CHAPTER TWO

      BY TWO that afternoon, Olivia felt more than good. She felt fantastic. If she’d known champagne was such a great antidepressant she’d have tried it earlier. From her third glass, everything had begun to improve. Her mood. The music. The men.

      By the time she’d consumed her first bottle of bubbly, one of the sales reps, a thirtyish womaniser named Phil, whom she wouldn’t normally have given the time of day, started to seem genuinely charming. He’d been chatting away to her for over half an hour when Olivia first became aware of Lewis frowning at her. He was standing with a group from marketing near one of the trestles laden with food, a glass of beer in one hand and a slice of Christmas cake in the other.

      Her boss’s near scowl evoked a dark defiance in Olivia. Lewis wasn’t her keeper. She had every right to have some harmless fun if she wanted to. Anyone would think she was doing something wrong instead of what every other single, unattached female here was doing: flirting and having a generally good time!

      When Phil asked her to dance, Olivia didn’t hesitate. Putting down her near empty glass and placing her hand in his outstretched fingers, she allowed him to draw her into the centre of the factory floor. The music switched from a softer number to a heady, throbbing beat which stirred her blood, and her general feeling of rebellion, ensuring that she smiled at Phil a little more widely, and danced a lot more provocatively.

      Olivia discovered a primitive sense of rhythm she hadn’t known she had, her body taking on a life of its own, undulating with all the grace and sensuality of a belly dancer, her arms reaching up above her head like two cobras under the hypnotic influence of a snake charmer’s music.

      The realisation that Lewis’s narrowed blue gaze was riveted to her suddenly sinuous body did not go unnoticed by Olivia. Instantly, she became very conscious of her femininity: the way her full breasts were swaying beneath her blouse; the sensual swing of her womanly hips; the heat being generated in her secret places. It was a most exhilarating and arousing experience.

      Olivia felt so sexy, it was sinful! She could have danced for ever, displaying herself shamelessly in front of the men’s gawking eyes.

      But especially one man’s.

      Shocking her boss out of his complacent attitude towards her was giving her a real buzz. It felt good to have him look at her for once as a woman capable of attracting men, maybe even capable of attracting him.

      Actually, it felt more than good. It felt ... thrilling.

      The music, however, came to an end, and the disc jockey announced he was having a break.

      ‘I had no idea,’ Phil murmured as he guided her from the factory floor, ‘that you could be like this.’ Picking up a frosted glass of champagne from a nearby table, he pressed it into her hot little hands.

      ‘Like what?’ she asked in a breathy voice to rival Yvette’s.

      Phil’s leering smile sent warning bells ringing faintly in her fuzzy brain. The realisation of where Phil thought their flirtation was heading brought a momentary jab of conscience, but she easily brushed it aside. That was another thing about being deliciously drunk, she realised. You didn’t fret over things. So Phil was going to be disappointed at the end of the day. So what? No real harm done.

      Sipping her drink, she glanced idly around to see if Lewis was still watching her.

      He wasn’t. In fact, he was nowhere in sight.

      Perversely, Olivia felt quite put out.

      ‘Another dance?’ Phil suggested.

      Olivia was startled to find that the prospect of dancing without Lewis watching her held no appeal at all. In fact, all of a sudden, she’d lost interest in staying where she was.

      ‘Sorry,’ she said abruptly, ‘but there’s something else I have to do right now.’

      Leaving Phil gaping after her, she strode across the factory floor to where the champagne was chilling in a huge vat. Extracting an opened bottle from its bed of ice, Olivia collected two clean glasses and set off in the direction of the main office block.

      She found Lewis not in his laboratory, but in his office. He was standing at the window which had a view of the rolling front lawns, but not much else. His grey suit jacket had been discarded along with his tie, both thrown carelessly across the black leather chesterfield standing between them. Staring through the window, he absently undid his cuffs and began rolling up the sleeves of his crisp white shirt.

      Without making her presence known, Olivia stood in the open doorway and just stared at him.

      He was an exceptionally good-looking man, she finally conceded. A fact she’d always known but which she hadn’t faced before with such honesty. That was another fringe benefit of being tipsy. Smiling ruefully to herself, Olivia decided to call it alcoholic enlightenment.

      ‘So there you are!’ she exclaimed gaily, and launched herself towards his desk, kicking the door shut behind her.

      He whirled, then frowned at her. ‘What in hell do you think you’re doing?’ he said when she set the glasses up on his desk and slopped in some champagne, spilling a little on the black lacquered top.

      ‘Bringing the party to you, boss.’ She threw him a saucy smile as she weaved her way over to him, thankful that the glasses were only half full. ‘This is the one day in the year when we don’t work around here. And that includes you. If you think you’re going to hide yourself away in that infernal laboratory today, then you can think again. Here. Take this!’ Having deposited one glass into his reluctant grip, she clinked her glass to his then lifted it to her lips, her eyes dancing at him over the rim. ‘Merry Christmas, Lewis.’

      ‘Olivia,’ he said drily, making no attempt to drink. ‘You’re not just merry, you’re sozzled.’

      She laughed. ‘I am, aren’t I?’

      ‘You’re going to have one hell of a hangover in the morning,’ he warned.

      ‘I’ll worry about that in the morning. Meanwhile, I’m having fun.’

      One of his dark eyebrows lifted in a sardonic arch. ‘So I noticed. You haven’t forgotten Phil Baldwin’s reputation with women, have you?’

      ‘No.’

      ‘For pity’s sake, Olivia, if you must have revenge on Nicholas then pick yourself someone with a little more discretion. I really don’t want the likes of Phil going round boasting that he had sex with my secretary at the Christmas party, all right?’

      ‘You think I’d let him do that?’

      ‘I don’t know what to think.’ His eyes carried a strange confusion as they roved over her, taking in her wild tumble of hair before dropping down to the shadowed cleavage between her breasts. ‘When you let your hair down, Olivia,’ he muttered tautly, ‘you really let your hair down.’

      The air was suddenly thick between them. Thick and hot and electric. The storm which had been brewing in Olivia all day gathered intensity. Lightning licked along her veins. Thunder roared in her temples. Her heart began to pound. Her eyes flashed and glittered.

      ‘At least you noticed I was a woman,’ she said huskily.

      ‘Hard not to.’

      ‘Would you like to have sex with me, Lewis?’

      He was shocked, she could see. Yet along with the shock lay a decided fascination. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. She took advantage of his momentary stillness to close the distance between them and press herself against him, oh, so lightly. His nostrils flared with more shock.

      Olivia