‘And promptly found himself a new job,’ Genista commented dryly. ‘Hardly a good omen.’
‘Oh, you know Greg—or you should do by now. An easy life and a lavish expenses account and he was happy. I suspect when he heard the firm was being taken over he saw the writing on the wall. Brian Hargreaves is an excellent man in his field, but as an administrator he’s inclined to be a little lax.’
Genista knew that this was true. Computerstore had a good reputation and did very well, but it could have done even better with tighter financial control, and certain members of the staff had very light duties in proportion to their generous salaries.
‘You’ve no need to worry,’ Bob assured her, as though he had read her mind. ‘You’re a very able worker, Gen, and there’s no way I could manage without you.’
His phone rang, and Genista moved away as she heard him say sharply. ‘Elaine!’
It was unusual for his wife to ring him at work, and she wondered again if something was wrong at home. Although they worked closely together and she had met Elaine, Bob was inclined to keep his private life private, and Genista had no wish to pry. She busied herself with her own work, which had piled up during her holiday, and when a sudden disturbance by the main door broke her concentration she glanced at her watch, surprised to see that the morning was almost gone.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Bob leave his desk, and rather than appear curious she bent her head over her own work again, even though she had guessed that the disturbance had been caused by the arrival of their new boss. No doubt Simon, their commissionaire, had shown him up from their reception area. Genista could hear the familiar sound of Bob’s voice; his introduction as he paused by the desk used by the technical sales team. Her desk was next in line, and it was very tempting to glance up while the newcomer was talking and snatch a quick look at him, but Genista fought the temptation, and was glad that she had done when he and Bob moved away from the technicians after a very brief exchange of conversation, and walked towards her.
‘Now let me introduce you to Gen, my assistant,’ she heard Bob saying. ‘She’s a real asset to the firm. A hard worker…’
‘Yes, I’ve already heard a great deal about Jennifer.’
Genista felt as though someone had just poured ice-cold water down her spine. She would have recognised that voice anywhere!
‘Jennifer?’ she heard Bob say in a puzzled voice. ‘Oh, I see! No, the Gen is short for Genista, not Jennifer. I suppose really it’s a crime to shorten such a beautiful name.’
‘Genista!’ There was no discernible inflection in the cool male voice as he repeated her name. Genista had been staring at the faint stripe of darker grey running across his pale grey tie while he spoke, but now she lifted her eyes from the tie to the cool grey eyes which almost matched it, her stomach lurching betrayingly, despite the fact that she had recognised his voice the moment she had heard him speak.
‘Genista!’
He held out his hand and she had no option but to place her own in it. In an immaculately tailored pale grey mohair suit and a fine silk shirt he looked very different from the man in black shirt and jeans who had pursued her down that narrow alleyway and kissed her so fiercely against her will, but he and this cool imposing stranger whom Bob was introducing as Luke Ferguson, head of the L.F.N. Corporation, were undeniably one and the same person.
She met his eyes as bravely as she could, and saw instantly that his shock had been as great as hers. Greg had known who he was, she remembered bitterly, and had no doubt enjoyed watching her put her career at risk. Well, he could fire her if he liked. In fact it would probably be better if he did, because there was no way she could continue to work for Computerstore if it meant that by doing so it would bring her into contact with him!
‘So you’re Bob’s assistant?’
There was an odd inflection to the way he said the words; a look in his eyes that sent a frisson of alarm feathering down Genista’s spine. Her chin lifted automatically, her eyes defying him to say what he was thinking.
‘Do I get the impression you two already know one another?’ Bob commented, obviously puzzled. ‘But, Gen, this morning…’
‘I didn’t realise that Mr Ferguson was to be our new boss,’ she interrupted coolly before Bob could complete his sentence. Faint colour burned up under her skin as she remembered the way she had deliberately set out to humiliate Luke the previous evening. Most of the other guests at the party had been on the staff of Computerstore. It wouldn’t be long before the news of their new boss’s identity got round; no doubt her colleagues were already taking bets on how long it would be before she got the sack. She would hand in her notice, she decided wildly. The moment Luke had gone she would tell Bob. The phone rang, cutting across her thoughts, and she reached for the receiver automatically, only to find Luke’s lean fingers already clamped round it. He lifted it to his ear, his expression sardonic as he passed it over to her.
‘For you. One of the hazards of employing a beautiful woman, I suppose—her phone never stops ringing!’
Genista could have told him that she never had private calls at the office, but instead she took the receiver from it him. The call was from the sales manager of the garage from whom she had ordered her new car. She had been promised delivery several weeks perviously, and the car had not materialised. Now it had, and he wanted to know when she wanted to pick it up. She bit her lip as she hung up. Luke had turned aside to talk to Jilly, who, despite her engaged state, was sparkling prettily up at him, and under cover of their conversation managed to attract Bob’s attention.
‘Are you doing anything at lunchtime?’ she asked him quietly, but obviously not quietly enough. Luke Ferguson must have ears like a bat, she thought resentfully, as he turned smoothly from Jilly back to Bob. ‘I’m sorry, Bob, I forgot to mention it, but I’ve arranged for you to have lunch with my personal assistant. He wants to talk over several plans we have for streamlining some of your systems, and I’m afraid we can’t put it off because he’s due to fly north tomorrow to Aberdeen for talks with one of the oil companies. There could be a good contract in it for Computerstore, so I don’t want to delay these talks. Sorry if it means putting off something important.’
He wasn?
?t sorry at all, Genista thought angrily. She was quite sure he had just concocted that lunch just to obstruct her.
‘Oh, not at all,’ Bob said easily. ‘It wasn’t something that can’t wait, was it, Gen? What did you want?’ he teased with a grin. ‘Surely not my advice on a new dress?’
Genista shook her head, wondering a little at the anger which suddenly seemed to burn in the dark grey eyes watching her so closely. ‘It’ll keep. I’ll tell you about it later.’ She had wanted Bob to go with her when she went to pick up her car. She was a little nervous about the thought of driving it for the first time in the lunchtime traffic, but she could ring the garage when he and Luke had gone and put them off until tomorrow.
‘I don’t suppose I would do in substitution?’ Luke drawled, thoroughly disconcerting her. ‘Since I’ve deprived you of Bob’s company, offering my own instead seems a pretty fair recompense.’
‘Do you think so?’ Genista knew that Bob was frowning over her uncharacteristic behaviour. Jilly’s mouth had fallen wide open, and Genista suspected that once they were alone the other girl would deliver another lecture, but right now she did not care.
‘You’ll have to forgive me, Mr Ferguson,’ she added with a sweet smile, and the rather euphoric feeling that she was about to burn her boats with a vengenance, ‘but I’m afraid there’s simply no way you could stand in for Bob.’
It was a good exit line and she made the most of it, picking up her bag and walking swiftly towards the door before anyone else could add anything. It was lunchtime anyway, and she needed to be somewhere on her own to give herself time to recover from the shock of discovering that the new owner of the firm she worked for was none other than the man she had so grossly humiliated the previous evening. Damn Greg! He might have warned her! No doubt he had found it highly amusing. She should have remembered that he enjoyed playing tricks like that, and right from the start there had been something about Luke which had set him apart from the normal run of Greg’s friends, despite his casual attire. Greg could be as vindictive as the most shallow-minded women on occasions, and it was Genista’s misfortune that she had made her contempt of him too plain, too often.