by Mary Lyons
‘I refused to believe that it could possibly be you, of all people,’ he continued, ignoring her sour comment. ‘How can you do this to me? How can you be so unprincipled, so—?’
‘Don’t talk to me about principles!’ she flashed back angrily. ‘We both know that you don’t have the first idea about the meaning of the word.’
‘That’s absolute nonsense—and you know it! I was totally honest and above board about the reasons why I had to ask you to leave. I didn’t behave in a thoroughly devious, underhand manner, sneaking into this building and—’
‘Hold it!’ she snapped. ‘You don’t own me—or this building, for that matter. Since you never asked me to sign an exclusion contract which would have prevented me from working in the vicinity of your firm, I’ve a perfect right to start up a business anywhere I please.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous! What would you know about the mechanics of running a business?’ he demanded with heavy sarcasm. ‘And what is this so-called “business”, anyway? Some pathetic computer dating service?’ he added with a sneer, glancing around at the open boxes on the floor containing state-of-the-art office machinery. ‘As far as I can see, your only qualifications are a university degree and some experience gained in the running of a theatrical agency.’
‘Funny you should say that...’ she murmured, suddenly filled with a feeling of mad exhilaration, and realising that the old saying was quite right. Revenge really was proving to be sweet—very sweet indeed. ‘I came to exactly the same conclusion.’
‘You... you don’t mean...?’
‘Mmm...’ she cooed, giving him a wide, beaming, sickly sweet smile. ‘And, since I owe you so much, I want you to be the first to know that I’ve decided to open my own theatrical agency.’
‘Over my dead body!’ he roared, his face as black as thunder.
‘Oh, dear,’ she muttered, desperately struggling not to laugh at the sight of her ex-employer practically dancing with rage. And then, deciding to give the knife another, twist, she added, ‘I thought you’d be pleased. Especially since I’ll still be able to look after some of your old clients.’
‘What do you mean by my “old” clients?’ he ground out savagely, striding menacingly towards her. ‘If I catch you trying to poach any of my actors, I... I’ll have you in court so fast your feet won’t touch the ground. And that’s not a threat—it’s a promise!’ he added grimly, placing his hands firmly on her shoulders.
Raising her chin defiantly, and just about to tell him to get lost, she barely had time to even gasp in alarm as she found herself being pulled roughly up against his tall figure, her soft breasts crushed against his hard, muscular chest. Firmly pinning her against him with one large hand, and burying the other in her hair, Jack ruthlessly tugged her head back, tilting her face up towards him.
‘I don’t know what you think you’re doing,’ he growled with grim, silky menace, ‘but I can tell you that this nonsense has got to stop, right now! If you think that I’m prepared to have an ex-employee starting up a business directly beneath my own office, you must be completely off your trolley!’
With those steely, granite-like eyes boring into her, it seemed as though her brain was being probed by lethal, laser-sharp skewers. Clasped so tightly in his arms, she was aware of the angry, hectic flush beneath the tanned skin covering his high cheekbones and formidable jaw, and her eyes were drawn helplessly to the cruel, sensual curve of his lips.
‘You...you can’t stop me!’ she cried breathlessly, desperately trying to ignore the instinctive, quivering response of her traitorous body to the long, muscular thighs pressed so closely to her own.
It was always the same, she thought with despair. Every time she came anywhere near him, it seemed as though she was completely helpless, totally unable to prevent the white-hot flare of erotic attraction from scorching through her trembling limbs and destroying all her bard-fought, carefully erected defences against this man’s fatal attraction.
‘Let me go!’ she croaked, frantically striving to escape his iron grip. ‘There’s nothing you can do to stop me operating from this office, and...and if you can’t take the heat,’ she added defiantly, ‘then you’d better keep out of the kitchen!’
To her surprise, he merely responded to her provocative words with a low, rasping laugh, gazing fixedly down into her green eyes as some of the anger slowly drained from his face.
‘All right, sweetheart!’ he hissed menacingly. ‘If that’s the way you want to play it, then you’ll just have to face the consequences!’
She’d barely managed to assimilate the dangerous glitter in his stormy grey eyes before his mouth came crushing down like a weapon against her lips, leaving her completely stunned, the relentless pressure almost paralysing in its intensity. Hardly able to breathe, and struggling against the arms which had tightened about her like bands of steel, she was aware of a treacherous warmth invading her limbs beneath the punishing assault which burned and demanded her submission.
Gradually and almost imperceptibly the cruel, ruthless pressure began to ease, his lips becoming warm and persuasive as they subtly coaxed and teased away all resistance. The hands which had been holding her so tightly now began to slowly slip-slide down over her soft curves, pressing her ever closer to his taut, muscular frame, so that Laura finally realised, from the hard arousal of his own body, that Jack was also a victim of the same deadly enchantment now winding its evil tentacles about their two still figures.
And then, with shocking suddenness, she found herself released from her torment. She lay limply in his arms like a rag doll, and it was some moments before she was able to get a grip on reality. With the limited mental energy at her command, Laura concentrated on trying to pull herself together, desperately striving to remain standing on legs which felt as though they were made of jelly, and likely to collapse at any moment. Which was why it took her some time to understand why Jack was cursing so violently under his breath.
Her dazed eyes slowly following his gaze, she was shattered to see Susie and the removal men standing frozen in the doorway. It was clear from their stunned expressions and, alas, the wide grin on two of the men’s faces that they’d had a superb ringside view of all that had been taking place in her office.
Her cheeks flaming with mortification and shame, Laura desperately tried to think of something to say, some explanation which would enable her to emerge from this humiliating situation with at least her dignity intact. But unfortunately the task seemed completely beyond her.
Susie appeared to be the first to recover her wits. But the girl’s evident intention of leaving the room as quickly as possible was foiled by the wide, burly figures of the removal men jammed in the doorway. Cringing at the obvious embarrassment on her assistant’s face, Laura was nonetheless still feeling too stunned to say or do anything. However, it seemed that Jack had no such problem.
‘Get the hell out of here—right this minute!’ he rasped savagely. ‘No, not you, Susie,’ he snapped, frowning with irritation at the general mêlée as the men bumped into one another in their evident haste to leave the room. ‘I definitely want to have a word with you!’
‘No...I really don’t think that I ought to get involved...’
‘Too bad! You should have thought of that before having anything to do with this totally crazy, damn stupid enterprise of Laura’s,’ he growled, jabbing an accusing finger at the petite blonde girl still vainly trying to force her way past the bodies stuck in the doorway. ‘You...you traitor!’
‘Who? Me?’ Susie squeaked, spinning around to stare at him with astonishment. ‘What on earth do you mean?’
He gave a harsh bark of sardonic laughter. ‘Don’t play the innocent with me! Because if you’re now working for this...this carrot-haired harpy—’
‘Now just a minute!’ Laura yelled, finding her voice at last.
‘—you must need your head examined!’ he ground out, completely ignoring both Laura’s fury and her clumsy, unsuccessful attempt to
land a hard kick on his shins.
‘There’s nothing wrong with my head—and I’m certainly no traitor!’ Susie retorted hotly. ‘I did try to return to work for your agency some months ago, but I was quite clearly told that you had no vacancies. So what was I supposed to do?’ she demanded. ‘Just stay at home and completely forget about working for anyone else? From the way you’re going on, anyone would think that I’m committing some sort of crime.’
‘Well, you’ve certainly made a great mistake in coming here to work for her,’ he grated through clenched teeth, turning away from Susie to throw a glance of pure, undiluted hatred at the girl who’d been so firmly clasped in his arms only a few moments ago.
‘If I do nothing else in this life, Laura, I’m going to make absolutely sure that your firm goes to the wall—and as quickly as possible,’ he thundered, noting with satisfaction her pale, chalky-white face and trembling figure. ‘By the time I’ve finished with you, you’re going to wish that you’d never been born! And when—’ He broke off as Susie gave a peal of scornful laughter.
‘Really, Jack—this is all too silly for words!’ she exclaimed. ‘Why don’t we just calm down and try to act like reasonable human beings?’
‘When I want your advice I’ll ask for it!’
‘Well, that’s tough, because I’m going to give it to you anyway,’ she retorted, clearly refusing to be intimidated by the brooding menace of his tall, dark figure. ‘Sure, you can go ahead and try and blacklist us—or whatever nasty scheme you have in mind. But what’s it going to achieve? After all,’ she added with a shrug, ‘the first question anyone is going to ask is why Jack Wilder—owner of one of the most successful and prestigious theatrical agencies in London—should be so worried about such a very small, one-man band like this new firm.’
After pausing for a moment to let her words sink in, Susie continued, ‘If I was a casting director, for instance, I might begin to wonder if perhaps you were beginning to lose your grip. And as for your clients... Well, we all know just how neurotic and fickle some actors can be. Especially if they suspect you’re spending more time trying to put another firm out of business than concentrating on their own precious careers.’ She shrugged. ‘In fact, they might well decide they’d be better off leaving WHAM and joining the firm which is apparently giving you such a hard time.
‘You’ve got a good point there, Susie.’ Laura nodded in agreement. ‘Most actors hate to feel that they might not be on the winning team.’
‘Oh, shut up!’ Jack turned to growl at her, before Susie once more claimed his attention.
‘Surely your best course of action is to try and forget everything that’s happened here today,’ she pleaded with the man who was still clearly rigid with fury. ‘I’m sure your desk is piled high with some really exciting, megadollar contracts and deals. So why waste your valuable time fighting a small, two-bit firm which hasn’t even got off the ground?’
Jack stared grimly at the two women for a moment. ‘I may well be in danger of “losing my grip” but I’m still quite capable of knowing when I’ve been outmanoeuvred!’ he told them bitterly, before giving a heavy sigh of exasperation and striding grimly out of the room.
‘Phew...!’ Susie breathed with relief. ‘There but for the grace of God—goes God!’ she added, flinching at the sound of a loud bang as the front door of the office suite was slammed shut behind Jack’s departing figure.
‘I’m sorry...’ Laura muttered huskily, sinking down onto a nearby chair and burying her face in her hands. ‘I’m sorry to have been so hopeless...so feeble. I just couldn’t seem to cope, somehow.’
‘Well, I’m not surprised!’ the other girl exclaimed, viewing Laura’s hunched and trembling figure with some concern. ‘Are you feeling OK?’
‘Yes, I’ll be all right in a minute,’ she mumbled. ‘Besides, I haven’t yet paid the removal men—although how I’ll ever be able to face them again I’ve no idea.’
‘Leave it to me,’ Susie said firmly. ‘In the meantime, it’s obvious that we both need a strong drink. So just relax and I’ll be back in a moment.
‘Here we are,’ the blonde girl said a few minutes later, pressing a glass of tawny amber liquid into Laura’s hands. ‘I’ve settled up with the movers—I reckon we can finish the job ourselves—and I borrowed a bottle of brandy from the office next door. It seems to be a business travel firm, run by a couple of rather dishy men,’ she added with a grin. ‘Maybe I’ll chat them up and see if I can’t get hold of some free air tickets.’
‘You’re incorrigible!’ Laura smiled weakly at the other girl.
‘Well, at least I’ve got better things to do than moon over my ex-boss!’ Susie informed her bluntly. ‘Why on earth didn’t you tell me that you’re madly in love with Jack Wilder?’
‘Are you crazy?’ Laura gave a shrill, high-pitched shriek of laughter which even to her own ears sounded remarkably unconvincing. ‘In any case, I did give you fair warning that Jack and I can’t stand each other,’ she protested. ‘So why on earth you should think...? I mean, how could I possibly be in love with that...that thoroughly aggressive, nasty and amazingly arrogant man who’s obviously nothing but a total louse?’
‘How, indeed?’ the other girl murmured drily.
‘If you want to know the truth I really, really hate the rotten swine!’ Laura continued, in the hope that by saying it loudly and often she could somehow persuade herself, and the rest of the world, that she spoke nothing but the truth.
‘OK,’ Susie sighed, beginning to realise that her new job was going to entail some unexpected and quite unforeseen complications. ‘I’ll try and pretend that I didn’t see an amazingly hot, torrid embrace taking place in front of my very own eyes only half an hour ago! In fact, now I come to think about it, maybe I ought to go out and buy myself a new pair of dark glasses?’
‘You do that!’ Laura snapped, and immediately felt contrite. ‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered, hanging her head in shame. ‘It’s just...well, it’s just been one hell of a day, and...’
‘It’s all right. There’s no need to cry,’ Susie murmured, putting a consoling arm about the slim shoulders of the girl sitting slumped in the chair, weak tears now trickling down her pale cheeks. ‘You certainly aren’t the first—nor likely to be the last—to make the mistake of falling for Mr Loverman’s lethal charm.’
‘I know...’ Laura sniffed, fumbling in the pocket of her jeans for a handkerchief. ‘That’s why I was always so careful not to let Jack, or anyone else, guess how I felt about him. And then...then we w-went to T-Tahiti...’ she sobbed.
‘Come on—you’d better tell me all about it. If only so that we can try and avoid a repetition of what happened today. I honestly don’t think my nerves can face too many rows like the one this morning,’ Susie added with a slight laugh, before handing her a large box of tissues.
‘Thanks for being so kind,’ Laura muttered. ‘I can’t think what’s come over me lately. I’ve never been the sort of person to dissolve into silly tears like this.’
‘Love makes us do the strangest things,’ the other girl agreed sagely. ‘Now, dry your eyes and spill the beans. I promise that you’ll feel a lot better after getting some of those problems off your chest.’
‘Well...’ Laura hesitated for a moment, and then, with a heavy sigh, she proceeded to relate what had happened between her and Jack in the hot, steamy atmosphere of the South Pacific. ‘And then, when he suddenly gave me the sack, I...I just went to pieces,’ she said and explained how, following her unfair and unreasonable dismissal, Jack had given the plum New York position in his new branch office to a totally incompetent colleague.
‘To my mind it was a clear case of nepotism—Jack even admitted as much—and his offer of that awful job with Bill Chapman’s voice-over firm was just about the last straw. Especially when Jack seemed to think that we were going to continue our affair just as if nothing had happened,’ she added, blowing her nose and making a determined effort to pull herse
lf together.
‘He looked a bit shaken when I threatened to sue him for unreasonable dismissal. But, after giving the matter some thought, I couldn’t see the point in making an already bad situation any worse.’
‘You’re right,’ Susie agreed. ‘I’ve read in the newspapers about some women in the City who’ve taken their employers to court and won their cases—only to find that no other firm will give them a job. It’s totally unfair, of course, but there’s nothing much they can do.’
Laura nodded and gave another heavy sigh. ‘So I’m afraid that I said a lot of horrid things—although he did too, come to that!—and then kicked him out of my apartment, before ringing Donald and agreeing to start up this agency.’
‘Do you think...?’ The other girl hesitated for a moment. ‘I mean, does Jack know that Donald is backing you?’
‘I don’t know.’ Laura shrugged. ‘I imagine that he’s bound to find out sooner or later. Which will be yet another crime he’ll lay at my door, if all those old stories about Donald and Melissa Grant are true.’
‘Wow—the plot thickens!’ Susie murmured. ‘Well, if it’s any consolation, I’ve never seen Jack so cut up, or watched him lose his temper in such a totally spectacular fashion. You must have really got under his skin!’
Laura blew her nose fiercely once more, realising that Susie had been quite right. She really did feel a whole lot better for being able to share her problems with the blonde girl.
‘Well, I’m sorry to say that my behaviour has been almost as bad as Jack’s,’ she admitted sadly. ‘I never used to like quarrelling or having noisy rows, like some people seem to do. But now he and I can’t seem to be in the same room without being at each other’s throats. And I’m very much afraid that he really will do his best to wreck this firm and put us out of business.
‘Which is only fair—since I now have every intention of enticing away and stealing some of his best and most lucrative clients,’ she added, with a snort of grim, tearful laughter. ‘So I’ll quite understand if you feel that you’d rather work for someone else.’