Dark Encounter

by Susanna Firth

  He came to a sudden halt. 'Now read it back,' he demanded, and she did so, stumbling slightly over the occasional unfamiliar word. He cut her short before she had gone further than the first paragraph. 'Right. You'll do.'

  'You mean you can find me a job?' The relief from tension made her feel almost faint.

  'If that's what you want.'

  'But you don't know what my typing's like,' she protested weakly. 'And then there's the question of references from my previous employer.'

  He shrugged. 'I assume your typing is up to standard or you'd hardly be wasting my time. As to references, I'd prefer to trust to my own judgment of character rather than that of other people.'

  'And what is your judgment of character?' she asked, greatly daring.

  He took his time in answering her, his grey eyes studying her with almost insulting slowness. 'Basically sound, if a little impetuous when someone knocks you of your guard.' He looked at his watch again and frowned. 'Now I have work to do, if you'll excuse me. I assume you'll be free to start work on Monday? Good. My secretary will fill you in on the other relevant details and answer any questions you may have.'

  'Yes, of course.' Kate smiled her thanks. It had not been as bad as she had expected after all. 'That's wonderful news. I'm very grateful to you for giving me a chance. I hope you won't have cause to regret it.'

  There was a curious expression in his eyes. 'So do I, Miss Sherwood.'

  She gathered up her handbag and pre-pared to go.

  'Haven't you forgotten something?' he asked abruptly.

  She looked at him enquiringly, then realised. 'You mean the salary you're offering?' She smiled. 'You must think me very unworldly. I assumed your secretary would mention that.'

  He named a sum far in excess of what she had received at Edwards Engineering and brushed aside her stunned cry of protest. 'Don't worry, I'm not overpaying you. You'll earn every penny of it, I assure you.'

  She turned to go. His voice halted her in her tracks. Silky smooth, it held a warning note, although she could not imagine why.

  'You don't seem too curious about the hard taskmaster for whom you'll be working.'

  Kate laughed. 'How foolish of me! Will your secretary introduce me to him now or do I wait until Monday to see him?' Her face fell as another thought struck her. 'Perhaps he'll want to decide for himself if we can work together successfully before you confirm my appointment.'

  'And you, very naturally, will want to make sure that your new boss is not—what was the expression you used—high-handed and impossible?'

  Sarcastic beast, she thought viciously, but controlled herself and responded sweetly, 'I find I can get on with most people if I try hard enough, Mr Blake. For the salary you're offering I'd work for the devil himself.'

  'Indeed? In that case I think you'll find we'll deal quite well together.'

  A sudden feeling of horror gripped her at his words. 'You don't mean that I—that you—'

  His smile was faintly malicious. 'I mean that Miss Wilkins, after four traumatic months in my employment, is leaving me to get married and I need a replacement for her.' He sounded suddenly impatient. 'That's the only vacancy I can offer you at the moment. Take it or leave it.'

  Kate's thoughts were in a turmoil. Never in her wildest nightmares had she dreamt that she might end up working as Nicholas Blake's personal secretary. Her stunned face must have reflected her emotions accurately, but he gave her no time to recover from the shock he had sprung on her.

  'Struck dumb for once, Kate?' he taunted her. 'Or are you trying to phrase a tactful refusal?'

  She was silent, her brain reeling frantically in an effort to take in the sudden revelation.

  'Perhaps you don't feel capable of dealing with the pressures the work might hold?' he continued, his voice dark with mockery. 'It's a very demanding post and requires a fair amount of initiative. I'm away a good deal and I'd expect you to take charge. I'm sorry if you feel it wouldn't suit you, but I'll understand, of course.'

  And forgive her, no doubt, for wasting his valuable time in the bargain. How dared he suggest that she could not cope? Kate threw caution to the winds and with it her first blind instinct to turn down his offer with a few polite words and leave his office as fast as her legs could carry her. 'Not at all,' she heard herself respond coolly. 'I always enjoy a challenge.'

  'So it would seem. I'll try not to disappoint you.' His expression was impossible to read, but she had the curious impression that he was feeling triumph rather than chagrin at her sudden enthusiastic acceptance of the job. Heaven alone knew why he had offered the post to her of all people. There would be a queue a mile long if he advertised for a secretary.

  Almost as if he had read the question in her mind he continued calmly, 'Naturally you're puzzled as to why I should avail myself of your services when I could choose almost anyone?'

  Kate bit back the tart reply that hovered on her tongue. 'Let's just say I didn't think you held a very high opinion of my talents on the strength of our meetings so far,' she said. That was his fault entirely, but she refrained from stating the obvious.

  'Not at all.' In one lithe movement he got to his feet and walked round the desk towards her. Without its comforting bulk between them Kate felt strangely insecure, uncertain of what his next move might be. 'You underestimate yourself, Kate. As far as I'm concerned your secretarial speeds, excellent though they may be, come a poor second to the one outstanding qualification I'm well aware you do possess.'

  What game was he playing now? She shifted a little uneasily in her chair, intensely aware of him in front of her. He was only inches away from her and she found the powerful figure unnerving in its closeness to her, although she could not have said why. 'Oh?' she enquired warily. 'You grant me one virtue at least, then. I suppose I should be grateful.'

  'Aren't you curious to know exactly what that virtue is?' He leaned back, resting casually against the desk, relaxed and completely in command of the situation. He was enjoying baiting her, she was sure of that. She shrugged, feigning indifference.

  'Well?'

  'I expect a certain standard of efficiency and, make no mistake, you'll earn your place in my office or you'll be out so fast that you won't know what's hit you. But one thing I won't tolerate is some little fool mooning over me and wasting time by making me the object of her romantic fantasies. It's caused problems in the past.' The grey eyes raked her dispassionately. 'If I've judged you correctly you won't make that mistake.'

  The conceit of the man! Did he imagine that a woman had only to look at him and the admittedly attractive picture he presented to fall head over heels in love with him? 'I think I can set your mind at rest on that point,' she told him decisively. 'I hardly imagine I'm likely to become besotted with you. In fact I'm sure I'm immune to your charms, such as they are.'

  The insult, if he registered it at all, passed him by. 'You're to be congratulated.'

  'For my discernment?' she fenced coolly, pretending a calm she was far from feeling.

  'Let's say for your good sense.' There was a hint of devilry in the smile that he slanted at tier. 'Although., if it weren't for the havoc it would wreak with the office routine, I might be almost tempted to see what it was like to break down those defences of yours. It could be quite an enjoyable experience.'

  'For you or me?'

  'Possibly for both of us.'

  'You'd fail, Mr Blake. Office romances don't interest me.'

  'There's always a first time.'

  'Yes, but never a second,' she countered quickly.

  'I see. Once bitten, twice shy?' He sounded faintly intrigued.

  She got hastily to her feet. 'If that's all I won't take up any more of your time. I believe you said you had work to do. I think your present secretary can put me right about everything else I want to know' She held out her hand in a gesture of farewell.

  'Including how to handle the boss?' The lean, hard fingers closed round hers and retained them in a firm grasp.

&nbs
p; 'I don't think I need advice on that.'

  'You sound very confident.'

  'Shouldn't I be?' The touch of his hand on hers was sending strange, thrilling vibrations through her and it was an effort to resist the impulse to tear away from his hold.

  'You may find me rather different from your former employer,' he told her. 'I'd hate to think you'd bitten off more than you could chew.'

  'I'm sure there's no danger of that.'

  'We'll see, shall we?' He released her hand abruptly. 'I shall be most interested to find out.'

  In spite of her coolness in the face of Nicholas Blake's onslaught it was with considerable trepidation that Kate faced her first day in her new job. Sarah, his outgoing secretary, who seemed to regard him with an equal mixture of affection and dread, did much to smooth the way by explaining the office routine and Kate was relieved to find that, although taxing, the job was clearly well within her capabilities. Whether she could deal with her new employer with the same confidence she was considerably less positive.

  She trod warily, only too conscious that this was the same man who had meted out such shattering punishment to her when they had clashed before. If he was piqued in any way by the cool indifference which, by a great effort on her part, coloured Kate's dealings with him, he gave no indication of it. His manner towards her was casual, even remote at times, and he rarely favoured her with one of the charming smiles which secured him the instant devotion of any female within range. It seemed Kate was no more to him than a reasonably useful piece of office furniture.

  If he appreciated or even noticed the way she fitted in with his quick-fire decisions, anticipated his orders and coped in his frequent trips abroad, he never remarked on it, but she assumed that as far as Nicholas Blake was concerned only failure merited remark. Although logic told her to be grateful that he had not followed up his threat of making her change her opinion of him, her feminine pride resented his cavalier attitude towards her and she had a strong suspicion that he sensed as much. Occasionally she was aware of a mocking glance in her direction, almost as if he had recognised her struggle to resist his attraction, and it amused him to watch the effort it cost her to remain aloof and detached.

  The work was hard, but he demanded nothing of her that he was not prepared to ask of himself and, as the weeks flew by, she could only marvel and grudgingly admire the ruthless brain whose astounding City successes were due partly to his uncanny flair for business, but also to his seemingly inexhaustible capacity for hard work. Top level finance meetings took him across the Atlantic at a moment's notice, but on his return he would settle down to deal with the work that accumulated in his absence and a punishing schedule of overdue appointments as if he had just come back from a month's holiday.

  To a woman the female staff doted on him and envied Kate her closeness to him. 'It's sickening the way they fall at his feet,' she complained to Jane. 'As if he were something special.'

  'You mean he isn't?' her flat-mate teased her. 'Oh, Kate, haven't you joined the admiring throng yet?'

  'No. And I'm hardly likely to.'

  'You still care about Jeremy? I hoped you'd put that business behind you.'

  'I have.' It was impossible to explain that however much she succeeded in plunging resolutely into work and trying to forget Jeremy, it would be a long time before the shock of his betrayal faded.

  'Then why are you closing your eyes to a golden opportunity? Nicholas Blake must be worth a mint. And I bet he knows how to give a girl a good time.' Jane's voice was wistful. 'Dinners in the best restaurants in town, nightclubs, parties—you could have a ball. It beats egg and chips in the local Wimpy any day. Give it a whirl. You've nothing to lose.'

  Kate laughed and shook her head. 'I've everything to lose. He doesn't like his secretaries falling for him. I like my job, thank you very much. I might be a fly on the wall for all the notice he takes of me as a woman, and I'd sooner keep it that way. Besides, who cares about high living if it's with a man you can't stand? I'd rather have. beans on toast with someone I really liked.'

  'The lady doth protest too much, methinks,' her friend commented sourly. 'An escort like Nicholas Blake would soon know how to change your mind. Anyway, I don't know how you can work with him every day and still pretend you dislike him.'

  'Quite easily, I assure you,' Kate lied firmly. 'Oh, he's attractive, but—'

  'Attractive? He's every girl's dream!'

  'Not mine.'

  Jane ignored her. 'Sophisticated, good-looking, rich, intelligent—'

  'Arrogant, strong-willed, ruthless, dictatorial,' Kate completed the list.

  'All right, I give in.' Jane raised her hands in mock surrender. 'If you can't recognise a gorgeous man when he's right in front of your nose, there's no hope for you. Does he know what you think of him?'

  Kate's mind flew back to the occasion when she had told him exactly what she had thought of him and the memory of his response was all too vivid. 'I imagine so,' she said casually. 'Why?'

  'I just hope he never takes it into his head to try to alter your opinion. I know who I'd back to win that particular contest.'

  'You'd be wrong.'

  'Would I? Don't be too sure. From what I hear he's not the sort of man who fails to get what he wants, whether it's a business deal or a woman.'

  'In that case,' Kate told her friend lightly, 'it's just as well he doesn't want me. I'd hate you to witness his first failure.'

  CHAPTER FIVE

  With her friend's words fresh in her mind Kate found herself studying her employer closely the next day as she sat, pencil poised, waiting for Nicholas to digest the details of a foreign query and dictate an answer to it. Yes, Jane was right, she conceded reluctantly, as she took in every inch of the lithe, immaculately suited figure. Nicholas Blake was all imperious male, she decided, scanning the handsome features which were saved from the insipidity of mere good looks by the firm chin and broad, intelligent forehead. Even now, as he sat puzzling over the letter in his hand and utterly unconscious of the appearance he presented, there was a magnetism about him, a virile attraction which even she felt, dislike him as she might.

  What would it be like, she wondered, to have him as the man in one's life, an attentive, stimulating partner, dancing attendance and humouring one's every whim? As quickly as the thought came she rejected it. Any woman in his life would fit in with his wishes and play the subordinate role. And, if the gossip columns, as relayed by Jane, were to be believed, any number of glamorous women were prepared to do just that. The prospect of snaring the man the newspapers had christened 'the City's most eligible bachelor' must be almost irresistible.

  The latest in a long line of fashionable beauties appeared to be Diana Kendall, the socialite daughter of a wealthy businessman, a girl who, as far as Kate could discover, combined amazing good looks with the bare minimum of brains. But perhaps he preferred that blend. No doubt it saved arguments. He had been visiting the Kendall's country estate and had been dashing back to London when he had come upon Kate in the middle of his path. A peep in his diary had established that fact, although she had felt almost guilty at the curiosity which had prompted her to look for the information. As if his personal life was any concern of hers. A smile crossed her face at the thought of the contrast between the elegance of Diana Kendall's exquisitely groomed face and figure and her own appearance that night in her aunt's old dressing gown. Nicholas Blake had certainly gone from the sublime to the ridiculous that night!

  'If you're quite ready?' A coldly sarcastic tone penetrated her thoughts.

  She jumped in confusion at the sound. 'Sorry. I was miles away.'

  'So it would appear.' He thrust the letter aside and turned his concentrated gaze on her, the grey eyes uncomfortably penetrating. 'Whatever it was seemed to be causing you some amusement. Perhaps you'd like to share the joke with me?'

  She fenced desperately. 'I don't think you'd find it particularly funny. It was just something private.'

  He frowned imp
atiently. 'If it's your latest boy-friend who's occupying your mind, do you think that you could make an effort to forget him for a moment or two at least so that you can get this letter down? Or is that too much to ask?'

  'No, Mr Blake.' She accepted the rebuke meekly, feeling like a schoolgirl who had been told off for talking in class. She wondered what his reaction would have been if she had told him he had been, at least indirectly, the object of her amusement. It didn't seem worth the explanation. She straightened in her chair and projected an air of eager efficiency as she waited for him to return to the letter by his hand.

  But he seemed in no hurry to do so. 'I expected better of you than this. You've made quite a promising start and I'll admit I've been pleasantly surprised by the way you've managed to grasp the essentials in the short time you've been working here. But if you're going to let your private life start interfering with your work., you're hardly likely to stay the course with me. What you do after five o'clock is your own affair and I don't give a damn. But I expect your complete co-operation during office hours, and that means one hundred per cent, not any less. Is that clear?'

  'Perfectly. I think you've made your point,' Kate said tightly, suppressing the angry retort that had risen instinctively to her lips. Patronising, dictatorial man! Did he really think that she was that stupid? Obviously he did. She supposed it was partly her fault for daydreaming. But to dress her down like a junior typist in her first week at work was uncalled for. 'It won't happen again,' she told him firmly.

  'I trust not. Now let's get on.'

  After that there was no time for her attention to wander as she took down the letters he dictated fast and furiously for the rest of the morning. She escaped from his room at last, flexing her cramped fingers as she collapsed in her own chair. He wanted this batch of letters completed for signature before she left the office and she resigned herself to working through her lunch hour to make sure that she had them ready in time. This of all days was not one for excuses for unfinished tasks! With sandwiches and a cup of coffee by her typewriter she set to work.