Tycoon for Hire

‘That can’t be right,’ she murmured. ‘Why should we go up by that much since yesterday?’

But the same figures appeared again. Next moment her phone rang. ‘You’d better get in here and let me know what’s been going on,’ Trevor growled, and hung up.

Puzzled, Jennifer crossed the corridor to his office. ‘I didn’t understand any of that,’ she said, closing his door behind her.

‘I’m talking about you and Charteris Enterprises.’

‘I’ve had nothing to do with Charteris Enterprises.’

‘Oh, no?’ Trevor said sarcastically. ‘And you weren’t with their managing director last night, I suppose?’

‘You know where I was last night—at the banquet with Mike Harker. No, wait. He said his real name was Steven Leary.’

‘He told you that? And you didn’t hear alarm bells?’

Trevor shoved a newspaper across his desk. Jennifer’s eyed widened at the picture of herself and Steven dancing smoochily. The caption gave details of the banquet, of herself, and of ‘Steven Leary, Managing Director of Charteris Enterprises, who is also a major stockholder and chief architect of its success.’

‘Now people think we’re doing a deal with Charteris, and that’s why our shares have soared,’ Trevor told her.

‘I don’t understand this,’ Jennifer said distractedly. ‘You told me Mike Harker was a failed actor.’

‘But that isn’t him,’ Trevor said through gritted teeth.

‘Well, he’s the man who turned up on my doorstep. This—I just don’t understand. I danced with a dozen men.’

‘Like that?’ Trevor demanded, jabbing his finger at the picture. Jennifer drew a sharp breath as she saw what he meant. It had been taken at the moment when Steven had kissed her, and her response left no doubt about the matter. This was far from being just another dance.

She studied herself in dismay, her mind rejecting what her flesh remembered to be true. How could she have melted into his arms in that abandoned way?

And him? Had he too been lost? Or was he laughing at a successful deception? And later—But she refused to remember later.

‘I think I’d better have a talk to Mr Harker—or Leary, or whatever his name is,’ she said grimly.

She called Charteris Enterprises. But she was stone-walled by Steven’s secretary.

‘Kindly tell Mr Leary that I don’t know what his game is,’ she said at last, ‘but I’m going to find out.’

Steven had arrived at work to find the newspaper laid out on his desk and his staff ecstatic over his supposed coup. They’d known that Steven was negotiating to buy Kirkson Depots, a firm that operated in the same area as Nortons, but Kirkson was holding out for too high a price, and everyone now assumed that Steven had been playing a deep game.

He studied the picture, noticing how the clinging dress outlined Jennifer’s splendid curves. She was looking up at him, her head thrown back in an attitude of ecstatic surrender, as though her partner was the only man in the world.

She’d wanted him to believe it was all an act, for the benefit of another man, and he’d been almost fooled—until the evening’s final moments. Then the seductive spell she’d cast had swept him up. And not just him. She could deny it as much as she liked. He knew.

Alice, his secretary, looked in. She was thin, middleaged and efficient. She also had a dry sense of humour that helped her survive as Steven’s secretary. ‘James Kirkson is here,’ she said.

James Kirkson had come uttering words like ‘compromise’ and ‘rethink’. Steven kept his face blank to conceal his sense of triumph. In another few minutes Kirkson Depots would be his at a bargain price. But he was interrupted by the phone.

‘It’s Ms Norton,’ Alice informed him. ‘She’s very cross and she’s on her way here.’

Steven glanced at Kirkson and made a sudden decision. ‘When she arrives,’ he announced in a loud voice, ‘tell her I love her madly.’

‘Very good, sir.’

Exactly fifteen minutes later Alice’s door burst open and Jennifer whirled in.

‘I’d like to see Steven Leary,’ she said crisply.

‘I’m afraid that’s not possible. Won’t you sit down?’

‘I won’t be here long enough to sit down. Your employer is a devious, conniving—’

‘You must be Ms Norton.’

‘I certainly am.’

‘In that case, Mr Leary loves you madly,’ Alice declared, at her most wooden.

For a moment Jennifer felt as though something had knocked the wind out of her. Her head swam, the world glittered, shooting stars rioted in space. Then her senses cleared and she realised that Steven was up to his tricks.

‘Does he employ you to talk that stuff?’ she asked through twitching lips.

‘On this occasion, yes.’

‘Whatever he’s paying you, it isn’t enough.’

‘I agree. Can I get you some coffee?’

‘What you can get me is Steven Leary’s head on a plate,’ Jennifer said crisply. ‘Better still, I’ll collect it myself.’

Alice moved, but she wasn’t fast enough. Jennifer swept into Steven’s office, already uttering the words, ‘How dare you tell the press all that rubbish about us when you know perfectly well—!’

She got no further. Steven was out of his chair and across the room in time to cut off the rest. His mouth descended on hers in mid-word. His arms were like steel about her, preventing all struggle.

Jennifer’s indignation fought with her instinctive response. The sense of sheer power holding her exhilarated her even while it made her furious.

He released her mouth just long enough to say, ‘Business and pleasure, darling.’ Lowering his voice, he said urgently, ‘Kiss me back, for pity’s sake!’

‘Not in a million years—’ She barely got the words out before he silenced her again. The world spun around her, making it impossible to think, or do anything except feel a fierce, sensual delight deep inside her. It was stronger than anger. For a blinding moment it was the only thing in the world.

But the moment passed and she was herself again. She freed her lips, feeling her heart pounding, hoping she wasn’t too flushed. She looked into his face, expecting to find in it a look of jeering triumph, and was astonished to see an echo of her own reaction. Steven was breathing hard and his eyes were glittering.

‘Jennifer,’ he said in a husky voice, ‘let me introduce you to—where is he?’

‘Mr Kirkson slipped out while you were occupied,’ Alice informed him, from the doorway.

‘Damn!’ Steven said explosively, releasing Jennifer with unloverlike haste. ‘He was on the verge of caving in.’ He glared at Jennifer. ‘Thanks a lot!’

‘Are you daring to blame me?’