Margaret Way - The Australian Affairs Collection

Taking a deep breath, she reached for her sunglasses and put them on.

‘Would you mind if I called you Jessica instead of Miss Murphy?’ he said before she could even start the engine.

Jess winced. She hated being called Jessica. ‘I’d rather you call me Jess,’ she replied, and found herself throwing a small smile his way.

‘Only if you promise to call me Ben,’ he insisted as he snapped his seat belt into place.

Jess suspected that women—no, people in general—rarely said no to Ben De Silva. His combination of looks and charm were both seductive and quite corrupting. Already she wanted to please him. Yet she wasn’t, by nature, a people pleaser. Jess had always had a mind of her own and a mouth to match. Suddenly, however, all she wanted to do was smile, nod and agree with everything Ben said. Already he was Ben in her head.

‘Okay. Ready, Ben?’ she said as she reached for the ignition and glanced over at him again.

Dear heaven but he was gorgeous! He smelt gorgeous too. She did like men who wore nice aftershave.

‘As soon as I put these on,’ he replied, pulling his own sunglasses out of his pocket.

They were very expensive looking. God, now he looked like a movie star, a very sexy movie star, the kind a girl fantasised over in the privacy of her bedroom.

Jess’s susceptibility to this man was beginning to annoy her. Next thing she’d know, she’d start flirting with him. Which wasn’t like her at all! Gritting her teeth, she checked her rear and side mirrors, executed a perfect three-point turn, then accelerated up the street. Neither of them said anything for a full minute or two, Ben being the first to speak.

‘I must thank you again, Jess, for doing this for me.’

‘You don’t have to thank me. You’re paying for the privilege.’

‘Still, I can see you probably had to put yourself out to do this. I would imagine a girl as attractive as yourself would have better things to do over the weekend than work.’

‘No, not really.’

‘You didn’t have to break any dates?’

‘Not this weekend.’

‘That surprises me. I would have thought you’d have a boyfriend.’

‘I did,’ she bit out. ‘Till recently.’

‘What happened?’

She shrugged. ‘We were going to go on a road trip together around Australia. That’s why I bought this four-wheel drive. Anyway, at the last moment he decided he didn’t want to do that. Instead, he took off backpacking around the world with a mate.’

Jess felt, rather than saw, Ben’s startled look. When driving a client, she rarely took her eyes off the road.

‘He didn’t ask you to go with him?’ he quizzed, his shocked tone soothing Jess’s still lingering hurt over Colin’s defection.

‘No. He did ask me to wait for him, though.’

‘I hope you said no.’

She laughed as she recalled her quite volatile reaction. ‘I said a little more than just no.’

‘Good for you.’

‘Perhaps. Colin said I have a sharp tongue.’

‘Really? I find that hard to believe.’

Was he mocking her?

A quick glance showed a perfectly straight face. A perfectly straight, very handsome face. Jess decided he was just making conversation, which was better than sitting there saying nothing all the way to Mudgee.

‘He also said I was bossy and controlling.’

‘No!’

He was mocking her. But not unkindly.

She sighed. ‘I suppose I am a bit controlling. But I just like things to be organised. And to be done properly.’

‘I’m somewhat of a perfectionist myself,’ Ben said. ‘Ah, there’s Westfield’s. Not far to the motorway now.’

Jess frowned. ‘How come you know Westfield’s? I thought this was your first visit to Australia.’

‘Not at all,’ he said. ‘I’ve spent a lot of time here. Well, in New South Wales, at least. My parents are divorced, you see. You already know my father’s American, but my mother’s Australian. She owns the apartment in Blue Bay. I actually went to boarding school in Sydney. That’s where I met Andy—he’s the one who’s getting married.’

‘Goodness!’ she exclaimed. ‘I had no idea.’

‘Well, why would you?’ he said, sounding puzzled.

Jess suppressed a groan. As the saying went, oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive.

It actually went against Jess’s grain to be less than honest with people. But her intentions had been good. Hopefully, Ben wouldn’t be too annoyed with her if she told him the truth. She really didn’t want to drive all the way to Mudgee watching what she said and didn’t say. And, yes, she supposed she did still hope to discuss the future of Fab Fashions with him. He seemed very approachable and a lot smarter than she’d given him credit for. But that didn’t make the act of confessing any easier.

‘Oh gosh, this is just so awkward. I suppose I simply have to tell you now. I…I just hope you won’t be too annoyed.’

CHAPTER FOUR

BEN HAD NO IDEA what she was talking about. ‘Tell me what?’ he asked.

‘The thing is, Ben…’ she started, obviously with great reluctance.

‘Yes?’ he prompted when she didn’t go on.

She pulled a face. ‘I just hope you understand.’

‘Understand what ?’ he demanded to know.

‘Just wait, will you, till we’re safely on the motorway?’

Jess turned right onto the ramp which took them down to the highway, heading north.

‘I have a confession to make,’ she said at last, then hesitated again.

‘Go on,’ Ben said with more patience than he was feeling.

‘The thing is… I knew who you were yesterday on the phone once you said you were Benjamin De Silva.’

Ben tried to assimilate what Jess was actually saying, but failed.

‘What exactly do you mean by who I was?’

‘I mean, I knew you worked for De Silva & Associates and that you were Morgan De Silva’s son.’

Ben could not have been more taken aback.

‘And how come you knew that?’ he said, sounding more confused than angry. ‘I wouldn’t have thought my father was all that well known in Australia. He keeps a low public profile. Same with myself.’

Her sigh was heavy. ‘You might understand better if I tell you I used to have a part-time job at a Fab Fashions boutique in Westfield’s till last weekend, when the manager had to let me go.’

‘Ah,’ Ben said, light dawning. Though what she was doing working part-time in a fashion boutique at all was a mystery. She’d said she was a mechanic, hadn’t she? And an advanced driving instructor.

There was no doubt that Jess was a surprising girl in more ways than one. You could have knocked him over with a feather when she’d turned up, looking nothing like the middle-aged battle-axe he’d been envisaging. Not only was she young—surely no more than mid-to late-twenties—she was also hot looking. Normally he went for blondes, not brunettes. But he found Jess quite delicious with her full lips, flashing dark eyes and seriously great legs. She also had an engaging and rather amusing personality. That boyfriend had been a fool, letting her go.

‘Yes, ah…’ Jess said somewhat sheepishly. ‘I asked Helen…she’s the manager…what the problem was and she told me about this American company taking over Fab Fashions and threatening them with closure if they didn’t make a profit before the end of the year. I was so mad I found out what your name was and looked you up on the Internet. Not that I found out much about you,’ she added hastily. ‘Mostly it was about your father and the company he founded. Anyway, when an American chap rang yesterday and told me his name was Benjamin De Silva, I nearly fell off my chair.’