The Irresistible Tycoon

by Helen Brooks

  She rose slowly, angry with herself and Lucas. Did she believe he hadn’t dated since she’d started at Kane Electrical? Kim considered the thought as she prepared the coffee tray, her slender hands moving mechanically as she frowned into space. Yes, she thought she did; Lucas wouldn’t lie.

  Lucas wouldn’t lie? The moment it entered her mind, she attacked the thought like a terrier with a rabbit. Just because her boss was honest—brutally honest, on occasion—with regard to his business dealings, it certainly didn’t mean he was equally honourable and veracious in his dealings with women, she told herself caustically.

  Kim suddenly remembered Graham. She had believed him, trusted him, and look where it had got her. One mistake was understandable; a second would verge on stupidity. And she was not a stupid woman. He had called her that many times. She shut her eyes and could almost hear the echo of past fights. Graham had been cruel, spectacularly cruel when he’d been under the influence of alcohol. She had heard it said that an excess of alcohol revealed the real person beneath the social niceties civilisation imposed on the human race, and in Graham’s case it hadn’t been pleasant.

  By the time she carried in the coffee tray Kim was the epitome of the cool blonde, her mouth set in a polite smile and her manner courteous.

  ‘Thank you.’ Lucas raised his dark head and looked straight into her eyes as she placed the tray on his desk, and in spite of her acute discomfort Kim felt there was some genuine concern as his narrowed eyes searched her face.

  She berated herself for the weakness as soon as she was safely back in her office. June had said he was a Lothario, hadn’t she? Well, Lucas’s previous secretary hadn’t actually said that exactly, she admitted in the next instant, but June had implied that Lucas was a love ’em and leave ’em type, and she ignored that at her peril.

  She sipped her own coffee, her head whirling, and then contemplated the pile of work needing her attention with a rueful twist to her lips. Enough. She was here to do a job of work and that was exactly what she would do. This morning had been a regrettable hiccup but that was all it had been. She had to get a handle on this.

  Lucas Kane was her boss and that was all he was. She would be doubly careful not to infringe on his privacy in any way from this day forth—although she didn’t think she had done so before—in order not to give him the wrong impression.

  And the things he had said? The little voice in her head was determined to be heard. About wanting to kiss her from day one? Wanting to get to know her better?

  Kim breathed in and then out very slowly, flexing her fingers on the keyboard and refusing to let the feeling of panic consume her. She wouldn’t think about it. It might be the easy way out but it was necessary for her sanity!

  She had made it perfectly clear to Lucas how she felt about any sort of personal relationship with him. And he was a proud man, arrogant even, and certainly egotistical. He would disregard all that had happened today, if she knew anything about it, pretend it hadn’t happened and perhaps even concentrate his attention on some delectable female he could parade in front of her to make the point, that she—his secretary—was easily forgotten. Yes, that was what he’d do.

  John Powell left Lucas’s office ten minutes later and after a minute or two Lucas popped his head round the interconnecting door. ‘I’ve reserved a table for two at a nice little place I know tonight,’ he said expressionlessly. ‘Be ready at eight.’ And the door closed without further discussion.

  CHAPTER SIX

  RIGHT up until the moment Kim found herself on Maggie’s doorstep, asking her friend if she could call round later to babysit, Kim would have sworn she had no intention of keeping her date with Lucas.

  She had told him so several times throughout the course of what had been, for Kim, a particularly trying day, but it had been like talking to a brick wall. And she just didn’t know how to deal with such intractability, Kim admitted silently to herself on the drive home from Maggie’s.

  In the two years since Graham had died she had had to freeze several advances from hopeful suitors, but it had been easy. A polite thank you but no thank you, a severe look if they’d needed further persuasion and that had been that. But what had worked admirably with the manager at the local supermarket, an old university friend of Graham’s and one or two hopeful admirers from clients of Curtis & Brackley had not cut any ice with Lucas Kane.

  She had tried to keep everything on a strictly businesslike basis that day, but Lucas had appeared to find her efforts amusing rather than anything else, Kim reflected irritably as she fixed Melody’s tea.

  But she would spell it out for him tonight, in letters a mile high if necessary, she told herself grimly. She was not going to start a relationship with anyone in the forseeable future, least of all Lucas Kane. Her priority in life was Melody—first and foremost. She didn’t want or need anyone else.

  Maggie arrived early but Kim had known she would. She hadn’t been able to say anything more than that she needed her friend to babysit for eight o’clock when she had called by on her way home from collecting Melody, conscious of small ears twitching, but when Maggie had asked—naturally enough—where Kim was going and with whom, and she had mentioned Lucas Kane, Maggie’s eyes had nearly popped out of her head.

  Melody was tucked up in bed waiting for Maggie to arrive and read her a story, and after Maggie had called up to say she wouldn’t be a minute or two, she had taken Kim’s arm in a powerful grip and whisked her into the little sitting room.

  ‘Well?’ Maggie’s nice homely face was agog. ‘What gives with the tycoon?’

  ‘Lucas, you mean?’

  ‘You have more than one fabulously rich and gorgeous man asking you out?’

  ‘He’s not gorgeous.’ It was too quick and they both knew it, and as Kim watched Maggie’s eyes narrow speculatively she said more carefully, ‘I mean he’s just my boss, that’s all.’

  ‘And he’s taking you out to dinner as what? A little treat for one of his employees?’ Maggie asked a trifle sarcastically. ‘Come on, Kim, this is Maggie, remember? So, I ask you again, what gives?’

  ‘Oh, Maggie.’ It was a hushed wail. ‘It’s all such a mess.’ She told Maggie all of it and at the end Maggie nodded sagely, like a wise little ginger owl.

  ‘I knew you’d been on edge these last months but I thought it was just worry about holding down the job,’ she said quietly, her eyes sympathetic. ‘Why didn’t you tell me before, Kim? It might have helped. I don’t pretend to have all the answers—look at me and Pete—but I’m always ready to listen.’

  ‘I know.’ Kim lifted tragic eyes. ‘And perhaps I’m being ridiculous at panicking anyway. I’m only going out for dinner with him and any other girl would be only too pleased at the opportunity of an evening with Lucas Kane.’

  ‘You’re not any other girl, though,’ Maggie said gently, ‘and perhaps he has the good sense to realise it. Maybe he’s serious about you, Kim.’

  ‘I hope not.’ Kim’s voice was suddenly firmer. ‘It’s a terrific job and I’d hate to have to leave it.’

  ‘You’d do that? Even fancying him the way you do?’

  Kim dragged in a deep breath and expelled it quietly. ‘I don’t want a man in my life, Maggie,’ she said grimly. ‘Not now, not ever. I’ve done all that, I’ve got the T-shirt, and in my case it really is once bitten, twice shy.’

  ‘But he wouldn’t be like Graham,’ Maggie said softly. ‘You do see that, don’t you? You can’t let Graham ruin your life, Kim.’

  ‘Funny, that’s exactly what Lucas said.’ Kim smiled at Maggie, a sad little bitter smile as she added, ‘But I don’t see it that way. Besides, how long do you think a man like Lucas would be interested in someone like me? A month—two, maybe? It might stretch to six at a pinch. I don’t belong in his world, Maggie.’

  ‘How do you know that unless you give it a try?’ Maggie asked reasonably.

  ‘I know, all right.’ Kim suddenly wanted the conversation to end. ‘Anyway, there’s
Melody to consider too, don’t forget. I don’t want her getting fond of someone only for them to disappear in a little while. There’s one or two of her friends who have “uncles” who are here today and gone tomorrow, a new father-figure every time the wind changes. My child isn’t going to have to go through that.’

  ‘Okay, okay.’ Maggie had the wisdom to know when to call a halt. ‘Anyway, it’s nearly half-past seven; you’d better go and get dressed.’

  Kim had just walked out of the shower when Maggie had knocked, and was still wearing her bathrobe with her wet hair bundled in a handtowel turban-style, and now she glanced at the sitting room clock in horror before flying out of the room, calling over her shoulder as she made for the cottage’s narrow stairs, ‘Melody’s milk and biscuits are ready on a tray in the kitchen. I said you’d read to her while she eats her supper.’

  ‘No problem.’ Maggie continued to stare after her friend for a moment or two before walking through into the neat and sparkling kitchen, and her broad freckled face was anxious. No problem, she had said, but unless she was very much mistaken there was a problem of momentous proportions brewing here.

  Kim was lovely, exquisitely lovely to look at, but more than that she was lovely inside where it counts. But vulnerable, painfully vulnerable, and she hid that vulnerability behind an armour that somehow this Lucas Kane had managed to penetrate—whether Kim acknowledged it or not. And that wasn’t good.

  Maggie frowned to herself as she reached for the tray and made her way upstairs. She’d have a good look at this tycoon who was so apparently irresistible tonight, and if she thought he was the type to give Kim the run-around—well, she’d just have a good look at him tonight and take it from there, she told herself stoutly, but her mouth was set in an uncharacteristically grim line and her expression was formidable.

  Kim wasn’t downstairs when Lucas knocked at the front door just before eight, so after warning Melody to stay in bed Maggie made her somewhat ponderous way to the front door.

  ‘Good evening.’ Lucas smiled at the dour-faced woman in the doorway. ‘You must be Maggie. I’m Lucas Kane.’ He held out a huge bunch of flowers as he added, ‘These are for you, to say thanks for babysitting at such short notice.’

  Maggie smiled back as she took the flowers—she could hardly do anything else, she told herself silently, when she experienced a moment’s contrition at her easy capitulation, besides which she had to admit Lucas had quite taken her breath away—and managed to say, a little breathlessly for her, ‘Come in, won’t you? Kim will be down in a moment.’

  ‘She’s trying to dry her nails but they’re taking ages.’

  This last was from Melody who, unbeknown to both her mother and Maggie, had slid out of bed and was now perched at the top of the stairs, staring through the banisters at Lucas with great brown eyes.

  ‘Are they?’ As Maggie and Lucas glanced upward, Lucas grinned at the tiny miniature of Kim. ‘Mine took ages, too,’ he assured her solemnly.

  ‘Silly.’ Melody giggled and wriggled her small body. ‘It’s only ladies who paint their nails.’

  ‘You’re supposed to be in bed, young lady.’ Maggie was flustered and it was a new feeling for her, one she didn’t care for. ‘Back you go and I’ll be up in a minute to finish that story.’

  ‘Here, take this before you go.’ Lucas reached into the pocket of his overcoat and drew out a small wrapped package which he threw up to Melody, who caught it deftly. ‘That’s for being a good girl for your Aunt Maggie. You are going to be a good girl, aren’t you?’

  ‘Melody’s always a good girl.’ Maggie felt she had lost control of the situation somehow and she wasn’t quite sure how it had happened.

  ‘I’m sure she is.’ Lucas smiled down at Maggie again, his voice soothing, and then as Melody shrieked her delight with the beautifully dressed little teddy bear the parcel had contained, he added quietly, ‘You go up and see to her, Maggie. I’m fine, really. I’ll just sit and wait for Kim.’

  ‘Right.’ Maggie stared at him, nonplussed and out of her depth. ‘I’ll just put the flowers in the kitchen.’ She looked down at the magnificent array of yellow roses, white carnations, baby’s breath and freesias, and then, as she glanced at Lucas again, she saw his mouth was twitching.

  ‘I admit it, I’m trying to win you over,’ he said softly, reading her mind so aptly Maggie turned beetroot-red. ‘I need all the help I can get with Kim.’

  ‘I…I’ll put the flowers in water.’ Maggie berated herself as soon as she’d left the room for not seizing on such a perfect opportunity to ask Lucas how he felt about Kim, but somehow—now he was here in the flesh and a hundred times more daunting than ever Kim had described—she hadn’t dared.

  Which made her the wimp of the decade, she told herself irritably as she hurried upstairs to Melody’s pretty pink and cream bedroom which she and Kim, along with Pete, had decorated the first weekend Kim had moved into her new house.

  Just a few yards along the landing, Kim was surveying herself in the full-length mirror in her bedroom. She hadn’t known what to wear—what did women wear for a date with a multi-millionaire anyway? she thought with wry humour—but had finally put on one of the two new evening outfits she had bought a couple of months before, courtesy of Kane Electrical’s clothing allowance.

  The sleeveless olive-green silk and cashmere dress had a matching waist-length cashmere jacket and had cost an arm and a leg, but when Kim had seen it in one of the more exclusive little shops in Cambridge she had known it was eminently suitable for any evening function she might attend as Lucas’s secretary. It was chic without being ostentatious, elegant and stylish, and fitted her like a dream. The colour emphasised the striking contrast between her hair and her eyes and brought out the honey-gold tone of her skin to the extent she had gasped when she had first tried the outfit on.

  What would Lucas think when he saw her? She caught at the thought, refusing to let it have head room, but nevertheless the thrill of excitement the beautiful clothes had induced lingered in spite of herself, and as Kim applied a dab of perfume to each wrist and small crystal studs to her ears her hands were trembling.

  She popped in to kiss Melody goodnight before she nerved herself to go downstairs, and as she stepped into the room her daughter’s eyes widened appreciatively. ‘You look so pretty, Mummy, like the princess in Aunty Maggie’s story.’

  ‘Thank you, precious.’ Kim sat down on the edge of the bed and gathered the small body close, careless of the new outfit. Melody smelt of baby powder and her soft blonde hair was still slightly damp from her bath and curling slightly round the elfin face. Kim felt such a surge of love well up in her as her daughter’s arms wound round her neck and Melody’s lips pressed against hers that she closed her eyes against it, holding Melody against her heart for some seconds before she settled her daughter back under the duvet.

  ‘You look stunning.’ Maggie had been with her when she had bought the outfit, and her voice was wry as she added, ‘But you’d look great in sackcloth and ashes, like I told you before.’

  Kim smiled at her friend; she knew Maggie found her lack of confidence in her looks amazing but she couldn’t help it. The years in the children’s home followed by her disastrous marriage and Graham’s mental abuse had damaged something deep in her psyche, and although she had fought back—and would continue to fight—she wasn’t quite there yet.

  But she looked good tonight. She gave a mental nod to the declaration as she stood up, her voice low as she said to Maggie, ‘Well? What do you think?’, inclining her head towards the door.

  Maggie answered the unspoken question about Lucas by shaking her fingers as though they’d been burnt. ‘Wow.’ One word but it covered everything.

  And then both women turned to the small figure in the bed in consternation as Melody said, her piping voice very clear and direct, ‘I think Lucas is scrumptious.’ One of Melody’s Christmas presents had been a video of the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and ‘scrumptious’ was
her new word for the moment and used for all sorts of good things.

  But Lucas? Kim glanced at Maggie anxiously and Maggie shrugged, her voice dry as she said, ‘Bright as a button, and serves us right for being so arrogant to think we could talk in code with Miss Muffet around.’

  ‘I do, I think he’s scrumptious.’ Melody had caught the vibes concerning her new hero and wasn’t having any of it. ‘Look what Lucas brought me, Mummy.’ She held up the little bear for Kim’s inspection.

  ‘Lovely, darling.’

  ‘He brought me flowers.’ Maggie’s voice was magnificently expressionless.

  ‘He did?’ Kim eyed her helplessly. ‘But I hadn’t told him you’d be babysitting.’

  ‘You might not have told him but he knew anyway.’

  The two women stared at each other for another long moment and then Kim said, her tone one of resignation, ‘I’d better go down.’

  The sitting room door was open, and as Kim came down the stairs and reached the threshold, Lucas turned from his quiet contemplation of the garden and Kim received a bolt of electricity as the thickly lashed, curiously silver eyes looked at her. He didn’t say a word for what seemed like an eternity; he just stared at her, the most strange expression on his hard, attractive face.

  ‘Hello.’ Kim attempted a smile but it was more a quiver of her lips.

  ‘Hello.’ It was very soft and very deep and made every nerve in Kim’s body twang. ‘You look…exquisitely lovely.’

  ‘Thank you.’ The intensity of his gaze was making her skin tingle and to combat the feeling, and the warm seductive spell that had settled over the last minute or two, Kim said evenly, ‘It was nice of you to bring Maggie the flowers and to think of Melody but it wasn’t necessary.’