Hired for the Boss's Bedroom

‘Leo’s always being “called away on business”,’ Alex told her in a low voice. ‘It’s his modus operandi. Haven’t you noticed? The fact that I have turned up here like a bad penny would have sent him running for cover even faster than usual.’

‘But why?’ On one side, Katherine was now trying to divert Daniel away from the intricacies of hospital procedure and towards the more harmless topic of the dessert which had been placed in front of him, but Daniel was as stubborn as his father and was having none of it. In a minute he would be off to bed, and he was determined to make hay while the sun shone.

‘Call it his way of showing brotherly love,’ Alex murmured bitterly.

‘Well, this is none of my business,’ Heather told him, closing her fork and spoon on her dessert.

‘Isn’t it? I thought…Mum said that…’

Heather felt her face flame with unbidden colour, but her voice remained steady as she shrugged and gave a little laugh of dismissal. ‘Oh, that,’ she whispered in a shifty voice. What on earth had Katherine said? Okay, so it didn’t take a genius to hazard a pretty good guess. Leo had clearly said nothing to his mother about recent events, and Katherine still believed that Heather and her son were an item. There had been no opportunity to talk to her, and when Heather thought about the awkward conversation that lay ahead—because she knew that she would have to disabuse Katherine of her romantic daydreams sooner rather than later—she felt a little nauseous.

‘That…was nothing.’ She gave a nervous, tinkling laugh and took refuge in a large mouthful of dessert.

‘Now now, no need to be coy. I think we’ve known each other long enough for complete honesty. Mum’s said Cupid’s been busy with his little arrows.’

‘You’re awful!’ But she was laughing, although she could feel the hysteria of tears welling up just below the surface. Thankfully she was spared any further embarrassment by Katherine standing up and excusing herself.

‘Daniel needs to go to bed now,’ she said, ignoring her grandson’s pleas that it was the weekend, that he wanted to see his dad, that no one in his class went to bed before ten on a weekend. ‘And I’m feeling rather tired,’ she admitted, clasping Daniel’s hand affectionately. ‘Now,’ she said, turning to Daniel, ‘are you going to be the perfect gentleman and help an old lady up the stairs?’

‘Mum, I’ll walk you up.’ Alex was already on his feet, but was being waved down by Katherine, who wanted the young things to enjoy getting to know one another.

‘I’m just sorry that Leo couldn’t be here, but he’ll be back home first thing in the morning.’ She looked at Heather warmly. ‘There’s an awful lot for him to return to.’

Heather smiled wanly. She could feel a thin veil of perspiration break out, but this was not the right time for revelations, not when Katherine looked all in and Daniel was yawning and coming over to wrap his thin arms around her for a hug. Furthermore, she thought, why should she be the one to break it to Katherine that the hot item had turned into a damp squib? Hadn’t she been put through the wringer enough?

She would stay for a quick cup of coffee with Alex and then she would retreat and leave it to Leo to fill his mother in. After all, she thought bitterly, when it came to letting women down his experience was second to none.

‘So tell me everything,’ were Alex’s first words as they sat on the sofa in the sitting room, he with a glass of port—because, he had told her, travelling the world had deprived him of that one small pleasure—and she with a cup of coffee which she cradled in her hands.

‘Shall we start with age?’ Heather sipped her coffee. ‘Height? Vital statistics? Occupation?’

‘All very interesting, of course, but I’m thinking more along the lines of you and Leo. What’s going on there? Mum’s over the moon. She thinks he’s a changed person and it’s all down to you. Actually, she’s all but bought the hat.’

Heather groaned and sat back. ‘I don’t want to talk about Leo.’

‘Yes, you do.’

‘Why,’ she asked, half-exasperated, half-amused at his persistence, ‘are you and your brother just so damned stubborn?’

‘You mean I have something in common with Leo?’

‘You don’t have an awful lot of time for him, do you?’

Alex wagged an admonishing finger. ‘Uh-uh. No way. You’re not getting off that lightly.’

Heather compressed her lips and stared down at the sensible black pumps which in all events had been an unnecessary gesture. Leo hadn’t even bothered to turn up. He’d been that horrified at her admission that avoidance had been his chosen way of dealing with the prospect of seeing her again.

‘How long are you here for?’

‘Another attempt to change the subject. Things must be bad. ‘Course, if you really don’t want to talk about it then I’m happy to chat about your occupation, but it’s always better to get things off your chest. Or else you risk ending up like Leo.’

It wasn’t so much his tenacity as the sympathy in Alex’s voice that did it. The tears that had been threatening like black clouds on a summer day came in a sobbing rush that frightened her with its intensity. She hunched over on the sofa and buried her head in her arms. When she felt Alex’s arms enfold her, she turned to him blindly, thankful for his silent, accepting compassion. For the past few days she had kept her feelings locked up inside her, and now it was a relief to have someone else share the burden.

When she felt the handkerchief thrust into her hand she grabbed it gratefully, and after a while the racking sobs subsided to the odd hiccup until she was able to draw back and make an attempt to gather herself.

Unburdening herself of her feelings about Leo was like shedding herself of a great weight, and once she had started the need to tell everything was an unstoppable force, helped by the fact that Alex was an excellent listener. There were very few interruptions. As her words trailed off into silence, he told her that she needed a brandy, and she nodded in agreement even though she had never touched brandy in her life before.

He was still holding her hand. Every so often, he patted it sympathetically. His voice was a low murmur, which was very soothing, although she wasn’t really taking in a word he was saying. She was back to thinking about Leo, thinking about the love she had confessed to, wondering what he was doing right now. Would work keep him away all night or would he be filling the space she had left behind with another woman? Just the thought of that made her clutch at the handkerchief again.

Neither of them noticed the figure in the doorway. The overhead light hadn’t been switched on, and the light from the small lamp on the table by the mantelpiece barely managed to reach the far corners of the room.

The sound of Leo’s voice, ice-cold and forbidding, shocked them into springing apart. Heather felt the blood rush to her face and she stared helplessly at him. His face was in shadow, but there was no mistaking the angry tension of his stance.

‘Am I interrupting something?’

Alex was the first to react, leaping to his feet with a grin on his face, but Leo stayed where he was, making no effort to move forward and take the hand which was outstretched towards his in a gesture of welcome.

‘I was about to leave,’ Heather muttered, lagging behind with the response. She was finding it hard to drag her eyes away from Leo’s face. She was mesmerised by the long lines of his muscular body, the same body which had covered hers in love-making. She looked at his mouth, the same mouth which could do things to her that no man ever had, and overwhelmed as she was she still couldn’t stop her body from its purely physical response at all that remembered passion. Her nipples tightened into sensitive buds and she felt hot moisture dampen her underwear.

‘We were just getting to know one another.’ Alex’s hand had dropped and he was eyeing his brother cautiously—as well he might, Heather thought, because Leo looked fit to kill. She felt a slow, burning anger begin to curl in the pit of her stomach.

Leo might have done his best to avoid her, might be enraged that she was still hanging around when he thought that the coast was clear, but that didn’t give him the right to vent his anger on his brother.

‘What exactly were the pair of you up to?’ Leo asked in the kind of soft, sibilant voice that sent a tremor of apprehension racing up and down her spine.

‘Up to?’ Alex countered the preposterous question with a laugh, but Heather could hear the nervousness behind the laughter and her heart went out to him because when it came to everything there was no contest between the brothers: physically, verbally…Leo would always be the winner and right now, for reasons she couldn’t understand, he looked very much as though there could be no better thing than taking on his brother.

‘Leo! What on earth are you talking about?’ Heather made to move towards him, but fell back at the glance he shot in her direction.

What am I talking about? The innocence of the question was like a red rag to a bull. ‘I’m talking about finding the two of you huddled on the sofa like love birds,’ he bit out, taking a step towards her, although what he really, really wanted to do was cover the distance between himself and Alex and show him who was the boss. Respect for his mother kept him from fulfilling the desire, but if he kept his fists clenched to his sides this was still a war that had been a long time coming.