Lee Wilkinson - The Tycoon's Trophy Mistress

‘What do you fancy?’ He handed her a menu that bore little resemblance to the kind of airline food she had been served in the past.

Seeing her hesitate, he asked, ‘Something wrong?’

‘I’m just bowled over by the choice,’ she admitted. ‘I usually travel economy class.’

He grinned. ‘Oh yes, I remember it well.’

‘You do?’ She failed to hide her surprise.

With a kind of wry self-mockery he told her, ‘After graduating, to see what I was made of, I spent a couple of years working my way round the globe. At times cash was so tight that even those ubiquitous plastic containers were welcome…’

While they ate a leisurely lunch followed by coffee and brandy they talked about his travels and the various places he’d visited.

‘Have you travelled much?’ he asked at length.

‘Not as much as I would have wished.’

‘Even though you dislike flying?’

‘I wouldn’t have let that stop me. At one time I’d planned to go round the world when I finished college, but…’ She stopped speaking abruptly.

‘But?’

‘I had commitments.’ She still felt unbearably desolate and sad when she thought of Tim. Poor Tim. And it was all this man’s fault.

A fresh wave of anger and hatred shook her.

Watching her, Daniel waited.

When she said nothing he queried carefully, ‘Is there anywhere in particular you’d still like to go?’

Taking a deep steadying breath she answered, ‘Quite a lot of places. But until earlier this year Carla—the girl I share the flat with—has been lighting candles for my financial status.’

‘It doesn’t sound as if we’re paying you enough.’

‘As I said, I had commitments.’

It seemed as if Sheering had been right when he suggested that Charlotte had been supporting her stepbrother, Daniel thought, and once again he waited, hoping she would go on.

But her face had that still, controlled look he was coming to recognize and, sighing inwardly, he decided to back off and change the subject.

Leaving the more emotive topics, he began to talk about international finance and how it affected current business interests.

After a moment, appearing cool and collected now, she joined in and held her own in a conversation that, though general, was deep and wide-ranging.

He moved easily from money issues and world trade to global warming and the preservation of natural resources. All the time testing her knowledge, seeking her reaction, asking her opinion, which, greatly to her surprise, often seemed to coincide with his.

If they touched on a subject that she was more familiar with than he was he saluted her superior knowledge. Generously.

Used to being talked down to by the men on her team who seemed to think brains and beauty were incompatible, she found it stimulating to be taken seriously and treated as an equal.

By the time they reached New York and came in to land at busy JFK Airport she had almost forgotten her reason for being there.

Almost.

Once again, with a light but firm hand at her waist, Daniel Wolfe took charge of everything. In no time at all, it seemed, the formalities were completed and their luggage was being ferried to a waiting limousine by a smartly uniformed chauffeur.

Instead of being dull and damp, as it had been in London, to Charlotte’s surprise there was a fresh cover of snow. Overhead the sky was a cloudless cornflower-blue, and the sun shone coldly bright.

As they drove through Queens, which seemed to be mainly residential, she queried, ‘How far is it?’

‘About fifteen miles to mid-Manhattan. It’ll take about an hour, depending on the traffic.’

Though aware that she should be using the time to advantage Charlotte could think of nothing else to say, and once again very conscious of the man by her side she looked resolutely through the car window.

For his part, his first surging excitement now leashed by his better judgement, Daniel was content to simply have her by his side.

Earlier, on the plane, the urge to hold her in his arms had been so great that he had thrown caution to the winds.

He had felt her momentary withdrawal, her tenseness and, expecting the worst, had braced himself for an open rejection.

When it hadn’t come he had been both pleased and puzzled. Either she had decided to forgive and forget or she was playing some deep game of her own.

Whichever, it seemed that, in the short term at least, life was going to be far from dull.

AS THEY approached Manhattan, though Charlotte had seen enough pictures to make it reasonably familiar, she still caught her breath at the sight of the city decked all in sparkling white.

‘Isn’t it wonderful?’ she exclaimed.

‘I think so,’ he agreed.

Her reason for being there momentarily forgotten, she turned to him in excitement. ‘I thought I knew what to expect, but I hadn’t imagined anything quite like this.’

Pleased and relieved that she liked his city, he said, ‘New York has so many different faces, so many moods, that it’s always able to surprise even the people who call it home. That’s one of the reasons I enjoy living here.’

His comment reminded her of something she still wasn’t sure about, and she asked, ‘Perhaps you can tell me where I’ll be living? Mr Telford mentioned a company flat, but I’ve no idea where it is.’

‘The company flat is at our headquarters in the Lloyd Wolfe building, which is situated Uptown on Central Park East.’

‘Is that where you live?’

‘No. I live in Lower Manhattan.’

‘Oh!’ It would have suited her purpose better if he’d been living in the same building.

‘You sound disappointed.’

He seemed able to pick up the slightest inflection she thought uncomfortably, and hastened to deny. ‘Not at all. It’s just that for some reason I’d expected you to have a penthouse on Fifth Avenue.’

‘I did for a while but it didn’t really suit me, so I moved… Sure you’re not disappointed?’

‘No, of course not. Why should I be?’ Then, seeing he was far from convinced, she added, ‘I’m just surprised. I can’t imagine anyone not enjoying living on Fifth Avenue.’

‘I did, in a way, but as well as being relatively run-of-the-mill the penthouse always seemed a touch impersonal, like living in a hotel.

‘Now I have a house that’s different, as well as being very personal. It’s in an area usually referred to as The Villages.’

‘The Villages?’ she echoed uncertainly.

‘They’re a collection of neighbourhoods just west of Broadway.’

‘Isn’t that quite a way from your headquarters?’

‘Not too far, as the crow flies.’

‘Do you go in every day?’

‘Yes, unless I’m away on business.’

‘And you don’t find the traffic a pain?’

‘It can be, of course, but a chauffeur-driven car does a great deal to mitigate it.’

‘Is that where I’ll be working?’

‘Yes.’

‘Well, if I’m living on the spot I won’t have far to travel,’ she remarked with a smile.

‘Unfortunately, because of the very short notice, the accommodation there is still occupied.’

‘Oh…’

‘It should be vacated in the next two or three days, and then you’ll be able to move in and get settled before Christmas.

‘In the meantime, I thought you could stay at my place.’

‘Stay at your place?’ she echoed, knowing she should be pleased, but momentarily horrified and sounding it.

‘Like most big cities, New York can be a bit lonely and unnerving,’ he went on smoothly, ‘especially if you’re on your own and don’t know the ropes. So, rather than book you into a hotel, I thought you could have the small self-contained suite that my housekeeper used to occupy… Unless, of course, you have any serious objections to living under my roof for a short time?’