with her.
Jane gave a wan smile. ‘I wouldn’t exactly say he went that far.’
‘He must have been pretty nasty to have reduced you to this state. Now come on—bed!’
Steve had already left when Lauri came back from settling Jane down, so she set about wiping the crockery he had thoughtfully washed before going out. She was worried about Jane, it wasn’t like her to feel ill, and the fact that Alexander Blair had been indirectly responsible only made Lauri dislike him all the more. Bad-tempered, arrogant swine! Jane must be mad to work for him.
Lauri hadn’t known he was dating Connie Mears, that little bit of gossip hadn’t reached the lower ranks yet. Connie Mears and Alexander Blair—however did the poor girl put up with his arrogance? If he kissed the other woman as he had her today then she knew the answer to that. Even while the kiss had not been given to evoke pleasure she had been aware of the mastery and experience behind the caress, so much experience that she had responded in spite of herself.
She blushed in shame at the memory of her reaction. And what made it worse was the fact that Alexander Blair had known of her response, had even taunted her about it. He had made her shiver with pleasure when he had lingered over the use of her full name, almost making a caress of it.
God, she wouldn’t think about him any more! Daryl was more in her league, and he would be arriving in a minute.
It didn’t seem to be Lauri’s week. Yesterday had been disastrous, not least being her argument with Daryl in the evening. He had gone on and on about her going to Ireland with him until in the end she had lost her temper with him and demanded to be taken home.
And now she had stupidly left her purse in Jane’s handbag. She never carried a handbag herself, and her tight denims didn’t allow for the bulge of a purse. She usually pushed some money loosely into one of her pockets. But she had been late this morning, accepting Jane’s offer of a lift at the last minute, a Jane who seemed to have recovered from her tiredness completely, and had just grabbed her purse and run. And now she had left it, and consequently her money, in Jane’s bag.
Thank goodness she had realised more or less straight away; it was still only a quarter to nine, she had plenty of time to get to the top floor, collect her purse, and get back down again before nine o’clock.
It seemed unusually quiet up here, not at all like the rush and bustle that preceded the start of the day on the lower floors. Her moccasin-clad feet sank into the luxurious green carpet; the whole decor up here was complete luxury.
She had no idea which door led to Jane’s office, so she had to walk along inspecting all the nameplates. She had just about given up hope of finding the right one when a door opened just up the corridor from her and she could hear the murmur of male voices. Maybe she could ask the way to Jane’s office—after all, she wasn’t doing anything wrong, and the minutes to nine o’clock were fast ticking away.
A man came out of the office and shut the door after him, bending over the papers he held in his hand. His head might be bent and his face partly hidden, but Lauri would recognise that thick dark hair, wide expanse of shoulders in the tailored cream suit and contrasting brown shirt anywhere. Alexander Blair!
As if becoming aware of someone watching him he slowly raised his head, deep blue eyes widening with recognition. ‘You!’ he rasped, reaching her side in two long strides. He grasped her arm. ‘What are you doing up here?’
‘I—–’
‘Lost your way?’ he taunted.
‘Certainly not!’ Her face flushed angrily. ‘Actually, I—I was looking for you.’ Oh, what had she said now? But she could hardly tell him the truth, not when she didn’t want him to know the connection between his secretary and herself.
His eyebrows rose. ‘For me?’
‘Er—yes.’ Now what did she say?
‘Well?’ His stance was challenging. ‘Now you’ve found me.’
‘Yes,’ she acknowledged huskily.
‘So?’ His eyes were narrowed. ‘What can I do for you?’
What could he do? She thought rapidly. ‘It’s what I can do for you,’ she said breathlessly.
‘Really?’ his voice taunted, a humourless smile to his lips. ‘Isn’t it a little early in the day to be making those sort of suggestions?’
Her face flushed fiery red at his jibe. ‘I didn’t mean it like that and you know it!’ she snapped.
‘Do I? And why should I know that? You seem to have two boy-friends that I know of, possibly more, and I made the mistake of kissing you yesterday. Maybe you’ve come to continue where we left off.’
‘No, I haven’t! And I don’t have two boy-friends! As for that kiss, you can’t think it any more a mistake than I do.’
‘That wasn’t the impression you gave yesterday,’ he drawled.
‘Why, you arrogant—–! How dare you!’ Her hands clenched at her sides. ‘You forced me to kiss you back,’ she accused. ‘I didn’t have any choice in the matter.’
‘A lady always has a choice,’ he taunted. ‘Although you could hardly be classed as a lady, not even a young lady, more like a girl really. How old are you?’
Lauri was so startled by the question she replied instantly. ‘Seventeen—nearly eighteen,’ she added defensively.
His eyes narrowed. ‘How nearly?’
‘Nearly!’ she repeated resentfully.
‘Which means you’ve only just turned seventeen.’ He watched the guilty colour enter her cheeks. ‘I thought so. Aren’t you a little young to be doing this sort of thing?’
Lauri frowned. ‘What sort of thing?’
‘Chasing men, especially one twice your age.’
‘I am not chasing—– Are you really that old?’ she asked insultingly.
His mouth tightened. ‘Or you’re that young, it depends which way you look at it.’
‘That makes you as old as my aunt,’ she said thoughtfully.
‘Really?’ He looked down impatiently at his wrist-watch, a plain gold affair, more indicative of his wealth than a flashy one would have been. People who were as rich as he was never needed to flaunt it, it was just there in their every movement, every word. ‘Now what did you want to see me about?’
‘Your car,’ she feverishly grasped for something to say. ‘I—er—I wanted to know if you’d had anything done about it yet,’ she explained with a certain amount of triumph, pleased with herself for thinking of something so quickly.
‘As it happens I have. But I thought your boy-friend was dealing with that?’
‘He isn’t my boy-friend!’ she said crossly. ‘He—he’s a friend, that’s all.’
‘And
