Mary Lyons - The Valentine Affair

Unfortunately, there was virtually nothing in Leo’s opulent suite of rooms which couldn’t just as well have been found in the office of any highly successful man—a huge leather-covered mahogany desk with its back to the large window, a grey and white marble mantelpiece over a fake log fire, comfortable black leather chairs and sofa... It all looked depressingly bare of clues. Apart from the fact that there were no photographs, of course. That was definitely odd. Surely he ought to have a picture of his beloved fiancée placed prominently on his desk?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of firm footsteps approaching down the marble-floored corridor. Bracing herself for the forthcoming confrontation, Alex heard his secretary informing Leo that his fiancée was waiting for him in his office.

‘Oh, really...?’ a deep voice queried sardonically, before the door was thrown open and Leo Hamilton walked into the room.

He paused on the threshold, his hard green eyes flicking quickly over the figure of the girl by the fireplace, and Alex held her breath as she stared at the tall, broad-shouldered figure in the doorway.

It was one thing to have viewed this man across the length of the large room downstairs a few minutes ago. But quite another to find herself now standing only a few feet away from Leo’s tall, dominant figure—and almost reeling from the forceful impact of his dark, physical attraction.

How could she have forgotten...? Why hadn’t she remembered the devastating aura of sheer, raw sex appeal projected by this man, who was now studying her with such calm detachment on his handsome, tanned face?

Desperately trying to control a hot flush rising over her cheeks, and the quivers of awareness scorching through her body, she put out a hand to clutch hold of the mantelpiece for support. Fearful memories of their last encounter were now welling up inside her like a sudden sickness, and Alex could feel herself trembling as if in the grip of a fierce tropical fever.

She should never have come here! What on earth had possessed her to even contemplate such folly?

But Leo’s gaze of cool, calm uninterest helped to steady her nerves. She held her breath, watching as he gave a slight, dismissive shrug of his shoulders and began moving across the thick carpet towards his large desk by the window. It was some moments before she realised that, despite her own strong, almost overwhelming response to his presence, he apparently had no recognition of the girl staring at him so intently.

‘It would seem to be my lucky day for collecting “fiancées”!’ Leo drawled, sitting down and pulling out various drawers. ‘However, if you can provide me with some aspirins, I’ll seriously consider bestowing on you both my hand and my heart!’

Thrown completely off balance by this calm reaction to her unexpected presence in his office, Alex found herself giving a startled, involuntary gurgle of nervous laughter.

Obviously surprised by her response, he shot her a quick, penetrating glance, and continued to search through the drawers of his desk.

‘I must say that I’ve had better offers in my time,’ she told him with a grim smile, making a determined effort to pull herself together. ‘But that definitely sounds an interesting proposal!’ she added, opening her handbag and walking over to place Tessa’s small bottle of white pills on his desk.

‘Bless you,’ he murmured, filling a glass from the carafe of water in front of him, and sighing deeply as he leaned back in his chair.

‘Well, now...yes. I can imagine that you will have. had several possibly better offers,’ he drawled a few moments later, his gaze moving slowly over the tall, slim figure of the girl standing in front of him.

The intense, insulting thoroughness with which he scrutinised the cloud of sun-bleached hair, the high, firm breasts, and the length of her legs beneath the short skirt brought a flush to her cheeks and an angry sparkle to her wide blue eyes.

‘It’s no good glaring at me like that, my girl!’ he grinned with sardonic amusement, clearly enjoying her discomfiture. ‘Especially as we both know that you must have spun a complete yarn to poor Dora. And, since you most definitely are not Fiona Bliss, maybe you’d be good enough to tell me your name?’

She regarded him warily in silence, and then shrugged. ‘I did wonder if you’d recognise me, after all this time. But clearly it would seem that you haven’t.’ She paused for a moment. ‘I’m Alex Pemberton.’ .

He frowned, staring at her intently, before giving a shake of his dark head. ‘No, sony—I simply don’t recall that name. And I’m very sure that I wouldn’t have forgotten meeting you,’ he added, once more allowing the green eyes beneath their heavy lids to slowly and carefully scrutinise her figure. ‘Quite certain, in fact!’

‘Ah. well—that just goes to show how even the cleverest of men can be mistaken!’

Alex smiled blandly at him, suddenly feeling lightheaded, and totally amazed to find that she wasn’t frightened of this man after all.

So, OK...she had been startled and confused a few moments ago by the sudden, shocking reminder of his overwhelming sexual attraction. But she was now recovering fast, and couldn’t think why, over the past eight years, she’d stupidly allowed Leo’s dark image to become magnified in her mind until it had assumed the proportions of a nightmare.

She had, of course, been pathetically young and innocent at the time. But now, standing here in his office, everything seemed very different. For the first time in her life—certainly as far as this man was concerned—she was feeling quite extraordinarily confident, with no doubts about her ability to cope with the situation.

‘I hear that you are about to become engaged. I imagine that must make your parents very happy,’ Alex said, casually sitting down on a Chippendale chair set in front of his desk.

‘I really don’t see that the private life of myself, or my family, is any business of yours,’ he drawled coolly.

‘Oh, dear—it looks as if I might be guilty of bad manners, doesn’t it?’ She gave him a false, penitent smile. ‘I should have enquired after your mother. Tell me—how is dear Eleanor these days? Still busy raising funds for charity?’

There was a long silence as Leo stared intently at the calm, self-assured figure smiling so confidently at him from the other side of his desk. He was damned certain that he’d never seen this extraordinarily good-looking girl before. But, if so, how come she seemed to know his mother?

‘And how is your stepfather?’ Alex asked brightly.

‘I really don’t think—’

‘It’s a long time ago, of course, but I have very fond memories of Sir Geoffrey—far and away the nicest member of your family.’

She smiled artlessly at the man whose face had suddenly become a blank mask. Only the piercingly sharp green eyes gazing at her with hard, intense speculation gave any hint of the furious mental activity going on behind that deadpan expression.

‘I do hope that he’s enjoying his retirement in Gloucestershire? It must be such a contrast to all those years he spent as an ambassador in South America!’ she continued, suddenly recalling one of the snippets of information from the newspaper library commenting on the successful diplomatic career of Sir Geoffrey Lucas which she’d briefly had time to look at before driving to the bank.

This girl is definitely trouble—with a capital T! Leo told himself grimly. Although, quite why he was suddenly so certain of that fact, he had no idea. But he still had no clue as to why she was here. Or what she’d hoped to gain by pretending to be Fiona Bliss...

And leaving aside any speculation about her visit to his office, he had a very strong, uneasy feeling that his life was about to be seriously disturbed. Maybe it was that slight trace of irony in her voice? Or, possibly, the sight of those wide, clear blue eyes regarding him with such a guileless, innocent gaze? Whatever the reason, his instincts were telling him that the sooner he got rid of this Miss Pemberton the better it would be for his peace of mind.