Blackmailed By The Boss. Kathryn Ross

out of her office. Her heart was thumping. She felt sick inside with the knowledge that she had just handled that situation appallingly. Maybe she should just have laughed the whole thing off instead of acting so uptight?

      Breathing deeply to release the tension inside, Charlotte tried very hard to think straight. But her mind was a jumbled mess of words and feelings she couldn’t get a handle on. In desperation she reached for the phone and dialled her sister’s number.

      The answering machine came on and she was just about to hang up in complete frustration when Jennifer answered, sounding a bit breathless.

      ‘Oh, hi, sis. Sorry, I was just attending to Matilda here. She won’t stop crying.’

      In the background Charlotte could hear her four-week-old niece giving full vent to her lungs. ‘Sorry, I’ve obviously caught you at a bad time. I’ll ring back later.’

      ‘No, no, it’s OK,’ Jennifer assured her hastily. ‘What’s the matter?’

      Charlotte smiled to herself. Jennifer was her younger sister by five years but they were very close. ‘You know me so well,’ she murmured.

      ‘I know that tone in your voice, if that’s what you mean.’ Jennifer was shushing her baby and Charlotte could hear her picking her up, could imagine the scene as she wedged a phone on one shoulder whilst holding a wriggling infant on the other.

      ‘I don’t know what’s the matter with me. I’m not coping with anything at the moment, and my emotions are all over the place.’

      ‘Well, I think that’s pretty normal given the circumstances with you and David. You have been dating him for a long time; you’re bound to be upset. You should have taken time off work—’

      ‘Jen, I did something terrible last night.’ She cut across her sister, swiftly needing to unburden herself. ‘I slept with Jordan.’

      There was a deathly silence at the other end of the phone. Even Matilda had gone quiet.

      ‘Crikey, Charlie!’

      ‘I know!’ Charlotte flicked a glance through the glass partition and saw Jordan’s secretary laughing with him. He looked incredibly relaxed and for some reason that made Charlotte feel even more on edge. ‘I don’t know what happened! One moment I was going to have coffee with him and the next we were in bed.’

      Jennifer laughed.

      ‘It’s not funny.’

      ‘No, but it’s not that terrible either! To be honest, I’ve always secretly thought that Jordan would be perfect for you. Dad thinks so too. In fact he was saying not so long ago how well you two work together now and what a blessing he has you both at the business. And Jordan is so nice and so good-looking—’

      ‘Oh, come on!’ Charlotte cut in drily. ‘Don’t start taking artistic licence. The only thing Dad would say is that Jordan makes lots of money for the company. Dad is a businessman first and foremost.’

      ‘No, he’s not. He’s a big softie really, and he’ll be pleased you’re having a relationship with Jordan.’

      ‘We’re not having a relationship—it was sex!’

      ‘Well, a relationship has to start somewhere. Why not in bed? At least you’ve sampled the goods and found them in working order.’ Jennifer giggled. ‘I’m so pleased. If nothing else, you needed someone to take your mind off David.’

      Jordan had certainly done that, Charlotte thought wryly.

      ‘Listen, why don’t the two of you come for Sunday dinner?’ Jennifer said excitedly.

      ‘I don’t think you’ve been listening to me, Jen. We’re not dating. In fact, we’re barely being civil to each other this morning. And besides, you know what he’s like where women are concerned—I’ll be just another notch on his bedpost.’

      ‘Not necessarily; you could be special.’

      ‘And the world could be flat,’ Charlotte drawled. ‘Anyway, it’s too close for comfort. I’ve got to work with the guy and I don’t want the complications; I’ve enough problems. I don’t know what the hell possessed me.’

      ‘I do—he’s gorgeous!’ Jennifer giggled again. ‘All right, well, you just come for dinner then. I’d better go. Madam here has just been sick down my blouse. See you Sunday.’

      ‘See you Sunday.’ Charlotte was speaking to a dead phone line now. She supposed she shouldn’t be surprised that Jennifer would be pro-Jordan. She’d been singing his praises since he had joined the company, and her husband, Steve, had got very friendly with him. Even though they lived just outside London in quite a rural area, Jordan was often over at their house. In fact it was through her sister that Charlotte got to hear snippets of information about Jordan’s girlfriends.

      It was a wonder Jennifer didn’t know about the fact he had once had a daughter. But she definitely didn’t, otherwise Charlotte would have heard about it. Obviously it was just too painful a subject for Jordan to talk about, which was understandable.

      She glanced down at the designs in front of her, but her mind was flicking over Jennifer’s words.

      I’ve always secretly thought that Jordan would be perfect for you. Dad thinks so too.

      Where had that come from? Jennifer had never said that to her before. And as for her father, he would think anyone was good for her as long as it wasn’t David. He really disliked David, and that was before he had heard of their break-up.

      But Jen was wrong. Romantically speaking, Jordan wasn’t her type. He was too sure of himself, arrogant even. But then she remembered last night and the way he had made her laugh at dinner…the way he had looked so raw when he had spoken of his little girl…the way he had kissed the inside of her wrist… Why had that kiss been so erotic? she wondered. She had never thought of the wrist being an erogenous zone before.

      She frowned. All right, maybe last night Jordan had sort of grown on her a bit. But not romantically, definitely not romantically; Jennifer was wrong about that. The sex had been wonderful though.

      Charlotte scored a line through the piece of paper in front of her. She had to work with the guy, she told herself fiercely. Remembering things like that wasn’t helpful.

      She looked over at him again; he was signing something now and he gave Laura a boyish smile that for some reason had a funny effect on Charlotte’s loins. He was basically a nice man. Obviously he had loved his wife, and his little girl. Whatever was going on in his life now, he’d certainly been through a tough time in the past.

      Maybe she should apologise for being a bit sharp this morning. They had both enjoyed last night. She should have acted in a more mature way about it all.

      She watched as Laura left his office. He was talking to someone on the phone now. If she was going to apologise, now was probably the time to go over, whilst his secretary was out. She didn’t want the whole building knowing that she was Jordan’s latest conquest. That would be too humiliating.

      Before her courage could desert her she got up and went across to his office. They never knocked on each other’s doors, so Charlotte didn’t think twice about just walking in on him. He was sitting with his back to her, having swivelled around in his leather chair, and he was still talking on the phone.

      ‘We went out for dinner,’ he was saying. ‘Then I invited her back to my place for coffee.’ He laughed, a deep, husky, teasing kind of laugh. ‘OK, what can I say? I’m weak, yeah…that’s right, I got sidetracked. Not one of my better moves. But it was very enjoyable.’

      Charlotte’s blood started to freeze in her veins as she realised he was talking about her.

      Her first instinct was to get out of the room before he saw that she was there. She certainly wasn’t going to apologise to him now. Hurriedly she started to back away, closing the door behind her with a quiet click. How dared he? she thought as she