A Physical Affair. Lynsey Stevens

breath. There was someone. A nondescript man of indiscernible age. But he’d said he was part of the time and motion… He’d had credentials. It had started rumours of revamping the magazine, although Keira personally had disregarded the idea.

      She looked levelly at Daniel. ‘Are you making this up?’

      He shook his head and Keira stood up to pace behind her desk.

      What a rotten thing to do. Eden Cassidy wouldn’t have the gall to investigate her for so paltry a reason. Not face to face. Well, face to face if only through one of his minions, so to speak. He could have simply checked her file in personnel without going to such elaborate lengths. ‘He wouldn’t dare,’ she breathed.

      ‘Wouldn’t he?’

      The sound of Daniel’s voice brought her back from her cloud of anger and she looked at him through narrowed eyes. ‘Is this on the level?’

      He nodded solemnly.

      ‘Good grief! Just because he’s the king pin it doesn’t mean he can…’ She paused, seeking the right words. ‘It’s an invasion of privacy, that’s what it is. He must think he owns us. Do you know, I should front up to him and tell him to his face what a manipulative…’ Keira closed her mouth and bit back the rest of the unflattering adjectives she was thinking in conjunction with Eden Cassidy.

      ‘He sure has a nerve, doesn’t he? Thinking he can dictate someone’s after-hours life.’ Daniel stood up and rubbed his hands together. “And this weekend would be the greatest opportunity for you to show him he has no claim on you after you’ve put in your forty hours.’ He raised his eyebrows. ‘What say I pick you up about eightthirty on Saturday morning?’

      

      And what a fantastic display of Cassidy manipulation, Keira told herself for the umpteenth time as she’d snapped shut the catch on her overnight case this morning and set it by the front door. The dynamic Eden Cassidy would have been proud of his only nephew.

      ‘Manoeuvred into going away for the weekend with a boy still in his teens,’ she muttered aloud as she gazed down at her sleeping cat. ‘To a party for a self-made billionaire which is to take place in the family mansion. And said family mansion just so happens to be a showpiece that has held its own in the hierarchy of lifestyles of the rich and famous. What do you think about that, Roger?’

      The dark ball of fur remained stationary, apart from one very slight flick of the end of his tail.

      Keira tried to rub the tension from her brow. At this rate she’d be starting out with a headache. ‘Sounds as if a great time will be had by all, doesn’t it, Roger? Well, you haven’t heard the half of it. That’s just the boring old cake. The icing is having to meet the ruthless, egotistical, despotic Eden Cassidy.’

      The tail tip again flicked unimpressedly.

      ‘Big help you are.’ Keira sighed as she walked down the hallway of her bungalow, for once not seeing its attractive appointments.

      The cottage had been smaller when her only aunt had owned it, and it had been Keira’s haven since her divorce. Aunt Aggie had left it to her and, with the money she’d received when the small magazine she’d been a partner in had been bought out by Cassidy-Ford Publishing, she’d extended and modernised the well situated house.

      As you walked in the door the two bedrooms, one on either side, led off the hall, followed by a bathroom, a small study and the living-room on the left and the pantry, the kitchen and dining-room on the right. Out back Keira had added a wooden veranda, with a fullsized spa pool on the right, all screened for privacy by natural pine woodwork. The deck overlooked the tangle of trees and natural scrub behind the house.

      But this morning she’d been too wrapped up in her tortured thoughts to give the house a glance. And she’d barely heard the knock on her door.

      ‘Your carriage awaits, madame.’ Daniel stepped inside the open door as Keira walked towards him. He wore faded jeans and a T-shirt that, although equally well-worn, reeked of some obviously expensive designer label. ‘I like your place,’ he added as he looked past her.

      ‘Yes, well, let’s go, Daniel. Before I decide to listen to my instincts and change my mind about going.’ Keira turned to pick up her suitcase but he gallantly took it from her.

      ‘Now don’t tell me you don’t like sports cars,’ Daniel exclaimed as Keira hung back when he swung open the door of the red Mazda MX5.

      ‘The car’s fine. I’m just a little worried about the sport who’s going to get behind the wheel.’

      Daniel grinned and then sobered. ‘No worries there, Keira. I can assure you I’m a careful and considerate driver.’

      And as they pulled up in the gateway of Daniel’s home over an hour later and waited for the electronically controlled gates to swing open, Keira could only admire Daniel’s driving skill. She glanced sideways at him. He was really an extraordinarily mature young man for his age. His family should be proud of him.

      So why would his uncle think he’d be bringing—what had Daniel said?—a giggling air-head to his grandfather’s party? Perhaps Eden Cassidy hadn’t taken the time to get to know his own nephew, who had been his ward since Daniel was orphaned when he was ten years old. Eden Cassidy was probably too busy checking up on his staff and making millions on top of his millions.

      Sounded fairly typical, she reflected, pushing aside the thought that she was prejudging a situation when she’d only heard one side of it, one biased side at that. From Daniel.

      ‘Here we are. The family shack.’ Daniel drew up in front of the majestic home.

      ‘Shack, Daniel?’ Keira gave a laugh. ‘By no stretch of the imagination could you call this a shack. You could lose someone in there and not find them for days.’

      ‘Too true. And the only good thing about it, as far as I was concerned when I was a kid.’ Daniel grinned as he lifted their bags out of the boot and handed them to the man who came down the steps to meet them. “This is Mrs Strong, Burton. Perhaps you could put her in the front green room, down the hall from me.’

      Keira felt herself flush and busied herself slinging the strap of her bag over her shoulder. She could throttle Daniel. What must the man be thinking?

      ‘If you’ll come this way, madam.’ The butler led the way up the steps into the marble-tiled foyer. Moving to his left, he pressed a button for what turned out to be a lift.

      Keira raised her eyebrows and Daniel smiled.

      ‘All mod cons, as they say. There are three floors, four counting the attics. If we didn’t have the lift we’d spend all our time commuting from one level of the house to the other.’

      They moved silently upwards and Daniel rolled his eyes at Keira. ‘Is my uncle home?’ he asked the butler’s straight back as they stepped into the second floor hallway.

      ‘We’re expecting him within the hour.’ The butler opened a door and motioned Keira to enter. ‘I hope you’ll be comfortable here, Mrs Strong. The intercom is just there by the door. If you require anything, please push this button and it will connect you with the staff.’

      “Thank you.’ Keira acknowledged, and when the butler had excused himself she gazed around her in admiration.

      ‘Well? What’s the verdict?’ Daniel closed the door and leant back against it.

      ‘Need you ask? It’s divine.’ The room was huge, finished in greens and metallic gold. She crossed to the open double doors and stepped out on to her own small balcony.

      The grounds of the Cassidy estate swept below her, exquisitely landscaped with trimmed green lawns, clipped hedges, native bushes and colourful flower-filled garden beds. The white curving drive ended at the security gates in the high wall that enclosed the extensive property.

      ‘What a fabulous view. I didn’t realise the house was positioned so much higher than