She flushed scarlet, so angry that her hand shot out to slap him round the face, but Gil was too quick for her. He caught her wrist, pulling her arm down and at the same time jerking her forward until their bodies touched. An electric shock went through her and for a moment she couldn't breathe.
'Oh, no, you don't!' he ground out. 'No woman hits me!'
Her breathing started again, but it was painfully fast; she couldn't bear being so close to him. 'Why did you insult me, then?' she whispered huskily. 'Do you think you can say what you like to me?'
He frowned, staring down at her. 'I lost my temper...'
'You're always losing your temper!'
'Only around you,' he said, oddly, and she looked up into his eyes, startled by something in his voice. Why was he looking at her like that? Her ears pounded with aroused blood; she was so hot, her temperature must have shot sky-high. Something important, something world-shattering, seemed to be happening to her; time stood still, the world stopped spinning.
And then there was the click of the office door opening, and a voice said, 'Hello? Oh ... sorry... am I interrupting anything?' And there was an all too familiar giggle.
Amy! thought Caro dazedly, still staring up into Gil's face. That is Amy. What is she doing here? For an instant, she even thought she was imagining things. How on earth could it be Amy? But just for that second of time she didn't care who it was, she didn't look round, she didn't want anything interrupting her concentration on Gil.
He had ignored the new arrival too; or perhaps he simply hadn't heard a thing. He looked as dazed as Caro felt, his eyes riveted on her flushed face, as if he was trying to read her thoughts. She stared back at him, trying in her turn to read his expression. She wished she knew what was happening, what he was thinking. Was she going crazy, imagining all of this? Was it nothing but wish-fulfilment? Maybe in a minute she would wake up and find she had been dreaming?
Then she heard that giggle again. It wasn't her imagination; that was Amy and she was wide awake. Gil heard it too, this time—he let go of Caro, his head jerking round; Caro reluctantly turned, too.
/> It was Amy, all right, tiny, pretty, blue-eyed Amy at her most feminine in a lace-ruffled pink dress which showed off that pocket Venus figure and the blonde hair.
'Hello,' Caro said flatly. What on earth was Amy doing here? She was the last person in the world Caro wanted to see right now. She certainly didn't want Amy meeting Gil, but from the bright-eyed interest Amy was showing in him, that might well be why Amy had come. Caro had been fool enough to confide the fact that she-was sharing an office with Gil Martell, and Amy had been dying to meet him ever since she saw that photograph of him in the newspaper. I should have known she would show up to see him sooner or later, Caro thought bleakly. I've known Amy for years; when will 1 learn?
'I came to see if we could have lunch,' Amy said, her eyes on Gil and smiling her sweetest smile. 'I rang you at home and your father said you were here, so I popped along to find you, and that lovely man on the main door showed me up here.' She gave Gil an appealing look. 'I hope you don't mind me visiting your private office?'
'Of course not,' he said, smiling back indulgently, the way men always did when Amy fluttered her lashes at them.
Caro mumbled an introduction, reluctantly, and Amy held out her hand.
'Caro and I were at school together.'
'What was she like at school?' Gil asked her, sliding Caro a teasing look. 'As bossy as she is now?'
'Bossier,' Amy said, still holding his hand and looking up at him, and Caro wondered why she had ever liked her. How had they stayed friends for so long?
'I had to come into town to buy a new dress for a party I'm going to,' Amy confided to him. 'And I l nought... why not meet up with Caro? I thought she might want to buy a new dress too, although she always has such wardrobes full of wonderful clothes, lucky girl! I wish my father owned lots of department stores, but I'm an ordinary working girl, I have to buy my own clothes.'
Ordinary working girl! thought Caro. So that's her new image, is it? She gritted her teeth and stoically watched Gil watching Amy.
'I have too much work to do,' she told Amy. 'Sorry, but I can't spare the time for shopping, or lunch.'
'Oh, poor you,' said Amy without so much as looking in her direction. 'That's all she cares about, you know, work,' she told Gil, who grinned.
'I've noticed. A positive workaholic. Do you think she gets it from her father?'
'Do you mind not talking about me?' Caro crossly asked them, but neither took any notice.
'Oh, he's so sweet, darling Fred! But he is obsessed with work, and Caro's always been the same.'
'Don't tell me she's actually going to this party, too?'
Amy nodded. 'Of course she is! Everyone's going to be there, having great fun. It's the place to be tonight.'
'Then why aren't I invited?' His dark eyes teased and Amy gave one of her breathless little laughs.
'Will you come, if I invite you?'
'Nothing would keep me away! I can't wait to see what Caro is like when she's having fun.' His tone was drily incredulous; he was staring at Caro, his brows curved in mockery, and she wanted to hit him.