No Need For Love

Her lip curled in disgust. ‘Let go of me,’ she demanded.

One dark brow rose in a questioning curve. ‘Of course,’ he said, his hand falling away from hers.

She clasped the wrist he’d held and rubbed at the skin as if she were trying to eradicate his fingerprints. ‘Just who do you think you are?’ she said in a low, furious voice.

MacLean stared at her, perplexed, and then, suddenly, he began to smile.

‘Miss Lewis—Hannah—I think you’ve misunderstood me.’

‘No. I haven’t misunderstood you at all, Mr MacLean. But you’ve certainly misunderstood me.’ Her eyes met his. ‘I am not the least bit interested in your—your proposition.’

His smile broadened. ‘Let me explain before you——’

‘You’re wasting your time.’

‘I don’t think so, Hannah.’

‘Believe me, you are.’ She stared at him a second longer, then turned and marched stiffly to the door. ‘If that’s all, sir,’ she said, flinging the word like an insult over her shoulder, ‘I’ll go back to my office and finish my work on the——’

‘Hannah, dammit, wait a minute!’

‘—the Gibbs case.’ Her hand closed on the doorknob and she yanked it open. ‘I’ll print out my notes and leave them on your desk before—’

He came up behind her with an amazing swiftness for a man of his size, and the knob was wrenched from her hand as he slammed the door shut.

‘Open that door,’ she said. Her voice shook a little, not so much with fear as with righteous indignation. How dared he? How dared he? ‘Dammit, Mr MacLean——’

‘You’re being a fool, Miss Lewis.’

The humour had fled his voice. His tone was sharp, his grasp unyielding as he caught her by the shoulders and hauled her around to face him. Hannah met his cold gaze with one of her own.

‘Stop now,’ she said quietly, ‘and I’ll forget this ever happened.’

MacLean’s eyes narrowed. ‘Didn’t anyone ever teach you that it can be dangerous to make threats?’

‘Or do you prefer that I report you?’

‘Listen here, young woman——’

‘No, sir, you listen here. I am not interested in—in fun and games, do you understand? I’m not interested in destroying your career, either, but if you persist in...’ Her words faded to silence. He was smiling again. Smiling, damn him! ‘I assure you,’ she said through her teeth, ‘there’s nothing funny about this.’

‘Fantastic,’ he said softly. ‘Five months of “Yes, Mr MacLean, no, Mr Maclean,” five months and never another word out of you, and now here you are, threatening to bring the roof down on my head.’

‘And I will, if you don’t——’

‘I am not trying to seduce you.’

Colour stole into Hannah’s cheeks. ‘I can hardly disagree with that,’ she said. ‘Seduction is supposed to be subtle, but this approach of yours is——’

‘Thank you for the clarification, Miss Lewis. I’m sure it will prove useful in my relationships with women. Now, if you’d just pay attention to me for a minute——’

‘I’ll count to three,’ she said, folding her arms over her breasts, ‘and then——’

‘Shall I put it more bluntly?’

‘You’ve been blunt enough. If I were you——’

‘If you were me,’ he said, his tone frigid, ‘you would know that you are the last woman on earth I’d ask to be my mistress, Miss Lewis.’

‘One. Two. Th...’ Suddenly, his words penetrated. She stared at him. ‘What?’

His smile vanished; his brows drew together in a harsh frown. ‘You’re my assistant, for God’s sake. You’re not a woman.’

The breath puffed from Hannah’s lungs. ‘Oh,’ she said, her voice small and puzzled.

MacLean nodded. ‘All I’m interested in,’ he said, stroking his finger across his chin, ‘is a bit of harmless deception.’

She shook her head in confusion. ‘I—I don’t understand.’

He turned and strode across the room. When he reached the windows, he rocked back on his heels, stuffed his hands into his trouser pockets, and paid rapt attention to the view.

‘I’ve a party to attend this evening.’

‘Yes, I know. The reception for the principals in the Hungarian deal. I noted it on your calendar myself.’

‘An hour of ridiculous chit-chat,’ he said coldly, ‘fuelled by pricey champagne that flows like water and enough canapés to feed an army, then a five-course meal catered by Julia Childs’ latest guru, all interspersed with a dozen turns around the dance-floor...’

Hannah couldn’t help but smile. ‘How terrible for you.’

MacLean swung towards her. His scowl had deepened so that there were two harsh curves rimming his mouth.

‘I’m sure my distress stirs your heart, Miss Lewis. But I assure you, it will be a horrible few hours. Oh, I can survive the food and the drinks, I suppose, and the dance band. But an evening of Magda Karolyi...’ A shudder went through him. ‘God, that’s more than any man should have to bear!’

‘Magda Karolyi?’ It sounded like an exotic dessert, but from the look on her boss’s face it was bound to be more than that.

‘The sister of the head of the Hungarian group. We met in Budapest last year, when I was there putting this deal together.’

‘Mr MacLean.’ Hannah cleared her throat. ‘This is all very interesting, sir. But——’

‘She’s a very attractive woman.’ A slow wave of colour beat up under the tanned skin that lay across his high cheekbones. ‘And she’s—she’s taken an interest in me.’

Hannah stared at him. ‘She’s taken an...?’

‘Dammit,’ he snarled, ‘must I spell it out? The bloody woman did everything but crawl into my bed in Budapest. Avoiding her was like walking a tightrope; I only got away with it because I kept claiming I was too busy with meetings and planning sessions to—to accommodate.’ His eyes flashed to Hannah’s, the coldness in them daring her to so much as smile, but she was far too amazed that he should reveal all this about himself to reaet with anything but rapt attention. ‘She’s the apple of her brother’s eye.’

‘The brother who’s in charge of——’

‘Yes.’ MacLean blew out his breath. ‘If she’s not happy, he’s not happy.’

‘Are you saying that—that he’ll expect you to—to...?’

‘No, of course not! He won’t “expect” me to do anything—except be nice to her. Pleasant. Gracious.’ His mouth twisted. ‘All the things one human being generally tries to be to another.’

Hannah held out her hands. ‘Well, then, I don’t see...’

‘The trouble is that Magda is sure to misinterpret everything and anything—including the fact that I’m going to show up at this damned party without a woman on my arm.’

‘Then why will you? I mean, why didn’t you ask someone to go with you?’

‘Dammit, Miss Lewis, what do you take me for? I’m not a fool!’ He turned and paced from one end of the pale Berber carpet to the other, spine ramrod-straight, shoulders taut. ‘I had a date for this evening. But—but the lady and I have decided not to see each other for a while.’ Hannah said nothing, and the colour in his face darkened. ‘Our relationship had become—complicated.’

‘Like the Magda Karolyi thing?’ she said, staring at him.

‘No! Not at all.’ His glare was formidable. ‘Why is it women who start out claiming they are not interested in permanency so often are?’

‘Ah.’ Hannah nodded. ‘I see.’

‘The point is,’ he said coldly, ‘it’s left me in an awkward position. I have no choice but to attend this evening’s function, but I’ve no wish to do it alone.’ There was a dramatic pause. ‘And that’s where you come in.’

She stared at him. You arrogant bastard, she thought...

‘You want me to go to this party with you.’

‘Exactly.’

‘And pretend that we’re—involved.’

‘Yes.’

Hannah gave a sharp little laugh. ‘I’m sorry, Mr MacLean, but it’s out of the question.’

‘Why?’ The black scowl darkened his face again. ‘Why is it out of the question?’

‘What do you mean, why? It—it just is.’

‘That’s not a reason, that’s a statement.’

‘I should think it’s obvious,’ she said. ‘Deception like that——’

‘I’d be the one doing the lying, not you. All you’d have to do is smile and say hello, drink some champagne and eat some of that damned stuff they call food at these overblown bashes. What’s so difficult about that?’

Hannah stared at him. How could he ask her such a question? And why should she want to make a fool of some woman she’d never even met? He made it sound as if he’d been an innocent in all this, but that didn’t mean anything.

‘What’s the problem, Miss Lewis? Don’t you believe me? I tell you, the woman’s trouble with a short fuse.’

And she was interested in Grant MacLean. That Hannah could believe. He was a good-looking man, she had to give him that. If you weren’t working for him, enduring his demands and his drive for perfection, he was probably a rather interesting male—if you liked the type.

‘Well?’ His voice was sharp. ‘What do you say?’

She looked up. She had already said it, but it was clear that he had no intention of listening to any answer but the one he wanted. He was watching her through narrowed eyes, arms folded across his chest, mouth set in a taut, narrow line. It was a sight she’d seen before, during meetings with important clients and their sometimes intractable opponents. The authoritative tone, the determined posture, even the cool, never-wavering set of those glacial grey eyes, all worked together to achieve his goal.

But Hannah wasn’t about to be intimidated. She had absolutely no intention of being part of his little game. If he was really having a problem with Magda Karolyi, it was up to him to get out of it on his own.

‘The party’s at the Mark Hopkins. Have you ever been there?’

Hannah shook her head. ‘No, no, I haven’t.’

‘It’s a handsome place, Hannah. You’ll like it.’

‘Oh, I’m sure I will. I mean, I’m sure I would, if—’

‘I’ll send you home by taxi, when the evening ends.’

‘Mr MacLean, there’s really no point in——’

‘If it’s the idea of pretending we’re intimate that bothers you——’

‘It isn’t that.’ Their eyes met, and colour flooded her cheeks. ‘Well, it is, but that’s only part of——’

‘Magda needn’t think we’re lovers, I suppose. It will be enough that I’m with another woman.’

But she wasn’t a woman. Hadn’t he just said so? She was his assistant.

‘I really don’t see the problem here. Unless—have you another engagement tonight?’

She looked at him blankly. ‘No,’ she admitted. ‘I just don’t think...I mean, this isn’t—it’s not part of my job, after all.’

‘Would it make you feel better if it were? Then think of it that way—as part of your job description. When you signed on for this position, I made it clear that this wasn’t a job for someone with a nine-to-five mentality. You said you understood. In fact, you gave me your assurance that you would give me your very best at all times. Do you remember?’

Hannah flushed. ‘Of course. But I never meant—I never thought you meant——’

‘Haven’t you ever attended a social event as part of your job, Miss Lewis?’

‘Yes, once or twice. But those times were different. They were receptions given by the firm for——’

‘This is the same thing.’

‘It isn’t,’ she said firmly. ‘Longworth, Hart, Holtz and MacLean aren’t hosting this. And you’ve no right to—’

‘A matter of semantics,’ he said, shrugging away her comment as if he were brushing off a fly. ‘The evening is simply part of your workload. Have I mentioned that you’ll be on overtime?’

‘That’s very generous of you, sir. But—’

His brows drew together. ‘Look, Miss Lewis, I can’t spend the next hour debating this. Can you work late tonight or can’t you?’

Hannah stared at him. ‘Work late tonight? Well, yes, if you——’

‘Good girl.’ He reached past her and opened the door to the outer office. ‘Be ready to leave in fifteen minutes.’ His hand brushed lightly across her hair, then touched her cheek and, for reasons that made no sense whatsoever, a feeling of lightness engulfed her. ‘And do something with yourself, please,’ he said, not unkindly. ‘Let your hair loose, put on some lipstick—we’re going to a party, not a conference. All right?’

No, Hannah thought, it was not all right at all, but how could she tell him that, when she was already standing on the other side of the closed door?

Fifteen minutes later, he came striding out of his office. ‘Ready?’ he asked crisply.

Hannah turned. ‘Yes,’ she said, giving the single word as much irritation, annoyance and downright anger as she could manage. But MacLean didn’t seem to notice. Instead, he marched towards her, clasped her by the shoulders, and drew her under the uncompromising glare of an overhead fluorescent lamp.

‘The lipstick’s fine. A little pale, but it complements your colouring.’ He frowned. ‘I don’t suppose you have another blouse on hand?’

Her chin lifted. ‘No,’ she said tightly, ‘I do not.’

‘Well, this will have to do.’ He reached out and closed his fingers around the top button. Hannah caught his wrist, but he brushed her hand aside. ‘You look like a schoolgirl, Miss Lewis. Surely you don’t go out on dates wearing blouses closed to the collar, do you?’

‘This is not a date,’ she said stiffly. ‘And I really resent...’

Two buttons slipped out of their holes; she felt the swift, impersonal brush of his fingertips against her skin, and that strange, out-of-body feeling went through her again.

‘That’s better.’ His gaze moved over her slowly. ‘A little informal, perhaps, but not unacceptable.’ A frown creased his forehead. ‘I thought I told you to wear your hair loose.’

Her hand went to her hair, drawn back, as usual, neatly on her neck and held in a tortoiseshell clip.

‘I always wear it this way,’ she said defensively.

‘Yes. I’ve noticed.’ The clip came loose, and her hair tumbled free. ‘But you’re going to wear it differently tonight,’ he said, as he thrust his hands into her hair and drew it over her shoulders. When he was done, he held her at arm’s length and inspected her with slow, almost insulting care. Hannah’s chin tilted.

‘Will I do?’ she asked in a frigid voice.

His gaze moved to her face, drifted across her features, and then that little angular smile tilted across his mouth.

‘Yes,’ he said, and he sounded almost as surprised as she felt when the softly spoken word sent a little rush of pleasure tingling through her blood.

Well, she thought quickly, why wouldn’t it? A compliment from Mean MacLean was as rare as a blizzard in July. Naturally she’d react to such a thing.

They taxied to the hotel in silence, he sitting against the window on the right side, frowning over scrawled notes in a pocket diary, Hannah on the left. She was grateful he wasn’t attempting any small talk; she was still angry at how she’d been bulldozed into playing a part in a charade to dupe an innocent woman. She glanced at her watch. It was just past six-thirty. If these things went as they usually did, she’d be safely back in a cab again by ten o’clock. Nine-thirty, if she was lucky.

She looked at Grant MacLean again. He’d been a trial lawyer with a reputation for never losing before he’d taken up his esoteric speciality in international law, and it was easy to see how he’d got that reputation. Once he’d determined what he wanted of her, he’d never backed down. He’d been willing to do whatever it took: he’d bullied, threatened, cajoled, dangled rewards—anything to get his own way. Her gaze moved over him, taking in the slightly jutting nose, the firm jaw, the powerful body contained within the carefully tailored navy wool suit. He was a formidable opponent; it would be frightening to go head to head with him over something that really mattered.

He was, as well, an awfully attractive man. Sally and the other girls always said so, but Hannah had never paid his looks very much attention. For one thing, she’d learned her lesson years ago about good looks: a handsome face and hard body were just superficial trappings. It was the inner man that counted.

For another—she shifted in her seat. For another, she’d never really looked at him as a man, until tonight. He’d always just been her boss, Mr MacLean, until five minutes ago, when he’d handed her into the cab.

‘Thank you, sir,’ she’d said stiffly, and he’d given her a look cold enough to freeze water.

‘Be sure and address me that way in front of Miss Karolyi,’ he’d said, his voice heavy with sarcasm. ‘That’s bound to convince her you’re my date.’

Grant. She was to call him Grant. Grant...

‘We’re here.’

Hannah looked up. The cab had pulled to the kerb; a uniformed doorman was holding the door open and smiling politely at her. She stepped on to the pavement and gazed at the hotel. A laughing couple were strolling up the steps to the main door, she in a gauzy cocktail gown, he in a dark suit, their arms wrapped tightly around each other’s waists, and suddenly she wondered why in heaven’s name she’d let herself be talked into this. She wasn’t dressed right, for one thing, and she could never carry it off. She didn’t want to carry it off. Grant MacLean was her employer, he controlled her nine-to-five life, and hadn’t he said he didn’t see her as a woman?

‘Are you all right?’ His voice was low, his breath warm against her ear. Hannah looked at him as his fingers closed lightly around her arm.

‘This isn’t going to work,’ she said in a quick rush, and he gave her that smile he’d given her a lifetime ago, when he’d first asked her to take part in this game.

‘Of course it will, sweetheart,’ he whispered, and then, before she could draw back, he cupped her face in his hand, bent to her, and put his mouth to hers. The kiss was brief, the press of his lips firm and cool, but when he drew back her heart was racing as if it wanted to escape her breast.

‘Don’t,’ she spat. ‘You have no right——’

She caught her breath as he kissed her again, his mouth closing over hers with gentle persuasion. She felt the light brush of his tongue against her lips, then its warm thrust. A tremor went through her, not of revulsion or even anger but of something far more primitive and powerful.

Grant drew back. A smile of satisfaction curved across his lips.

‘Yes,’ he said softly, ‘that’s much better.’

‘You—you——’

‘Magda’s not a fool, Hannah. Telling her we’re intimate won’t serve any purpose if you don’t look the part.’

‘Intimate?’ she stuttered. ‘Are you crazy? We agreed I’d be your date; you said——’

‘But you look convincing now, with that little flush on your cheeks and that swollen softness to your mouth.’ He took her hand and tucked it into the crook of his arm. ‘Now smile, sweetheart, and look at me as if you’ve just come from my bed.’

‘You can’t do this to me,’ she said as he hurried her along beside him—but he was already propelling her up the steps and through the door. By the time they reached the ballroom they’d been stopped by half a dozen people.

Hannah ached to turn her back and walk away from him, to leave him on his own and let him fend off all the predatory women in Hungary with his own devices. But how could she storm away from the president of the Chamber of Commerce in the middle of an introduction, or the director of the San Francisco Symphony? How could she ignore the head of the largest bank on the West Coast, or the mayor? And then there was the one person no one could ignore, a woman in a crimson gown that looked as if it had been spray-painted on, all creamy shoulders, breathtaking décolletage, and masses of golden curls piled high atop her head. She came bearing down on them with a little shriek of delight, and Hannah knew immediately who she was.

‘Magda Karolyi?’ she whispered.

Grant tensed beside her. ‘Yes,’ he muttered, ‘dear God, that’s her!’

‘Grant,’ the blonde said, launching herself at him, ‘oh, darling, how vunderful to zee you again!’

He twisted his head at the last second, so that her kiss fell on his cheek and not his mouth. Then he stepped back, put his arm around Hannah’s waist, and drew her forward.

‘Magda,’ he said pleasantly, ‘it’s wonderful to see you, too.’

The blonde’s eyes, a dark chocolate that contrasted vividly with her pale hair, gave Hannah a quick, assessing glance.

‘This is Hannah Lewis, Magda. Hannah, you remember all the things I told you about Magda, don’t you?’ He looked down at her, his eyes filled with warning.

Hannah gave him a long, steady look. You put your life in my hands, Grant MacLean, she thought, and now you’re going to get what you deserve. She smiled, took a deep breath, and turned to Magda Karolyi.

‘Miss Karolyi,’ she said, ‘Mr MacLean asked me here tonight, and now I feel I owe you an apology.’

Her voice faded away, but not because of the sudden pressure of Grant’s hand on her waist. It was Magda who was responsible. Hannah stiffened as the chocolate-coloured eyes swept across her. She could feel the other woman taking inventory, dismissing the plain silk blouse, the grey blazer and skirt as beneath contempt, moving upwards to Hannah’s face, noting the simple fall of shining hair, the minimum of make-up, even the lack of jewellery.

A little smile settled on to the pouting crimson lips, and Magda Karolyi turned her back to Hannah in complete, unsubtle dismissal.

‘You naughty boy, Grant,’ she purred, ‘vy haven’t you telephoned? I’ve been in San Francisco two whole days, vaiting for your call.’

Hannah touched the tip of her tongue to her lips. ‘That’s what I was about to explain, Miss Karolyi.’ The blonde turned towards her with a look of sharp irritation. Hannah smiled and moved more closely into the curve of Grant’s arm. ‘It’s my fault Grant hasn’t called you.’ She gave him a sidelong glance from under her lashes. He was watching her closely, his face expressionless. ‘I’m his assistant, you see, and we’ve been so terribly involved. At the office, I mean. We never seem to find the time...’ She tilted her head so that her hair swung softly back from her face. ‘Isn’t that right, Grant?’

There was a moment of silence, and then Grant cleared his throat.

‘Hannah’s my paralegal, Magda.’

‘Yes,’ the blonde said coldly, ‘I’m sure she is.’

‘She does all the groundwork for the cases I handle. I—uh—I don’t know what I’d do without her.’

Magda Karolyi gave him a sharp look. ‘Is that so?’

Hannah leaned her head against Grant’s shoulder.

‘Well, I certainly try my best,’ she said sweetly.

Magda’s mouth narrowed into a tight line. ‘I bet you do,’ she said coldly. ‘It’s been good zeeing you again,

Grant. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I see some other guests I must greet.’ Her eyes shifted to Hannah. ‘Miss Lewis.’

‘Miss Karolyi.’ Hannah smiled cheerfully. ‘It’s been—delightful.’

The woman’s nostrils flared. ‘Indeed,’ she said, then turned on her heel and stalked away. There was another silence, and then Grant began to laugh softly.

‘Well,’ he said, ‘that takes care of Magda.’

Hannah drew away from him. ‘I hope so.’

‘Damn, but I wish I could have recorded that. I thought you were going to feed me to the sharks and instead you put a knife right into Magda’s—’ he grinned ‘—heart.’

‘Her padded heart,’ she said coldly. ‘And I certainly didn’t do it for you.’

His smile faded as he looked at her. ‘No,’ he said, ‘I didn’t think you had.’

Hannah took a deep breath. ‘Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can try this little trick again. I’ll endure the rest of the evening because I said that I would, but when it ends, so does your right ever again to drag me into a scheme like this.’

A slow smile curved across Grant MacLean’s mouth. ‘Threats again, Miss Lewis?’

‘Statement, Mr MacLean. I don’t like being intimidated.’

‘And I,’ he said quietly, ‘don’t like being spoken to as if I were a schoolyard bully.’

Hannah looked at him. He was still smiling; she knew that to anyone in the crowded room it would look as if he was saying something pleasant, even intimate. But his eyes had gone dark and cool; there was a glint in their depths that sent a faint chill up her spine and she wished there were some way to back off without it looking as if she was backing down.