A few minutes later she entered her apartment to the sound of the telephone ringing. Her hands were full of shopping, so she placed the pillows and the groceries on the kitchen bench, and then lifted the receiver from the wall.
‘Where have you been? I have been ringing you since yesterday, and you were out last night.’ It was her father.
‘Even I have the occasional date, and I go to work, remember? And when I’m not working I visit my mother—your wife. I have tried to call you for weeks to get you to visit her, with no success. So now you know how it feels.’
‘Yes, yes, I know all that. But listen to me. This is important. Has Zac Delucca rung you?’
‘Why would he ring me? I barely know the man,’ she said, suddenly tense as she belatedly remembered Zac calling her last night and suggesting she speak to her father.
‘You know him well enough—you had lunch with him on Friday.’
‘That was a one-off and never to be repeated,’ she said adamantly.
‘Don’t be so hasty to dismiss him, Sally, darling, because I gave him your telephone number yesterday.’
‘You had no right,’ she shot back, but as the hateful man had already known her number, there was no point arguing the issue.
‘Never mind that now, and listen. The man is a ruthless bastard. His employees are all terrified of him—he is noted for paring the workforce to the bone whenever he takes over a company, or closing it down completely and selling the assets. So if you want me to keep my career, I need him on my side.’
‘Surely you can do that yourself? In every other aspect of your life you are a waste of space, but even I accept you are good at your job,’ Sally said dryly.
‘I have tried, but the man trusts no one except that sidekick of his, Costa, and Costa found out I’d overlooked a rule or two and told the boss. I had an awkward meeting with Delucca yesterday, and in the process I suggested he might like to check me out through you, so promise me if he calls you will be nice to him.’
Her father was worried about something. She recog
nised the blustering tone of his voice and remembered she had seen a hint of it the other day in the office, when Zac Delucca arrived.
Her dad had admitted to ‘overlooking’ a rule or two—probably caught with his pants down with his secretary again, she thought bitterly. Most businesses had strict rules about relationships in the workplace, and the majority of people had the sense to keep their personal lives out of the office, but her father had never made that distinction.
‘I know your opinion of me, but think of your mother. I’ve already told Delucca she is paralysed and in a very expensive nursing home, hoping for the sympathy vote. All I want you to do is back me up if he calls you—though time is running out.’ He sighed. ‘I have another meeting with him tomorrow morning.’
‘I’ll back you up if he calls,’ she said noncommittally.
She had no qualms about lying to her father, and she had no intention of telling him Delucca had already called, but suddenly she saw a way to make her beloved mother happy.
‘On one condition—you give me your solemn promise to visit Mum with me at the weekend. I’ll pick you up and book you into the hotel I use, and just for once you will stay the whole weekend.’
‘It’s a deal. I promise,’ he said, relief evident in his tone. ‘But try to remember you are a beautiful woman, and Delucca is a very eligible man. He took you out to lunch, so he must have fancied you. If you play your cards right you could do both of us a lot of good.’
‘You, maybe. As for me, I think you are a despicable excuse for a man. Heaven knows why Mum loves you, because I certainly don’t,’ Sally said, and hung up.
Automatically she unpacked her shopping and put the food in the fridge. She carried the pillows across to the bed, and, after stripping off the pillowcases, changed the old for new. Then, taking her keys, she left the apartment and pushed the old pillows down the waste chute, at the same time wishing she could push Zac so easily from her mind.
She was going to have to talk to him. She would do anything to make her mum happy, and if that included facing Zac again and backing up her dad simply to get him to visit his wife, she would do it.
Sally returned to her apartment and closed the door. Zac had said he would be here at eight. She glanced at her watch. It was already seven. She crossed to her wardrobe, and, kicking off her shoes, placed them in the cupboard. She took out a well-washed pink velour lounging suit—the comfortable outfit she usually wore when she got home in the evening—and slipped her bare feet into flat furry pink mules; she refused to dress any differently from any other evening. She headed for the bathroom. After a quick shower she bundled her day clothes into the wash basket and slipped on clean underwear and the pink suit. Then, squaring her shoulders, she zipped up the top.
She wasn’t out to impress, she told herself, and, returning to the living room, she sat down on the sofa, picking up the remote and switching on the television.
Normality was what she was striving for, but without much success. Her stomach churned with nerves, and she could not concentrate on the screen, but she did not have to for long as the intercom sounded.
She crossed to the door, hit the button and listened, then answered, ‘Yes.’
She waited by the door, and when the bell rang opened it.
Zac stood like a dark avenging angel, big and tall, his black hair plastered to his head by the rain, his broad shoulders fitting perfectly beneath a dark jacket that had not fared much better. Beneath it he wore a black cotton tee shirt and dark pleated pants.
‘May I come in?’ he asked with icy politeness, and the eyes that met hers were hard and cold.