Carole Mortimer - The Fiance Fix

‘You have a heavy date tonight?’ Joey guessed teasingly—looking like this, when wouldn’t this man have a ‘heavy date’?

‘Something like that.’ He chuckled softly, a deep, throaty sound that made Joey’s nerve-endings tingle.

Much to her disquiet. Really, this man had just walked in here off the street, was obviously a building labourer, probably a transient worker; the chances were Joey would never see him again after today. Besides, he had a ‘heavy date’ this evening…

‘How are things progressing over there?’ She nodded in the direction of the building site behind the salon.

‘Not bad. This place will be coming down soon too, won’t it?’ he queried lightly.

Joey’s fingers faltered slightly as she shaped the hair over his ears, glad she was bending forward so that he couldn’t see her expression clearly. ‘Soon, yes,’ she confirmed hardly.

She tried not to think about it, despite the fact that her landlord had informed her several weeks ago that he wouldn’t be renewing her lease when it came to an end in two months’ time.

Like everyone else in this block of buildings, he had sold out to the Mason supermarket chain. A supermarket chain rapidly becoming the biggest in the country, and so able to pay her landlord a much larger sum than he would ever receive in rent, even over a hundred-year period! In fact all of the other properties in this particular square were already empty, or in some cases demolished.

This man might be slightly dusty, but the salon had been in a similar condition since the first building came down several weeks ago, dust covering every surface no matter how often it was cleaned.

‘Sore point?’ the man in front of her prompted softly.

‘Yes.’ Joey didn’t even attempt to prevaricate; ‘sore’ didn’t begin to describe how she felt over effectively being evicted. ‘I realise you work for Dominic Mason,’ she sighed, ‘but—’

‘The building work for the new supermarket is contracted out to Harding Construction,’ he cut in.

‘Whatever,’ Joey dismissed—what did it matter who built the damned thing? The fact that she was having to find new premises for her business was still causing a major upheaval in her life.

As if she needed another one just now! Lily’s father had crawled out of the woodwork two months ago too. In fact, she had received notification that her lease wouldn’t be renewed and the letter from Lily’s father on the very same day. A black day in her life!

The first, in view of the fact that her lease was coming to an end anyway, it appeared she could do nothing about. The second she had dealt with by way of a very abrupt letter informing Daniel Banning that she had absolutely nothing to say to him, that anything that needed to be said had already been done so. The silence since she had sent that letter had been oppressive.

‘You were saying…?’ her customer prompted curiously. ‘About Dominic Mason,’ he reminded her as Joey looked at his reflection blankly.

Dominic Mason, Joey thought disgustedly. Since his appearance in the supermarket line ten years ago the man had managed to buy out two other prominent chains, expanding to the States and Europe, as well as increasing his own chain in England.

‘The man will only be happy when he owns every supermarket in the world,’ she gritted.

‘A supermarket megalomaniac,’ the man said with knowing humour.

‘Exactly,’ Joey agreed, easily getting into full stride where the subject of Dominic Mason was concerned. ‘Just how much money does one man need?’ she scorned, snipping away at the dark hair. ‘He—’

‘Not too short, if you don’t mind,’ the man put in softly.

‘Sorry.’ She gave him a rueful smile, easing up on the cutting. ‘As you’ve probably guessed, Dominic Mason is not my favourite person.’

‘Hardly surprising, really.’ The man nodded. ‘Has your boss found somewhere else to go yet?’

Boss…?

‘I’m the “Joanne” over the shop front,’ she corrected him. ‘Although everyone calls me Joey,’ she added—for some reason she wasn’t completely sure of. Her friends called her Joey—and this man was far from being that!

‘I hadn’t realised you’re actually the owner,’ he admitted. ‘No wonder you’re p—er—not feeling very happy—’ he amended whatever he had been about to say ‘—with Dominic Mason.’

‘He’ll win in the end, of course,’ she sighed, brushing away the cut hair from the back of his neck. ‘His sort always do. But I don’t intend moving from here until I absolutely have to,’ she added resolutely.

She knew that her salon was probably causing problems to the building of the new Mason supermarket, standing as it did almost in the middle of the construction site! Good—any nuisance value she could give Dominic Mason was worth all the dust she had to contend with every day!

‘I can’t say that I blame you,’ the man acknowledged lightly, standing up once Joey had removed the pink wrap. ‘How much do I owe you?’

‘It’s eight pounds fifty for a trim,’ she related automatically, glancing at the serviceable watch on her wrist; nearly time to pick up Lily and her friend Daisy from ballet; it seemed flowers had been the fashion in girls’ names six years ago!

‘Damn!’ He had reached into his jeans pocket, the hand coming out empty. ‘I remember now. I left my wallet in my other clothes.’ He groaned. ‘A building site isn’t exactly the ideal place to carry money and credit cards.’

Great. Now it turned out the man couldn’t even pay her for the haircut! As for his ‘other clothes’, the dusty jeans and shirt looked as if he had been wearing them for some time. Not that this was the first time something like this had happened to her, but it was usually one of Joey’s regular customers who had simply left their purse at home by mistake.

‘Look, I’m really sorry about this,’ the man apologised, dark colour staining the hardness of his cheeks. ‘Is it OK if I drop the money in first thing in the morning?’

‘Fine,’ Joey answered, sure she wasn’t going to see this man—or the money—the next day.

Not that she was a cynic, exactly; it was just that life had a habit of throwing unexpected curves at her. Being taken in by this man was just one more thing to add to an already lengthy list!

‘You don’t believe me, do you?’ he realised slowly as he studied her with narrowed eyes.

Joey gave him a quick smile. ‘I said it’s fine.’ After all, it had been her own time she had been wasting! Time, she realised after a second glance at her watch, that she no longer had to waste.

‘I hope I haven’t kept you from anything?’ He had obviously seen that second glance at her wristwatch.

‘Not at all,’ she assured him lightly. ‘And please don’t give paying for the haircut another thought.’ She waved a dismissive hand.

‘I’ve said I’ll pay you in the morning, and I will,’ he assured her grimly. ‘I should lock this door after me, if I were you,’ he advised firmly.

Come-to-bed eyes and a caring nature…! Quite an attractive combination.

No way, Joey, she immediately reproved herself. There were enough complications in her life already—finding new premises for her salon, as well as fending off Daniel Banning’s attempts to disrupt the life she had painstakingly built for Lily and herself—without finding herself attracted to a man who had a ‘heavy date’ this evening—and who didn’t even have the money to pay for his haircut!

‘Thanks.’ She followed him over to the door.

He turned in the doorway. ‘I really will be by first thing in the morning to pay you,’ he repeated.

‘Of course you will.’ She nodded, unconvinced.