Australia: Bundles of Joy. Nicola Marsh
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her an Oh-goody-look-what-Santa-brought-me-this-year smile as she stared up at Lachlan Brant—her next apparent intended victim in the bedroom stakes—with adoration, barely casting Keely a second glance.
Trying to keep her nerves at bay and wondering what Raquel wanted—and why she had to show him up to the boss’s office—Keely schooled her face into what she hoped was a professional mask and turned to face him.
‘Hi, I’m Keely Rhodes. If you’d like to take a seat, I’ll be with you shortly.’
Then it happened.
The man she’d publicly berated on radio turned and fixed her with a penetrating stare, the deep blue of his eyes highlighted by a shirt of the same colour.
And her heart lurched.
For the first time in her twenty-six years, the organ she’d managed to shield from breaking by only dating Mr Averages did some weird pumping that sent blood pounding through her body at a million beats a minute.
‘Pleased to meet you.’ He smiled and held out his hand—her heart didn’t stand a chance.
Keely didn’t believe in love at first sight. She was a realist who had both feet firmly planted on the ground and it hadn’t steered her wrong to date. Why have romantic notions like Emma or follow nebulous predictions like Tahlia? Wishing for something that would never come true was asking for heartache and she had no intention of taking a fall.
Aware that she’d hesitated a fraction too long, Keely quickly slid her hand into his and shook it, the warmth of his touch doing strange things to her insides as his long, tapered fingers closed over hers.
Now she knew for sure. Not only had her heart flipped out, her common sense had joined the party. Since when did a mere handshake feel like an intimate touch designed for her and her alone?
‘I’ll be waiting.’ His deep voice washed over her, so much richer, mellower, in person than over the airwaves.
How many nights had she lain awake listening to this man and the advice he dished out to the masses, listening to his voice for the sheer pleasure of it? She’d imagined an older man, someone with a wealth of life experience, till she’d seen his photo in the newspaper, though Lachlan Brant in grainy print was nothing compared to the man in the flesh.
Mentally shaking herself out of her reverie, she extracted her hand and tried to get a grip—on her wits, not the man looking at her with an amused gleam in those all-knowing eyes.
‘Fine. I’ll be back soon,’ she said, wondering what it was about him that had her so flustered.
So he had a great body, a soulful voice and a lethal smile. That didn’t make him God’s gift to women. Or did it?
He also had a degree in psychology and analysed people for a living, a fact she’d rubbed his nose in during her five-minute brush with fame—or infamy—last week. And boy, would she be in trouble if he recognised her as the crackpot who had made scathing fun of him during that call. ‘Quack’, ‘thick as a brick’, and ‘out of touch’ were a few of the insults she’d levelled at him that sprang to mind—and they’d been the tame ones!
Hoping her legs wouldn’t wobble, she walked away, resisting the urge to glance over her shoulder and see if he was checking her out.
As if. Since when did guys like him go for girls like her? Though she’d conquered her eating disorder years ago, she hadn’t shed her inhibitions regarding her body along with the excess kilos. Though she looked okay, she wasn’t a patch on the waif look that most men favoured these days—and never would be.
Reaching Raquel’s door, she cast aside her body-image issues, took a deep breath and entered after knocking twice.
‘About time you got here. What took you so long?’
Though Raquel Wilson was a competent leader, with enough drive to take WWW Designs into the next decade, her people skills were on a par with those of an angry Rottweiler. In fact, several employees had taken to calling her Raquel the Rottie behind her back, and Lord help them if she ever found out. Keely had a sneaking suspicion that in this case the Rottie’s bite would be every bit as bad as her bark.
Keely gritted her teeth and fixed a smile on her face. ‘I was waylaid by a client.’
‘Lachlan Brant, you mean?’ Raquel’s eyes took on a predatory gleam, the same look she got whenever a lucrative client set foot in the office.
‘Uh-huh.’
‘Good.’ Raquel threw the pen she’d been holding on top of a pile of paperwork that looked as if it would keep her chained to her desk for the next decade. ‘He’s your new assignment.’
Oh-oh. When Raquel said ‘assignment’, it meant trouble. Co-workers avoided one of her special assignments like the plague—she demanded you tail the client like a detective, finding out every nitty-gritty detail to make sure their account was the best and therefore would lure further big business for the company. In a way, that was what kept WWW Designs at the top. However, the thought of wearing the gorgeous Lachlan Brant like a second skin for any length of time had Keely wanting to hotfoot it to the nearest ice cream parlour—and she’d kicked that habit a long time ago.
Resisting the urge to run as fast as her legs could carry her, Keely did her best to look keen. ‘Sounds like a wonderful opportunity but I’m kind of snowed under with other accounts at the moment. Flirt has just come onboard and I—’
‘Lachlan Brant is your number one priority as of now. I’m sure you’ll find a way to juggle the rest.’ Raquel stood and walked to the floor-to-ceiling windows that took in an impressive view of Melbourne’s latest cultural icon, Federation Square, and the beautiful dome of Flinders Street Station. ‘I have every confidence in you, Keely. If you do well, there could be a promotion in this for you.’
Great. Just great.
How could she refuse tailing Lachlan Brant’s well-toned tail in exchange for a chance at the big time?
‘I’ll do my best.’ Inwardly sighing in resignation, she knew that in the Rottie’s case her best often wasn’t good enough.
‘See that you do. Now, bring the man in question up here and let’s see if we can get him to sign on the dotted line.’
Keely nodded, managed a grin that she knew must look like a grimace, and headed back to the foyer to find her new assignment.
Lachlan stood as soon as she entered the reception area and his sheer presence hit her all over again. The man was serious drool material—and, by that cocky grin, boy, did he know it.
‘Ready for me now?’
Ha! If he only knew how ready …
She nodded. ‘Follow me.’
He did exactly that and she was aware of him every step of the way to Raquel’s office. Thankfully, he didn’t have a clue to her identity as a moonlighting heckler and she hoped it stayed that way.
‘Your name sounds familiar. Have we met before?’
Her hand stilled on the doorknob to the Rottie’s office and she gulped. So much for breathing easy.
‘I don’t think so,’ she managed to get out, without a trace of apprehension in her voice.
‘Keely is rather an unusual name. I’m sure I’ve heard it recently.’ He fixed her with yet another piercing glare and she could almost imagine him stroking an imaginary goatee, like some Freudian professor trying to discover the meaning of life as he racked his brain to place her.
Stifling a grin at her mental image of the gorgeous psychologist in front of her even remotely resembling one of his ancient predecessors, she knocked on Raquel’s door and waited for the usual barked command to enter.
‘Come in.’ Judging by the decibel level, Raquel was keeping it down to a dull roar in deference to Lachlan’s