Lady Surrender. Carole Mortimer

had realised, she decided. The congenial owner of Shevton House and its surrounding thousand acres didn’t come over as being shrewd when it came to business, but Charly knew better than anyone how deceptive appearances could be.

      ‘Sarah.’ She looked up with a smile as her secretary came in answer to her call. ‘I have a feeling a Mr Aaron Grantley will either be telephoning or coming here in person some time today; I want you to make sure he knows I’m unavailable,’ she frowned. She had no doubt that when Matt told the other man she was Rocharlle Hart he would demand an explanation from her. She would have given him one last night if he had given her the opportunity to do so. Now she didn’t feel that she owed him anything, after all he was the one who had jumped to conclusions.

      ‘Yes, Mrs Hart,’ Sarah looked puzzled by the request.

      Charly gave a rueful smile. ‘He’s been making a nuisance of himself.’ That wasn’t exactly a lie, he was a nuisance, and she also knew Sarah would be even more determined to keep Aaron Grantley at bay if she thought he was one of the numerous men who believed it would be nice to marry her money. She had met a lot of them the last year.

      ‘I’ll make sure he doesn’t bother you,’ Sarah told her firmly.

      She didn’t normally need help to deter the sort of man she had implied Aaron Grantley to be, had been brought up as Rocharlle Allenby, had cut her adult teeth on fortune-hunters. One of the pluses in becoming James’s wife was that he had been even richer than she. But of course he had wanted something from her far more important to him than money, and marrying her had instantly given him that.

      By late afternoon she had begun to think she had been wrong about Aaron Grantley’s next move; there had been no contact from him. Then just after four she heard raised voices in the outer office. Aaron Grantley didn’t sound as if he were accepting Sarah’s claim that she wasn’t available. Charly thought of going to the younger woman’s rescue, but that would only make a liar out of Sarah. It would also make her look ridiculous. She realised now she should never have given Sarah that instruction, should have known Aaron Grantley wasn’t the sort of man to be fobbed off with such an excuse.

      She stood up slowly as her office door was flung open, the man himself standing there, very dark and attractive in an iron-grey pin-striped suit. His eyes narrowed on her, and Charly tried to see herself as he must see her, the long golden hair confined in a neat pleat at the back of her head, the black business suit and white blouse with its bow-neckline smart rather than feminine. She looked completely different from the woman he had met the previous evening.

      ‘I’m sorry, Mrs Hart.’ Sarah glared at Aaron Grantley. ‘He just pushed past me,’ she muttered indignantly.

      ‘It’s all right, Sarah,’ she soothed. ‘I’ll deal with Mr Grantley myself,’ she added hardly.

      The green eyes glittered vengefully. ‘I know we argued last night, sweetheart,’ he murmured huskily, crossing the room to her side, ‘but I don’t think that’s any reason to be so formal.’ He put his arm about her waist to pull her close to the hardness of his body. ‘After all, we are engaged to be married,’ he said challengingly, his head bending down to hers.

      Charly only had tome to register Sarah’s gasp of surprise before coolly firm lips claimed hers, his arms about her, one of his hands pressed to the back of her head, preventing her moving away. He kissed her with deliberate thoroughness, savouring the taste of her lips, the probing of his tongue only withdrawn as Charly’s small white teeth bit down sharply on the tender flesh.

      ‘Vixen!’ he grated before turning to Sarah with a totally charming smile. ‘A lovers’ quarrel,’ he drawled.

      Sarah looked totally disconcerted, and Charly couldn’t blame her!

      ‘Mr Grantley—–’

      ‘Sweetheart, do stop calling me that.’ His eyes promised retribution if she didn’t! ‘And do let this young lady leave so that we don’t embarrass her any further with our disagreement.’

      Charly gave him a furious look before turning to her secretary. ‘Thank you, Sarah.’ She gave a rueful smile. ‘I can handle this now.’

      ‘Can you?’ Aaron Grantley challenged softly’ after Sarah had left them, the younger woman still frowning her confusion.

      ‘Yes,’ she snapped, moving pointedly away from him. ‘I gather you’ve spoken to Matt.’

      ‘Graphically,’ he drawled.

      ‘I’m sure,’ her mouth twisted. ‘So now you know I’m the “rich bitch” who is trying to ruin your bid for Shevton House.’

      He grinned, looking about the room appreciatively ‘Mrs Hart apparently likes to surround herself with luxury,’ he derided.

      ‘Mrs Hart earned this luxury,’ she told him tightly, taking the bronze sculpture of a horse out of his hand and placing it back on her desk-top.

      ‘That isn’t what I heard,’ he mocked, stretching his long length out in one of the armchairs, watching her through narrowed lids. ‘You took over when your husband died. Which brings me to the point of why you lied about your name yesterday,’ he added sharply.

      ‘I didn’t lie.’ Her eyes flashed silver. ‘My name is Allenby.’

      ‘Was,’ Aaron Grantley corrected abruptly. ‘Before you married the son of your father’s business partner seven years ago. Maybe you did earn this company after all,’ he derided. ‘The marriage was certainly a convenient one.’ He raised mocking brows.

      ‘I don’t have to explain myself to you—–’

      ‘I doubt Rocharlle Hart ever explains herself to anyone. How did you ever get a name like Rocharlle, anyway?’ he taunted.

      ‘My parents.’

      ‘That’s obvious,’ he dismissed mockingly. ‘But it isn’t what I meant.’

      ‘Rowena and Charles,’ she explained impatiently. ‘When they were told I was to be an only child they named me after both of them.’

      ‘It would have been easier to call you Charlotte after your father,’ Aaron Grantley derided.

      It would have been a lot less embarrassing too; her unusual first name had been a talking point all her life. ‘You didn’t come here to talk about my name—–’

      ‘In part I did,’ his voice hardened. ‘Why didn’t you tell me last night who you were?’

      ‘For the same reason you came here today and acted as if our engagement were a reality; which incidentally I want you to correct before you leave—I was angry,’ she bit out. ‘Matt innocently told you I was staying at his apartment, and then because you were told it was a woman and not a man as you had supposed you assumed I had to be his mistress.’

      He shrugged broad shoulders, perfectly relaxed. ‘I’m still not sure that isn’t true.’

      Charly gasped. ‘I thought you said you had spoken to Matt?’

      ‘I have,’ he nodded. ‘But like you, he doesn’t feel he has to explain himself. He’s mad as hell at both Molly and me for jumping to conclusions,’ he added ruefully.

      ‘He’s told Molly the truth?’

      ‘Not exactly,’ Aaron Grantley derided. ‘Apparently she’s a little emotional at the moment, and he seems to think we’ve complicated the situation by pretending to be engaged, believes that if he told her the truth now Molly would think he had something to hide.’

      Charly sighed. ‘I’m inclined to agree with him.’

      ‘I’m willing to accept that,’ Aaron Grantley nodded. ‘Although Molly’s emotional state seems a little convenient to me.’

      She gave him a disparaging look. ‘Are you always this suspicious?’

      ‘Only