The Blind-date Proposal. Jessica Hart

she said, thinking that it wouldn’t be such a bad idea, come to that. It didn’t look as if she had much future in the secretarial world, anyway. ‘I’m sick of being treated like a lower life form, so I’ve been thinking that I might…what’s the word?…downscale.’

      ‘Downscale?’ Josh echoed doubtfully, clearly wondering how it was possible for her to downscale from her current position. Being a temp was hardly the giddy heights of a career, was it?

      ‘Or do I mean diversify?’ said Kate. ‘Do something different anyway. Think out of the box. Use my talents.’

      ‘What exactly are your talents?’ Finn asked, the sardonic lift of his brows belying the apparent interest in his voice.

      Yes, what were her talents? Kate’s normally fertile imagination went inconveniently blank at the very moment she needed it most.

      ‘She’s a great cook,’ Phoebe prompted, evidently still under the impression that Kate might make a suitable wife for Finn.

      For some reason it was only at this point that Kate made the connection and remembered that his presence here meant that Finn was a widower. She had been so shocked to see him that she hadn’t thought beyond the awkwardness and antagonism, and now she felt suddenly contrite. That beautiful, glowing girl in that photo on his desk was dead. No wonder he seemed so grim.

      Kate was conscious of a twinge of guilt about all the times she had thought Finn abrupt and rude, but then, how was she to know that his brusqueness hid a broken heart?

      The others were still madly promoting her. ‘Kate’s a communicator,’ she heard Gib say. It was the kind of thing that made you realise just how long he’d spent in the States. ‘She’s got wonderful people skills.’

      ‘Not just people,’ said Josh dryly. ‘She’s pretty good when it comes to animals too. Remember that dog in the pub, Phoebe?’

      ‘God, yes.’ Phoebe gave an exaggerated shudder, and Josh grinned.

      ‘I still wake up in a cold sweat sometimes thinking about it,’ he told Finn. ‘Kate confronted a skinhead with huge hands and no neck. He was covered in tattoos and snarling and swearing at his dog. Kate told him he wasn’t fit to own an animal and took the dog away from him while the rest of us were dancing around in the background being mealy-mouthed and saying I’m not sure this is a good idea, Kate, why don’t you let the RSPCA deal with it? Meanwhile Kate was about half the size of this guy, and giving him a piece of her mind, and the rest of the pub was squaring up for a good fight.’

      There was a flicker of interest in Finn’s eyes. ‘What happened to the dog?’

      ‘Oh, Kate got it,’ said Josh. ‘We knew she would. It was a savage Alsatian cross, and I wouldn’t have wanted to go near it myself, but Kate had it eating out of her hand in no time.’ He turned to Kate. ‘What did happen to that dog?’

      ‘I took him down to my parents,’ she said, uncomfortable with all this blatant promotion. ‘He’s spoiled to death now, of course, and getting much too fat.’

      Finn glanced at Kate. ‘Do you think the dog really cared one way or another?’

      ‘I don’t know,’ she said, meeting his eyes defiantly. Why did people like Finn always have to make you feel so stupid and sentimental when it came to animals? ‘But someone had to.’

      There was a tiny silence.

      ‘A word of warning,’ Gib confided to Finn. ‘Kate might look sweet and cuddly, but don’t ever try mistreating an animal when she’s around, or you’ll find yourself in big trouble! She’s got a hell of a temper when roused.’

      Finn’s cold grey gaze flicked to Kate, whose cheeks were burning by this stage, and then away. ‘I’ll remember,’ he said.

      ‘What Kate really needs,’ said Phoebe as she ushered them all through to the dining room, ‘is a house in the country where she can make chutney and keep chickens and dogs and all the other stray people and animals that cross her path.’

      ‘No, I don’t,’ objected Kate. A big house in the country sounded perfect, but also a bit too much like she was hanging out to get married. She wasn’t having Finn thinking that she was desperate for a husband, certainly not desperate enough to consider him!

      ‘I’m a metropolitan chick, really,’ she said loftily. ‘I don’t think I’m ready to make jam yet. I was thinking more along the lines of PR—’ She broke off as Phoebe, Gib and Josh burst out laughing, and even Finn managed a sardonic smile. ‘What’s so funny?’ she demanded, offended.

      ‘Kate, darling, you’re not nearly tough enough for PR! You’d always side with the underdog regardless of what your client wanted. You might as well decide to be a brain surgeon!’

      With that they were off, vying with each other to think up more unlikely careers that Kate could try. Josh’s suggestion—pest controller—was voted the best.

      ‘Kate would take all the rats home and make up little beds for them!’

      Kate gritted her teeth. She could feel Finn watching her with a curling lip. He was probably one of those people who thought that a soft heart equalled a soft head.

      She wouldn’t have minded so much if the other three hadn’t been so determined to push her as a homemaker. Couldn’t they see that Finn wasn’t the least bit impressed? Things got even worse over dinner when Phoebe manoeuvred the conversation, none too subtly, round to Finn and his daughter.

      ‘What’s her name?’

      ‘Alex,’ said Finn almost reluctantly.

      Kate didn’t blame him. He could obviously see the subtext—how much he needed to get married again to provide his daughter with a stepmother—as clearly as she could, and she was conscious of a treacherous twinge of fellow feeling. He couldn’t be enjoying this any more than she was.

      ‘She’s nine,’ he added, evidently recognising that the information was going to be dragged out of him somehow, so he might as well get it over and done with.

      ‘It must have been very hard, bringing her up on your own,’ said Phoebe.

      Finn shrugged. ‘Alex was only two when Isabel died, so I had various nannies to help. She never really took to any of them, though, and since she’s been at school full time we’ve managed with a housekeeper who comes in every day. She picks Alex up from school and cooks an evening meal, and she’ll stay with her if I’m late back from work.’

      His voice was emotionless, as if his small daughter was just another logistical problem he had had to solve. It was Alex Kate felt sorry for, poor motherless child. Kate had never taken a phone call from her, or seen her at the office, so she clearly wasn’t encouraged to disturb Finn there. Having grown up with four brothers, Kate thought Alex’s life sounded very lonely. It couldn’t be much fun growing up with just a housekeeper and Finn for company.

      Certainly not if Finn was always as boring as he was tonight. He was driving, so he drank very little, and although Kate couldn’t object to that, she did feel that he could at least look as if was enjoying himself.

      He was obviously terrified that she was going to throw herself at him and force him to marry her. It was understandable, Kate supposed, after the way the others had built her up as a domestic goddess, but he needn’t worry. Getting together with him was the last thing on her mind. She wasn’t that desperate for a relationship!

      Finn sat beside her at dinner, radiating disapproval as Kate laughed and drank rather too much wine and talked about clubbing and parties and generally made it clear that she was absolutely not in the market for uptight widowers, no matter how sorry she felt for his poor daughter. Of course, the more poker-faced and buttoned up he was, the more she she had to compensate for Phoebe and Gib’s sake. They had gone to so much effort, she felt that the least she could do was try and make it a successful evening.

      Defiantly ignoring