He caught her fiercely indrawn breath and knew he had gone too far, knew that his accusation was baseless and unfounded, but his own emotions were too raw for him to be able to draw back from it and admit that he was wrong, too raw for him to explain. Any minute now and Ryan would come striding into the corridor flashing that wolfish grin of his, throwing his weight around.
‘Haven’t you got to go?’ he asked Deborah tensely, adding sarcastically, ‘After all, we mustn’t keep your date waiting, must we… ?’
‘Problems?’ Ryan asked Deborah when she walked back into the office.
‘No,’ she denied.
‘Mmm… I just thought poor old Mark didn’t look too pleased.’
‘I’d forgotten that we’d arranged to go for a meal,’ Deborah lied.
‘Ah, I see… Well, then, since you’re missing out on a meal as well as his company, perhaps I’d better feed you as compensation.’
He knew damn well she was lying about the reason for Mark’s bad temper, Deborah was sure of it, and now she was trapped into having a meal with him, which was the last thing she wanted.
Why on earth had Mark behaved like that? Why hadn’t he listened to her… let her explain?
From longing to be with him to talk over her day and her feelings about the liquidation, she was now almost dreading going home.
Dreading going home to Mark? But that was impossible. Unthinkable!
CHAPTER NINE
‘ANOTHER drink?’
Deborah shook her head, starting to tense as Ryan leaned across the table and asked her, ‘What’s wrong? Not still worrying about the boyfriend having a sulk, are you
?’
‘Mark wasn’t sulking,’ Deborah denied quickly. ‘He isn’t that kind of person.’ But she suspected that her body language was betraying her as she moved uncomfortably in her seat and saw the knowing look in Ryan’s eyes.
‘You can’t afford to give this job anything less than one-hundred-and-twenty-per-cent commitment. Let Mark do his own worrying. You can’t solve his problems for him.’ He gave a brief dismissive shrug. ‘He made the wrong choice and now he’s paying for it… tough. OK, so no one likes being demoted, but he must have seen what was coming, and in his shoes…’
‘Demoted… ?’ Deborah stared at him.
‘Ah, he hasn’t told you yet…’ He gave another small shrug. ‘Look, let me get you that drink and we can——’
‘No… no, I really can’t stay.’
If what Ryan was saying was true, then no wonder Mark had seemed so on edge and touchy. But why hadn’t he said something to her… why hadn’t he shared his feelings with her the way she had always done with him? As Ryan had just said, Mark must have had some inkling of what was going to happen.
Now pride battled against anxiety as she fought down the temptation to ask Ryan exactly what was going to happen.
Mark would hate the thought of her discussing him with Ryan, she knew that, and yet surely he must have realised that Ryan was likely to say something to her. Hadn’t it occurred to him how hurtful it would be for her to hear something like that from someone else?
‘It bothers you, doesn’t it?’ Ryan asked softly now, causing her to focus unhappily on him and be betrayed into insisting otherwise.
‘No… I…’
‘Yes, it does,’ Ryan insisted. ‘After all, if he can keep something like that hidden from you, just think of the other things he might not have told you.’
As she gritted her teeth Deborah tried to remind herself that Ryan was being deliberately manipulative; that situations such as this were meat and drink to him; that he loved pitting people against one another, that he loved confrontation.
‘He only saw Peter this afternoon,’ she pointed out, trying to remain calm. ‘He hasn’t had much opportunity to tell me.’
Ryan laughed. ‘Nice try, but it won’t work. Think about it, Deborah. Either the man’s so much of a fool that he didn’t know what was coming, or he knew and chose not to tell you; either way… You’re a very intelligent woman, Deborah, and a very beautiful one. You need a man who can match you… help you… teach you… not a boy still crying for his mother.’
Deborah could hear his contempt for Mark in his voice and she could hear something else as well. Up until now she had always put Ryan’s sexual flirtations towards her down to a simple, meaningless flexing of his male muscles, an automatic showing off of his sexuality, and she had accordingly distanced herself from it and ignored it, treating it as a facet of her working life which was irritating rather than dangerous.