She swallowed hard. ‘If that’s what you would prefer,’ she nodded.
‘I would. Now if you’ll excuse me…?’ he said distantly, not sparing her another glance, striding back to Princess Maria’s side, receiving a pouting look for his absence, though the pout disappeared as his mouth briefly captured the bright red lips.
Natalie turned away, uncomfortable at watching such an act of intimacy. Fortunately Lester was pushing his way back to her side, and by the time she had thanked him for the drink and taken her first sip Adam Thornton and the Princess had disappeared.
‘Who was that man?’ Lester frowned.
‘Adam Thornton.’ She didn’t prevaricate, she was too deeply disturbed by the telephone call she had to make tomorrow morning. What could Adam Thornton want to talk to her about? Had Judith been up to something else? But he hadn’t seemed angry or annoyed, in fact he had been quite pleasant. Too pleasant…? After the way they had last parted maybe he had been. Now she was really worried.
‘Did he say anything about the other contract?’ Lester asked vaguely, intent on finishing his drink before they had to go back into the theatre for the second act.
‘No,’ she answered, relieved when the interval bell rang.
She couldn’t help it, as soon as they were once more seated she began to look around the theatre for Adam Thornton. It didn’t take her long to spot him; he and the Princess were sitting in the principal box. Steel blue eyes looked down on her mockingly, and she quickly looked away again. Damn him! What did he want to talk to her about?
She asked herself the same question many times during the sleepless night she spent, the last of many just lately, and she got into the office a little after eight. She busied herself with her work until the clock slowly crept round to nine o’clock, nine-fifteen, nine-thirty. Surely she could call him now without appearing too eager? She thought she could.
Dee got back to her within minutes. ‘He isn’t available at the moment, Natalie,’ she said regretfully. ‘Shall I try again in a few minutes?’
Natalie chewed agitatedly on her bottom lip. ‘Yes, try again soon.’ She waited impatiently for the next hour, finally buzzing back through to Dee. ‘Did you—’
‘I’ve called him twice more, Natalie,’ the other woman assured her. ‘He isn’t available.’
Damn him, he was doing this on purpose, the way that she had done to him. He certainly liked exacting the maximum of revenge! ‘Call him once more, Dee,’ she said determinedly. ‘And if he still isn’t available tell his secretary I’ll be in to see him at eleven-thirty.’
‘But—’
‘Tell her, Dee,’ she said firmly.
A few minutes later Dee actually came through to her office. ‘He still wasn’t available,’ she told her ruefully. ‘So I passed on your message.’
‘And?’ Natalie’s fingers tightly gripped the pen she was holding.
‘And his secretary said that he had another appointment then—’
‘I don’t care if he has fifty appointments!’ Her eyes glittered fiercely blue-green. ‘I intend seeing him today. Call her back, Dee, and—’
‘But he can see you at twelve-fifteen instead,’ Dee finished pointedly.
‘Oh,’ she blushed.
‘All right?’ Dee asked gently.
‘Fine,’ she nodded ruefully.
‘That’s what I told her,’ her friend nodded. ‘Anything I can do, Natalie?’ she asked concernedly.
‘Nothing at all.’ Natalie shook her head. ‘I think this is something Adam Thornton and I have to work out between us.’
‘Good luck!’
She had a feeling she was going to need it, although she looked cool enough in front of Adam Thornton’s sophisticated secretary when she arrived at his office at exactly twelve-fifteen—she wasn’t going to be kept waiting this time!
This time she felt calm enough to notice the other girl’s nameplate on the front of the desk: Cara Shaw. She also noticed the most recent framed poster of the Thornton beauty advertisements, one of Judith as Beauty Girl. Oh, how Adam Thornton must be regretting that!
‘Mr Thornton will see you now,’ Cara Shaw told her huskily.
None of her nervousness showed as she walked into the executive office, as she squarely met the cool blue gaze blatantly searching her pale cheeks, slowly moving down to her pert breasts, narrow waist and slender thighs, making her feel naked, despite knowing the rust-coloured blouse and black suit gave her a businesslike appearance.
‘Come in and sit down, Natalie,’ Adam invited softly, bending forward to light one of his cheroots, slipping the gold lighter into the pocket of the grey waistcoat that matched the rest of his suit.
So it was ‘Natalie’ today, she noticed, feeling a little like a fly invited in by the spider as she closed the door and moved to sit in the chair opposite him.
‘Well?’ he asked after several silent seconds.
She blinked dazedly. ‘Yes?’
‘You said you wanted to see me—or rather, your secretary did,’ he taunted.
‘I—No—I—’ He had deliberately put her at this disadvantage, damn him! ‘You were the one who wanted to talk to me,’ she told him determinedly.
He shook his head slowly. ‘I asked you to call me.’
‘And I did,’ she said impatiently. ‘Several times. You weren’t available.’
‘Really?’
She glared at him, sensing his ridicule, although his expression was innocent of mockery. Too innocent. ‘Really!’ she ground out, feeling even more like that fated fly.
‘I had a board meeting this morning,’ he dismissed.
‘I see,’ she said tightly. ‘Then why couldn’t your secretary have just told me that?’
Adam raised dark brows. ‘I never reveal my actions to people over the telephone,’ he drawled. ‘And I’m not going to make you the exception to that rule.’
His insulting tone was barely disguised, and Natalie flushed uncomfortably. ‘I’m sure you aren’t. Now could we get to the reason you wanted to talk to me?’
‘If you insist,’ he nodded. ‘It’s about my sister—’
‘I’ve already told you I can’t do anything about that affair, Mr Thornton,’ she sighed impatiently.
‘I believe I said my sister, Natalie,’ he said, dangerously soft.
She flushed at the rebuke, her hands clasped in her lap. ‘Yes?’ She looked at him resentfully.
Adam Thornton leant back in his chair, smoke surrounding him like a cloak. ‘Did you enjoy the play last night?’
Natalie frowned her consternation. ‘You know I didn’t,’ she snapped impatiently, knowing he had watched as she and Lester left before the end of the play—as had a lot of people. She had been aware of those ever-watchful blue eyes following her progress out of the theatre. ‘Your sister—’
‘Maria has atrocious taste in plays,’ he mused softly, ignoring her mention of his sister. ‘Fortunately her other—tastes aren’t quite so misguided,’ he drawled.
Natalie gave an impatient sigh, not missing the innuendo. ‘Your sister, Mr Thornton,’ she reminded him hardly, not liking this cat-and-mouse game at all.
‘Yes,’ his steely eyes suddenly looked straight into hers, ‘my sister,’ he nodded. ‘I believe you’ve been having some difficulty at your agency the last few days?’ he raised dark brows.
She frowned. ‘Yes…’
‘I’m sure you’re aware of the reason for that difficulty?’ he continued in that infuriatingly polite voice.
‘Yes,’ she acknowledged, very tense now.
‘I believe I may have found a way to allay this—difficulty.’
She swallowed hard, eyeing him suspiciously. ‘How?’
Adam smiled, the slow taunting smile of the victor. She doubted this man was ever anything else! ‘I want your help.’
‘My—help?’ she repeated incredulous, sure there was no way she could possibly help such a man. Unless—
‘No,’ he drawled mockingly, �
��I don’t need to use such devious means to get a woman into bed with me.’
‘No—I’m sure you don’t,’ she said awkwardly, wondering what had happened to the confidence she had had about this man before she had met him, the way she had been sure she could handle him with her usual smile and clear blue-green eyes. She never knew where she was with this man! ‘Then what can I do to help you?’ she enquired coolly.
‘Does that mean you would have no objections to—helping me in that way?’ he taunted.
‘Mr Thornton!’ she gasped her indignation.
‘All right,’ he sat forward, all amusement gone, ‘I want your help for Tracy.’
Natalie couldn’t conceal her puzzlement. ‘How could I help your sister?’
‘Quite easily.’ He stood up. ‘If your regret about your sister’s affair with Jason is sincere.’
‘It is!’ her eyes flashed.
Adam looked down at her for long timeless minutes, the blue eyes seeming to see into her very soul. ‘I believe you,’ he said finally, heavily.
‘Thank you!’
The blue eyes became frosty, his mouth thinned. ‘I find this distasteful enough, without your damned sarcasm!’ he snapped, his anger threatening to boil over and shoot Natalie up in flames with him.
‘I’m sorry—’
‘I doubt it,’ he bit out. ‘But you will be if my sister doesn’t take to you. I want you to become her friend, Natalie,’ he explained at her gasp of surprise. ‘I want you to show her that there’s more to life than Jason Dillman.’
‘But—’
‘Tracy married Jason when she was only eighteen—against my wishes, I might add,’ he said grimly, staring out of the window, but seeing nothing, his thoughts all inwards. ‘But she was of age, there was nothing I could do to stop her marrying him. Once it became fact I tried to help them; I only gave Jason the job at Thornton’s because of Tracy. Although there’s no doubting his ability to do the job, not even for Tracy could I allow an idiot to be in charge of my advertising.’
‘Of course not.’
His eyes narrowed at her sarcasm, but he didn’t reprimand her for it. ‘They’d only been married a few months when I discovered that Jason was conducting an affair with a girl who worked for him in advertising. I managed to stop the affair before Tracy found out. The next time I wasn’t so lucky.’ His mouth was set grimly. ‘Tracy was almost hysterical when she realised what was happening. I wanted her to leave him, to come home, but the little fool—’ he took a deep controlling breath. ‘She forgave him after he swore it would never happen again. As far as Tracy is concerned it never has.’
Natalie felt deeply for his young sister, for the love she felt for the faithless Jason. ‘And in reality?’ she prompted huskily.
Adam’s hands clenched into fists. ‘He’s been continually unfaithful to her—affairs I’ve kept from her, I’m ashamed to say,’ he said bitterly.
‘How can I help?’
‘Do you want to?’ He looked at her searchingly.
‘I think so,’ she nodded.
He sighed. ‘Tracy is beautiful,’ he told her without conceit. ‘Sweetly beautiful. And intelligent. But she’s known no other life than being Jason’s wife since she was eighteen years old, and it suits Jason to keep her that way. It doesn’t suit me,’ he ground out. ‘Maybe if she comes out into the real world, if she’s forced to, she’ll see Jason for what he is—or at least have the sophistication to hold and keep him.’
Natalie frowned. ‘Why don’t you just tell her?’
‘And lose her love?’ he said in a pained voice. ‘Tracy is the one person I love in this life—’
‘As I love my sister!’
‘Yes,’ he rasped, ‘I’m sure you do. But she’s going to be hurt too in the end.’
‘I know,’ she sighed.
‘Jason has used the knowledge of my love to maintain my silence over the years, knows I would never do anything that would cause Tracy pain.’ He shook his head. ‘I don’t intend it to remain that way any longer.’
‘What are you going to do?’ Natalie frowned.
‘Me? Nothing.’ Adam sighed his impatience with the love that held him silent.
Her eyes widened. ‘You surely don’t expect me—’
‘No,’ he dismissed mockingly. ‘All I want from you is friendship for her. You have a successful career, and that career gives you independence. I want Tracy to see that she can have those things too, either as Jason’s wife—or not,’ he finished simply.
It didn’t seem so much to ask, and considering the part her sister was playing in all this it wasn’t much at all. ‘Judith believes Jason is going to leave your sister soon anyway,’ she told him absently.
His mouth twisted derisively. ‘Then she’s as much of a fool as Tracy is. If there’s ever an end to their marriage Tracy will have to be the one to make it. Jason’s too secure the way he is to rock the boat.’
That was what Natalie had thought, what she had tried to convey to Judith. But, as Tracy had, her wilful, headstrong sister would have to find that out the painful way.
‘Will you do it?’ Adam was watching her closely. ‘Just be her friend, show her what she could have?’
‘Are you sure I’m the right person to ask?’ She hesitated about committing herself. ‘After all, Judith is my sister.’
‘And, as I’ve already pointed out, you’re not at all alike,’ he said harshly. ‘I’ve had you, and your agency, checked out, Natalie,’ he told her arrogantly. ‘You have a good reputation, both in business and as a person. In fact,’ he added softly, ‘you’re exactly the sort of person Thornton’s like to do business with. I believe I mentioned Fantasy Girl to you…?’
‘Are you trying to blackmail me, Mr Thornton?’ she bristled.
‘Let’s just say I’m offering you an incentive. Business is full of such incentives nowadays,’ he taunted. ‘You might even find that all those people who have suddenly been unavailable to you will suddenly be just as available.’
Angry colour heightened her cheeks, and she stood up angrily. ‘I think you’d do better to ask you—friend the Princess for help. I really don’t think I can be of any assistance to you.’
He met her gaze mockingly. ‘I want a woman who’s a success. Maria’s only business interest is in the theatre—and you saw how successful she is at that! Besides which, Tracy isn’t very fond of her. No,’ he drawled, ‘it has to be you or no one, Natalie.’
‘And if I refuse?’
He shrugged. ‘I believe you already know the answer to that.’
Natalie was shaking with anger, could have hit him and not felt an instant of regret—except that he looked the sort to hit her back! ‘So I have no choice?’ she said stiffly.
‘None.’
‘And if your plan fails?’
‘I try never to think in terms of failure,’ he told her haughtily. ‘You would do well to do the same.’
‘All right,’ she sighed her capitulation, knowing she really hadn’t had a choice from the beginning, ‘I’ll do it.’
Not by the flicker of an eyelid did he show he was pleased by her answer, merely nodding, as if her answer had been a foregone conclusion. ‘I’ll make the arrangements for the two of you to meet,’ he said briskly, once more the controlled businessman. ‘You’ll like Tracy,’ he added confidently.
Which meant she had better!
CHAPTER FIVE
NATALIE was in a constant state of tension the next week, expecting to hear from Adam Thornton at any time about the proposed meeting with his sister.
He didn’t call, but he had been right about her other clients, most of them called her to make appointments, and these appointments kept her very busy.
But not too busy to think of Adam Thornton. She had committed herself to seeing a lot more of him, of becoming involved with his family too. And Judith still refused to give a damn!
She called round to Natalie’s flat one evening during the week. ‘Jason has to accompany Tracy
to her aunt’s for dinner,’ she explained her free evening, ‘so I thought I’d come and see you.’
‘Thanks!’
‘You aren’t going out, are you?’ Judith lounged in one of the armchairs, her denims and tee-shirt skin-tight.
‘No,’ Natalie answered dryly, having had her solitary dinner and intending to have a quiet evening reading the paperback she had bought at the weekend. Judith looked in a chatty mood, so the paperback would probably go unread for another evening.
‘No Lester?’ her sister taunted.
‘No,’ she said tautly. ‘And I don’t enjoy being visited because you’re at a loose end.’
Judith looked bored by the reprimand, ceasing to take notice of Natalie’s disapproval years ago. ‘I called Mum last night.’
‘Yes?’
‘She does sound tired, as you said,’ she frowned. ‘I’ve told them I’ll go down at the weekend.’
‘I’m sure they were pleased,’ Natalie said without rancour, accepting after all these years that her sister, as the baby of the family, had a special place in their parents’ affections.
‘Mm,’ Judith grimaced. ‘I shall be bored out of my mind,’ she drawled. ‘But at least I won’t have to go again for a few months. Jason’s going to be busy over the weekend anyway.’
Natalie gave an impatient sigh at her sister’s selfishness. ‘Don’t you ever get sick of sharing him, Judith?’
She looked surprised by the question. ‘I don’t share him,’ she snapped. ‘He’s already mine. It’s only a matter of time.’
‘That’s what I mean.’ Natalie stood up impatiently, very slender in black denims and a red blouse. ‘If he’s really serious about you, Judith, why hasn’t he left his wife?’
‘I told you, he’s—’
‘Going to,’ Natalie nodded. ‘Why the delay, Judith? Why not leave her now?’
Her sister shrugged. ‘Because the time isn’t right yet.’
‘For whom?’
Judith moved uncomfortably. ‘If you’re going to be unpleasant—’
‘I’m trying to act as a sister should,’ Natalie interrupted softly. ‘To point out the mistake you’re making. I’m sure that if Jason were really serious about you he would have left his wife by now, no matter what the cost to him personally.’
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