by Kathryn Ross
She looked over at Beth, who was watching her from the open doorway.
‘I wish you didn’t have to go,’ Beth said despondently.
There was something about the way the little girl looked at her with those big blue eyes that made Chloe’s heart go out to her.
She went across to give her a hug. ‘I’m afraid I have to go, honey, but I’ll see you soon, I’m sure,’ she whispered.
There were more important things in life than looks anyway, Chloe thought as she pulled away from the warmth of Beth’s body. If Helen Smyth-Jones was really serious about Steven she could do with transferring some attention away from her own appearance to concentrate instead on building a relationship with his daughter.
For a moment she found herself thinking about her stepfather. She hadn’t mentioned Michael when she had been telling Steven about her parents’ break-up.
Michael Blake was someone she preferred to forget. He’d been very good-looking, suave and sophisticated. And her mother had adored him, would have done anything for him. Chloe had watched helplessly from the sidelines as he had destroyed her. Insidiously menacing, he had almost seemed to enjoy the reign of fear he had waged over them.
He had hated Chloe. As a six-year-old, she hadn’t been able to understand why…even now she didn’t understand what made the likes of Michael Blake tick. All she knew was that it had taken a long time for the nightmares to go away, and sometimes even now when she closed her eyes she could still see him.
CHAPTER FIVE
CHLOE went into the office earlier than usual on Monday morning to make sure everything was in place for the board meeting at nine. She was in the boardroom, placing an agenda at each place setting, when Steven arrived.
‘Crikey, did you sleep here last night or something?’ he said, glancing at his watch.
She smiled. ‘I’m only here ten minutes before you. Just thought I’d get ahead with things before everyone arrives for the meeting.’
Steven looked at her closely. As usual she was perfectly groomed; she was wearing a vanilla suit and a round-neck silk top in a matching colour, and her hair was drawn back from her face, but not as tightly as usual, and a few tendrils had escaped to curl provocatively around her face. Her make-up was perfect. But behind the confident façade he could see she looked drawn and tired. ‘Couldn’t you sleep last night?’
She contemplated lying and then gave up the idea as she met the darkness of his eyes. ‘No…not really.’
As she finished distributing the papers down the long polished table he noticed that she was wearing higher heels than normal; they were very trendy shoes, smart, but somehow there was something provocative about them. Maybe it was the fact that they seemed to emphasise her small, shapely ankles.
‘What about you—how did the rest of your weekend go?’
Steven tore his eyes away from her feet. ‘I’ve had better days,’ he said, opening his briefcase to put some of his own notes down at the top of the table. ‘I tried to break it gently to Beth that Gina will be leaving soon.’
‘She didn’t take it well?’
Steven looked grim for a second. ‘She cried so hard she almost made herself sick.’
Chloe cringed. ‘It must have been awful.’
‘Yes, it was. And it wasn’t helped by Helen suggesting I send her away to boarding-school.’ He noted the shocked expression on Chloe’s face.
‘She didn’t suggest that in front of Beth, did she?’ Chloe was aghast.
‘No…she’s not that insensitive.’ Steven grinned wryly. ‘She suggested it quietly to me a bit later on Sunday afternoon.’
One of the receptionists knocked on the door and put her head around. ‘Two of the managers have arrived for the meeting, Mr Cavendish,’ she said briskly. ‘They’re in Reception.’
‘Right.’ Steven nodded at the woman. ‘I’ll be out in a minute.’
‘You’re not seriously considering sending Beth to boarding-school, are you?’ Chloe asked immediately as the door closed again. ‘She’s so young!’
‘Yes, she is,’ Steven agreed, and then shook his head. ‘I told Helen that there’s no way I’d ever consider it,’ he said forcefully. ‘But she thinks I’m out of line. Apparently, both she and her brother went to boarding-school from a very young age. She thinks it’s a great idea.’
‘Well, maybe that was all right for Helen, but it wouldn’t be for Beth, not when she’s lost her mother. She relies on you to make her feel secure and wanted, Steven. That’s very important in her circumstances.’
Steven met her eyes and noted the earnest expression in them. He wondered if she was drawing on her own experiences as a child; there was such a lot of passion in that plea, totally unlike Chloe’s usual composed demeanour. ‘I’m in complete agreement,’ he said. ‘Helen and I did not part on good terms yesterday.’
‘Because you didn’t agree with her about a boarding-school?’
‘That and the fact that I can’t go away with her next weekend.’ Steven closed his briefcase with a sharp, decisive click. ‘But the timing is off. I can’t go away for a weekend enjoying myself when I’ve got a little girl feeling sad at home. I have to put Beth’s happiness and welfare first…over my own happiness…but Helen just can’t understand that. I think it spells the end of the road for our relationship.’
‘I’m sorry, Steven; that must be really hard,’ Chloe said quietly.
There was another knock on the door and the receptionist put her head around again. ‘Ms Smyth-Jones is on the phone for you, Mr Cavendish,’ she announced cheerfully.
‘OK, I’ll take it in my office.’ Steven looked back at Chloe. ‘I’d better speak to her. Will you deal with whoever is in Reception? I won’t be long.’
‘Sure.’ Chloe watched him go and wondered what Helen was ringing to say…maybe she would apologise. If she had any sense she would. Steven was an honourable man, trying to do the best for his daughter. It was one of the things she loved about him…or, rather, liked about him, she corrected herself with a frown.
It was about fifteen minutes before Steven came back, and by that time most of the other directors had arrived and Chloe had shown them into the boardroom. They were chatting amiably with her, drinking coffee around the table.
‘Sorry to keep you waiting, gentlemen,’ Steven said as he shook hands all around. He was urbane and businesslike as he took his seat at the top of the table. Chloe wondered what had transpired between him and Helen. She hoped fervently that he had not backed down.
But there wasn’t time to think about it as the last of the directors arrived and the business of the day began.
It was late in the afternoon before the meeting ended and Chloe’s wrist ached from the writing of the minutes she had taken. As she tidied her notes and got up to collect the folders from the table one of the directors from the Scottish head office came over to speak to her.
‘Just wanted to say how impressed I was with the way everything ran so smoothly today, Chloe.’ He smiled warmly at her. ‘If you ever get fed up working in England, there would be a place for you in my office north of the border any day. I really could do with a treasure like you organising everything.’
Before Chloe could answer Steven broke from his conversation with someone else and glanced over with a frown. ‘Excuse me, Cliff, but poaching staff is not permitted here,’ he said, his tone light-hearted. ‘You’ll have to find your own treasure.’
Cliff laughed. ‘Sorry, Steven…that was a bit out of order, wasn’t it? Just couldn’t help myself.’ He placed a business card down on top of Chloe’s notes. ‘I’m going to be in London for a few more days,’ he said to Chloe with a twinkle in his eye.
She smiled at him. Cliff Roberts was a nice guy, about ten years older than Steven, with greying hair and a distinguished air. ‘Thanks,’ she said blithely. ‘I’ll put the card in my filing system.’
As the last of the directors left the building Steven walked with them out to the front reception area. Chloe was
tidying away the last of the crockery from lunch when he returned to the boardroom.
‘Well, I’m glad that’s over,’ he said as he closed the door.
She looked around with a smile. ‘I thought it went well.’
‘Yes, it did…but I didn’t think it would go on this long. You must be exhausted taking all those notes, Chloe.’
‘No, I’m fine,’ she lied cheerfully.
‘The refreshments you ordered were a stroke of genius.’ He walked across and picked up the card that Cliff had placed on the table for her. ‘Cliff was right about the way you handled everything; the presentation was faultless,’ he remarked. ‘But he had a damn nerve trying to poach you away right under my nose.’
‘You make me sound like a fish being reeled in.’ Chloe grinned. She finished stacking the folders and glanced across at him. ‘He seems quite a nice guy, though. I was rather flattered.’
Steven didn’t look amused. ‘Well, don’t be. Cliff Roberts has something of a reputation with women. He got divorced last year and according to the grapevine he’s had more affairs in that time than hot dinners.’
‘Really?’ Chloe shook her head. ‘I didn’t know. But that wasn’t why he was giving me his card. I think it was just a bit of fun and he’s probably genuinely looking for a PA.’
‘You must be joking,’ Steven muttered. ‘He couldn’t take his eyes off you all the way through the meeting.’
‘Couldn’t he?’ Chloe was astounded by the remark. ‘I think you are imagining things, Steven.’
‘And I think you can be a bit naïve, Chloe,’ Steven muttered with a shake of his head.
The remark irritated Chloe.
‘I’ll destroy this card, shall I?’ he continued nonchalantly.
‘No, thank you!’ Chloe whipped it from his hand as she walked past. ‘I’ll do it.’
Steven watched as she put it in the pocket of her suit. She smiled at him. ‘You never know…maybe he’d like to go to a wedding in Ireland,’ she added mischievously.
She was only joking, but Steven looked less than amused.
What had happened to his sense of humour? Chloe wondered as she left the room.
The working day was drawing to a close. Steven drummed his fingers on his desk and tried to concentrate on the report in front of him, but his mind kept wandering and so did his eyes. His office door was open slightly and through the opening he could see Chloe sitting at her desk.
She was doing some audio typing and was concentrating very hard on the task. He noticed how straight she sat in her chair. A shaft of spring sunshine came in through the window behind her, highlighting the blonde lights in her hair, giving it a kind of a halo effect—or maybe it was just the way the headphones she was wearing disturbed her hair… Whatever it was, she looked like an angel in the late-afternoon glow.
He smiled at the fanciful thought and tried to return his attention to his work. But he couldn’t concentrate. Something wouldn’t let him. He thought about the board meeting earlier, remembered the way Cliff Roberts had kept looking at Chloe. Then he remembered Chloe’s wisecrack about asking him to her sister’s wedding. She had to be kidding…didn’t she? Chloe was too vulnerable at the moment to be able to deal with the likes of Roberts.
He stood up and walked through to her office, although he had no idea why on earth he was going in there. It was as if he was being magnetically drawn.
Chloe looked up from her typing and was surprised to see Steven standing in the doorway, watching her. She whipped off the headphones. ‘Sorry? Did you want something? I couldn’t hear with this tape.’
‘No, I didn’t want anything, I just…’ He trailed off before saying firmly, ‘I just wondered if you would have a drink with me after work.’
He watched her eyes widen in surprise. It was no wonder she was looking astounded; he was feeling a bit shell-shocked himself. He hadn’t walked out here with the intention of asking her that, yet he had just opened his mouth and the words had come…almost of their own volition.
‘I just thought, as you are interviewing childminders for me tomorrow…we could discuss the kind of hours I’ll need and the qualities I’m going to be looking for…’ He tacked the excuse on as a hurried afterthought. ‘And I thought we may as well talk about it over a relaxing drink.’
‘Oh…right.’ She glanced at her watch. ‘I’m supposed to be going out tonight…’
‘Well, if you are busy…’ He frowned and wondered where she was going. Surely she hadn’t phoned Cliff Roberts that fast? Then again, Cliff was only going to be in London for the next couple of days. So maybe she hadn’t seen the point of hanging around.
‘I could probably spare you an hour, if that’s OK?’ she said casually now.
‘An hour…’ Steven nodded. ‘That’s fine.’
Chloe watched as he disappeared back into his office, closing the door behind him. Now, what was that all about? she wondered. Never in the two years she had worked here had Steven asked her out for a drink after work. Even when she’d been interviewing nannies for him last time. As she recalled, he had just handed her a list of the hours he wanted and the type of person he was looking for and that had been that until he had personally interviewed the people she had placed on her short list.
She frowned and wondered if she had done the right thing telling him she was going out tonight; she wasn’t really—it had just been the first thing that had come into her mind, a kind of defensive impulse.
She put her headphones back on and tried to concentrate once more on her work.
Chloe was used to being one of the last people to leave the Cavendish premises at the end of the day. There was nothing very different about walking through the deserted offices with Steven, watching as he flicked out the lights and locked up. And yet there was something different…something in the air…a feeling, a tension, which she couldn’t quite understand. Maybe it was all in her mind because he had casually asked her to join him for a drink?
They stepped into the lift and Steven pressed the button for the car park in the basement. There was silence between them as it plummeted. Chloe glanced at her boss’s reflection in the mirrored walls. He was wearing a dark overcoat thrown over the top of his dark business suit. The pristine whiteness of his shirt and the vivid blue of his tie contrasted dramatically with his dark hair and dark eyes. She wondered idly if he had any Italian blood in him. He looked Latin sometimes. Steven glanced up and caught her watching him in the mirror and smiled. She smiled back politely and hastily averted her gaze.
Steven was used to women gazing at him in admiration; she had seen the effect he had on the other women in the office, who practically swooned as he walked by. But she didn’t want to be one of the fawning throng. She had to keep her feet firmly on the ground around him, otherwise her work would be compromised.
Up until last weekend that hadn’t been a problem. Steven was always so businesslike that she had never really looked at him in any light other than ‘the boss’.
But now the sands of that formal relationship seemed to have shifted slightly. Whether it was because she had spent some time with him at the weekend and found him to be a warm and fun person…or whether it was that kiss…that small indiscretion that they had brushed off as just a momentary madness… She didn’t know.
Foolish mistake or not, that kiss kept popping into her mind at the most inopportune moments; like now, for instance.
She needed to get a grip, she told herself angrily. She wanted back to the uncomplicated business approach they had shared before—or did she? she suddenly asked herself. Yes, of course she did, she reinforced; she didn’t want an affair with her boss, and anyhow the gorgeous Helen was in his life. All right, they had been going through a rough patch in their relationship, but it was probably merely a hiccup…for all she knew, they had made it up on the phone this morning. As for her, she wanted an uncomplicated life for herself in the future; romantic notions about her boss were not on her agenda.
The
lift doors swished open and she took a deep breath of air, glad to be out of the confined space with him.
Like the office block above, the car park was completely empty. Steven pressed a button and his black BMW automatically unlocked. Their footsteps echoed in the vaulted silence as they walked across towards it.
He tossed his briefcase onto the back seat as she walked around to the passenger side.
‘Are you hungry, Chloe? We could get something to eat together.’
‘Sorry?’ She glanced blankly at him and their eyes met over the roof of the car.
‘I said, are you hungry?’ he replied patiently.
She’d heard him perfectly well the first time; she just couldn’t work out what was going on here. This was way out of their normal territory.
‘As we just had a working lunch, due to that board meeting, I thought it might be pleasant to go home via the Waterside? What do you say?’
The Waterside was one of the most exclusive restaurants in the Cavendish chain. Although Chloe had visited it many times on her own for work purposes, she had never eaten there.
‘Have you got a business appointment there or something?’
‘No. This has nothing to do with work,’ Steven said impassively. ‘I just thought it was the one restaurant where I’d be assured to get a good table at short notice. But we can go somewhere else if you’d prefer?’
‘No…’ Suddenly Chloe remembered her lie…she was supposed to be going out somewhere later. ‘I think we’d better stick with the pub, because I’ve really only got an hour.’
‘Fine…whatever you want.’ He smiled at her and they got into the car.
There was silence between them as he started the engine and drove out onto the busy London streets.
Chloe watched as he skilfully manoeuvred the car through the rush-hour traffic. It was a pleasant day; a watery spring sun had dispersed the snow, and the promise of better weather suddenly lurked around the corner.
‘Did you sort out your differences with Helen this morning?’ She tried to ask the question nonchalantly, but the truth of the matter was that curiosity was killing her.