Fire Beneath the Ice

I had copies of the co stings and production dates too, Doug, and I didn't pick it up either, although the way the facts were buried it isn't surprising. You trusted Mike Wilson to give you the correct data--hell, / trusted him! It looks like we've all been had," he finished grimly, his mouth hard.

"I heard you got rid of him." The other man's voice was almost faint with relief. Lydia guessed he had not expected his chairman to be so reasonable.

"A little too late, by the look of it." Wolf slanted a sideways look at

Lydia's face as they reached the car, and as their eyes met she flushed slightly, remembering her earlier protestations that he was being too hard on

Mike. If this important deal was lost through Mike Wilson's dishonesty, even a prison sentence didn't seem too severe.

She still found it hard to take in that Anna's husband was little more than a crook.

"Why did he do it?" Doug Webb asked.

"I mean, he had everything going for him--' " Filthy lucre. “Wolf’s voice was grim.

"He got greedy."

They drove straight to the office and spent several hours there, and by seven o'clock in the evening Lydia was again reflecting that Wolf Strade was an extraordinary man. In spite of practically no sleep in _the last forty-eight hours, his mind was still razor-sharp, the intimidating intelligence and hard practical business acumen unaffected.

The air had become electric as soon as he had walked through the door of

Strade Engineering Scotland, his employees almost falling over themselves to be helpful, although Lydia noticed that one or two of the younger females seemed to have more than work on their minds if their furtive, hungry glances were anything to go by. Several frankly envious and one or two downright hostile pairs of eyes had met hers through the course of the afternoon, although Wolf seemed totally unaware of the admiration coming his way, his whole concentration fixed on the job in hand. He had sent Doug, and the remnants of his staff who were still around, home just before seven with his customary authority, sweeping aside their offers to st

ay still later and ordering a management meeting for eight o'clock the next morning.

At half-past seven he threw a sheaf of papers he had been reading on to his desk and stretched noisily.

"Right, that's it for tonight.

Food, I think? "

"Is there a chance I could wash and change first?" Lydia asked carefully.

"Yes, there's a chance you could wash and change first," he mimicked mockingly, his deep voice taking on her wary, careful tone.

"You don't have to tread on eggshells, Lydia, despite the circumstances.

I'm a big boy now. I can take adversity in my stride. "

"You couldn't this morning." She had answered before she had time to think.

"You nearly bit my head off."

"Ah, well, this morning..." He settled back in his chair, the big powerful body stretching slightly and causing her heartbeat to race a little faster.

"This morning I was still trying to come to terms with the fact that I should have noticed this mess arriving weeks ago."

"But you couldn't have, no one could--' she began in surprise, only to come to an abmpt halt as he interrupted her, his voice wry.

"I didn't get where I am today without doing just that," he said slowly, his eyes wandering lazily over her flushed face and the silky tendrils of hair that had worked loose to curl about her face during the course of the afternoon.

"But unfortunately I have had other things on my mind the last few weeks. A distraction," he added enigmatically.

"Oh, I see." Elda, no doubt, she thought testily as she wrenched her gaze from his and began to tidy her desk in a corner of the room.

Distraction was a novel way of putting it.

"I doubt it." She didn't look up as he spoke but continued to put the desk in order, switching off the lamp and pushing her chair into place as she stood up.