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‘Sooo...’ She drew out the word tauntingly. ‘Maybe my working for you is going to turn out to be more expensive than you anticipated—a lot more expensive...’
He growled fiercely in his throat, his eyes glittering with more of that same, unidentified emotion. ‘You ruthless little bitch!’
The gravelly insult gave her a sharp, illicit thrill. No one had ever called ‘good old Honor’ a bitch, let alone a ruthless one. She was too pleasant, too ordinary, too nice to excite anybody to strong feelings. An image of herself as a dangerous villainess conquering the superior strength of her masculine prey with brilliant strategems stalked across her brain, strongly appealing to her damaged ego.
‘Tut, tut, Adam, calm down,’ she said sweetly. ‘You wanted me. You’ve got me. You just got a bit more of me than you bargained for!
‘Now—’ She strolled around his desk and flopped into his large swivel chair. The smooth leather was still warm from his body and accepted her generous contours with the barest of creaks. ‘Why don’t you sit down and give me the details?’
She waved him condescendingly into the guest seat, not surprised when he balked. She didn’t quite have the gall to plant her feet on his desk-top but she made her point by picking up the pen he had been playing with earlier and studying it acquisitively as she rocked back in the chair.
‘Nice pen. A gift?’
‘For my birthday.’ He paused, ruefully eyeing the she-devil his challenge had unleashed. She was stroking the blunt end of his pen slowly back and forth against her parted lips, leading him to wonder whether she had meant to tease him with the provocative sexual imagery that sprang irresistibly to mind.
Probably not. In spite of the innate sensuality revealed in her writing and in her impulsive response to stimuli he had the feeling that she didn’t think of herself as sexy. In fact she was tormenting him with all the artless delight of a little girl playing dress-up in her big sister’s clothes.
He chose his next words carefully, fascinated to discover how long she could sustain the act.
‘Yes. From Sara. She saved up her pocket money for two months to buy it.’
He watched Honor drop the pen like a hot coal.
‘Oh!’ Honor felt like a worm as Adam suddenly changed his mind and took the seat his pride had rejected moments earlier. He raked a hand through his thick blond mane in an abstracted gesture of concern.
‘But then, Sara’s always been like that—very giving towards those she loves. I wish like hell that she hadn’t chosen this particular moment to rebel but I know that it must be important to her...more important than the bit of schoolwork she’ll miss. She can always make up time on her lessons but if I don’t encourage her to confide her problems to me now I might regret it later on. I also know from experience that she won’t tell me until she’s ready.
‘I can’t hurt her by brushing her aside until it’s more convenient for me. She wouldn’t understand. And if she’s here around the clock I’ll have to explain what’s going on because she’s too clever not to sense something’s wrong. Since Mary died she’s been very sensitive to any threat to us as a family. I’ll have to make it very clear that the anonymous letters are so far aimed at the company rather than me personally...’
Honor felt even lower than a worm. Of all the times to taunt a man with his helplessness this must surely be the worst! He had only been trying to protect his home and family. If only there was a way for her to make up for her thoughtless behaviour...
‘Do you know for sure that it’s a radical animal rights group?’ she asked tentatively.
‘No—that’s the problem.’ He cupped his hands behind his head and stretched wearily, arching his back in a typical gesture of masculine unselfconsciousness, the sides of his jacket sliding back, his shirt tautening over his wide chest, revealing a wedge-shaped shadow of dark hair beneath the thin white linen. Honor averted her eyes, rationalising the sudden prickle of sensual awareness that enveloped her body like a rash. She had felt intimately connected with this man for three months. It was quite natural that she should experience a physical curiosity about him. Natural and regrettably inappropriate!
‘It’s either a newly formed splinter group of fanatics or someone using the animal rights angle as a blind,’ he continued, swinging his arms back down, his gaze fortunately aimed somewhere above her flustered head. ‘The fact that they’ve mentioned money rather than demanding Blake Investments stop poultry processing supports the theory that it’s a criminal rather than political action. But it’s all so damned vague! It’s been over two weeks since the first letter came and we still haven’t received a concrete demand, just speculation about what could happen if we don’t co-operate with any demands they might make. Whoever it is seems to be more intent on prolonging the agony than taking the money and running.’
His eyes dropped suddenly to her face and he studied her concerned expression for a moment before saying with an edge of angry frustration still in his voice, ‘If this is our first interview shouldn’t you be taking notes? By all means feel free to use my pen...’
Honor flushed, caught off guard yet again. ‘Surely I’m entitled to some personal curiosity...considering the fact that I was a suspect.’
‘You still are.’ As her dark brows dragged raggedly together he added blandly, ‘We’re all suspects as far as the police are concerned. Even me.’
‘You!’ She regarded him with fresh shock, her annoyance on her own behalf forgotten.
He shrugged. ‘I might be trying to perpetrate an insurance fraud or cover up an embezzlement...’
‘No wonder the police haven’t tracked anyone down yet,’ Honor cried hotly, leaping out of the seat of power to pace impatiently around the desk. ‘They’re too busy chasing after ridiculous red herrings. Surely they can’t believe you’d be involved in such a ludicrously stupid plan!’
‘Thank you, Honor, for your trust—’
‘It’s not a matter of trust, it’s a matter of common sense,’ she cut him off flatly. ‘If you were embezzling you wouldn’t draw attention to yourself like this. You’re too clever. You’d do it in such a cunning way that nobody would ever find out, let alone suspect you.’
‘Thank you again...I think.’
His irony pierced her outraged self-absorption on his behalf. Honor stopped pacing and stared down at him. ‘Well...it’s simply ridiculous,’ she finished lamely.
‘So you said. If I ever need a character witness, remind me not to pick you. You’re likely to incriminate me with the enthusiasm of your defence.’
