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‘And where do you intend to go? Back to the flat you are going to have to vacate in a few weeks’ time? Hurt pride is a luxury you can ill afford at present.’
‘Pride is the only thing I have left!’
Anger shone in her hazel eyes and she heard him sigh roughly. He set the glass down with a thud, then stood up and walked over to the window. ‘Pride won’t pay the bills, Beth, nor will it put a roof over your head.’
The words were blunt, but to Beth’s sensitive ears they sounded as though they held the faintest hint of an apology, and that more than anything stopped her from walking out as she’d intended. She stared at his broad back, feeling the heat of her anger fading. Was it any wonder that he had imagined the worst, after all? They were strangers, nothing more, nothing less. The realisation was suddenly strangely depressing.
‘I didn’t come here to ask you for money, David. Please believe that.’
He turned to face her, stern and remote in his dark suit and white shirt. Although he was leanly built there was an unmistakable strength about the wide shoulders and broad, flatly muscled chest which tapered to narrow hips and long powerful legs, and Beth felt an unexpected quiver of awareness at his maleness which she ruthlessly suppressed.
‘I do. You seem to be in a real predicament. Have you made any plans at all?’
‘I wish I could, but it all seems such a muddle. That’s why I came, to talk things through and hope that a solution would magically present itself, but that doesn’t seem about to happen.’ She smiled tightly, her eyes over-bright. ‘It’s going to take more than a chat to sort this out.’
‘Perhaps.’ He paused and she had the feeling that he was weighing up his words before he continued quietly, ‘I think I may have a solution if you’d care to hear it.’
‘You have?’
‘Yes, although I don’t know how you will feel about it.’ He stared calmly at her and Beth felt a shiver of anticipation run along her veins.
‘Then perhaps you’d better tell me what it is.’
‘I do a great deal of my work here at the flat and for some time now I’ve been toying with the idea of employing a secretary part-time to help me out. It seems to me that you would fit the bill perfectly, Beth.’
‘Me? But…’ She stopped abruptly, the words drying up under the heat from the sudden surge of hope, and he continued smoothly as though she’d never spoken.
‘Obviously your qualifications are just what I require, so my suggestion is that you take the job and, in view of your housing difficulties, that you come and live here. I would pay you a modest salary plus your board and lodgings. Once you’re back on your feet and find somewhere else then we can review the situation, but it seems the ideal solution all around from where I’m standing. A sensible one, in fact.’
Sensible? No, it was crazy, totally and utterly crazy, and she should have rejected the idea at once. So why did she find herself hesitating? Why did she find herself staring into those cool grey eyes and searching for any reason under the sun why she should accept it? It didn’t make any sense at all.
He interpreted her continued silence in a way she had never intended, smiling thinly as he walked to the desk and picked up a pen and started writing. ‘I can understand your reluctance, Beth. Obviously you must be wary about coming here to live in my flat when you know nothing at all about me apart from my name and the fact that I like opera.’ He held the paper out to her, his face impassive as he studied her. ‘Here is a list of people for you to contact who will supply references about me. Please feel free to check them out. No sensible woman would commit herself to such a decision without ensuring she wasn’t making a huge mistake. I’m no wild axe murderer, Beth, nor a white slave trafficker, and these highly respectable people will attest to that!’
She took the paper from him, barely glancing at the short list of names and addresses before she looked back at David with puzzlement in her eyes. ‘But why, David? Why should you want to do so much for me? Oh, I know you say that you need help, but to offer me somewhere to live…’ She shook her head. ‘That can’t be the only reason, needing help. You could chose anyone for that position, women who wouldn’t impose on you by having to live in your home. Why are you doing this for me, David?’
