Passionate Playboys: The Demetrios Bridal Bargain / The Magnate's Indecent Proposal / Hot Nights with a Playboy

His long fingers tightened until his knuckles turned white. His dark lashes came down in a veil as he took a deep breath that did little to reduce the angry pounding in his temples.

‘Do people here have nothing better to do than gossip?’ he asked coldly.

‘Not really,’ Jamie admitted. Then, oblivious to the fact his friend was fighting violent urges, he continued to speculate about the blonde.

‘I wonder if she’d like to come and catalogue my book collection after she finishes with Smith?’ His comic suggestive leer faded dramatically in the face of the flash of livid fury on his friend’s face.

It was at that moment that Robert Smith announced his presence by clearing his throat.

Both men turned in unison.

‘I’m afraid, James, that the books … well, they’re not quite what I’m looking for.’

Jamie took the news with a philosophical shrug. ‘Oh, well, not to worry.’

‘I have a friend who might be interested and I’ll mention them to him if you like? I’m afraid, though, they’re really not that valuable.’

‘I’ll buy them,’ Mathieu heard himself say.

Jamie looked as surprised by the offer as Mathieu felt. ‘You don’t know what they are,’ he pointed out.

‘I have a bookshelf to fill.’

‘Right, then, I’ll be off.’

Mathieu’s lip curled into a contemptuous smile. ‘The schedule?’ he suggested.

The other man struggled to smile back. ‘Just so … and thank you once more for helping Miss Hall.’

Mathieu watched, his eyes narrowed, as Smith got into the car beside Rose. ‘I don’t like that man.’

Jamie fought a grin. ‘And you hid it so well, Matt,’ he said, clapping a congratulatory hand on his friend’s arm. ‘As you’re on a roll with the saving-people thing … about my finances—is it hopeless?’

Seeing the real concern behind his friend’s levity, Mathieu dragged his thoughts from the unlikely librarian and back to his friend’s financial situation.

CHAPTER SIX

ALL the way over in the taxi Rose kept going over the morning’s scene in her head.

‘I’m afraid, Miss Hall, that I must let you go.’

Jaw clenched, Rose turned her head and stared out of the window not seeing the stunning Highland scenery, dusted that morning by a sprinkling of snow. She squeezed her eyes tight and shook her head. She hadn’t had an inkling of what was to come even after that opening, but then she hadn’t woken up expecting to receive her marching orders.

‘Let me go?’

‘I no longer think we can work together.’

‘You’re giving me the sack?’ She was too astonished to be angry … that presumably would come later—and it had. ‘But I don’t understand. The job is only half done. Have you some complaint about my work? Is this because I spent the rest of the day in bed yesterday, because I would have worked if—’

‘Your work has been adequate,’ Robert Smith conceded stiffly. ‘However, certain other matters have been brought to my attention.’

‘What matters?’

He started moving objects around his desk, not quite meeting her eyes. ‘I have given the matter some thought since yesterday.’ He gave a sigh and lifted his head. ‘And unfortunately I have concluded it would be quite unsuitable for a woman of your …’ He stopped, clearing his throat.

‘A woman of my what?’

Lips pursed, his eyes cold behind the horn-rimmed glasses as they slid from hers, he said, ‘This is a small community; there are no secrets. Your exploits, Rose, will soon be common knowledge.’

‘Exploits?’ Rose echoed, still in the dark.

‘The people here are old-fashioned and as an incomer I have to respect their values. I did have some concern initially about having such a young woman living here,’ he admitted, and Rose thought, God, does every man I meet think I’m out to ravish him? ‘But as you are well qualified I put my concerns to one side. Now, of course, that is out of the question given your dubious history …’

Rose laughed. She couldn’t help herself, the idea was so ludicrous. Then it hit her in a blinding flash. Her eyes narrowing, she asked in a dangerously calm voice, ‘Have you been talking to Mathieu Demetrios?’ So much for ‘your secret is safe with me’— he hadn’t been able to wait five minutes to spread his vile lies.

The worm! Not content with humiliating her personally, he had set out with what had to be deliberate malice to ruin her reputation, or, as it happened, Rebecca’s. What a sly, vindictive bastard. If she had ever needed confirmation on her decision not to reveal the case of mistaken identity, she had it.

All she stood to lose was her job and she had.

‘Of course, I will pay you until the end of the month.’

She would have been the first to advise anyone who found themselves in a similar situation to maintain a dignified silence, take the money that she was due and put the entire episode down to experience.

It was excellent advice, but Rose had found herself unable to refrain from telling her erstwhile employer that she wouldn’t touch his money with a bargepole, and he wasn’t likely to repeat the offer—not after she had been pretty frank when she had offered her opinion of him.

Rose asked the driver to wait, which was probably reckless considering her financial situation, but when she made her big exit she didn’t want to have it fall flat because she had to beg a lift to the station.

It was not a uniformed flunky who opened the vast oak-studded door, but Jamie MacGregor’s sister home for the school holiday. Her look of shock when she saw Rose morphed into a wary smile.

‘Oh, hi. I saw you yesterday. You might not have seen me,’ she added awkwardly.

Rose was too preoccupied to wonder at the teenager’s odd manner. ‘No, I didn’t.’

‘You work for Mr Smith.’

‘Not any more.’

‘Do you want Jamie?’

‘I want Mathieu.’

The young girl registered Rose’s gritted teeth, angry eyes and flushed teeth and gave a nervous giggle.

‘I’m afraid … the thing is I don’t think that …’

Rose cut across her. ‘I don’t give a damn if he’s busy or unavailable or anything else because I intend to see him whether he wants to see me or not.’

‘I, really, they’re—’