his hair.
Without any difficulty Amy conjured an image of Sonya in her mind’s eye. Apart from the wedding itself, when she’d worn a white puff-ball dress with far too much diamante, the one and only time Amy had seen her had been at her father’s house-warming party the previous autumn and she’d made a colourful impression.
A full-frontal assault of a redhead in baby pink with a bust that could take your eye out if she turned suddenly and you hadn’t seen her coming. She wasn’t the kind of woman who’d need much encouragement for anything, judging from the way she’d danced with Seb. But even so there must have been something. Something Hugh’d done to convince her he was interested.
It didn’t bear thinking about. He owed Richard Laithwaite so much. When Hugh’s father had died it had been Richard, a childhood friend of both their mothers, who’d come alongside the bewildered twelve-year-old boy and filled the void. How could Hugh even think of repaying him like that?
‘You can’t have an affair with Sonya. You can’t do that to Richard. He believed in you, mentored you in the beginning. I don’t believe even you would sink so low.’
‘Exactly. That’s what I’ve been saying. I can’t. Even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t,’ he said, meeting her eyes with a steely determination.
She pulled at the gold chain round her neck. ‘You don’t want to?’
‘No.’
His reply had been unequivocal but she looked a little doubtful. Men did go for women like Sonya, after all, and Hugh was more easily distracted by the next pair of legs than most. ‘You’re not even a little bit tempted?’
‘Of course not. She’s Richard’s wife. I do think he’s been a complete idiot to marry a woman twenty-seven years younger than himself—particularly one like Sonya. I also believe she’ll find someone who’ll eagerly take up her offer sooner rather than later. But I’m equally certain it won’t be me. You must have a really low opinion of me to think I’d even contemplate treating him like that,’ he said on a final, sudden spurt of anger.
Amy was unmoved. She smiled sunnily across at the harsh expression on his handsome face, finally convinced. ‘When it comes to women it couldn’t be lower. I’d have thought Sonya’s obvious attractions might hold some fascination for you,’ she said angelically, thinking of the bouncing thirty-four DDs the redhead displayed in dresses apparently spray-painted on.
‘Would you?’ he bit out dangerously.
Amy stopped her laugh in her throat and it came out as a husky chuckle. ‘Obviously not. Truthfully I’ve never given your preferences much thought. A leg man, are you?’ she quipped, faltering slightly beneath the quelling look in his eyes. ‘Have you considered just telling her you’re not interested? You know, just saying it straight out?’
His eyes conveyed eloquently what he thought of that suggestion. ‘Sonya believes I’m being noble.’
‘Then she doesn’t know you very well!’ she cut in, trying to stop the bubble of amusement bursting out of control.
‘Stop it, Amy. It isn’t funny. She’s convinced herself I feel guilty about Richard. That the only thing stopping me grabbing what’s on offer is fear of what other people think.’
‘There’s a fair bit to grab.’ She couldn’t resist chipping in with a swipe at the woman’s cosmetically enhanced assets before adding carelessly, ‘Oh, just tell her you don’t go for married women. Tell her it’s too complicated to get involved with your boss’s wife.’
If only it had been that simple. Hugh thought back over the numerous conversations he’d had with Sonya and wondered how much of them to tell Amy. He turned back from the window and sat down. ‘It’s not that easy. If I speak to her she takes it as encouragement. Whatever I’ve tried has been a disaster. She doesn’t give up.’
Amy frowned at the suddenly weary tone in his voice, her desire to laugh evaporating. ‘Are you trying to tell me she’s stalking you?’
‘I’m not sure how you define “stalking”,’ he hedged. ‘I don’t imagine she’s dangerous, but what I’m trying to say is she’s making my life a damned misery. My PA’s been fantastic. When we’ve known Sonya’s in the building Barbara’s worked late so we could leave together. If I’m in the office all day she’s brought sandwiches to eat at her desk. Just brilliant. With her away, I’m just too vulnerable.’
‘Couldn’t an agency temp do all that?’ Amy asked, biting on her finger.
‘Only if I explained what was happening. Sonya’s the chief executive’s wife, for heaven’s sake. She’s in the building all the time. What possible excuse could I give for not wanting to be left alone with her?’
Amy blew her fringe off her face. There wasn’t one. There was no plausible explanation except the truth, and if he confided in a temporary secretary it would probably travel round Harpur-Laithwaite like wildfire. ‘How long has it been going on?’ she asked at last.
‘Just a couple of months. Three perhaps. I didn’t think too much about it at first. There was nothing for a few days and then maybe two small incidents in the same day. She’s always been a bit…overt.’
‘I can imagine.’ Her voice was dry. ‘Go on. There must have been a trigger. Something that started it all getting more serious.’
He’d thought along those lines himself, going back over the occasions he’d been in Sonya’s company and trying to pinpoint the moment she’d begun to pursue him with the tenacity of a terrier.
But there was nothing. Nothing concrete anyway. His suspicions were all based on conjecture and almost unthinkable.
‘I can’t think of any one single incident to explain it. I think she must feel trapped. Perhaps she sees my lifestyle and wants it.’
Amy’s mouth twisted in wry humour. Somehow she doubted Hugh’s lifestyle was the draw. Richard Laithwaite was a lovely man. He’d been a part of Amy’s childhood since she could remember, always an unfailing source of ice-cream and surprisingly able to read Winnie the Pooh better than anyone else she knew. But marriage to him? No! It wasn’t something she’d ever have contemplated.
No one had been in any doubt why Sonya had chosen to marry him—money. Years and years of focusing exclusively on the acquisition of it had made Richard fabulously wealthy. Why he’d suddenly decided to abandon his single life was more of a mystery.
And now Sonya was bored. She had the designer clothes, the beautiful car, the Elizabethan manor house in Oxfordshire and it wasn’t quite enough. And then there was Hugh. However much Amy would like to bring Hugh Balfour down a peg or seven she had to admit he was a tempting alternative. Young and gorgeous with incredible eyes. Deep, deep blue with a hint of devilment. Pure sex and almost irresistible. To be immune to Hugh you had to know him very well indeed.
Poor Richard. Her heart ached for him when she imagined the pain he’d go through if he discovered how Sonya felt about Hugh. He loved Hugh like the son he’d never made time to have. It would be the ultimate betrayal.
‘What are you going to do?’ she asked quietly.
‘Wait. Just for a while. I’m confident I can sort it, but I need Richard to be safely away from office gossip and that’s
