The Irresistible Tycoon

The scent of his male warmth was unnerving her more and more in the close confines of the powerfully virile car, forcing her to acknowledge her own awareness of him with a tenacity she couldn’t escape. ‘It was a long labour, difficult.’ She didn’t add that Graham had been out on a drinking binge and had only arrived at the hospital the following morning. ‘One of the nurses was very sweet to me; she was Jamaican. Her name was—’

‘Melody.’ He finished the sentence for her.

Kim nodded. ‘But it suits Melody,’ she said quietly. ‘She’s a happy little girl, always singing and laughing.’

There was a warmth—a sweetness—to Kim’s voice when she spoke of her daughter that Lucas hadn’t heard before, and suddenly he was the one who wanted to change the subject.

‘I’m sure she is,’ he said evenly. ‘Now, let me just run through the prime objective of this meeting before we meet Jim Clarkson and his son.’

Kim listened quietly as he expounded further, but inside she was so churned up half of what he said flowed straight over her head.

She wished she’d never taken this job. In spite of the fabulous salary, the car, everything, she did so wish she’d never set foot in Kane Electrical. She had known where she was with Bob Curtis. He had been a slave-driver, and quite shameless about using people to his own advantage, but he had been fat and balding and middle-aged and hadn’t had the interest to ask her one personal question in the two years she had worked for him. And he’d driven a family saloon that was as exciting as a jam sandwich.

Lucas shifted slightly in the black leather seat and she felt her nerves tighten.

And Bob’s suits had been off the peg and more often than not creased into the bargain, and he would no more have worn a silk shirt than the man in the moon. Whereas Lucas… Even in bathing trunks he would still have that air of unlimited wealth about him.

The thought of Lucas in bathing trunks was enough to cause her cheeks to flush hotly, and she hoped he would assume it was the warmth of the car after the bitter chill outside if he noticed.

Lucas did notice, and the feeling he had experienced in the lift swept over him again with renewed vigour before he forced himself to relax. Okay, so she was as nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof, he told himself with silent savagery, but the devil alone only knew what had gone on in her marriage. At least the creep was dead. He breathed out slowly, narrowing his eyes at the wintry vista ahead as he forced himself to concentrate on the road conditions. She was his secretary. That was all she was. Her past only affected him in as much as it might interfere with the job she did for him. That was all.

The rest of the journey to the restaurant was conducted in a silence that wasn’t at all comfortable, and by the time the Aston Martin nosed into the immaculate car park at the rear of Fontella’s, Kim’s nerves were stretched to breaking point. Lucas was out of the car and opening her door before Kim had a chance to move, and as she swung her legs on to the gravelled drive she took a long, deep, silent breath.

She knew of Fontella’s but had never ventured within its hallowed walls. The prices began at unaffordable and rose skywards.

‘Chin up.’

She hadn’t been aware of Lucas’s eyes on her as they had begun to walk towards the gracious wooden doors leading into the building, but now as she glanced at him he continued, ‘Jim is a wily old bird but as down-to-earth a guy as you could wish to meet and his son is from the same mould. You’ll like them.’

Probably, but it wasn’t the thought of meeting the kingpins of Clarkson International that was bothering her. It was the big dark man at the side of her. For some reason he caused a chemical reaction in her mind and body that she didn’t seem able to control with logic or will-power, and it was getting worse as time progressed, not better.

Kim did like Jim Clarkson and his son, Robert. They were astute businessmen and as single-minded as Lucas when it came to any issues linked with commerce, but she sensed immediately the three men had had dealings in the past and liked each other.

To her surprise the conversation, although heated at times, was not without humour, and in spite of it being two against one Lucas more than held his own and manipulated events skilfully and quietly until he had obtained most of what he had been after.

That this wasn’t lost on Jim Clarkson became evident as the four made their goodbyes in the car park. ‘He’s a wily operator, your Mr Kane,’ Jim told her as he shook her hand in farewell. ‘But of course you know that.’

‘That was exactly what he said about you, Mr Clarkson.’ Kim dimpled at the grey-haired, elderly man as she spoke and he laughed out loud, his blue eyes frankly appreciative of the beautiful woman in front of him.

‘Flattery will get you everywhere, my dear.’

Lucas had been standing to one side, surveying them from eyes that reflected the winter sky overhead, and now he moved forward, cupping Kim’s elbow as he said, ‘I’ll phone you tomorrow, Jim, once my accountant has looked into a couple of matters.’

‘Goodbye, Mrs Allen.’ Robert Clarkson had put out his hand as he spoke, forcing Lucas to delay his departure. ‘It was nice meeting you,’ he said softly, his eyes warm.

‘Likewise.’

Robert opened his mouth to say more but Kim found herself whisked across the car park, which had been swept clean of even the faintest trace of snow, before the younger man could speak and then she was in the Aston Martin with the door firmly shut.

That had bordered on rudeness. She watched her boss walk round the bonnet of the car but could read nothing from the bland expression on the craggy face. But perhaps he was in a hurry to return to the office for some reason?

‘That went well.’

They had just drawn out of the car park and she had acknowledged Robert’s wave—the younger Clarkson standing by a superb dark-blue Mercedes—with a smile and an inclination of her head before she turned to answer Lucas. In spite of the positive content of his words, the tone had suggested something different.

‘Yes, I thought so,’ she agreed politely.

‘You seemed to hit it off well with the Clarksons,’ Lucas said expressionlessly.