Jessica Hart - A Very Personal Assistant - Oh-So-Sensible Secretary / The Santorini Marriage Bargain / Hired - Sassy Assistant

‘How do you suggest I do that?’ I snapped, annoyed because I knew he was right.

‘I’m not sure yet,’ said Phin. ‘I’ll give it some thought.’

But, apart from Jewel, everyone seemed to accept our supposed relationship with an extraordinary lack of surprise. Monique, Lex’s PA, whom I’d always admired for her perspicacity, even told me that she thought Phin and I were a perfect match!

‘You’re just right for each other,’ she said when we met in the corridor one day, on my way back from making coffee. ‘He’s so lovely, isn’t he?’ she went on, while I was still boggling at the idea that anyone could think Phin and I were right for each other when it must be blindingly obvious that we were completely different.

‘Lex is always baffled by him, but Phin is a huge asset to Gibson & Grieve if only he’d recognise it. He’s one of those people that just has to walk into a room and everyone relaxes, because you know he’ll be able to defuse any situation and charm everyone so they’ll all go away feeling good about themselves, whatever’s been decided.’

I did some more boggling then. Relaxed was the last thing I felt with Phin. He was too unpredictable. One minute he’d be sitting lazily with his feet up on the desk, the next he’d be fizzing with energy. I never knew when he was going to appear or what he was going to do.

Whenever Phin was around I felt edgy, jittery. My pulse was prone to kicking up a beat at the most inexplicable moments. All he had to do was stretch his arms above his head and yawn, or look at me with that smile twitching at his mouth, and my heart would start to thump and an alarming shivery feeling would uncoil in my belly and tremble outwards, until my whole skin prickled with awareness. It was very disturbing.

Relaxed? Ha!

‘How are you anyway, Monique?’ I asked, sick of being told how wonderful Phin was.

‘Fantastic,’ she said, beaming. ‘In fact …’ She checked to make sure no one else was around. ‘I’m not telling many people yet, as it’s early days, but I’m pregnant!’

I was delighted for her. I knew that Monique and her husband had been hoping for a baby for a while now. ‘Monique, that’s wonderful news! Dave must be thrilled.’

‘He is. Lex is less so, of course,’ she said, with a wry roll of her eyes.

Monique adored her boss, but she had no illusions about him. With Lex it was business all the way, and babies just didn’t enter the equation.

‘He was grumbling just this morning that if I’d told him earlier he would never have let you go and work for Phin—and what a shame that would have been!’ She hesitated. ‘I don’t suppose you’d want to go back to Lex’s office now, but he’ll be looking for someone he trusts to cover my maternity leave, so if you’re interested there might be an opening in a few months.’

‘Really?’

‘The baby’s due in September, so I’ll work up until August,’ she said. ‘Talk it over with Phin and see what he thinks. If you’re spending all your time together, it might not be a bad thing to work in different offices … but you’d obviously want to vet any new PA!’ Monique could obviously see the thoughts whirling in my brain. ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything? I was just being selfish. It would make it so much easier for me if I could reassure Lex that you’d look after him while I’m away, that’s all.’

‘I’ll definitely think about it,’ I promised.

Thoughtfully, I carried the coffee back to my office. To be Lex’s PA—the most senior in the company …! Only temporarily, of course, until Monique came back. But what a thing to have on my CV. It would be an extraordinary opportunity, and one I could only ever have dreamed of up to now.

It was hard to believe that only a month ago I had felt utterly hopeless. Now I not only had the prospect of a fantastic promotion, but there was even a real chance of getting back together with Jonathan. Or so Phin seemed to think—and, much as I hated to admit that he was right, I had to admit that Jonathan had been much more friendly the last few days. He had taken to dropping by the office on the slimmest of pretexts, and telling me how nice I looked if we met by the lifts.

It was all very confusing. Everything was changing so quickly I didn’t know what to think any more.

I should be excited. I knew that. In a few months’ time I could be back with Jonathan and working with the Chief Executive—and Phin … Well, this had only ever been meant as a temporary exercise anyway. Phin would move on. He’d go back to making television programmes and I wouldn’t see him any more. There would be no more jitteriness, no more exasperation, no more teasing. No more doughnuts. And that would be fine, I told myself. It would all work out perfectly.

But there was a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach all the same.

‘What’s up?’ said Phin, when I took in his coffee. It was uncanny the way he always knew if something had happened, no matter how smooth I made my expression.

So I told him what Monique had said. ‘Typical Lex,’ was his comment, when he heard about his brother’s response to the news that his PA was having a much longed for baby. ‘He’s got no idea. You’d think he could be happy for her before he thought about how her pregnancy will affect Gibson & Grieve!’

‘Monique doesn’t really mind,’ I said, a little uncomfortably. ‘She knows what he’s like. The normal rules don’t apply to someone like Lex.’

‘Well, they should,’ said Phin. He was leaning back, twirling a pen between his fingers. ‘So what about you?’ he asked, blue eyes suddenly intent. ‘Do you really want to work for a man who wouldn’t know what a doughnut was, let alone think about buying you one?’

‘It would be a good career opportunity for me.’ Unable to bear it any longer, I held out my hand for the pen, and after a stubborn moment he surrendered it, dropping it into my open palm.

‘At least I wouldn’t have to put up with your endless fiddling any longer,’ I said, putting the pen back into its holder. ‘And it might be easier when our supposed romance falls through,’ I added. ‘It would look a bit odd if we carried on working together perfectly happily when … if …’

‘When you’re back with Jonathan?’ Phin finished for me.

There was an unusual note in his voice that made me look sharply at him.

‘Even if that doesn’t happen, we can’t carry on like this indefinitely,’ I pointed out.

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