His After-Hours Mistress: The Rich Man's Reluctant Mistress. Trish Wylie

that Zane had had it networked with her system at the office. Thoughtful of him, she felt, but he had taken a liberty, one that she wasn’t sure she approved of.

      On another table was a printer and scanner and copier. There was a stock of stationery and a couple of easy chairs as well as a very fine black leather executive chair. She tried it out for size, twisting around with her feet in the air. Perfect!

      Zane had thought of everything.

      At that moment Tim came running into the room and all thoughts of Zane were forgotten.

      She let him swing on the chair while she phoned her secretary and then got someone to bring in a desk and chair for Tim out of his bedroom. He played there happily while she made a few phone calls and checked the correspondence that Amanda had scanned on to the computer for her.

      She even managed to do some work on a new project before it was time to take Tim to the hospital. Perhaps the arrangement was going to work after all, she thought. Tim was a good child and, although she had no intention of keeping him cooped up in her office the whole time, he had proved that for short periods he was more than happy to sit with her.

      Tim’s grandmother, Helen, didn’t look at all well. She was more than pleased to see Lucinda and her darling grandson—and he was delighted to see her, hugging her and hugging her as though he never wanted to let her go—but she was clearly exhausted after only a few minutes. ‘It’s my heart,’ she explained. ‘It’s giving up, I’m afraid.’

      She was much older than Lucinda had expected, probably in her mid-seventies, and far too old to be looking after a child as young as Timothy. Lucinda couldn’t believe that Zane had let her do it. Surely the duty should have fallen on his shoulders?

      But of course business always came first with Zane. That was why she had been totally surprised when he’d taken so much time off in St Lucia. And how disastrous the outcome of that had been! Lucinda returned to his house with her heart both heavy and angry.

      After she had put Tim to bed that evening Lucinda went to her newly acquired office and worked until almost midnight. She needed the mental challenge to take her mind off Zane. It wasn’t easy. She kept seeing twinkling blue eyes and a sexy smile and her body remembered the way he had taken her to the top of the universe and back.

      She really oughtn’t to think of him like this any more. It had been but a brief interlude and was not likely to be repeated. Not if she had anything to do with it. She wouldn’t put it past Zane to try while she was here, but forewarned was forearmed, wasn’t that what they said? And she certainly knew all there was to know about Zane Alexander.

      The next day Tim wanted to go swimming. It was an almost Olympic-sized pool and Lucinda was nervous, but he told her that his uncle Zane took him swimming there. She had noticed yesterday that Zane had had a fence erected around the whole pool area, which had pleased her enormously, and now as they let themselves in she was startled when Tim ran over to the shallow end and jumped in.

      She needn’t have feared. Even at five years old he could swim like a fish. ‘I used to swim with my daddy,’ he said matter-of-factly when Lucinda congratulated him on his prowess. ‘I miss my daddy.’

      ‘Of course you do,’ she said sympathetically, marvelling that he could remember so well.

      ‘And my mummy! Will they ever come back?’

      Lucinda winced inside. ‘I’m afraid not, sweetie. But they’re up there watching you and thinking about you all the time. That’s why you must be good.’

      ‘I am good,’ he said importantly.

      Lucinda hugged him. ‘You’re the best boy I know. And the best swimmer I know. Let’s have a race.’

      After all his swimming Tim was tired out and once lunch was over Lucinda put him in bed. ‘I’m going to do some work in my office, sweetheart. If you wake up, come and find me.’

      Tim nodded and yawned and in seconds he was asleep.

      Lucinda had showered and changed into jeans and a knitted top and was so busy on her new computer that she didn’t hear Zane enter the room. She didn’t even know that he had come home. ‘You’re early,’ she said, looking round in surprise when he spoke her name.

      ‘I thought I owed you some of my time. Where’s Tim?’

      ‘In bed,’ announced Lucinda.

      ‘He’s not ill?’

      She smiled. ‘We’ve been swimming. What a fantastic little swimmer he is. He wore himself out.’

      ‘So you’ve coped all right?’

      Lucinda nodded. ‘We went to the hospital yesterday to see his grandmother.’

      ‘Ah.’ He dropped into one of the easy chairs. ‘I was going to take him there this afternoon. How was she?’

      ‘Not well at all,’ answered Lucinda crisply. ‘I can’t believe that you’ve let her take care of Tim all this time. She’s far too old. He’s such a handful; it’s not fair on her. No wonder her heart’s giving up.’

      ‘Is that what she told you?’

      ‘Not the Tim bit, but she did mention her heart. She can hardly get her breath.’ Lucinda was really fired up about the whole thing and her voice rose. ‘You should be the one looking after Tim, not his grandmother. Goodness, what were you thinking?’

      ‘I’m thinking I have a full-time job,’ he answered fiercely.

      ‘Nevertheless you could still have him living here with you,’ she slammed. ‘He starts back to school in September. Lots of one-parent families cope. Even working parents. They get help. You could have done that instead of putting all the pressure on Helen.’

      ‘Helen wanted to look after him,’ informed Zane, his brow thunderous now.

      ‘And you let her.’ Lucinda was really fired up now. ‘You didn’t stop to think that it might be too much for her. Oh, no, having Tim here would spoil your nights of passion with whichever woman is your current favourite. I despise you, Zane Alexander.’

      Once the words were out Lucinda wished that she hadn’t uttered them. He’d gone to a lot of trouble to set things up for her here, and this was how she repaid him. Goodness, she wouldn’t blame him if he told her to go. Right now!

      ‘And how about our nights of passion?’ he asked with amazing calmness.

      Actually he was too calm. It worried Lucinda.

      ‘How do you rate those? Were they sordid?’

      Lucinda winced. They definitely hadn’t seemed it at the time. They had been beautiful and sensual and her heart had sung with sheer happiness. Even now, despite her reservations, she still looked on them with pleasure.

      ‘Of course they weren’t,’ he answered for her. ‘You’re letting your emotions run away with you, Lucinda. You know nothing about my private life.’

      ‘I know what I read in the glossies.’

      ‘And you believe it?’

      ‘And I know that you’ve done wrong by your brother.’

      Zane closed his eyes and laced his fingers tightly together. ‘I sometimes think I could strangle you, Lucinda Oliver. And at other times—’ he opened his eyes and looked straight at her ‘—I want to take you to bed. In fact, I think that’s what I might do right now. A form of punishment, shall we say, for daring to turn on me.’ And, with that, he scooped her up into his arms.

      Lucinda’s struggles were to no avail and, to be honest, she didn’t struggle too hard. Zane had made up his mind and that was that. He kicked open the door to his bedroom and she had a quick impression of masculine browns and beiges and a dark green carpet before he laid her down on the bed.

      In a matter of seconds he had ripped off his clothes and then he did the same to her. She