Jessica Hart - No Mistaking Love

Just for one night. Get on to the travel agents -and book a hotel and two flights-first class.'

`When you say "we", does that include me?' Kate asked carefully.

`As there are just two of us in the room, I'd have thought that was obvious. Why, is there a problem?'

`It's rather short notice.'

`So?'

'I might have something planned,' she pointed out, searching in her bag for her own diary.

`You'll just have to cancel it,' Luke said unsympathetically. `This is important. And that reminds me, don't book any appointments for this afternoon.'

`Are you going to be out?'

'We are going to be out,' he corrected her. `I'm taking you to get your hair cut.'

Kate had been making neat notes in the diary, but her head jerked up at that. `I don't need to have my hair cut!'

'Yes, you do. It's important to give our clients the right impression of LPM, and I don't want you turning up in Paris looking like that.'

`Looking like what?' Kate's voice was deceptively mild but her eyes held a glitter of frost.

Luke hunched his shoulders irritably. `You look so bloody prim and proper with your hair tied back like that and those sensible suits of yours. It's like having a governess instead of a secretary!'

`I suppose I should be flattered that you even notice what I wear,' Kate snapped back, angry and more than a little hurt. `I'd always thought that as long as I typed your letters and answered your phone I could be dressed in rags for all you would care!'

'There's no need to get hysterical,' Luke said. He stood up and tucked his diary back into the inside pocket of his jacket.

The lack of interest in the gesture infuriated Kate. `I am not hysterical!' she said through gritted teeth. `Why do men always say that as soon as women dare to answer back?'

`If that were the case I'd be permanently accusing you of being hysterical,' Luke pointed out. `Anyway, what are you getting so het up about? I only made a simple comment about your appearance.'

`Oh, it was a simple comment, was it? I don't suppose it occurred to you that I might not like being accused of being prim and proper, or looking like a governess? Does it even occur to you that I'm a human being and not just another piece of office machinery?'

Luke glowered. `For heaven's sake, stop overreacting!'

`No wonder your secretaries keep leaving you!' Kate was searching for a pen, banging papers up and down on her desk furiously. `You have no consideration for other people's feelings at all!'

`I'm not in the business of worrying about feelings,' Luke said coldly. `As far as I'm concerned, you're here to do a job, and part of that job involves projecting the right image of the company. Now, if you want to look like some uptight spinster when you're in London, that's fine, but this meeting tomorrow is my big chance to break into the European market, and I'm not going to blow it just because you can't be bothered to make the right impression!'

`What's wrong with what I've got on?' Kate demanded, gesturing down at her Prince of Wales check. `It's smart, and it's suitable. What more do you want?'

'I want some style!' Luke said, exasperated. `There's nothing wrong with that suit, but it doesn't do anything for you, and nor does your hairstyle. That's all I'm saying.'

`All you're saying is that you don't mind having an efficient secretary, but you'd really rather I looked completely different!'

Luke's mouth was set in an angry line. `If you're going to be unreasonable, Kate, I'm not going to bother arguing with you!'

`Me, unreasonable?' Kate pushed back her chair and leapt to her feet. Luke's comments had caught her on the raw and she was angrier than she had ever been, certainly too angry to consider what she was saying. `You're a fine one to talk! You've got a nerve, going on about the impression you're afraid I'll make in Paris when you're the one who hasn't the first idea of how to behave!'

The black look had descended on Luke's face. `I should be careful what you say to me, Kate,' he warned. `You're not the only girl in the world who can speak French.'

`I'm probably the only one who would put up with your rudeness!' Kate retorted. `You treat everyone here like your slaves. Do this, do that, dress like this, cut your hair like that! Well, I'm your secretary, not your slave, and I'm not going to change my image just to suit you!'

`Don't push me too far, Kate,' Luke ground out, `or you won't be my secretary much longer!'

`Fine!' Incandescent with rage, Kate snatched up her bag and marched over to the coatstand.

`Where do you think you're going?'

`Where do you think?' Kate said, dragging on her coat. `I'm going to find an employer who'll appreciate the skills I have to offer and who doesn't care if he has to put up with some grotesque frump sitting in the front office!'

Her hand was at the door and she had half opened it when Luke strode over and pushed it firmly shut. `I didn't say that!'

He was standing very close to her. Kate dropped her hand from the door-handle but stood her ground. `It sounded like that to me!' she said.

Luke stared down at her. Her face was bright with anger, her eyes glittering and her chin set defiantly.

`Oh, hell!' He raked his fingers through his dark hair and sighed. `Look, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have spoken to you like that. I had rather a fraught weekend, and I was taking my bad temper out on you. I'm sorry.'

Kate was so surprised to hear him apologise that she could only look uncertainly up into his face.

`I do appreciate you,' he went on. `You're the best secretary I've ever had.' And then, unfairly, he smiled. `Honestly!'

Kate's defences were no proof against a smile like that. She took a step back. Really, it was just a smile, just a crease in his cheek, a glimpse of teeth, a rare glimmer of warmth in his eyes. It was nothing to get excited about. There was absolutely no reason for her anger to melt like butter in a hot pan.

She tried to cling on to the last remnants o: fury, but it was hopeless, and Luke must have read it in her face. `Come on,' he said. `Let's sit down and discuss this sensibly.'

Kate let him help her off with her coat and hang it back on the stand. She stood, remembering the way she had spoken to him and feeling foolish. What had got into her?

Luke propelled her into his office and sat her down on one of the soft leather chairs. `I'll get some coffee,' he said.

Taken aback by such unexpected treatment, Kate perched uncomfortably on the edge of the chair and accepted the proffered cup gingerly. She wasn't at all sure how to deal with Luke's being nice like this!

`Now,' said Luke, hitching up his trousers and sitting down opposite her, `can we start again?'

'I'm sorry. I was being stupid,' Kate muttered

`I think we were both being unreasonable. Your weekend obviously wasn't any better than mine!' Luke stirred his coffee thoughtfully. `I wasn't lying when I said you were the best secretary I'd ever had. It makes a real difference to me to have someone I can chuck work at and know it will get done properly. I don't need to tell you any, thing twice. I don't need to send letters back to be retyped. I don't need to worry in case I haven" got all the documents for a meeting. I can trust you. I appreciate all of that, believe me.' He paused. `Perhaps I should have told you this before, but… well, I get absorbed in what I'm doing. I'm not the easiest of men to work for, I know.'

`You did warn me.' Kate had managed to pull herself together and was making an effort to sound brisk and practical. `I really shouldn't complain.'

Luke looked up from his coffee with a swift smile of such dangerous charm that Kate, in spite of a valiant attempt not to succumb, smiled back.

He had always had a treacherous charm, she remembered, even as she smiled, all the more effective for being so rarely used. She wanted to resist, but there was a warm glow inside her, a tug of response to the light in his blue-grey eyes.