jumped. Would that be Jordan? She didn’t answer it and after a few moments the answering machine clicked in.
‘Hi, sweetheart, it’s David. I hoped I’d catch you before you left for work. Look, I just wanted to tell you again how sorry I am. It was one night, honey, and it didn’t mean anything, not compared with my love for you. It was a mistake, a terrible mistake, a moment of insanity. Anyway…’ His voice trailed off, became more hopeless than eager. ‘I’m flying back to England tomorrow. I’ll call you then.’
The earnest, pleading voice touched the far recesses of her mind. Yesterday she wouldn’t have understood a moment of insanity, but yesterday she had been a sensible person and now…now she didn’t know what the hell she was doing any more.
CHAPTER TWO
HIS timing was wrong. Jordan knew that, he’d known it last night but he hadn’t been able to stop himself. He disliked himself intensely for the weakness. Yet perversely he didn’t regret it. Charlotte had been everything he’d dreamed she’d be; passionate, warm…it had been intensely pleasurable. How could he regret that?
He reached for his briefcase and climbed out of his car. When should he tell her? he wondered. Today wouldn’t be right, not now. He was grimly aware that he was putting off the inevitable again. Charlotte was going to find out, and sooner rather than later, whether he told her or not. It was better that she heard it directly from him and not through a third party. But not today.
The sky was a heavily leaden grey. It was reflected in the choppy waters of the River Thames and the modern glass building that was the central administrative centre for McCann Developments.
Charlotte’s grandfather, George McCann, had started the business years before. He was a builder who had worked his way up from small beginnings to create a successful development firm of good repute. Charlotte’s father, Simon, had taken over the running of the place twenty-five years ago and things had ticked along fairly well until they had hit the recession five years ago, leading to dwindling profits and eventually the necessity of taking on Jordan as a partner.
Being the newcomer on the block hadn’t been as easy as Jordan had anticipated. But he was a talented architect and an experienced businessman with a nose for a good deal. He’d been here for just over a year and already the profits were up. Along the way he’d had to make a few changes to streamline the running of the place, and he knew that even more changes were necessary if the business was to thrive.
His thoughts went to Simon McCann. He admired him and the business was sound. That was the reason he had invested in it in the first place, but just recently he had noticed a change in Simon. He had become reluctant to look at new designs that were essential for them to keep ahead of the opposition. It was almost as if he had lost his enthusiasm. And it was becoming more apparent that if Jordan was to make any real inroads into the success of the business he would need to have the casting vote.
It was coming to crunch time, when he might be forced to get Simon to sell his share of the business to give him overall control, and he didn’t think Charlotte would be too happy about that.
Added to all of that there was the matter of the missing money.
‘Morning, Jordan.’ His secretary paused to wait for him by the lifts in the front lobby.
‘Morning, Laura.’ He smiled back at the attractive brunette, but in truth his mind was skipping ahead to his meeting with Charlotte. Wondering how he should play things after last night.
His eyes were drawn to the brass plaque in the lift, with the name McCann Developments. He wondered how Charlotte would feel if the business ceased to be a family affair. Somehow, he thought she wouldn’t be too pleased.
Charlotte had started work here six years ago and was in charge of the interior-design side of the business. When Jordan first met her he had found her a bit prickly—had thought that she was probably a spoilt little rich girl who had got a job here purely through nepotism.
In reality he couldn’t have been further from the truth. He had discovered she was an exceptionally talented designer who worked extremely hard and had once owned her own successful interior-design business. Her father had persuaded her to join the family company by promising her much bigger and more lucrative projects. As well as designing the interior of their show houses she ran an after-sales service for customers who wanted their homes bringing up to the same high standards. This was proving so successful that they’d had to expand the company’s design section.
No, somehow he couldn’t see Charlotte being pleased if her father was to leave the business.
As soon as he stepped out onto the top floor of the office he saw that she was already seated at her desk. He’d half wondered if she would be late this morning. Then he smiled to himself. He should have known better. Charlotte was always in her office bright and early, no matter what. She was a dedicated career girl.
He took a moment to study her now. She seemed completely engrossed in the papers in front of her. Her long blonde hair was piled up on top of her head, exposing the creamy length of her neck. As usual she was dressed in a smart, businesslike black trouser suit, with a white blouse open at the neck. She had a great figure—he allowed himself to remember her soft curves and the long, shapely legs and found himself wanting her all over again. Not a good start, he warned himself with annoyance. He was going to have to play this very carefully.
She glanced up and their eyes collided briefly. Only the pallor of her skin and the faint shadows under her green eyes gave away the fact that she wasn’t entirely at ease. She gave him a brief smile then returned her attention to her work.
Charlotte cursed herself as she fixed her eyes on her papers. Maybe she shouldn’t have smiled? She had been telling herself all morning that she should just act like normal—but what was normal? She couldn’t seem to remember how she usually behaved around Jordan. It was all muddled up in her mind now with memories of red-hot passion last night. Concentrate on work, she told herself fiercely.
At least her designs were taking good shape, she thought, running a critical eye over them. Sometimes it seemed as if she did her best work when she was under duress—maybe because she used work like an escape valve. When she entered her world of interior design she could shut the door on everything and everyone else. Jordan was a bit like that as well; they had remarked long ago that when it came to work they were remarkably similar, both totally dedicated. Which was probably the reason they had worked so well together lately.
Had she jeopardised that last night? Right at this moment Charlotte doubted very much that she could even pretend to be relaxed around him again.
The door of her office opened and she was aware of his dark eyes raking over her even before she glanced up. She held herself very straight, as if she was completely at ease and in control of the situation, and gave him a brief smile. ‘Hi, Jordan. You’re late—the accountant will be in soon and we have those figures to sort out.’ She was pleased at how confident she sounded.
‘Of course I’m late.’ He put down his briefcase and came around to perch on the edge of her desk.
Couldn’t he just use the seat opposite like any other normal person? Charlotte wondered nervously. She felt at enough of a disadvantage this morning without him looming over her like some kind of bird of prey.
‘Some feisty young woman kept me very busy last night.’ His voice was softly teasing.
She felt her skin glow with vivid colour.
There
