Lovers In The Afternoon

‘Tomorrow?’ she frowned.

‘When you come for our meeting,’ he nodded.

Her eyes widened. ‘You don’t seriously expect me to still come to that?’

He glanced at her, his brows raised. ‘Of course.’

‘But I—Wasn’t that just a set-up?’ she frowned.

‘I wanted to see you again,’ he acknowledged. ‘And it seemed a good way to arrange it in view of the way you’ve felt about seeing me again, but I do also want my office decorated.’

‘Not by me,’ she shook her head determinedly, quivering at the thought of having to see this man on a day to day basis in connection with her work.

‘By you,’ he said firmly.

‘No!’

‘Yes,’ he insisted softly. ‘I really was impressed by your work on the lower floor.’

‘Adam——’

‘Yes, Leonie?’

She drew her breath in sharply at his tolerant tone. ‘I am not going to work for you,’ she told him stubbornly.

‘Yes, you are,’ he nodded confidently.

‘You can’t force me!’

‘I wouldn’t even attempt it,’ he assured her mildly. ‘But I think you might find it a little awkward explaining to your boss, David isn’t it, the reason you won’t work for me.’

‘You wouldn’t make me do that?’ she groaned.

Adam shrugged. ‘I don’t see what else you can do.’

‘But David has plenty of other designers, much more capable ones than me!’

‘I don’t want them,’ he stated calmly. ‘I want you.’

‘Please don’t involve my career in this, Adam,’ she pleaded desperately.

‘All I want is my office decorated, is that too much to ask?’

His innocence infuriated her! ‘You aren’t just asking anyone to do it, I was your wife!’

His expression softened into a reminiscent smile. ‘I’m not likely to forget that.’

‘But I’ve been trying to!’ She was twisted round in her seat as she tried to reason with him. ‘I’ve put my life back together, made the career for myself that I gave up when I married you. I am not about to let you jeopardise that.’

‘But I don’t want to.’ He shrugged broad shoulders.

‘You’re forcing me into a situation I don’t want. You deliberately sought me out for this job, didn’t you,’ she accused.

He nodded. ‘I bought the company because I knew you had worked there once.’

‘You—you did what?’ she gasped.

‘Well, I had to have a valid reason for seeing you, I knew you would flatly refuse to go anywhere where you knew I would be.’ He shrugged. ‘So I bought Thompson Electronics.’

It was an example of the arrogance she had always associated with him in the past; if he wanted something then he went out and bought it. He had once bought her with that same wealth and self-confidence that had blinded her to how wrong they were for each other.

‘Then you wasted your money,’ she told him tautly. ‘Because nothing would induce me to work for you.’

‘I didn’t waste my money, the company is a very profitable one,’ he announced calmly. ‘And I don’t intend to induce you into doing anything; surely you’re adult enough that you could design something for my office suite without letting personalities enter into it?’ he raised dark brows.

‘It isn’t a question of that,’ she said stiffly. ‘I just don’t want to work for you. Wasn’t one member of my family enough for you?’ she added disgustedly.

‘You mean Liz?’

‘Who else?’ she scorned.

‘Liz was the best personal assistant I ever had.’

She had been a little too ‘personal’ as far as Leonie was concerned! They had met because of her sister’s relationship with Adam, and they had parted for the same reason. ‘Look, I’ll talk to David tomorrow,’ she told him tautly. ‘I’m sure he’ll be only too glad to send someone else over to work with you.’

‘I don’t want anyone else,’ Adam said flatly. ‘I wondered about you and him for a while, you know,’ he added softly.

She looked over at him with startled eyes. ‘David and I?’

‘Mm,’ he nodded.

Her mouth tightened resentfully. ‘And what stopped you wondering?’ she snapped.

He shrugged. ‘Your dates were too occasional for them to be anything more than placating the boss who has designs on you,’ he dismissed.

Leonie’s eyes widened. ‘You’ve been having me watched!’ she realised disbelievingly.

‘You are my wife——’

‘Was,’ she corrected tightly. ‘We’re legally separated, and once the appropriate time has elapsed our divorce will be finalised.’

‘I was just seeing if we couldn’t speed up the proceedings,’ he explained.

Leonie blinked at him for several timeless minutes, unable to believe what she was hearing. ‘Are you trying to say you were after evidence of adultery against me?’ she said with disbelief.

Adam shrugged. ‘I thought you might feel more comfortable about our new arrangement if we were already divorced. I knew that I couldn’t wait three years for you.’

‘I’m sorry I couldn’t oblige!’ Somehow the knowledge that he had done such a thing hurt her unbearably. God knows she had enough evidence of adultery against him! But she had chosen not to subject any of them to the embarrassing ordeal of revealing their personal lives in public. Knowing that Adam had considered doing it to her made her angry.