All Male

An attractive brunette in her late twenties, the latter took the file from her with what Kerry considered an unwonted chilliness in her manner.

‘Mr Hartford asked that you wait,’ she said. ‘He’ll be through shortly.’

Kerry took the indicated seat with reluctance. He had better, she thought, have a good reason for keeping her here! She was going to be on the margin for lunch as it was: Mrs Ralston always served promptly at one. Hopefully, Estelle would be feeling more inclined towards work this afternoon.

‘Shortly’ turned out to be a good twenty minutes. Kerry sat fuming, on the verge of walking out by the time the inner office door opened at last. The two men who came out looked like bankers—an unmistakable breed in her estimation. Lee was right behind them, the meaningful lift of that mobile left brow as he looked across at her sending a sudden ripple down her spine.

‘Sorry to have kept you so long,’ he said. ‘Come on through.’

She did so, weathering another somewhat frigid glance from his secretary. The kind of hostility that might be extended by the discarded towards the apparently newly favoured, Kerry conjectured, although she would have thought even Lee would draw the line at his own secretary, no matter how attractive.

The office was huge, with several easy chairs arranged in a casual grouping off to one side of the room, in addition to the usual accoutrements, and a stylish decor that managed to suggest affluence without being overdone. The window went almost wall to wall, affording a magnificent view out over the river.

‘Impressive,’ Kerry commented, refusing to be intimidated by it all. ‘You really do yourself proud.’

‘I get by.’ Closing the door. Lee indicated the conversation area. ‘How about a drink before we go to lunch?’

She looked at him sharply, taken aback by the casual statement. ‘I didn’t come for lunch.’

He returned her gaze equably. ‘But you’re here and it is lunchtime. I’d hardly send you back hungry.’

‘I’d have been back by now if you hadn’t kept me waiting,’ she pointed out. ‘If I’d realised—’

‘If you’d realised you’d have given me the same cold shoulder you’ve been giving me since we met,’ he interjected. ‘It’s time we came to a better understanding.’

Kerry regarded him in silence for a moment, registering the purposeful gleam in the grey eyes. The dark blue pinstripe he was wearing might give him an air of respectability, but underneath lay the soul of a born philanderer. As one who so far had shown resistance, she presented a challenge his pride wouldn’t allow him to forgo.

So why not take up Sarah’s proposal? came the sudden and reckless thought. Why not allow him to believe he was achieving a breakthrough? It would be immensely satisfying to lead him up the garden path, if only for a while.

‘Your mother will be expecting me back,’ she said with what she hoped was just the right amount of hesitation.

Lee shook his head. ‘I spoke to her after you left and told her we’d be lunching together. She said not to bother going back afterwards. She’d prefer a fresh start in the morning.’ He was moving as he spoke, crossing to a side table holding bottles and glasses. ‘About that drink?’

Any vacillation she might have felt was swept aside by the sheer gall of the man. No matter what it took, she was going to give him his comeuppance, Kerry vowed savagely. Just see if she didn’t!

‘I’ll have a mineral water, if you have it,’ she said, and was gratified to hear how level her voice sounded.

‘Ice and lemon?’

‘Please.’ Seated in one of the comfortable chairs, she watched him as he poured the drink, her eyes following the tapering line from shoulder to lean hip and assessing the muscular length of leg beneath the fine wool. Whatever his deficiencies in character, he was a perfect specimen physically, she was bound to admit. Fit as a lop, as her mother would say—although exactly what a lop was heaven only knew!

She lifted her gaze no further than the knot of his tie when she took the glass from him, trying to ignore the sudden tingle as his fingers brushed hers. ‘Thanks.’

He was drinking the same thing himself, she noted in some surprise as he took a seat himself and lifted the glass to his lips—at least, that’s what it looked like.

‘I never drink alcohol when I’m driving,’ he advised, correctly reading her thoughts.

‘That’s very responsible of you,’ she murmured.

‘A close friend was killed by a drunken driver only last year. I don’t intend adding to the statistics.’ There was no element of self-commendation in the statement. ‘I gather the biography isn’t coming along so well?’

‘Just a temporary thing,’ she answered, hoping she was right. ‘I imagine most writers have their off-days.’

‘You don’t see her simply running out of steam?’

‘Not unless she’s in the habit of starting things she doesn’t finish.’

‘Normally no, but, then, she’s never tackled anything like this before. How long are you supposed to be giving her?’

‘It’s an open contract. As long as it takes, I suppose.’ Kerry directed him a contemplative glance, temporarily sidetracked. ‘Do you object to the idea?’

The shrug was brief. ‘Why should I object? It’s her life, not mine.’

‘But I imagine you’ll come into it at some point.’

‘Only on the periphery. The theatre was always the most important thing in her life. Until she met Richard, that is. And, before you ask, I don’t have any hang-ups about that either. He was a good man.’

Kerry said levelly, ‘She sacrificed an awful lot for him.’

‘More than many women would be prepared to do, I agree.’

‘More than most men would be prepared to do, for certain!’ she flashed, forgetting the role she was supposed to be playing.

Lee gave her a quizzical look. ‘You seem to have a down on men in general.’

‘Not all,’ she denied. ‘By the law of averages, there have to be some good apples in the barrel.’

His lips slanted. ‘Cynicism at such a tender age!’

‘I’m twenty-four,’ she felt moved to retort. ‘Not that tender.’

‘There’s more to it than years. Judging from the way you’ve reacted to me up to now, I’d say you’d been let down rather badly in the not too distant past and tend to regard all men with a jaundiced eye.’

‘Only those with the background to merit it,’ she returned shortly.

He gave a mock sigh. ‘And there I was thinking we were starting to make some progress at last!’ He studied her for a moment, the smile still lingering about his lips. ‘You’re a very beautiful young woman, Kerry. Whoever it was who did let you down must have been mad. I’d say you could have just about any man you wanted.’

‘Including you?’ she asked with irony, and he laughed.

‘I wouldn’t say no.’

‘With your track record, I doubt if you ever did!’

‘My track record, as you put it, is a long way from what it’s made out to be. I’d be clapped out by now if I’d had even half the women I’m supposed to have had.’

If she really did intend to play this game through she had to get back on track herself, Kerry reflected. ‘You don’t exactly go in for long-term relationships, though, do you?’ she said, lightening her tone.

‘Depends what you mean by long-term. One lasted several months.’

‘She must have been something really special!’

‘Very,’ he agreed on a dry note.

‘But still no staying power.’

He shrugged briefly. ‘She started hearing wedding bells. I didn’t.’

There was every chance that it was Sarah he was referring to, Kerry thought. Trust him to try making out it was all in her mind! Fired afresh, she concentrated on maintaining the banter. ‘You intend staying a bachelor all your life?’

‘Only until I meet a woman I can’t live without.’

‘Does such a being exist, I wonder?’

‘I live in hope.’ He was obviously amused. ‘Whatever happens, I dare say I’ll get by.’

‘I’m sure of it,’ she retorted tartly, losing sight of the object again for a moment. ‘Money talks!’

She regretted the comment immediately, flushing a little as she met the grey glance. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘That was out of order.’

He regarded her for a moment, his expression difficult to decipher. ‘But not without some truth, all the same.’

There was a small silence, not—for Kerry at least—a comfortable one. When Lee spoke again it was on a dispassionate note. ‘Talking of money, you could probably be making a great deal more yourself the way you look.’

‘I’ve no interest in a career that relies on looks,’ Kerry responded. ‘I have a brain, too.’

‘I wouldn’t dispute it. But models aren’t necessarily brainless bimbos either. The one or two I’ve been acquainted with were certainly astute enough.’

Sarah among them, she reflected—for what good it had done her!

‘Obviously not enough to keep you interested,’ she said.

‘That’s true. Maybe they were too predictable.’ He glanced at the slim gold watch encircling his wrist ‘It’s time we made tracks.’

Kerry’s eyes were drawn to the well-shaped hand with its long, clever fingers. A good hand altogether—skin lightly tanned, nails smoothly trimmed. She felt a sudden fluttering deep down at the thought of those same hands touching her.

When he made love to a woman it would be with expertise, there was no doubt, but if what he had said a few moments ago was to be believed he had never experienced emotional commitment. Neither had she, if it came to that—regardless of what he thought—but they were far from being soulmates.

One thing was certain, she told herself determinedly, refusing to allow her physical responses to deter her from her aim, it was high time he discovered what failure meant!

CHAPTER THREE

THEY lunched at Claridge’s. Not, Kerry believed, with any intent on Lee’s part to impress her, but because it happened to be one of his normal lunchtime haunts. One of the perks that would no doubt be on offer if she carried this thing through, she supposed. Not that she considered it an incentive in any way.

Her host drew recognition from others in the restaurant, not least from one man seated at a nearby table who kept eyeing the pair of them throughout the meal.

‘Kenneth Loxley,’ Lee told her when she finally asked who the man was. ‘He writes a gossip column for one of the tabloids. You’ll probably figure in it tomorrow as my mystery woman.’

‘Then perhaps you’d better explain who I really am,’ she advised, trying not to sound too sharp about it.

‘If he believed it he’d still make something of it.’ Lee gave a brief shrug. ‘It was probably a mistake to bring you here. I’m so inured to it all it never occurred to me to consider your side of things.’

‘I suppose,’ she said, ‘that the women you’d normally bring here wouldn’t be averse to a little publicity.’

He smiled faintly. ‘You could say that. Would you like to leave?’

Kerry looked back at him with veiled green eyes, fighting the urge to say, yes, she would. ‘It’s a bit too late, isn’t it? In any case,’ she added with deliberation, ‘I’m not passing up the sweet trolley. It isn’t often I get to choose from an array like that!’

‘It isn’t often I get to lunch a healthy appetite,’ he rejoined. ‘It makes a refreshing change.’ He studied her speculatively. ‘Speaking of change, the aggression seems to have lessened—some of the time, at any rate.’

Patchy performance, Kerry warned herself. She would need to do better if she was to be convincing. If the truth were known, she was beginning to relish the game—one from which she intended to emerge carrying that dark head on a platter!

‘I’ve decided,’ she said smoothly, ‘to take your advice and form my own opinion.’

‘Well, good for you. The first woman I’ve met capable of taking advice!’

Light though it was, the taunt made her bristle inwardly but she controlled it, summoning a smile of her own. ‘Maybe you just don’t meet the right types.’

Lee laughed, drawing another conjecturing glance from the other table. ‘Maybe you’re right. So we start over from scratch, do we?’

‘If you like.’

The grey eyes took on new depths. ‘Yes, I do like—although I’ll miss our spats.’

‘What makes you think there won’t be any more?’ she asked blandly. ‘I might form the same opinion I had to start with.’

‘I’ll have to make sure you don’t’

The arrival of the dessert trolley was a timely interruption, from Kerry’s point of view at least. Playing this kind of game with a man of Lee Hartford’s ilk might be a dangerous pastime, but it certainly gave life a little spice, she acknowledged, plumping for the succulent black forest gateau. She hadn’t felt as alive in ages!

With no job to go back to, and animosity put on a back burner for now, she was in no particular hurry for the meal to be over. Nor, apparently, was Lee himself, although she had heard his secretary remind him of a four o’clock appointment when they were leaving.

It was gone two already, she noted, catching a glimpse of his watch as he drained the last of his Perrier. The time had gone faster than she would have credited. In many respects he had proved himself an entertaining and stimulating companion. Too bad he was such a louse otherwise, she thought a little wistfully, viewing the firm features.

He looked up suddenly, catching her at it. Kerry felt the warmth under her skin, and knew from the quizzical lift of his eyebrow that her colour had risen. ‘A cat may look at a king,’ she parried, forcing a flippant note.

‘Smart creatures, cats,’ he observed. ‘Would you like coffee?’

She shook her head. ‘No, thanks. You must be wanting to get back to the office.’

‘There’s nothing immediately pressing,’ he returned. ‘I’ll drive you home first.’

Green eyes revealed swift dissension. ‘That really isn’t necessary. I can take the tube.’

‘Why do that when I have the car round the corner? Battersea, isn’t it?’

‘How did you know?’ she asked in surprise.

‘I rang Helen Carrington at Profiles that first day and asked for details. One can’t be too careful when it comes to taking strangers into one’s home.’ Her expression brought a quirk to the corners of his mouth. ‘Not my only motivation, I have to admit.’

Kerry kept her tone steady. ‘What else did Helen tell you?’

‘That you were one of Profile’s most reliable people: intelligent, industrious and thoroughly trustworthy.’

‘I never realised I was such a paragon,’ she said drily. ‘Maybe I should ask for more money.’

‘Nothing ventured, nothing gained.’ Lee took the pen held out by the waiter, who had just arrived with the bill, signed without bothering to check it, exchanged a few friendly words with the man then got to his feet to come round and take Kerry’s wrap from the back of her chair, slipping it about her shoulders as she rose.

‘No arguments,’ he said firmly. ‘I’m driving you home.’

Playing up to his masculine assertion was all part and parcel of the plan, Kerry reminded herself, swallowing a tart response. It had to be better than the tube, anyway. She summoned a bland note. ‘You’re the boss!’

His laugh was low, his breath stirring her hair and his hands lingering where they touched. ‘Is that a fact?’

As he had said, his car was just around the corner. Only people with the luck of the devil could come up with a handy parking space in this area, thought Kerry, sliding into the soft leather passenger seat. They were out of time, too, she noted from the meter, but he didn’t even have a ticket.

‘I’m not always so fortunate,’ Lee acknowledged when she mentioned the matter. ‘I’ve been clamped on more than one occasion.’

‘Then why not use taxis?’ she queried.

The shrug was good-humoured. ‘I hate being driven.’

‘Better that, surely, than having to pay exorbitant sums to the clamping company—to say nothing of the waiting around?’

‘I’m sure you’re right.’

‘But you’ll still continue taking the risk.’ It was a statement this time, not a question, her tone expressing her opinion.

He gave her a sideways glance as he started the engine, his eyes taunting. ‘What’s life without a little risk?’

Safe, it was on the tip of her tongue to answer, except that it sounded so dull, so unimaginative. She was taking a risk herself in leading him on the way she planned, if it came to that. Who was to say how he might react to the kind of put-down she had in mind for him?

She was jumping the gun a little, she reflected at that point. One luncheon hardly established an ongoing interest. She stole a glance at his clean-edged profile, registering the sensuality in the fuller line of his lower lip and the strength of purpose in the jut of his jaw. Crisply styled, his hair was layered thickly into his nape, arousing in her a sudden urge to reach out and touch.

She was going to need constant reminders of the reason she was doing this, came the wry acknowledgement. His physical attraction was too obtrusive to be set wholly aside.

With the sun shining and the sky blue, Battersea looked more prepossessing than usual. Lee went straight to the right street without asking directions, suggesting that he’d probably looked it up on the map after discovering her address.

‘Thanks for the lunch, and for the ride,’ Kerry proffered as he drew up. ‘I expected neither.’

‘A small return for services rendered.’ There was a brief pause before he added lightly, ‘I wouldn’t say no to a coffee to round things off.’

Kerry hesitated, torn between two fires. Common courtesy made a flat refusal difficult, but she was reluctant to be alone with him right now.

‘Just coffee,’ he added on an ironic note, watching her face. ‘I never jump on a woman who doesn’t want to be jumped on.’

‘In that case,’ she heard herself saying without having come to a conscious decision, ‘by all means come up for coffee.’

Redecorated earlier in the year by Jane and herself in pastel colours, and with their own personal choice of fabrics at the windows and objets d’art around the place, the first-floor flat looked ten times better than when she had lived there with Sarah, but it still bore little comparison with what Lee was accustomed to.

The majority of the furniture came with the place. Apart from adding a scattering of colourful cushions and a throw-over cover to the sofa, there was no disguising the general mediocrity.

Whatever Lee might think of it, he gave no indication. He seemed to fill the small living room with his presence.

‘Have a seat while I make the coffee,’ Kerry invited, dropping her wrap on a chair along with her bag. ‘It will have to be instant, I’m afraid. We’re right out of ground.’

‘Instant’s fine,’ he said easily.

Instead of sitting down and waiting, he followed her to the tiny kitchen, lounging in the doorway while she put on the kettle and set out a tray.

She could see him on the periphery of her vision, his hands thrust into trouser pockets—pulling the material taut across his thighs in a way that tensed every nerve in her body.

Her hand caught against the rim of the jar as she spooned coffee, scattering some of the contents over the work surface and drawing an automatic exclamation of annoyance at her own clumsiness. It didn’t help to see Lee’s grin when she glanced round.

‘Don’t mind me,’ he said. ‘I’d have probably come out with something a whole lot stronger in similar circumstances.’

Kerry took care to keep her tone easy. ‘Except that you’re unlikely to find yourself in similar circumstances, of course.’

‘Oh, I’m not beyond making myself a cup of coffee. I even cook a meal on occasion.’

She looked at him in surprise. ‘When would you need to?’

‘Mrs Ralston has all day Sunday off. Since Mother came to stay I’ve sometimes cooked for us both. She’s far from being the domesticated type.’ The last without rancour. ‘Men make the best chefs, anyway.’

Kerry took that statement no more seriously than she was sure it was meant to be taken. ‘Of course they do!’

Lee quirked an eyebrow. ‘It makes a change to have you humouring me.’

‘Just so long as you don’t expect it all the time,’ she came back lightly.

‘I wouldn’t be so presumptuous.’ He paused, viewing her reflectively. ‘Have we said a final goodbye to the antagonism?’

Green eyes met grey, riveted by the sheer mesmeric quality of his gaze. Kerry felt her pulse quicken, her heart start thudding against her ribcage.

‘It depends on whether or not you arouse it again,’ she murmured.

‘I’ve still to work out just what it was that aroused it originally.’ He held up a hand as she made to speak. ‘Don’t give me that “what you’ve read and heard” story. You’re too intelligent to take gossip column reports on trust.’

‘Perhaps you’re giving me too much credit,’ she said.

‘Or perhaps it’s because I remind you of someone else?’ he suggested.

Kerry reached for the boiling kettle, concentrating on pouring the water without slopping it over the rim of the cups. ‘Like the man who supposedly let me down, for instance?’

‘It might explain your attitude.’

She could explain her attitude by bringing in a single name, but that would finish the game too soon, she told herself.

‘If I’ve reacted differently today it’s because you’ve been different, too,’ she prevaricated, leaving him to draw his own conclusions.

‘In what way?’

‘Less arrogant, for one thing.’

‘Arrogant?’ The intonation was humorous. ‘Is that how I come across?’

‘Normally, yes. You’re too used to dishing out the orders.’

‘If you’re referring to that taxi business I was simply being solicitous.’

‘For my own good, you mean?’

‘Something like that. You are going to take advantage of the arrangement, I hope?’

‘I’d be a fool not to.’ She softened her voice with deliberation to add, ‘And I’m sorry for being such a boor about it.’

‘Apology accepted.’ He moved to take the tray from her as she lifted it. ‘I’ll carry this through. You just bring yourself.’

As she followed him Kerry found herself assessing the breadth of his shoulders again, visualising the rippling muscularity. No woman with normal reflexes could fail to be stirred by his sheer physical attraction, she acknowledged, but that was as far as it went. What he lacked, along with so much more, was integrity—in his personal affairs, at any rate. Business-wise, he appeared to be above board. At least, nothing untoward had ever been publicised.

It would look a little too pointed if she moved her wrap and handbag from the nearby chair in order to avoid joining him on the sofa, she decided on reaching the sitting room, although she wasn’t entirely convinced by his earlier declaration.

‘You have a good memory,’ Lee commented as he took his cup of the black, sugarless liquid.

‘Easy when you like it the same way I do,’ she claimed without haste. ‘Mrs Ralston’s tastes better, of course. I shouldn’t imagine she’d give house room to anything but the genuine article.’

‘She might not. I certainly do. I’m all for the easy option.’

‘I doubt that.’

Head back against the cushion and feet comfortably crossed, he gave her a deceptively lazy look. ‘You don’t really know me.’

‘I don’t know you at all,’ she returned. ‘Only, as you keep telling me, what others say about you.’ She infused a tinge of regret into both voice and expression. ‘Perhaps it’s not all that fair to judge anyone on that basis alone, I admit.’

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