distributed with flourish. ‘It must be the lawyer in you.’
‘I don’t like being used, Mr Carr.’
‘Why don’t you call me Bruno? I encourage first names among my employees. Good for company morale. Makes people feel more comfortable.’
‘But that’s an illusion, isn’t it?’ Jessica said in a steely voice. ‘As tonight proved. You wanted me over because it was an expedient way of getting your girlfriend to leave.’
She could see that he was getting uncomfortable with her persistence but the thought of such blatant manipulation of her stuck in her throat.
‘Oh, for God’s sake, you’re like a dog with a bone. If it makes you feel any better to hear me admit it, then, yes, you’re right. You telephoned, and the idea occurred to me that an unavoidable business meeting was just what I needed’
Jessica finished her glass of wine and it was immediately refilled.
‘That’s despicable.’ She thought it, yes, but she was still amazed when it popped out of her mouth, almost as though any connection between thought and action had been severed. She knew that she ought to apologise. Whatever he said about first names and appreciating honesty and trying to make his employees feel comfortable, he still owned the company she worked for.
But she found it difficult not to voice her objections. She had spent too many years witnessing the price of her mother’s silence.
‘Why didn’t you just tell the poor woman that you were tired of her?’
‘The poor woman?’ All trace of charm had disappeared from his face and he glowered at her. ‘You have no idea what you’re talking about when you refer to Rachel as the poor woman, and I have no idea why I’m bothering to elaborate on any of this with you.’
‘Guilt?’ she suggested. ‘Guilt that I saw through your little manoeuvre? A basic sense of decency in realising that I need some kind of explanation? Even if I am only an employee? I wouldn’t suggest this normally, but you did say that you enjoyed the open forum.’
He shook his head and raked his fingers through his hair, then he shot her a frustrated, perplexed look from under his lashes. ‘So, I gather, do you,’ he commented, eyebrows raised, and she smiled serenely at him.
‘I’m not in the habit of being quite so outspoken—’
‘Not in the habit! God, I should think you send men running in the opposite direction as fast as their legs can take them the minute you confront them with your brand of open forum chit-chat!’
Jessica went bright red and stabbed a few of the vegetables on her plate with misdirected aggression.
‘This is ridiculous,’ she muttered, eating a mouthful of food that now tasted like sawdust. ‘All of this is beside the point. Whatever your reasons for getting me to your office, and whether I approve of them or not, the point of my being here is in my briefcase on the ground.’
‘Oh, no, you don’t,’ he told her darkly. ‘You generated this topic of conversation, and we’ll finish it.’
‘Like you said, you don’t owe me an explanation...’
‘But we’ll be working together and I don’t intend to spend my time being treated like some kind of inhuman monster.’
‘Does it matter, just so long as we get the job done?’
‘Yes, I rather think it does.’
Jessica didn’t say anything. She concentrated on her food and waited for him to speak.
‘And would you like to know why? Because I wouldn’t want you to think that I spend my time chasing women. We’ll be working together, and I can’t have you feeling threatened, now, can I?’ Which, she thought, neatly put her in her place.
‘I feel so much better for that. Thank you for setting my anxious mind at rest.’
‘Where do you get it from?’
‘Get what from?’
‘That special talent you have for biting sarcasm? I can’t see Robert dealing all that well with that viperlike tongue of yours.’
‘Robert,’ Jessica informed him stoutly, ‘is a sweetie.’ And I’m not normally prone to biting sarcasm, she thought to herself, but then again the rest of the human race don’t provoke me quite like you do.
‘Oh, good grief.’ He closed his knife and fork and signalled for another bottle of wine.
Had they consumed one already? She had barely noticed what she had been drinking, and, looking down, she realised that she had done justice to her plate of food, also without noticing.
‘And just to clear the air,’ he informed her, ‘I don’t walk around treating women like second-rate citizens.’
‘I’m sure you don’t.’
‘That’s right, so you can wipe that supercilious expression off your face.’
‘Look, there’s really no need...’
‘Rachel,
