Lindsay hadn’t liked the other woman before she met her, hated the significance she had in Joel’s life, but now that she had actually met the beautiful model she disliked her even more, not liking her attitude one little bit.
She moved slowly across the room to sit behind her desk, instantly putting the other girl at a disadvantage, taking her time about looking through Joel’s appointment book. ‘You really should have made an appointment, Miss—?’ She looked up questioningly, having no intention of letting this woman know that she knew exactly who she was.
‘Mills,’ the other woman rasped, her mouth tight. ‘Marilyn Mills,’ she said her name as if Lindsay should have known it. ‘And if you’ll just tell Joel that I’m here—’
‘I’m afraid I can’t do that.’ Lindsay shook her head, being deliberately obstructive. ‘Joel hates to be disturbed when he’s in the middle of a photographic session,’ she emphasised the word hates, knowing as the other girl’s mouth set resignedly that she was well aware of Joel’s temper when roused.
‘Very well,’ Marilyn Mills snapped, ‘I’ll wait. But I can assure you that you will be the one who’s disturbed him when he knows how you’ve kept me waiting out here!’
Lindsay had a feeling the other woman could be right about that, but the perverse satisfaction of making her wait persisted, was even worth risking Joel’s temper for.
The model sat down in one of the plush black leather armchairs that faced Lindsay, taking a long cigarette holder from her clutch-bag before lighting up a cigarette with a matching gold lighter. ‘How long have you been sitting guard over Joel?’ She made the question sound insulting.
‘I’ve been his secretary for a little over a year,’ Lindsay answered tightly.
Green eyes narrowed speculatively. ‘You’re certainly an improvement on the last old battleaxe he had working for him,’ she drawled.
‘Mrs Greg retired,’ Lindsay said stiffly.
‘I’m not surprised,’ Marilyn Mills mocked lightly. ‘She was ancient seven years ago!’
‘I believe Mrs Greg was fifty-five when she retired last year.’
‘Like I said, she was ancient,’ the model dismissed cruelly. ‘Whereas you are surprisingly young.’ Her eyes narrowed thoughtfully on Lindsay’s slender beauty. ‘What happened, couldn’t you make it as a model and decided to settle for second best?’
Lindsay mentally counted to ten to prevent the explosive retort she wanted to make to the deliberately insulting comment. ‘I never take second best, Miss Mills,’ she told the other woman with quiet forcefulness. ‘I work as Joel’s secretary because I enjoy doing it. The career of a model has never appealed to me—it’s too false and too demanding.’
The beautiful mouth twisted mockingly. ‘And isn’t being Joel’s—secretary demanding?’
She stiffened warily, looking at the other girl searchingly. Had she given herself away with her defensive attitude? Possibly, but why should she care? Any hopes that might have resurfaced because of last night had been dashed the moment this woman arrived at the studio. She had nothing more to lose. ‘It has been,’ she answered abruptly. ‘But I’ve learnt to cope with it.’
‘I just bet you have!’ Marilyn Mills stubbed the cigarette out viciously in the ashtray, standing up. ‘Look, I don’t care who Joel has in there with him, I want to see him now. Do you understand—’ She broke off as the studio door opened unexpectedly and Joel appeared to show the model out.
It was as if Joel was aware of Marilyn Mills’ presence in the room even before he had turned and seen her, the tension in his body increasing as his face paled. Colette Gates was forgotten as he stared at the beautiful dark-haired woman who stood across the room from him, and Lindsay felt sure he had forgotten her presence too. Her heart ached at his reaction to Marilyn Mills, looking almost as if he had seen a vision, a ghost, perhaps even his nemesis. Whatever had happened to separate them in the past, Joel was more deeply affected by Marilyn Mills than he had been by any other woman, including Lindsay. And she knew it.
‘Joel!’ Marilyn Mills purred softly, moving across the room to twine her arms about his neck and raise her face invitingly for his kiss. When he seemed too numbed to take the initiative she pressed her lips against his in a slow leisurely kiss. ‘Darling, it’s so good to see you,’ she murmured throatily.
Joel’s breathing was uneven when she moved back slightly, his face more haggard than ever. ‘I had no idea you had arrived yet,’ his voice lacked its usual self-confidence.
She glanced maliciously at Lindsay. ‘Your secretary was very—unco-operative, sweet,’ she purred.
Joel looked at Lindsay as if he had only just noticed her presence, an expression akin to pleading in his eyes, whether for understanding or something else she didn’t know. ‘Lindsay knows I don’t like to be disturbed when I’m working,’ he defended, although it seemed to Lindsay that his voice lacked conviction.
Long scarlet-tipped fingers caressed the rigidness of his jaw. ‘And would I have disturbed you, darling?’
Joel seemed at a loss how to answer, and Lindsay’s protective instinct sprang into action, no matter how much he might have hurt her by using her last night. ‘I’m sorry if I should have shown Miss Mills straight in, Joel,’ she told him softly. ‘I had no idea the two of you were such good friends,’ she couldn’t resist adding challengingly.
‘For years and years,’ the other woman told her with throaty satisfaction, her body still pressed seductively against Joel’s. ‘Now let’s go through to the studio, darling,’ she encouraged huskily, ‘and you can tell me all the news. How are your parents?’ Lindsay heard her asking as the door to the studio was firmly closed behind them.
Lindsay felt the tears come into her eyes unbidden, choked with emotion that the other woman had actually met Joel’s parents during their relationship when he had never even spoken of them to her! Now she knew what last night had all been about—farewell to his new mistress before he took back his old one! God, it was so humiliating to think that she had held such high hopes about last night, felt closer to Joel then than at any time when she had lived with him. Would he compare last night with tonight when he slept with Marilyn? Because she had no doubt they would be sleeping together tonight. Would he confirm for the other woman what she had already guessed, that she had been much more than his secretary in the past, that she had inflicted the scratch and bite marks he wouldn’t be able to hide? Somehow she didn’t think even that would convince the other girl that she was much of a threat to her renewed relationship with him.
And neither did Lindsay. She had never seen Joel like this before, stunned and completely speechless, his emotions in his eyes for all to see. If Marilyn Mills had been the one to sour him against love she was also the one to bring it back into his life. Joel had at last fallen in love, and with another woman.
Indeed, when he and the model left for lunch ten minutes later he still seemed dazed, making no mention of when, or if, he would be back, and if he wasn’t what Lindsay should do about his afternoon appointments.
Now that she was alone Lindsay allowed the tears to fall, her head buried in her arms as she saw the man she loved so captivated by another. And she didn’t like the other woman. And that wasn’t just because of Joel’s reaction to her, she genuinely didn’t like Marilyn Mills’ hard beauty or brittle manner.
‘Sleeping on the job?’ teased a lightly mocking voice that she instantly recognised.
She looked up with a start at Malcolm finding her like this, her make-up streaked from the tears she had just shed, her distress obvious.
Malcolm’s humour instantly changed to concern. ‘Lindsay, what is it?’
‘Nothing.’ She hastily wiped the evidence of tears from her face with a tissue.
‘Hey, this is your future brother-in-law you’re talking to,’ he chided softly.
That brought a watery smile to her lips, as it was supposed to. ‘You’re very confident,’ she teased.
‘Hopeful,’ he dismi
ssed, his face still dark with concern. ‘Did Joel do this to you?’ His voice hardened.
‘He didn’t do a thing,’ she sniffed, standing up to check her appearance in the mirror, her eyes red from the crying she had done, her make-up more or less washed away.
‘You weren’t crying for nothing,’ Malcolm persisted.
‘We women do, you know,’ she dismissed, setting about the repairing of her make-up.
‘Not you,’ he shook his head. ‘You’re a very together young lady.’
Lindsay grimaced. ‘And I just fell apart.’ Her eyes looked a little less grotesque now, her brown shadow and mascara nearly reapplied. ‘How did your date with Judi go last night?’ she changed the subject without answering his questions.
‘She hasn’t called you?’ Malcolm looked disappointed.
‘Not yet,’ she smiled. ‘Although I’m sure she will.’
‘It went surprisingly well,’ he told her in pleased voice. ‘We didn’t argue once.’
Her brows rose. ‘Then it did go well,’ she teased.
He nodded. ‘She’s agreed to see me tonight too.’
‘The Reader charm must be working,’ Lindsay smiled again.
‘I wish it would work on you.’ He watched her with narrowed eyes. ‘I wish you would open up and talk to me. You seemed a little strange on the telephone last night too,’ he remembered thoughtfully.
‘I wasn’t strange,’ she dismissed, a delicate blush colouring her cheeks. ‘I was getting cold standing there talking to you.’
‘Were you really in the bath when I telephoned?’ he asked with slow scepticism.
Lindsay blushed even more. ‘Of course. Why would I lie about something like that?’
‘You tell me,’ he shrugged. ‘You didn’t sound like someone freezing to death. I—Oh hello, Joel,’ he greeted the other man lightly as he had stood unobserved in the doorway.
Lindsay turned sharply from the mirror, her lipgloss still in her hand, knowing by the hard glitter of Joel’s eyes that he had completely misunderstood the situation and the conversation. Her flushed face and bare lips gave the impression that she had just been thoroughly kissed, and she had no idea how much of the conversation he had overheard, but it seemed to be enough for him to have misconstrued the significance of the telephone call she had received from her ‘friend’ Malcolm the previous evening.
But who was he to sit in judgment, even if what he believed was true? His motives for spending the night with her were even more reprehensible!
Her chin rose challengingly. ‘I thought you’d gone to lunch, Joel,’ she said tautly.
‘Obviously.’ His mouth twisted as he looked pointedly at the other man. ‘I forgot something in the studio,’ he explained his unexpected return. ‘I didn’t expect to see you here today, Malcolm.’ He looked questioningly at the other man.
Malcolm grinned, perfectly relaxed. ‘I just can’t seem to keep away from your beautiful secretary.’
His words were meant to be provocative, and Lindsay could see by Joel’s taut expression that they had succeeded.
‘So I see,’ he bit out curtly. ‘Well, do you think you could tear yourself away from her long enough to join me for lunch? Marilyn Mills has arrived from the States, I’m sure you’d enjoy talking to her.’
A light of interest brightened Malcolm’s eyes. ‘I’m sure I would, but unfortunately I have other plans for lunch.’ He didn’t enlarge on that statement, although it was obvious from the way he looked at Lindsay that she was included in those plans. ‘Maybe I could meet her later in the afternoon,’ he suggested smoothly. ‘After lunch.’
Joel looked far from pleased. ‘If that’s what you would prefer,’ his voice echoed his displeasure. ‘I’ll just go into the studio for a few minutes and then leave you to your own plans.’
As soon as they were alone Lindsay turned to the other man. ‘Malcolm, what do you—’
‘Ssh!’ he told her fiercely as Joel came back from the studio, giving the other man a bright smile. ‘See you later, Joel,’ he said provocatively.
‘Yes,’ Joel acknowledged tersely, and closed the door behind him with force.
CHAPTER SEVEN
‘WHAT did you do that for?’ Lindsay demanded irritably as soon as the door closed.
Malcolm gave her an innocent look. ‘Do what?’
‘You know very well what,’ she sighed. ‘Don’t you think things are bad enough between Joel and me without you coming along with a big wooden spoon and stirring it some more?’
He laughed softly. ‘I just love your crazy English sayings!’
‘Don’t come the wide-eyed American tourist with me, Malcolm Reader,’ she snapped her impatience. ‘You deliberately antagonised Joel just now, and you know it.’
Malcolm shrugged. ‘He didn’t look as if he needed much pushing.’
‘Perhaps not,’ she acknowledged grudgingly. ‘But you had to push anyway, didn’t you?’
‘All I did was say I had other plans for lunch—’
‘Implying that I was included in them!’
‘Well, you are, why else do you think I turned up here at lunchtime?’
‘To gloat over how my poor sister is being taken in by your charm,’ she derided.
‘That too,’ he grinned. ‘But I also thought I could take you out to lunch.’
Lindsay shrugged. ‘You heard Joel, he’s taken Miss Mills out; I’m not expecting him back for a couple of hours at least.’ If then!
‘All the more reason for you to go to lunch yourself,’
Malcolm dismissed. ‘Put the answering machine on, lock the door, and let’s go. You have a right to eat, Lindsay,’ he encouraged as she still hesitated.
He was right, of course, and if Joel took the couple of hours she thought he would then it was going to be too late for her to go to lunch when he returned. Besides, he must have realised she was going to be out of the office at the same time as he was, and he hadn’t raised any objections. ‘All right,’ she agreed, doing as Malcolm suggested before following him down to his car.
As was usually the case in restaurants in town at lunchtime during the week it was very busy, but they managed to find a table in a quietly exclusive one in a side street, relaxing after they had ordered their meal.
‘So what happened this morning to upset you?’ Malcolm persisted remorselessly.
‘I told you,’ Lindsay’s tone was light, ‘women often cry for no real reason.’
‘And would this “no real reason” have anything to do with the arrival of Marilyn Mills?’ he asked shrewdly.
She blushed slightly. ‘Of course not—’
‘Lindsay, I meant it when I said I’m going to be your brother-in-law,’ he told her seriously. ‘And as such I’m concerned for you. I should have realised by Joel’s reaction to having Marilyn Mills for “Witchcraft” that he once had something going with her. He did, didn’t he?’
She swallowed hard, moistening her lips. ‘I—I think so,’ she nodded. ‘He hasn’t actually said so, but like you I found his reaction a little—surprising.’
‘And he’s taken her out to lunch now,’ Malcolm said thoughtfully.
‘That’s nothing unusual,’ she excused. ‘He often takes his models out to lunch.’
‘And do you always react this way when he does?’ he derided disbelievingly.
‘Malcolm, I told you—’
‘What’s she like?’ he interrupted sharply, looking at her with narrowed eyes.
Lindsay’s expression became shuttered. ‘Beautiful. Even more so than her photographs, if that’s possible.’
‘That wasn’t what I meant and you know it,’ Malcolm said dryly. ‘What’s she like as a person?’
‘I didn’t see her long enough to—’
‘Lindsay,’ he rebuked softly, ‘it usually only takes a couple of minutes to form an opinion of someone.’
‘I could be biased—’
‘So give me your biased opinion of her,’ he mocked.
She shrugged. ‘I didn’t like her,’ she told him quietly. ‘And I’m sure the feeling was mutual.’
‘She guessed about you and Joel, hm?’ he said dryly.
Lindsay blushed a deep red as she remembered the night she and Joel had just shared. ‘There’s nothing to guess any more—’
‘Lindsay,’ Malcolm questioned slowly, ‘when I called you last night did I interrupt something?’
It would have been so easy to lie, to have prevaricated, but she did neither. ‘Only temporarily,’ she answered steadily.
His expression darkened. ‘And after spending the night with you Joel has calmly gone off with an old lover?’
‘Yes.’
‘When I first met you I thought the man was a fool for not claiming you for his own, but once I realised that he had I began to think he had some sense after all. But to go straight from your arms to Marilyn Mills—!’
‘Don’t you think that now you could be acting a little biased?—as my future brother-in-law, of course,’ she derided dryly.
‘If I hadn’t fallen for Judi the moment I saw her I’d still be after you myself. Joel’s a fool to let a past love ruin what he has now,’ he frowned darkly.
‘He doesn’t have anything with me now,’ Lindsay dismissed brittly. ‘Last night was—a mistake.’
Malcolm shook his head. ‘You aren’t the type to make mistakes like that.’
‘Maybe not, but Joel does.’ She turned to smile at the waiter as he brought their meal. ‘Let’s just enjoy the food, hm?’ she prompted once they were alone.
Malcolm nodded, sensing her need not to discuss Joel any more for the moment, telling her instead about the previous evening he had spent with Judi. It did indeed sound as if her sister had mellowed towards him, and Lindsay could only hope it would continue that way. It didn’t seem as if Judi had confided in Malcolm about Jonathan yet, and until she did that it meant she didn’t completely trust him.
Joel and Marilyn Mills hadn’t returned by the time they did, so Malcolm sat down to wait for them while Lindsay caught up on her work. Marilyn Mills’ husky laugh preceded them into the office, the other woman clinging to Joel’s arm as they entered the room together, her green eyes gleaming with the satisfaction of a cat as she looked triumphantly at Lindsay, those same eyes widening with interest as she spotted Malcolm.
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