Charade of the Heart Read online

  ‘No, of course not.’

  ‘Because I won’t have it. I can do without being known as someone who has a tramp for a secretary.’

  ‘I am not a tramp!’ Two bright patches of colour had appeared on her cheeks, and she realised that she was perspiring all over.

  ‘I needn’t tell you that rumours of your affair with Ryan could very quickly spread into rumours of an affair with me.’

  The black eyes glinted cynically at her. She wondered briefly whether that wasn’t bothering him as much as Laura’s love-affair with David. After all, it was easy for a boss to lose credibility with his staff if it was rumoured that he was sleeping with his secretary.

  And that would be quite an easy assumption to make. He was attractive, she supposed, if you liked that sort of ruthless appeal, and he was aware enough of his own sexuality to realise that women were drawn to him.

  ‘I can assure you that you don’t need to fear anything on that score,’ she informed him stiffly.

  ‘No?’ He raised one eyebrow, and this time there was a distinct gleam of lazy amusement in his eyes.

  It altered the hard contours of his face totally, and she caught a swift, disturbing glimpse of the sort of self-assured charm that could knock any defenceless woman for six.

  But she was far from defenceless. Oh, no. She had always been a controlled person, and since Craig she had erected a good many barriers to protect her from ever again being taken in by a few charming smiles and some well-rehearsed chat-up lines. That glimpse of raw sex appeal, she firmly told herself, stood no chance.

  ‘No,’ she told him.

  ‘You mean you’re not attracted to me?’ There was slightly more amusement in his eyes now, and it made Beth angry. There had been nothing amusing in his accusations a minute ago and, if he thought that he could dictate her responses to him by turning on a bit of masculine charm, then he was in for an unpleasant surprise.

  ‘That’s right.’ She stood up and smoothed her skirt, then she bent to retrieve the shorthand pad and her pencil. And not once did she even glance in his direction. ‘Is that all, now?’

  ‘That’s all.’ He moved across to the window and stood staring broodingly out. The fine drizzle that had started earlier in the morning had not let up. She could see the persistent wetness clinging to the window-pane, as though the top of the building were stuck in the middle of a cloud.

  She turned to go and halted at the door when she heard the deep timbre of his voice behind her.

  ‘Just so long as we understand each other,’ he said silkily. He had turned to face her, and Beth’s mouth suddenly went dry. No wonder this man had such a high opinion of himself. He was clever, that much was apparent in his eyes, and he knew it. He was powerful, and he knew it. And he was sexy, and that he was certainly aware of.

  But he wasn’t perfect. If he were he would be able to see the stubborn hostility in her face.

  ‘I think we do, Mr Adrino.’

  ‘Marcos. I told you when you first got this job that everyone in the company was on a first-name basis.’

  ‘So you did,’ Beth murmured, unable to resist a smile as she thought that they had done it. They had really managed to pull the wool over Marcos Adrino’s sharp eyes. They had fooled him. He didn’t have a clue that the woman standing in front of him had never been interviewed by him for any job.

  ‘Care to tell me what that smile on your face is all about?’ he drawled. ‘I can’t imagine that the past hour has exactly filled you with a warm glow.’

  You’d be surprised, Beth wanted to retort, still highly amused at the thought that she had fooled the infallible Marcos Adrino.

  Her smile widened. ‘Just looking forward to my day’s work,’ she said blandly. ‘Job satisfaction is a wonderful thing.’

  ‘Isn’t it? And by the way,’ he added, as she opened the door, ‘what have you done to your hair?’

  ‘Oh, I had it cut,’ Beth said cautiously. Had her triumph been short-lived? ‘I fancied a change,’ she mumbled vaguely when he didn’t say anything.

  ‘You’ve succeeded,’ he said, sticking his hands into his pockets. ‘From where I’m standing, you’ve succeeded very well indeed.’

  Beth stepped out of the office and shut the door firmly behind her. His words were ominously perspicacious. She really would have to remember that she couldn’t give in to the temptation to react in the way she customarily would have done. That she and Laura, identical twins though they were, were very different as two individuals.

  She almost fell into her chair with the relief of no longer being in Marcos’s presence.

  It hadn’t just been his relentless accusations, she thought suddenly, as she logged into the computer and ran her eyes briefly over the huge store of files, realising that she would have to work a lot of overtime to really understand Laura’s job fully.

  There was something alarming about him. Maybe it was just that she was not accustomed to being confronted by a man who acted as though the whole world was designed to fall in with his orders.

  Her little job in Cambridge had certainly not prepared her for this particular breed of man. Her own boss had been quite mild-mannered. A sympathetic middle-aged man with three children, all girls, who wore a look of perpetual harassment on his face. Whenever anyone joked to him about it, he would laugh and reply, what do you expect, living with four women?

  Beth couldn’t imagine that Marcos Adrino had ever been mild-mannered. He had probably been born arrogant. She tried to imagine him as a baby and found that she couldn’t. The only image she could conjure up was that dark, devilish, ruthlessly handsome face.

  She stuck a couple of horns and a tail on her mental image, chuckled and then settled into the laborious task of catching up with the outstanding workload of typing.

  When Marcos next strode out of his office, he glanced across at her with surprise.

  ‘Dieting?’ he drawled, slinging on his coat and pausing to stand over her.

  Immediately Beth felt her pulses begin to race.

  ‘Pardon?’

  ‘It’s nearly two o’clock,’ he told her, and she returned his curious stare with surprise.

  ‘Is it?’ she asked, consulting her watch and feeling unnervingly gauche and idiotic. ‘Oh, yes, so it is. I must have become a bit involved.’

  ‘So I see. Keep it up and you won’t feel the sting of my disapproval again.’

  ‘Yes, sir,’ she replied tartly, wanting to hit him, and his lips curved into a small smile.

  ‘I won’t be back until tomorrow afternoon. I have two meetings tomorrow at Harlow and Ridgewood’s. Last-minute arrangements; they probably won’t be in your diary. Finish compiling the research into Santo Domingo, will you? I want to get all that off the ground by the end of the month. Latest. I take it you won’t object to doing a bit of overtime to get it all cleared?’

  ‘Of course not.’ Had he really expected any other answer? The question had been phrased in such a way as to negate any other reply. Not that she had any objection to overtime anyway. For the salary that Laura was being paid, working long hours was more or less expected.

  Not, she thought, that her sister had allowed that line of reasoning to enter her mind from what Marcos had told her. She would have to confront Laura with that.

  He strode towards the door, and Beth subconsciously thought how graceful his movements were for someone of his height and powerful build. Stealthy, she corrected herself. Like a jungle animal. He probably slept with one eye open as well.

  He paused just as he was about to leave and threw over his shoulder, ‘By the way, if Angela calls, make some excuse. She’s being a bit of a nuisance.’

  With that he clicked the door behind him and Beth frowned. Angela? Who on earth was Angela? She was obviously meant to know who Angela was and was expected to dispatch her efficiently out of his life. Was this all in the line of duty? Ha!

  She spent the remainder of the afternoon ploughing through the stack of dictated tapes and messages in
her tray, occasionally breaking off to take phone calls and to rummage through the computer files, gradually building up a picture of Marcos’s extensive business involvements.

  There was much more to it than hotels, although they were by far the bulk of his business. Hotels spread across the world, from New York to Tokyo.

  In addition he had investments in several electronics firms and software companies.

  Had he built all this from nothing? Even if he had not, the man was clearly a dynamo in the concrete jungle.

  When she next looked at her watch, it had gone seven o’clock and she hastily packed up. This, she reminded herself, was only a temporary excursion into the Adrino corporation. Filling in time until Laura could take over. It wouldn’t do to start becoming too involved.

  Now she understood why her sister had been so keen to keep her feet in the company.

  She made her way back on the Underground to Laura’s flat, which was in Swiss Cottage. It was a rented apartment. Very comfortable and large enough really for two people, but lacking in character. Nothing like her little place, but then you never had the incentive to do anything with property that did not belong to you, she supposed.

  Laura, anyway, had never been terribly houseproud. While she could spend hours browsing in an antique shop, Laura had always been more than happy to flit from boutique to boutique, spending all her money on clothes.

  And it showed, Beth thought wryly, as she prepared herself a light meal of tuna and French bread. Her sister’s wardrobe was about five times the size of hers and the clothes were way out of her price range.

  As soon as she had eaten, she telephoned her sister, waiting in frustration as she heard the flat ringing tone. Surely Laura wouldn’t be out living it up, for heaven’s sake? She hardly knew a soul in Cambridge. Beth herself only had a handful of good friends there. She had told them that she was going to be away for a while and that her sister would be looking after her flat, but none of them knew any of the details and she didn’t care for the thought of Laura spilling them unwittingly.

  Her train of thought was broken by Laura’s voice at the end of the line.

  ‘Beth,’ she heard the voice distantly, and felt a sudden pang of longing to be back in her flat in Cambridge and far away from this dreadful affair. ‘How was your first day at work?’ There was a brief pause, then she continued anxiously, ‘You made out all right, didn’t you?’

  ‘Oh, none of your colleagues recognised anything amiss,’ Beth began. ‘They commented on the change of hairstyle but that was about all, and I’ve been doing a lot of work getting myself up to the mark on your work.’

  ‘You will remember that it’s not permanent, won’t you?’

  Beth smiled. ‘Of course I will. Believe me, working for Marcos Adrino, invigorating though the work might be, isn’t my cup of tea.’

  She heard her sister gasp down the line and her smile broadened. She could imagine Laura’s expression of horror that she had been plunged into the deep end so suddenly.

  ‘But he’s not back in England until the end of the week,’ she wailed.

  ‘Well, then, he’s obviously more unpredictable than you thought. He was there when I got in, and I don’t have to tell you that I almost had a heart attack when I heard his voice from behind me.’ She shivered involuntarily.

  ‘What did you do? What did you say? You didn’t give the game away, did you?’ Laura’s voice had risen to a panicky squeak.

  ‘No, and don’t get so excited, for heaven’s sake. Not in your condition.’ She sat down on the sofa, curling her legs underneath her, her eyes absent-mindedly wandering over the television which she had switched on earlier, having turned down the volume to make the phone call. It was a cheap thriller of some sort, and the entire cast seemed to be wearing expressions of either bewilderment or guilt.

  ‘Well? Tell me all the details. Hang on, I’ll just settle down here. Your cushions are so delicate. You need some great big ones on the floor.’

  ‘Thanks, but try not to give in to the urge to redecorate my flat. You’ve done quite enough at the moment, what with redecorating my life.’

  ‘So spill the beans. Tell all.’

  ‘Laura,’ Beth said bluntly, ‘what the hell has been going on in that office with you?’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘I mean the man laid into me the minute I was in his office. He said that you had been shirking your job, coming late.’

  ‘Oh.’ There was a sheepish silence at the other end, then Laura burst out defensively, ‘It only happened a couple of times.’

  ‘A couple?’

  ‘Well, four or five.’

  Beth sighed. ‘Well, he found out about the four or five times and he was livid.’

  ‘Oh, dear. I wonder who told him? I had morning sickness. Honestly, Beth, I just couldn’t drag myself into work on time, and I could hardly tell anyone, could I? I’m sorry. Although it’s kind of a relief that you were there to handle him. I’ve heard that he can be positively scary when he’s crossed. I would have just burst into tears, I know it. I’ve been very emotional since I got pregnant.’

  ‘Thanks,’ Beth commented wryly. ‘But I can tell you I wished I’d never been talked into this insanity.’

  ‘You’re not going to back out, are you?’ There was a hint of tears already in Laura’s voice.

  ‘No, but I want some honesty from you. This David character. Was he the only one? I mean…’

  ‘Beth! How could you even imply…!’

  ‘You can be a bit of a flirt,’ she stated flatly, ‘so don’t play the innocent with me, my girl. Don’t forget, I know you better than anyone else in the world. You’ve spent a lifetime mastering the art of getting yourself into scrapes with men, so don’t act as though you’re shocked by the question.’

  ‘I haven’t been sleeping around, if you must know,’ Laura said with asperity. ‘The minute I met David, that was it.’

  ‘Good.’ At least that was one less problem to worry about, Beth thought. She couldn’t have coped with an entourage of men beating a path to the top floor whenever the coast was clear.

  ‘What do you think of Marcos?’ She heard her sister’s voice and it was brimming over with curiosity.

  ‘I’ve met more pleasant people in my time,’ Beth answered firmly. ‘He’s every bit as arrogant as I expected him to be.’

  ‘But attractive, wouldn’t you say?’

  ‘I suppose so,’ Beth confessed grudgingly, remembering the feeling of hostility he had evoked in her, ‘though not my type. He’s too self-confident for his own good and he acts as though when he says jump he really expects the rest of the world to obey.’

  ‘Oh, they do.’

  I can believe it, Beth thought. She changed the topic. She didn’t like talking about Marcos Adrino. It made her think of him, and thinking of him made her skin begin to prickle.

  They chatted about what the weather was doing, Beth reminded Laura not to forget to water her plants and to collect a dress from the dry cleaners down the road, and it was only as she got into bed that she suddenly remembered Angela.

  She had completely forgotten to ask Laura who the hell Angela was, and how she was supposed to handle her.

  Then she decided that she didn’t care anyway. As far as she could see, it wasn’t part of her job description, or rather her sister’s, to deal with Marcos’s personal life, and if he didn’t like it, then he could lump it.

  She put it to the back of her mind and there it remained the following morning as she busied herself with her twin tasks of briefing herself on the company, including the project in Santo Domingo, and typing up the reports that had been left on her desk after she had gone home.

  Marcos had obviously put in an appearance at the company, and it must have been late because he had been nowhere to be seen when she had left. He must run on overdrive, she thought.

  She was relaxing over her fifteen-minute lunch break comprised of a cup of black coffee and an apple, when the doo
r to her office was flung open and Marcos swept in, bringing with him that feeling of restless energy that she had seen the day before.

  ‘I’ll have one of those,’ he said without stopping at her desk, ‘in my office.’

  He strode into his office, slamming the door behind him and Beth winced. A very good afternoon to you too, she mouthed, gulping down her last bite of apple and moving over to the percolator.

  He was poring over some paperwork at his desk and he barely glanced up when she entered.

  ‘Your coffee?’ she reminded him of her presence.

  He stared at the cup, then he stared at her. ‘What the hell is that?’

  ‘It’s a cup of coffee,’ she answered. What else could it be? A jug of orange juice?

  ‘I don’t take my coffee black. I take it white, with one teaspoon of sugar.’ He leant back in his chair and scrutinised her. ‘Surely you should know that by now?’ he asked softly. ‘You’ve really changed, and more than just your hairstyle. Am I missing something here? Am I being a bit dense?’

  Beth retrieved the cup from the desk, steadying her nerves. She had automatically poured him the same coffee as she had herself. Stupid. Little oversights like this made this dangerous game as glaringly obvious as if she had committed some larger, more noticeable mistake.

  ‘I’m sorry. My mind must have been elsewhere.’

  ‘Either that, or you left it behind in Cambridge.’

  ‘What?’ Beth asked sharply, smiling to hide the sudden tension she felt.

  ‘You went to stay with your sister, didn’t you? Jane told me.’

  ‘My sister?’ Her mind was working furiously. Who, she wondered, was Jane? The office spy from the sounds of it, and office spies could be extremely dangerous.

  ‘Something wrong with your hearing today, Laura?’ he asked, his eyes narrowing suspiciously.

  Beth smiled again. ‘Of course I went to stay with my sister. In Cambridge.’ She gave a little laugh. ‘I would have gone somewhere more glamorous, but my funds were a little low at the time.’ She would have to stop being so jumpy every time she thought that he was edging towards the truth. After all, there was no way that he could even suspect that Laura was miles away in her little flat, while she was here pretending to be someone she was not.