Burning With Passion. Emma Darcy
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the heart was a fat little cupid set in gold, shooting an arrow at a heart. Her heart!
Caitlin’s fingers trembled as she opened it. Her pulse raced with the hope that David had written something personal and meaningful, something that might indicate his real commitment to her.
The hope was somewhat deflated. Within a wreath of roses was printed ‘Be My Valentine’. No address to her. No signature. Only the single message of the card.
But that was something. It was an advance on what had gone before. A lilt of happiness dispelled the disappointment. It was certainly more than she had ever expected from David. He was not given to sentimentality. He did not celebrate anniversaries.
She grinned as the realisation struck her that Jenny and Mr Jordan had both seen the roses arrive. Jenny had probably shown the delivery person to her office. Did they realise that David would not put his name on the card? Did they even suspect what was going on between them?
He certainly wouldn’t hand-write anything on such a public gift. Other employees would see he was flagrantly breaking his own rules. That would not be good for morale. But she knew, and she was the only one who was meant to know. Their love-affair was a private thing. She would make certain it was kept that way.
Caitlin breathed in the wonderfully intoxicating scent, then with a happy sigh set about preparing for work. She hung her shoulder-bag on the coat-stand, grabbed her shorthand pad and pen from the top desk drawer, and headed for the door that led into David’s office.
It was amazing. Five minutes ago she would have approached this door with every muscle in her body twanging and twitching with tension. Now she was eager to face David again, delighted he had unbent so far for her sake. He understood. He had given her a pleasure that he wouldn’t care about for himself. It was a turning point, a concession, a gesture that proved he cared about her feelings.
She opened the door and breezed in, bubbling with new confidence. David’s eyes snapped up from the papers on his desk. There was a fractional tightening of his jaw. He had the gritty look of a man who had been placed in the front line of battle, determined not to be seen shirking his duty, but hating the position of vulnerability. His eyes bored into Caitlin; angry, distrustful, broodingly belligerent.
‘You’re late,’ he accused bitingly.
Caitlin barely repressed what was almost an irrepressible smile. Then it burst on to her lips like irradiating sunshine. ‘I was thinking of you.’
David looked taken aback by her response. He was uncertain of her. That was the problem. He didn’t like being uncertain of her, but he was. She had acted in an unpredictable manner this morning. He wasn’t sure which way she would jump now. His applecart had been upset, his sense of purpose and direction severely changed.
To Caitlin this was proof enough that she was important to him. She did have some influence over his thinking. This was not the time, however, to break any more of his rules. She was not supposed to be a recipient of roses from him, so it would be unwise to thank him openly for them until they were out of the office and away from work. Nevertheless, she could let him know her feelings without being direct.
‘I didn’t mean to hold you up, David,’ she said in quick apology, ‘but you’re full of surprises today.’ She looked at him meaningfully.
‘So, too, are you,’ came the somewhat uncertain reply.
She gave him another brilliant smile as she walked briskly forward and sat in the chair she used for taking dictation. Even looking as stern as he did, David was devastatingly handsome. He was wearing a navy-blue suit. It was the fashionable colour in the corporate world. It looked superb on David. A silk tie diagonally striped in red and navy and silvery grey was perfectly aligned on his white shirt. Very impressive. As he always was with business.
‘Ready when you are,’ she prompted.
He stared at her for ever so long, as though weighing her present mood against the crackling hostility that had burst upon him earlier. He did not relax and smile, but his expression softened.
‘The German delegation will be here in less than an hour,’ he stated, perhaps as a reminder of how unreasonable she had been in asking him to take the day off.
‘I’m sorry about this morning,’ she said, letting him know she was in a far more reasonable frame of mind now.
‘So am I,’ he murmured reasonably, and immediately came back to business. ‘The delegation desperately want the licence to manufacture, but they’ll try to work the price down by finding faults in our design.’
‘I know this deal is important to you,’ Caitlin added, reassuring him of her complete co-operation. It made her happy to think he was genuinely sorry for their earlier contretemps.
His brows lowered. His eyes sharply probed hers. ‘Are you concentrating on what I’m saying?’
‘Every word. All the unsaid ones, too.’ She smiled again to show there were absolutely no hard feelings left on her side.
His face took on a wary expression. He rapped out his instructions as though testing her shorthand speed. ‘Arrange for Paul Jordan to come in and announce that we have the Sutherland contract. That’s to be half an hour after we start. Make sure his timing is perfect. When I want you to come and sit in on the meeting and take notes, I’ll buzz you on the phone.’
‘Fine,’ she said, her pen flashing over her notepad.
He seemed bemused momentarily. ‘Is the boardroom fully prepared?’
‘I haven’t checked it yet. I’ll do that immediately.’
Caitlin rose to her feet with crisp efficiency. She was in such buoyant spirits that her walk to the door was unconsciously jaunty.
‘Wait!’
She swung around, her eyes brightly expectant. Anything David asked her to do she would carry out to the very best of her ability. She would most certainly be an assistant he would be proud to present in front of the German del-egation.
He appeared to be wrestling with some private dilemma. She could feel tension flowing from him, swirling around her. His penetrating blue eyes were intensely concentrated on hers, as though trying to read her mind.
‘I want to say...’ He paused, cleared his throat. ‘How much I appreciate...’ Again he stopped, seeming lost for words.
‘Understood,’ Caitlin responded, realising he was trying to bridge the awkward gap left by their previous parting. ‘I do, too.’
‘What?’
‘Appreciate the...uh...what you’re trying to say.’
He weighed that for a moment, then looked relieved. ‘Well, as long as everything’s working out all right...’
‘Yes. I hope it is.’ A new dance was definitely in progress, although where it would lead was by no means settled yet.
‘Good!’ He nodded his approval. The apples were back on his cart.
Caitlin had a moment’s disquiet. She recollected his cynical taunt, ‘Barter-time, is it?’ Were the roses simply a timely gift to keep her sweet? Caitlin didn’t like the thought at all. She brushed it aside, not wanting to spoil her pleasure in the gift. Besides, David had returned his attention to the papers on his desk and it behoved her to get about her busi-ness immediately.
CHAPTER THREE
CAITLIN set out everything that might be required on the boardroom table, then zipped back to her office to put in a call to Paul Jordan before heading to the kitchen to load up a traymobile with the usual refreshments.
The call to Jordan was deferred by the arrival of a delivery boy with another gift basket for her.
Caitlin was stunned by the contents. Nestled in a froth of red ribbons were a heart-shaped box of hand-made