"I'll go and have a bath, if that's all right?" she asked quietly.
"Fine." His eyes had narrowed at her tone but he made no other comment.
"I'd like to leave here at twelve and call in the office for a few minutes,
OK?"
"I'll be ready." She walked with as much dignity as she could muster into her room, and when she joined him just before twelve she was the epitome of the perfect secretary--immaculate, cool, with not a hair out of place _and a remote, businesslike expression tightening her delicate features. Never again would she betray any emotion to this man, never.
Her back stiffened with conviction. Once back in London she would give a week's notice and then that would be that. She ignored with ruthless determination the jerk her heart gave at the thought.
Doug was waiting for them at the office, a good- natured, warm smile on his face and his manner easy. It only took one glance for Lydia to realise that
Sue hadn't told him what had passed between them the night before. Whatever excuse she had made for the obvious tension, it wasn't the real one. How could some men be so blind where the female of the species was concerned? she asked herself in amazement.
Sue was the original barracuda, in fact she made the large voracious hunter seem like a sweet little goldfish, but Doug obviously loved her in spite of the fact that she didn't even like his children. Men were different creatures, she thought faintly, aliens. She glanced at Wolf's hard, cold face silently. Definitely aliens. And she had given this particular alien far too much power where she was concerned.
"Well, all's well that ends well?" Doug grinned cheerfully as they finished checking the last of the figures and gave them to his secretary to fax through.
"Next time you come down I hope you can stay longer. Wolf-- perhaps we could put you up? I know Sue would like that."
Lydia glanced sharply at Doug's smiling face to see if there was an edge beneath the apparent goodwill but no, his face expressed nothing but what his words indicated.
"Thanks, Doug." Wolfs voice was bland and dry-in the extreme.
"But it's probably better if I'm independent.
I often work until late in the night and I wouldn't want to keep you up. "
"Well, the offer's always open." The other man seemed totally oblivious to
Wolfs cynical glance at Lydia and her burning cheeks.
Once back in the privacy of the car, Wolf eyed Lydia sardonically as he started the engine.
"Trusting soul, isn't he?" The deep voice was bland and cool.
"Unlike some."
"If that means me, I think you're being most unfair." She glared at him angrily.
"I've said I'm sorry for misunderstanding things and I am, but surely you can see how things looked from my side? Sue virtually told me--' She stopped abruptly.
"Well, you know what she hinted at," she finished helplessly.
"And how readily you believed her." There was a note in his voice she couldn't place. If she hadn't known it was impossible, she would almost have thought it was pain. The journey home was tight with tension, the air electric. Wolf seemed to have disappeared into a world of his own, his face withdrawn and cold and his body taut, but she barely noticed; her whole being was eaten up with misery. She knew she had to leave this man, and fast, but the thought made her sick with pain. It was ridiculous, crazy, but somehow the idea of never seeing him again had got all out of proportion in her mind.
She didn't understand it, or herself, but it was a fact.
Once back in London he settled her in a taxi-cab with a pile of papers to drop off at the office.
"I wanted to talk to you today, but the timing was all wrong." His face was stiff as he surveyed her through the window.
"There's something I need to discuss with you in some depth, something you need to understand, but it can't be rushed."
"I'm sure tomorrow will do." She forced herself to _smile brightly.
"You mustn't be late for your appointment."