Two's Company

Neither man had looked in the least like William, and Juliet realised that was because they had both taken after William’s blonde-haired, blue-eyed wife—the wife who had died after giving birth to Simon.

Juliet had been nineteen and working in the office of Carlyle Properties as a junior typist when she had met Simon, the twenty-five-year-old son of the owner. And the two of them had been attracted to each other from the start.

At the time Juliet hadn’t even realised that Simon had a brother; William and Edward had argued a couple of years before she had come to work for the firm, the result of which had been Edward cutting himself off from his family completely. The name Edward had never been mentioned among his family either, and any photographs of him that might once have been in the house had been long since removed when Juliet had arrived on the scene.

Not that any of that had mattered to Juliet; it was all family history, and, she being an orphan herself, family relationships were a bit of a mystery to her anyway. At the time she had been too much in love with Simon to care about anything else. And to her amazement that love had been returned, their romance being of the whirlwind type, the two of them spending all of their free time together. With the approval of William. He had seemed pleased that his son was settling down, had welcomed Juliet into his home and his warm affection.

It was the first taste of any real family that Juliet had ever had, and she remembered how she couldn’t help wondering how ‘my dear older brother’, as Simon sardonically called him, could ever have distanced himself from that closeness.

But it had only been a fleeting thought, drawn as she had been into the lives of the Carlyle men, with William making her his personal secretary as her relationship with his son deepened.

And then had come the dreadful night that Simon had been killed. It was a night Juliet would never forget, the nightmare having remained with her for the last seven years. William, despite having now irrevocably lost his younger son, had been marvellous with her, the two of them forming a bond that night that was to last until the day William died.

It still existed as far as Juliet was concerned! But she knew that Liam Carlyle would never understand a bond like that, that he saw it only as black and white—mostly black! She had lived with his father in the family home, so therefore she must have been his father’s mistress. How far from the truth he was! Juliet would never be any man’s mistress. Nor any man’s wife, for that matter. There had been no man in her life after Simon. And there never would be.

No man in that way anyway. But she seemed to be stuck with Liam in her life at the moment—a business partner for now—although she had a feeling that that might come to an end tomorrow morning.

She had tried. No one could say that she hadn’t tried. But if she failed now she would still have let William down…

Sleep was even more impossible that night than it usually was. Juliet, finally having given up all pretence of even trying to sleep, got out of bed to go once again through the papers she had brought with her from England for Edward—Liam—Carlyle to look at.

It was all pretty straightforward really; she needed his signature on vital papers to be able to finance and maintain the company. Surely that wasn’t going to be too much to ask? It wouldn’t cost him anything, just his signature and a little of his time. But it was time which he had been refusing to let her have for the last two months…

She dressed carefully for her business meeting. Their encounters so far had been far from businesslike, and she had an idea that she was going to need all the confidence she had this morning!

Her skirt was neat, black, and tailored, finishing only slightly above her knee, the pale green blouse tucked in neatly at the narrow waist, her make-up minimal, her hair secured at her nape with a black slide. With her business file tucked under her arm she looked even more the part.

At least she hoped she did! The last thing she needed was to feel inadequate with Liam Carlyle.

The receptionist smiled at her enquiringly as she approached the desk.

Juliet returned the smile. ‘I’m supposed to be meeting Mr Carlyle in one of the conference-rooms this morning.’ It was more a statement than a query, but she had no idea which room Liam had chosen for their meeting.

‘Miss Berkley?’ the receptionist returned lightly.

Well, at least the young girl realised who she was, which was promising! ‘That’s right.’ Juliet answered with some relief; she had had a terrible feeling, after the way she had left yesterday evening, that Liam might not even turn up.

‘Miss Gilbraith is waiting for you in the coffeelounge,’ the receptionist informed her as she pointed in the direction of the elegantly furnished room to their left.

‘Miss Gilbraith…?’ Juliet frowned. Who on earth…?

‘Mr Carlyle’s assistant,’ the young girl told her with another friendly smile.

Diana…But why was the other woman and not Liam waiting for her? Surely he hadn’t decided to let his personal assistant deal with this? Did he really care so little for his father, or his father’s business, that he had passed the responsibility for this on to someone else?

Juliet was barely aware of thanking the young girl behind the desk before she walked over to the lounge. She couldn’t believe Liam had done this! Oh, she realised that there was still rancour inside him towards his father, but really, this was unbelievable!

Diana Gilbraith sat at a table near the window, looking uninterestedly out at the boats which were sailing in the bay. The other woman looked just as chic as she had yesterday, today wearing a blue sundress that showed off the depth of her tan and made her hair appear blonder as it fell loosely to her shoulders. If Juliet was dressed for business, this other woman was dressed for a day in the sun!

Juliet straightened her shoulders as she approached the other woman, steeling her expression to look confident and self-assured. ‘Miss Gilbraith?’

The other woman turned with a warm smile at the query, standing up in one smooth, eye-catching movement; if this woman was only Liam’s personal assistant, Juliet would be very surprised!

‘Miss Berkley,’ she greeted warmly, the smile reaching the deep blue of her eyes. ‘And please call me Diana.’

Juliet, given the circumstances, had been prepared to dislike the other woman—her defences were already firmly in place—but now she found it was impossible to resist her warmth. ‘Juliet,’ she returned awkwardly. ‘Is Mr Carlyle not with you?’ Obviously he wasn’t, but how else was she to broach the subject of Liam’s whereabouts?

‘Let’s sit down, shall we?’ Diana suggested lightly, and waited until they were both seated before resuming the conversation. ‘Unfortunately Liam had to leave early this morning,’ she told Juliet regretfully. ‘But he asked me to make his apologies.’

She just bet he had! ‘Had to leave early this morning’ indeed. ‘When will he be back?’ she bit out tightly, doing her damnedest to hide her disappointment and knowing that she must be failing miserably; she had banked everything on this conversation with Liam, and now he wasn’t even here!

‘He didn’t say.’ Diana Gilbraith gave a vague shrug. ‘But then, Liam is like that,’ she added dismissively. ‘He’ll ring me when he needs me.’

Juliet could well imagine he would. Needed the other woman for what? she could have said, but somehow, despite the briefness of their acquaintance, she quite liked this woman sitting across from her, and felt, now that she had actually spoken to Diana, that she’d had no right to make the assumptions she had concerning her and her employer. Something about Diana Gilbraith said that they would be erroneous assumptions.

Of course, that could have something to do with the wedding-ring Diana wore on her left hand, Juliet acknowledged self-derisively. She had noticed the plain gold band, accompanied by a substantial solitaire diamond engagement ring, seconds ago.

But none of this helped Juliet; she needed to see Liam Carlyle, and he seemed to have disappeared off to goodness knew where, and even his personal assistant didn’t know when he would be back!

She gave a heavy sigh. ‘In that case there doesn’t appear to be a lot more to say.’ She grimaced, standing up. ‘Thank you for at least letting me know,’ she added politely; it was hardly Diana’s fault that her employer had done a disappearing act.

‘Oh, I don’t think you quite understand.’ Diana stopped her departure, giving a light, apologetic laugh. ‘Maybe I haven’t explained myself very well. Liam has gone to his villa in the hills; he would like you to join him there.’

Juliet stared down at the other woman, complete incomprehension in her expression, she was sure.

‘I obviously haven’t explained myself at all.’ The other woman shook her head self-deprecatingly. ‘You’ll have to forgive me, Juliet; Liam has given me a week’s holiday, starting today, and I’m quite excited at the prospect of going home to my family. But that’s no reason for me to be burbling in this way.’ She gave a rueful grimace. ‘Liam wants you to drive down to his villa and——’

‘Drive?’ Juliet repeated dazedly, dropping back into her chair, still stunned by the knowledge that Liam had a villa on the island. She was even more stunned by the fact that he expected her to drive there; she had never driven on the right-hand side of the road before!

Diana nodded. ‘There’s a hire-car waiting outside for you. I’m to give you directions, and a map, of course, so that you don’t get lost.’

Juliet was still having a problem taking all this in. Liam wanted her to drive to his villa somewhere on the island, and would talk business with her there? Why not here? Why did she have to go to his villa? Suddenly she knew exactly why: Liam Carlyle didn’t like being told what to do, and last night she had dictated the time and place they were to meet!

It appeared that she had no choice but to make that drive.

‘…and your account dealt with.’ Diana Gilbraith was talking to her smilingly.

Juliet gave a dazed shake of her head. ‘Sorry?’ She had been so lost in her own thoughts that she hadn’t heard a word the other woman had said.

‘It’s all right.’ Diana smiled at her again. ‘The island has that effect after a few days,’ she excused. ‘I always become very lethargic when we stay here. I was telling you that Liam has booked you out of the hotel and dealt with your account.’

Juliet blinked, stunned; she wasn’t keeping up with this conversation at all! ‘Why?’ she frowned. But she had a feeling she already knew!

‘You’ll be staying at his villa now, of course,’ Diana said dismissively, seeming to have no idea what effect this information was having on Juliet.

And it was having an effect! Liam had booked her out of the hotel, paid her account—an account which she had to admit she had been dreading receiving! —and now expected her to go and stay with him at his villa God knew where. And Liam, of course—but then, considering the autocratic way he was behaving, perhaps he thought he was God!

Or, more to the point, he knew he was the one with the power to dictate the terms and conditions of any further meetings between the two of them…