In the Boss's Arms. Barbara Hannay

over her shoulders. A longish dark olive-green skirt covered her legs.

      There was something very appealing about her, a kind of inner light and friendly warmth. Under other circumstances Alice suspected that she might like the woman very much.

      The boy was tall, with the typically gangly build of a teenager, and he had dark hair like Liam’s.

      As she and her workmates hovered at the window, spying on them, the trio began to move away, down the corridor towards the accountant’s office. Alice swayed on her feet. Any minute now she was going to be sick. Or she was going to faint. She wasn’t sure which.

      Dennis snatched up the nearest phone. ‘Sally,’ he hissed to the girl just a few feet away from them in Reception. ‘What’s going on? What’s the boss up to?’

      The three women watched in tense silence as he received the answers. His eyes flashed mysteriously as he hung up.

      ‘Come on, then,’ cried Shana. ‘Put us out of our misery.’

      ‘Well,’ said Dennis slowly, enjoying the power of his secret, ‘her name is Mrs Julia Conway and she’s moved here from Sydney. She plans to live here and the boss is going in to talk to Merv, because he’s buying her a house.’

      A house! Alice was swamped by a wave of shock. That could only mean…Surely that meant the woman must be…

      With a hand clasped over her mouth, she bolted for the corridor, heading in the direction of the Ladies’.

      ‘Liam, what’s the matter with you?’ asked Julia Conway. ‘You’ve been pacing about like a caged lion all evening.’

      Liam paused midway down the length of the balcony that opened off his apartment’s living room. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I’ve been a little distracted.’

      ‘More than a little.’ Julia laughed gently. ‘I doubt you’ve heard a word I’ve said in the past fifteen minutes.’

      ‘Have I been that rude? Sorry.’

      ‘Who is she?’

      His jaw dropped. Julia’s blunt question had caught him completely off guard.

      She laughed again. ‘I’m right. I knew it was something personal. You’re never like this when it’s work. If you were worried about a business matter you’d be on the phone, getting to the bottom of the problem.’

      He lowered himself into a wicker chair beside her and shoved his hands deep in his trouser pockets. ‘Am I really that transparent?’

      ‘To me you are, but then I’ve known you for nearly twenty years. And you’re so like Jack. He has a hard time keeping secrets from me too.’

      The sound of taped laughter floated out from the living room, where Jack was watching television.

      For a little while they sat in companionable silence.

      ‘What a deliciously balmy night this is,’ Julia said. ‘I know this tropical climate is going to be wonderful for me.’ She laid a cool hand on Liam’s arm. ‘Thank you so much. For everything.’

      They shared a smile and then Julia gave his wrist a playful slap. ‘Now, why don’t you hop on the phone and talk to this woman? Put your mind at rest. Where is she? In Sydney?’

      ‘Actually, no, she’s here in Cairns.’

      Julia’s eyes widened. ‘That was quick. You were only here for a week or so before I threw a spanner in the works with my dash to hospital.’

      ‘Yeah.’ His shoulders lifted in a brief shrug. ‘It was kind of spontaneous.’

      ‘Spontaneous? How unlike you, Liam.’ Her eyes sparkled. ‘I really like the sound of this.’

      ‘It’s nothing serious,’ Liam insisted when he saw the hope that flared in her eyes.

      Liar. His right hand closed around the little jewellery box in his pocket.

      In an act of complete spontaneity—or insanity—he’d bought a ring in Sydney…an emerald, of course. It had been a totally off-the-wall, spur-of-the-moment impulse, fuelled by a whim of fierce sentiment, and Liam still couldn’t quite believe he’d done it. He knew it was reckless and impulsive.

      But it hadn’t felt foolish.

      Not at the time.

      Now, however, he realised just how rash he’d been. There were difficult bridges to cross before he asked a woman to share his life. He would have to reveal the shadows that stalked him.

      Beside him, Julia let out a worried sigh. ‘Liam, don’t look so gruff. I didn’t mean to sound as if I was criticising you just now. I’m all for spontaneity. You know I’d be only too delighted to see you indulge in a little romance. It would be better still if you fell completely head over heels in love.’

      He smiled at her. ‘You’ve been pushing me at other women for years.’

      ‘With very little success.’ After a bit Julia said, ‘I hope you haven’t stayed in this evening to keep me company.’

      ‘It’s your first night in town. You’ve been ill. I’m certainly not going to desert you.’

      ‘I’m absolutely fine now.’ She glanced at her wrist-watch. ‘It’s not very late. Why don’t you go out? I’ll watch a little television with Jack. I’d like an early night.’

      Liam nodded, but he didn’t move. He sat staring out across the dark, moonlit water of Trinity Inlet, thinking about Alice, worrying about her. She was ill apparently and she’d gone home from work midmorning, but she hadn’t answered his calls. He’d left three messages on her answering machine and she hadn’t returned any of them. And yet her workmates were almost certain that she was at home, which meant she was either too sick to answer the phone—or she was avoiding him.

      Either way he was worried.

      Movement beside him dragged him out of his dark thoughts. Julia had turned her wheelchair and was heading back inside. He leapt to his feet.

      ‘Shoo, Liam,’ she said, waving a hand over her shoulder. And then she dropped her head back and winked up at him. ‘I mean that in the nicest possible way, of course.’

      Bending down, he dropped a quick kiss on her cheek. ‘All right, if you insist, I’ll go.’

      She continued inside, while he flipped open his cell-phone and called for a taxi. And then he went downstairs and waited on the footpath for the cab to arrive.

      The night was indeed, as Julia had said, balmy. He drew a deep breath and caught a whiff of salt from the sea as well as perfume from a nearby garden, a very sweet, heady, floral fragrance. The deep breath didn’t calm him. In fact, he was astonished by how nervous he felt. By the way his heart was pumping anyone would think Alice Madigan was armed and dangerous.

      But of course…she was armed…with a dangerously sensual femininity that had made him her captive slave.

      This evening, however, when she opened her front door and saw Liam on her doorstep, all colour drained from her face.

      ‘Oh,’ was all she said and she clutched the door knob as if she needed its support.

      ‘Hello, Alice.’ He was alarmed by her apparent frailty. ‘I hope I haven’t got you out of bed.’

      ‘No, no.’

      Despite her paleness, her beauty couldn’t be dimmed. Her dark hair was shining as if she’d just finished brushing it a thousand times and her deep red jeans and multi-toned T-shirt offset her pale skin perfectly. He wanted to feast his eyes on her. ‘I was very sorry to hear that you weren’t well.’

      She nodded, but offered no explanation.

      ‘It’s nothing serious, I hope?’

      ‘No. Just a stomach