It Started With... Collection. Miranda Lee

call-girl.

      ‘I was told this was Justin McCarthy’s office,’ she said in a voice which would be an instant drawcard on one of those sex phone lines. Low and husky and chock-full of erotic promise. ‘Is that right?’

      ‘Yes. And you are…?’

      ‘I’m Mandy McCarthy, Justin’s ex-wife,’ she informed Rachel without a hint of hesitation. ‘And you must be Justin’s new PA,’ she added with a strange little smile.

      Rachel stiffened. ‘That’s right.’

      ‘I see,’ she said. ‘Yes, I see. Is Justin in here?’ she added, going straight over to Justin’s door and winding her long bronze-tipped fingers around the knob.

      Rachel was on her feet in a flash. ‘You can’t just walk in there.’

      ‘You’re wrong, sweetie,’ the blonde countered, her smile turning wry. ‘I can. And I’m going to. Please don’t make a scene. I need to speak to Justin alone and I don’t have much time.’

      ‘If you say anything to hurt him,’ Rachel ground out through clenched teeth, ‘anything at all…I’ll kill you.’

      She laughed. ‘You know, I do believe you would. Lucky Justin.’ And then she turned the knob and went right in.

      Rachel sank back down into her chair, ashen-faced and shaking.

      Justin couldn’t have been more shocked when the door opened and Mandy came in.

      ‘What the—?’ he muttered, automatically rising to his feet.

      ‘Sorry to drop in like this, Justin,’ she purred, shutting the door behind her. ‘I don’t think your girlfriend outside is too happy about it, but that can’t be helped. You can tell her after I’ve gone that I’m no threat to your relationship.’

      ‘Relationship?’ Justin repeated, his head reeling.

      ‘Don’t bother denying it. Charlotte told me all about you two.’

      It took Justin a couple of seconds to recall who Charlotte was.

      ‘I have no intention of denying it,’ he said coolly enough, pleased that he’d managed to find some composure.

      ‘She looks very nice,’ Mandy remarked and started to sashay across the room towards his desk. ‘Much nicer than me.’

      Justin couldn’t take his eyes off her, the way she was walking, the way she looked. This wasn’t the woman he remembered. Mandy had never dressed like this, or walked like that. Why, she looked like a tart! An expensive tart, admittedly. But still a tart.

      ‘I won’t take up too much of your time,’ she went on in a voice he didn’t recognise either. It was all raspy and breathy. ‘I have to leave for the airport shortly. I’m joining Carl overseas. Don’t ask me where and don’t look so surprised. You must have read the paper this morning, and you must have guessed I’d go with him. Mind if I sit down? These high heels are hell. But Carl likes me to wear them. He says they’re a turn-on.’

      She pulled up a chair and sat down, her skirt so tight she had difficulty crossing her legs. When she did, he had a better view than a gynaecologist. Thankfully, she was wearing panties, though he didn’t look long enough to check what type.

      Justin sank back down into his chair, stunned. She was misinterpreting his surprise but it didn’t matter now. What mattered was that he wasn’t feeling what he always thought he’d feel if he crossed Mandy’s path again. There was no pain. No hurt. Hell, he couldn’t even dredge up any hate! When he looked at this…stranger…sitting across from him, she bore no resemblance to the woman he’d loved. She’d once been a truly beautiful person, both inside and out. Now she was exactly what she looked like: a woman for hire. Cheap, yet expensive. All he felt was confusion, and curiosity.

      What did she see in Carl Toombs that she would do this to herself for him?

      ‘Why, Mandy?’ he asked. ‘That’s all I want to know. Why?’

      ‘Why? I would have thought that was obvious, darling. I love the man. It’s as simple as that.’

      ‘I don’t find that thought simple. One minute you were in love with me and then you were in love with him? What was it about Toombs that you fell in love with? From all accounts, he’s an out-and-out bastard.’

      She looked uncomfortable for a second. Then defiant. ‘He’s not all bad. You don’t know him the way I do. Sure, he doesn’t always play life by the rules, but he’s the most exciting man I’ve ever known. I…I can’t live without him, Justin. I’ll go wherever he wants me to go; be whatever he wants me to be; do whatever he wants me to do.’

      Justin was appalled. The woman was obsessed. But it wasn’t a healthy obsession. It was dark, and dangerous, and self-destructive. The wonderful girl he’d loved, and married, was gone forever.

      ‘What exactly are you doing here, Mandy?’ he asked, feeling nothing but sadness for her. ‘I don’t understand…’

      ‘I came here to apologise. In person. The things I said to you the day I left you. I didn’t mean them. Any of them. I was just trying to make you hate me as much as I hated myself that day. You’d done nothing wrong and, despite everything, I still cared for you very much. But I…I just had to be with Carl.’ Tears suddenly welled up in her eyes but she dashed them away. ‘Silly me. Crying over spilt milk. What’s the point? I am what I am now and nothing will change that.’

      ‘And what are you now?’ he asked, still having difficulty taking in the change in her.

      Her eyes locked onto his and they were nothing like the eyes he remembered. These eyes had seen too much. Done too much.

      Her laugh made his skin crawl. ‘I’d show you if I had time, and if your lady friend out there wouldn’t have to go to jail for murder.’

      ‘What are you talking about?’

      ‘When I came in just now she told me if I said anything to hurt you again she’d kill me.’

      ‘Rachel said that?’

      ‘That surprises you?’

      ‘Did you tell her who you are?’

      ‘Yes. But she already knew. I could see it in her face. I had the feeling she knew quite a lot about me. You didn’t tell her?’

      ‘No.’

      ‘Well, she knows everything,’ Mandy insisted. ‘Trust me on this.’

      His mother, he realised with a groan. Yesterday. Or possibly earlier. He shook his head in amazement. ‘She never said a word.’

      ‘Women in love will do anything not to upset their man.’

      Justin stared at her. Was she right? Did Rachel love him? Dear God, he hoped so.

      ‘Did I tell you how fantastic you’re looking, Justin? How handsome? How sexy? I’m a fool. I know I’m a fool. But my fate is sealed, my darling. Just remember…I loved you once.’ She uncrossed her legs and stood up abruptly. ‘Marry your Rachel, Justin. Marry her and have children and be happy. I must go,’ she added when her eyes filled again. ‘I have a plane to catch.’

      She was gone as quickly as she’d come, leaving Justin sitting there, staring after an empty doorway. When Rachel filled that doorway he blinked, then saw how worried she was looking.

      ‘It’s all right,’ he said reassuringly. ‘She’s gone. For good.’

      ‘But is she really gone for good, Justin?’

      He rose, realising that was why Mandy had come. To set him free; free to love again. She’d taken time out from her not-so-good life to do a really good thing.

      ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Yes, she’s really gone. For good.’

      By the time