As the mediator, it was Alex’s role to open the meeting, and he didn’t appear to be in a hurry to do so.
“Before we start,” Alex said, breaking the expectant silence, “I’d like to have a private word with Coralie—”
“Cora,” Eric interrupted.
Alex glanced at the papers in front of him. “Cora, yes, I’m sorry. If you don’t mind, gentlemen.”
Eric frowned. “Is this necessary? I don’t see why you should need to speak to her alone.”
“It’s a private matter.” Alex rose. “It doesn’t pertain to the case directly.”
“Well, I’m not sure—”
“We’ll go to my office,” Cora interrupted. She swallowed, avoiding Eric’s gaze, and preceded Alex from the room.
As soon as she’d closed her office door behind them she said, “They’ll be wondering what’s going on.”
“Let them.”
She paced to her desk, then changed direction and strode over to the window. “This can’t be the normal way for a mediation to be run. It must look very odd for the mediator to single one person out to speak to before the session has even started.”
“No, it’s not normal. But then, this is a pretty abnormal set of circumstances.”
She stopped pacing, sat in her desk chair and picked up the pen that was lying on the blotter. “I didn’t know you were the mediator. You do believe that, don’t you?”
“Of course. I had no idea that you were involved either. I only knew you as Coralie, remember? No surnames.” He paused, watching her. “So, is it Selwood?”
She shook her head. “That’s my maiden name.”
Narrowing his eyes, he said, “Married?”
“Widowed.”
His face relaxed. “I see. I’m sorry. How long?”
“Six years. And if your next question is whether you were the first since him, the answer is yes, you were.”
“It wasn’t.”
“Oh. Well, you know now, so you don’t need to ask.”
“My next question was going to be whether you’ve been running the business alone since then.”
“Yes. Yes, I have.”
After a short silence he said, “Why did you disappear that morning?”
She clicked the ballpoint six times before answering. “We agreed that it was only going to be one night.”
“We did, but you could have said goodbye, at least.” He sighed and sat down in the visitor chair across the desk from her. “I waited in reception for hours, hoping to catch you before you left the hotel.”
Her eyes widened. “I was on an early flight. I would have been at the airport before you woke up. Anyway, you shouldn’t have done that. It makes no sense. I don’t know why you would have waited for me.”
Sighing, he said, “Because I thought that after we’d spent the night together, things had changed.”
She looked down at the pen and realised she was clicking frantically. She tossed it onto the desk. “Why would you think that? We slept together, that’s all. Just one night.”
He remained silent, and when she looked up his expression made her suck in a breath.
“What? You can’t argue with what it was. A one-night stand, pure and simple. We agreed that before we…before it happened.”
When he didn’t respond, she said, “Right?”
“Right.” He looked at her desk, then at the artwork on the wall behind her, and glanced at the photos of finished projects on the other walls, before bringing his gaze back to meet hers. “You know I have to tell the people in the meeting, don’t you?”
“Oh, God.” She planted her elbows on the desk and covered her face with her hands. “Do you really have to?” The embarrassment. She could cope with most things thrown at her in business, but this…this was too personal. She didn’t do personal.
“Yes. It would be unethical of me not to.”
“Couldn’t you say you’ve changed your mind and don’t want to mediate the case, or make up some excuse?”
When there was no response, she lifted her head. “No?”
He shook his head.
“Damn.” She slumped against the high back of the chair. “They’ll want to know why we didn’t say anything beforehand. I’m going to look ridiculous.”
“If I’d known your real name, I wouldn’t have accepted the role of mediator. Why did you say your name was Coralie?”
She shrugged. “It’s not a lie exactly. My sisters used to call me Coralie, and still do sometimes. Anyway, we’re wasting time here. We might as well get this horror show over with.”
“I’ll be staying in town tonight since I already have a hotel room booked. Will you have dinner with me?”
“No.”
“Just dinner.”
“Sydney was a one-off for me. I don’t do that sort of thing. Ever. I’m not…”
“Single?”
“Yes, of course I’m single! Good grief. But I don’t—”
“Eat?”
She let out an exasperated sigh. “You know I eat. I don’t date, okay?”
“I’m talking about dinner.”
“That’s what you said before and look at the trouble that’s got us into.”
His mouth twitched into a smile. “You do have a point. All right, let’s not put limitations on it then. Dinner and whatever else happens.”
Which was even worse.
At her expression his smile broadened. Her heart started to thump. She was shocked that her attraction to the man was still so strong, and even more so that she was actually considering having dinner with him. Maybe more than dinner. Right here in her home town where everybody knew her. More to the point, where everybody had known Paul, had known them as a couple…but if anybody asked, she could pass it off as a business dinner, couldn’t she?
She cleared her throat. “I’d prefer that we did put limitations on it, and that we stuck to them. Dinner, and that’s all this time.”
“If that’s what you want, we can do that. I’m staying at the Clarendon Hotel. Apparently, the restaurant there is pretty good. Will that suit you?”
She nodded. “Fine.”
“I could come and pick you up in a taxi—”
“Don’t bother. I’ll make my own way there.” She was used to her independence and besides, with her own car there she’d have complete control over when she left, and she intended to leave straight after dinner.
“Okay. Shall we say seven o’clock?”
Damn, she’d forgotten her plans to talk to Fern over dinner tonight.
He frowned. “Problem? I don’t mind earlier or later. It’s up to you.”
Her conversation with Fern could wait a day or two, whereas he was only in town for one night. And, she realised, she would regret it if she didn’t have dinner with him while she had the chance.
“No, not a problem. Seven o’clock it is.” She took a deep breath. “Now shall we go back to the meeting?”
Good lord, she hoped she knew what she was doing, because it was all very well telling herself that she was only going for dinner, but she hadn’t been able to stop there the last time. There was a difference, though. This was her real life. This was the town she had to live and work in. She wasn’t about to risk having a fling with him on her own doorstep.
Back in the conference room, she slipped into her seat, keeping her eyes on the table’s polished surface, while Alex stood at the head of the table and cleared his throat.
“I’m afraid the mediation will have to be postponed until another mediator can be found,” he said.
Eric straightened. “What? Why?”
“Because I have a conflict of interest. I have a personal relationship with one of the parties.” He glanced at her.
Eric saw the glance and turned to face her. “With Cora?”
She nodded.
“I don’t understand,” Eric said. “What sort of personal relation—?”
“It isn’t relevant,” Alex said, cutting him off. “All you
need to know is that I can’t mediate in these circumstances. It’s unfortunate, and I apologise for the inconvenience. Obviously, you won’t be billed for my expenses.”
“”Look, I really don’t think that’s the issue here—”
“We’ll have to leave it there, I’m afraid. I’m sure you all understand.”
Cora gathered her paperwork, pushed back her chair, and went to shake hands with the client, ignoring the curiosity in the way he looked at her. Him, she could handle; Eric, she avoided. She slipped out of the room while he was occupied. Steven gave her a lopsided smile as she passed him — and there was another problem. She didn’t want to learn that Steven was gossiping about her to her employees, and she didn’t know him well enough to guess whether he could be trusted to keep quiet.
Once she’d double-checked that she was alone in the passageway to her office, she let out an exaggerated sigh. Why did this have to happen to her? The one and only time she’d felt anything remotely like a real woman since Paul had died, and it had to turn out this way.
She looked up at the sound of Lily’s voice, and saw her talking to Joan at the reception desk. Instead of entering her office she detoured into reception.
“Do you have a minute please, Lily?”
“Sure thing.”
“Come through to my office.” She looked at Joan. “Are there any messages for me?”
“Just a couple. Has the meeting finished already?” Joan handed her some slips of yellow paper.
“It’s off.” As she read the top message, she heard footsteps behind her and tensed.
“Cora!”
She pasted an innocent smile on her face before turning. “Yes, Eric?”
“I want to have a word with you. In your office.”
“I’m sorry, I can’t talk to you now. Lily has an urgent problem to discuss with me and it can’t wait.”
Eric looked across at Lily whose eyes had widened a fraction, but Cora was relieved to see that she hid her surprise quickly.
“Yes, I’m sorry, Eric,” Lily said, “but this really can’t wait.”
Eric scowled, before checking his watch. “I’m going back to work. I’ll call you later, Cora.”
“Yes, do that. I’ll look forward to your call.” She swivelled towards her office. “Come on in, Lily.”
Inside her office, she gave Lily a rueful smile. “I don’t suppose you have a problem you want to discuss now that you’re here?”
Lily grinned and shook her head. “No, thanks. Everything’s fine, but I appreciate the opportunity.”
“Thanks for going along with me out there.”
“What are sisters for? Any time you want to use me as an excuse not to talk to Eric or anybody else, feel free.”
“It’s just…” Cora shook her head. “I don’t need a lecture from Eric right now.”
“You shouldn’t have to listen to a lecture from anybody. You’re the boss.”
Cora took a breath, and let it out slowly. “Well, in name, at least. Is there anything you have to rush back for?”
When Lily shook her head, she picked up the phone. “Joan, will you let me know when the visitors have left, please? All of them.”
She replaced the phone and grimaced at Lily. “Something godawful has happened here today.”
Lily’s expression became serious. “Tell me about it.”
“I’ve just been through a very embarrassing meeting.”
Lily waited.
“It was a mediation. You’ve heard about the Pearson project?”
“Yes. I’ve seen the figures.”
“Well, today was the mediation where we were supposed to thrash out a solution. However, it turned out that the mediator was…someone I knew.”
“I don’t understand. How was that a problem?”
Cora blew out a breath. “When I say I knew him, I mean I knew him. Not for long, but really well.”
“Oh.” Lily started to smile, but bit her lip as if she wasn’t sure a smile was appropriate. “You mean you had a fling with him?”
Cora nodded.
“Gosh. And you didn’t know he was going to be at the meeting?”
“No way! I never expected to see him again, so it was a heck of a shock.”
“I’m sure it was.” Lily’s eyes were wide now.
“And as a result, the mediation had to be called off.” She shook her head. “It was so embarrassing.”
“I can imagine.”
“And now I’m avoiding Eric because he’ll have plenty to say about it, and I might be the boss, but that won’t stop him. He seems to think that he still has to look out for Paul’s interests.”
“Well, they were best friends for a long time.”
“Yes, but Paul’s been dead for six years, and if Eric had his way I’d be faithful to Paul forever.”
“But you don’t want to be?”
Cora sighed. “I have been, of course, until now, and I still would be if I hadn’t met Alex. It’s not as if I make a habit of…gah! I’d never given it a thought until I met him, and then…”
“And then what? Did you fall in love with him?”
“Oh my God, no. Nothing like that, but it was…good to feel attractive again. I thought I was way past it.”
Lily hesitated. “I’m probably not the world’s best judge since I left school and got married all in the same week, but I think after six years, you should be allowed to move on if you want to.”
Cora managed a small smile. “Don’t forget, I hadn’t had much more experience than you when I married Paul. Seems to be a Selwood thing to marry too young.”
“I wasn’t too young,” Lily said indignantly. “I wouldn’t want my daughter to be married at eighteen, but it all worked out for Brandon and me.”
Cora made a non-committal sound in her throat. “But look at Gwen. I know she regrets not waiting until she was older to marry Stuart. Now she’s divorced with a seventeen year old daughter and she’s only thirty-six.”
“Well, things were a bit different with Gwen, weren’t they? She was always trying to compete with you.”
Cora sighed. “Typical middle child syndrome.”
“I suppose so, but it’s true. She wanted what you had, or better. You were married at nineteen and pregnant at twenty, so she had to beat that and be pregnant at nineteen.”
“And then you beat both of us.” Cora pulled a pile of papers across the desk towards her. “Let’s just hope that none of our daughters follow our examples.”
“Agreed.” Lily took the hint, and stood. “Before I go, where did you meet this man? Is he local? Do I know him?”
“No. God, no, he’s not local. I met him in Sydney at that conference I went to a few weeks ago.”
“Ah, yes. I thought you seemed distracted when you got back.”
Distracted was an understatement.
“Are you going to see him again?”
Cora squirmed. She wished she could deny it, but she’d never been in the habit of lying to either of her sisters and couldn’t bring herself to do so now. “I’m having dinner with him tonight at The Clarendon.”
Lily broke into a smile. “So, you’re going to date him, then?”
“No, no. It’s one dinner, that’s all.”
“Oh. What a shame.”
After Lily had left, Cora looked at the messages Joan had given her. Some of them were probably important, but she couldn’t force herself to pick them up and deal with them. She was having dinner with Alex tonight, and there didn’t seem to be capacity in her brain for any other thought right now.
Chapter 4
Before Cora entered the Clarendon, she tugged at the stretchy fabric of her black dress, attempting to stop it clinging to every inch of her body, wishing she’d worn a different outfit. Jeans, maybe, with a baggy t-shirt. Anything but this dress. She hadn’t intended to change at all; she’d meant to work until twenty minutes before the seven o’clock date, and make do with a quick freshen up in the office bathroom befor
e driving the short distance to the hotel. Instead, she’d dashed home after her final meeting for the day, showered, shaved her legs for heaven’s sake, and spent a good thirty minutes trying to make the momentous choice between two black dresses.
She was not this woman. She didn’t do this sort of thing.
And after all the effort, she’d chosen a wraparound cotton jersey dress that was a fraction too tight, a fraction too short, and a more than a little out of character for her. She shook her head before pushing at the heavy door.
Alex was waiting in the lounge bar. Rather than going right over to him she took a moment to wonder what on earth a man like him wanted with a woman like her. She could only see his profile, and yet he exuded masculinity. How was that even possible? His dark hair was short and neat. Lawyer-like. Nothing out of the ordinary. But there was nothing at all ordinary about her reaction to him. It disoriented her.
She grimaced, and gave her head a little shake. In the same moment he spun around on his barstool, a welcoming smile on his face. He was at her side before she’d even straightened her expression.
“Hi. I wasn’t completely convinced that you’d turn up.”
“How did you know I was here?”
He raised his eyebrows. “Sorry?”
“Did you sense me looking at you?”
“Sense you…?” His confusion cleared, and he laughed. “No. There’s a mirror behind the bar,” he said, pointing.
“Oh.” She looked at the mirrored wall of shelves. Well, of course there was, and now she sounded like an idiot. Sensed her. Gah!
“Let’s go straight through, shall we? I’m starving.” He pointed the way to the table with one hand, and touched the small of her back with the other. As soon as he made contact, she knew she should have worn a suit. With a thick cardigan underneath it. Layers of clothing would have been a very good idea. Layers and layers. But she gritted her teeth and walked into the restaurant as if his touch wasn’t causing her insides to tie themselves into pretzels.
Once they were settled at a table and had ordered their meals and drinks, he said, “You look beautiful. That’s a very nice dress.”
She took a sip of water from her glass, and shook her head. “Thank you, but you don’t need to humour me, you know.”
More Than Just One Night (The Selwood Sisters Novellas) Page 2