The Reluctant Fiancee. JACQUELINE BAIRD

from his brow. ‘Also, Phoebe, I should have explained in more detail your position in the company.’ He glanced at the slim gold Rolex on his wrist and grimaced.

      ‘I was in too much of a hurry. But please try and understand, you will not be working as the office junior. Tom and Margot have strict instructions to show you every aspect of the London office and how the company works. You will get to know all the staff we employ there personally. Your job description as a PAA is modest enough, so they will not resent you. But if you insist on walking in and declaring you’re a part owner, and also insist on starting as a junior partner, there is bound to be resentment. Do you want that? The snide remarks about nepotism at work? Perhaps even publicity in the press?’

      Bea had not thought about it from that angle, but she realised Leon had a valid point. ‘No, no, I don’t,’ she said quietly.

      ‘I didn’t think you would. That is why I made the arrangements I did. Only Tom and Margot know your true status in the company, but it is up to you if you want to tell everyone else. Personally, I only wanted to give you some protection, at least for your first few months in a working environment. I had hoped to be able to stay in England for a few weeks, but it simply is not possible.

      ‘Branching out into the USA and the Far East in the past few years has been a great success, but I seem to spend most of my time jetting between New York, Hong Kong and Athens—as you must know by the company reports you receive.’ He glanced at her, black eyes capturing blue. ‘You do read them?’ he asked with a smile, and her heart gave a curious lurch in her chest at the sight of it.

      ‘Yes, of course.’ She smiled back and took a step towards him. Leon was right. Since taking over the company he had expanded its business enormously. It had been successfully floated on the London Stock Exchange, but their two families still retained sixty per cent of the shares, thus ensuring that it remained a family concern. Leon’s name was regularly featured in the financial newspapers all over the world, and the meteoric rise of Stephen-Gregoris as a leading international company was constantly remarked upon. As for the tabloid newspapers, they had nicknamed him the “Swashbuckling Tycoon”—probably because when he’d first come to their notice, in his mid-twenties, he’d worn his hair in a ponytail.

      ‘You’re right,’ she admitted. ‘It was stupid of me to think I could walk into the firm as a partner. I realise that now. But I do want to learn everything, and perhaps eventually I can visit the overseas offices too, maybe even work in one.’ The more she thought about it. the more she liked the idea. ‘Maybe this time next year it will be me going to New York.’

      ‘Why not?’ Leon stood up and, crossing to where she stood, once more took her hands in his. ‘Next week London, next year the world.’

      Bea tilted her head back to look up into his face, her expression serious. ‘Are you teasing, or do you really think I can do it?’ she asked, in a voice that was surprisingly calm considering the way the pulses in her wrists were racing beneath his fingers.

      He released her hands and dropped a swift kiss on the top of her head. ‘I think, Phoebe, you will do whatever you set your mind to, and the world had better look out.’

      ‘You as well.’ She grinned up at him, mischief dancing in her eyes. ‘I might decide I want your job.’

      Leon’s mouth twitched, and then he chuckled. ‘You’re some woman, Phoebe.’ He shook his dark head, still smiling. ‘But I really must be going.’ Withdrawing a small velvet box from his trouser pocket, he dropped it into her hand. ‘Happy birthday, and good luck on Monday. I’ll be in touch.’ Turning, he started for the door.

      ‘Wait. I’ll see you out.’ She hurried after him, but he stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

      ‘Not a good idea, Phoebe, unless you want your friends to get the wrong idea.’

      ‘My friends?’ He had lost her; she didn’t know what he meant.

      ‘Have a look in the mirror before mingling again, darling...’ Leon drawled softly, and after unlocking the door he went, his laughter ringing in her ears.

      Standing where Leon had left her, Bea slowly opened the box. Inside was a delicate pendant, a deep blue sapphire surrounded by diamonds, ringed in gold and suspended on a gold chain. After fastening the chain around her neck, she picked up the pendant and gazed at it in wonder. Leon was an incredibly generous but infuriating man.

      CHAPTER TWO

      STILL bemused by Leon’s present, Bea wondered why he had not stopped to see her open it. What had he said? ‘Look in the mirror!’ Bea mumbled to herself, quietly slipping out of the study. She quickly dived into the cloakroom—luckily free.

      One look in the mirror above the vanity basin, and the pendant was forgotten. Instead she wanted to die of shame. Her blonde hair was a tangled mess around her face—a very flushed face—and the remains of once red lipgloss were smeared over her skin, but none of it on her lips—lips that were unmistakably swollen. Worse, the dress she had hastily pulled up after escaping from Leon on the sofa clung decorously over one breast, then slanted down over the other, revealing the dark areola around her nipple to the world.

      Bea groaned out loud. Never again would she wear the silver Spandex creation, she vowed. No wonder Leon had told her to look in the mirror. But the swine could have told her earlier about the dress, instead of feasting his eyes and having a good laugh at her expense. To think she had actually been considering they could be friends again!

      Splashing her face with cold water, and tidying herself up as best she could, she felt a humourless laugh escape her. Would she never learn where Leon was concerned? He had arrived, got her to agree to what he wanted, and left... As for her birthday present, to a man of Leon’s wealth, the pendant was a mere trinket.

      She knew she was being irrational. She was a very wealthy woman herself. But somehow she never thought of herself as such. Her parents, because they’d been from the north, had always lived there, though her father often stayed in London. As a child Bea had known they were comfortably off, but never thought much about it. And since Leon had taken over the running of the company, and then since the death of her father, she hadn’t liked to think how much she was worth. It seemed indecent when she had done nothing for it. Which was another reason for her going to work in London. She felt it her duty...

      

      Two o’clock in the morning, and she leant against the front doorframe, grateful for the breath of cool air and the support. She was dead beat. With a sigh of relief she closed the door, locked and bolted it. At last she was alone...

      The caterers had cleaned up and left ten minutes earlier. Aunty Lil and Uncle Bob would have nothing to complain about when they arrived back in the morning from their night out in the city. She hoped they’d had a better time than she’d had...

      Some party, she thought moodily, making her way up to the sanctuary of her bedroom, removing the sapphire pendant as she went. What should have been a great night in her life had turned out to be a horror, all because of Leon Gregoris. She supposed she should be thankful he had left early, and she was no longer going to have to face him in London on Monday. But somehow that thought gave her no consolation.

      Walking into her bedroom and closing the door behind her, she slipped out of the silver dress and, clad in only the briefest of lace briefs, dropped the pendant on the dressing table. For a moment she looked at it, her eyes narrowing; it looked vaguely familiar. Yawning widely, she dismissed the thought and, picking up her cotton nightie from the end of the bed, headed for the en suite bathroom. Five minutes later, her toilet complete, she slid into bed. Pulling the pink duvet up to her chin, she closed her eyes and welcomed sleep.

      But it was not to be. The dark face of Leon appeared in her mind’s eye; she traced her swollen lips with one finger. She could still feel his kiss, the taste of him. Nothing she did would displace his image from her brain.

      Turning restlessly, she lay flat on her back and opened her eyes. She didn’t want to think about the past; there were too many painful