figure standing in the open doorway.
Quite certain that she’d never seen this person before, Dora was also well aware of Mr Hamilton’s inflexible rule that girlfriends were never allowed anywhere near his office. And, since no respectable office would dream of employing anyone with that untamed cloud of fair, sun-bleached hair tumbling down around her shoulders—not to mention one wearing such a disgracefully short black skirt over long slim legs encased in sheer black stockings—she clearly didn’t work here, at the bank.
However, just as Dora was about to pick up the phone and call Security, she took another, hard look at the girl leaning casually against the door. You didn’t have to be a serious follower of fashion to realise that suit must have cost a fortune. And those Gucci shoes and matching handbag on its gold chain wouldn’t have been exactly cheap, either. So...
Oh, heavens! It looked as though she’d nearly made a dreadful mistake. Because, of course, this extraordinarily attractive-looking girl must be Mr Hamilton’s new fiancée.
‘I’m sorry, I didn’t realise...’ Dora muttered, rising quickly from behind her desk. ‘It’s Miss Fiona Bliss, isn’t it?’
‘How did you guess?’ Alex smiled happily at the older woman. ‘Er...darling Leo is just finishing a meeting downstairs. So, is it all right if I wait for him in his office?’
‘Of course.’ Dora beamed at the girl and led her into the palatial mom. ‘Can I get you anything?’
‘I’d sell my soul for a cup of coffee,’ Alex admitted with a grin, waiting until Leo’s secretary had left the room before sinking down into a leather chair.
‘Phew!’ she muttered with relief a little while later, gratefully sipping her hot coffee—and thankful that she didn’t have to go through such an exhausting charade every day of the week. What a piece of luck, his secretary mistaking her for Leo’s fiancée! Although exactly what she was going to say or do when he returned to his office, she had absolutely no idea.
However, while she had the chance, maybe she ought to have a good look around his office? If her articles were going to be a success, it was important to try to pick up some clues about both his present lifestyle and his new fiancée.
Unfortunately, there was virtually nothing in Leo’s opulent suite of rooms which couldn’t just as well have been found in the office of any highly successful man—a huge leather-covered mahogany desk with its back to the large window, a grey and white marble mantelpiece over a fake log fire, comfortable black leather chairs and sofa... It all looked depressingly bare of clues. Apart from the fact that there were no photographs, of course. That was definitely odd. Surely he ought to have a picture of his beloved fiancée placed prominently on his desk?
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of firm footsteps approaching down the marble-floored corridor. Bracing herself for the forthcoming confrontation, Alex heard his secretary informing Leo that his fiancée was waiting for him in his office.
‘Oh, really...?’ a deep voice queried sardonically, before the door was thrown open and Leo Hamilton walked into the room.
He paused on the threshold, his hard green eyes flicking quickly over the figure of the girl by the fireplace, and Alex held her breath as she stared at the tall, broad-shouldered figure in the doorway.
It was one thing to have viewed this man across the length of the large room downstairs a few minutes ago. But quite another to find herself now standing only a few feet away from Leo’s tall, dominant figure—and almost reeling from the forceful impact of his dark, physical attraction.
How could she have forgotten...? Why hadn’t she remembered the devastating aura of sheer, raw sex appeal projected by this man, who was now studying her with such calm detachment on his handsome, tanned face?
Desperately trying to control a hot flush rising over her cheeks, and the quivers of awareness scorching through her body, she put out a hand to clutch hold of the mantelpiece for support. Fearful memories of their last encounter were now welling up inside her like a sudden sickness, and Alex could feel herself trembling as if in the grip of a fierce tropical fever.
She should never have come here! What on earth had possessed her to even contemplate such folly?
But Leo’s gaze of cool, calm uninterest helped to steady her nerves. She held her breath, watching as he gave a slight, dismissive shrug of his shoulders and began moving across the thick carpet towards his large desk by the window. It was some moments before she realised that, despite her own strong, almost overwhelming response to his presence, he apparently had no recognition of the girl staring at him so intently.
‘It would seem to be my lucky day for collecting “fiancées”!’ Leo drawled, sitting down and pulling out various drawers. ‘However, if you can provide me with some aspirins, I’ll seriously consider bestowing on you both my hand and my heart!’
Thrown completely off balance by this calm reaction to her unexpected presence in his office, Alex found herself giving a startled, involuntary gurgle of nervous laughter.
Obviously surprised by her response, he shot her a quick, penetrating glance, and continued to search through the drawers of his desk.
‘I must say that I’ve had better offers in my time,’ she told him with a grim smile, making a determined effort to pull herself together. ‘But that definitely sounds an interesting proposal!’ she added, opening her handbag and walking over to place Tessa’s small bottle of white pills on his desk.
‘Bless you,’ he murmured, filling a glass from the carafe of water in front of him, and sighing deeply as he leaned back in his chair.
‘Well, now...yes. I can imagine that you will have. had several possibly better offers,’ he drawled a few moments later, his gaze moving slowly over the tall, slim figure of the girl standing in front of him.
The intense, insulting thoroughness with which he scrutinised the cloud of sun-bleached hair, the high, firm breasts, and the length of her legs beneath the short skirt brought a flush to her cheeks and an angry sparkle to her wide blue eyes.
‘It’s no good glaring at me like that, my girl!’ he grinned with sardonic amusement, clearly enjoying her discomfiture. ‘Especially as we both know that you must have spun a complete yarn to poor Dora. And, since you most definitely are not Fiona Bliss, maybe you’d be good enough to tell me your name?’
She regarded him warily in silence, and then shrugged. ‘I did wonder if you’d recognise me, after all this time. But clearly it would seem that you haven’t.’ She paused for a moment. ‘I’m Alex Pemberton.’ .
He frowned, staring at her intently, before giving a shake of his dark head. ‘No, sony—I simply don’t recall that name. And I’m very sure that I wouldn’t have forgotten meeting you,’ he added, once more allowing the green eyes beneath their heavy lids to slowly and carefully scrutinise her figure. ‘Quite certain, in fact!’
‘Ah. well—that just goes to show how even the cleverest of men can be mistaken!’
Alex smiled blandly at him, suddenly feeling lightheaded, and totally amazed to find that she wasn’t frightened of this man after all.
So, OK...she had been startled and confused a few moments ago by the sudden, shocking reminder of his overwhelming sexual attraction. But she was now recovering fast, and couldn’t think why, over the past eight years, she’d stupidly allowed
