‘But they do. Please don’t—’
‘God, this is farcical!’ he exploded. ‘Look, I’ll tell your aunt if it will make it easier for you.’
‘Don’t you dare!’ she told him fiercely. ‘If you do that I—I’ll refuse to go anywhere with you,’ she threatened heatedly.
‘I thought you said you would go out with me willingly,’ he reminded her. ‘That you respected my—authority.’
‘Not to that extent,’ Lauri snapped adamantly.
‘All right,’ he sighed his defeat. ‘Saturday.’ He placed a brief kiss on her stubborn mouth. ‘And don’t keep me waiting, or I’m likely to come looking for you.’
Lauri hurried back to the office, claiming she had been shopping and had forgotten the time. As she had never been late before Carly accepted her explanation without question, much to Lauri’s relief. What on earth would Carly have said if she had known the real reason for her lateness!
CHAPTER FOUR
‘COME on, Steve,’ Lauri said complainingly. ‘It’s your turn to wash up. You may be the only male in the household, but that doesn’t mean you get out of all the work around here.’
He got up with a grimace, taking the tea-towel out of her hand. ‘I’m sure it’s Jane’s turn.’
‘It may be,’ she agreed. ‘But she’s getting ready for her date with Robin.’
‘Well, I’m going out too,’ he moaned.
‘Only to Geoff’s,’ she scorned.
Steve frowned. ‘You don’t think Jane is really serious about Robin, do you?’
Lauri shrugged. ‘I don’t know. You know she never discusses anything like that with us.’
‘I hope she isn’t,’ he grimaced. ‘I can’t stand the man. His sense of humour is non-existent.’
‘It only seems that way because yours is overdeveloped,’ said a sufferer of his pranks for years. ‘He can’t help it if he doesn’t appreciate our warped sense of humour. The poor man feels overwhelmed by us every time he comes here, I’m sure he does. Anyway, if he makes Jane happy, that’s all we should worry about.’ She put the crockery away as he dried it.
‘But does he make her happy? I haven’t seen much evidence of it.’
‘She wouldn’t see him if she didn’t like him.’ Lauri evaded giving him a direct answer, not at all sure herself of Jane’s feelings for Robin. She had been seeing him for some time now, and Robin seemed serious about her, but Jane was as non-committal as ever.
‘I suppose not. Although I really hope he isn’t “Mr Right”. She could do a lot better for herself than him. Talking of someone better, Mr Blair got in touch with me this afternoon.’
Lauri’s face coloured fiery red and then paled, and she made a pretence of tidying a cupboard so that Steve shouldn’t see her reaction to just the mention of their employer’s name. ‘Did he?’ she asked casually.
‘Mm. Now there’s someone I wouldn’t mind Jane getting serious about. Do you think she likes him?’ he queried interestedly.
Lauri shrugged. How would Steve feel if he knew that it wasn’t Jane who was being dated by Alexander Blair, but herself? ‘She’s never mentioned him as anything other than her boss.’
‘But that doesn’t mean she isn’t interested in him. Now he’s what I call a man, worthy of my big sister. He’s a really great bloke.’
‘Why?’ she asked dryly.
Steve grinned. ‘Because he’s decided to forget about the damage to his car.’
Alex hadn’t wasted much time in letting Steve know that! Now she was really committed to seeing him. Maybe that was why he had done it, perhaps he had thought she might change her mind. ‘So your partiality is purely mercenary,’ she taunted.
‘Not completely, although that does come into it. The damage to his car must be costing a fortune.’
It was. She couldn’t tell Steve just how much, if she did she would have to reveal how she came to know, but the amount still staggered her. That Alex was willing to write that amount off just proved how very rich he was. If she had needed any confirmation!
Jane came down from her bedroom and Lauri shot her uncle a warning glance. Luckily he saw that look before making any revealing remarks.