Passion From The Past

‘Er—no—–’

‘Then it’s about time you were,’ he snapped.

‘Yes, sir—–’ Her fingers hit three wrong keys in succession as he stood glowering over her.

James Courtney scowled at her mistakes. ‘At this rate you won’t finish before the end of the week, let alone the end of the day!’

‘I—Oh dear!’ Laura groaned as she made yet another mistake. If only he wouldn’t stand over her like this, completely unnerving her.

‘Good God, girl,’ he exploded, his craggy face lined with anger, ‘you can’t even type!’

‘Of course I can type,’ she heard herself retorting. ‘You wouldn’t have employed me if I couldn’t. It’s just that—–’

‘Excuses, excuses,’ he dismissed tersely. ‘If you aren’t up to the work, Miss Jamieson, then perhaps I ought to employ someone who is.’

Normally she would have agreed with him and got on with her work. But it had been a hard, difficult week, and she was feeling tired and hungry, the toast and coffee she had gulped down for her breakfast seeming a very long time ago.

So James Courtney had chosen the wrong day to take his temper out on her, and the temper that went with her shade of hair, and was so rarely used by her, for once got the better of her. She looked up at him with sparkling green eyes. ‘I’m up to the work, Mr Courtney,’ she told him tautly. ‘My work,’ she added with emphasis. ‘It may have escaped your notice, but I happen to be working alone here.’

His eyes widened, obviously unaccustomed to his employees answering him back in this way. ‘Where’s Miss Lawson?’ he demanded tersely.

‘She’s off with the ‘flu,’ Laura blushed as she realised how she had just spoken to her employer. She couldn’t ever remember talking to anyone like that before. But then she couldn’t ever remember anyone being that rude to her before either. She looked down at her hands, slender, capable hands, the nails kept short for her work. ‘I did tell you this morning, Mr Courtney,’ she added huskily.

He scowled heavily, his dark brows low over his icy blue eyes. ‘Half the damned company is off with ‘flu. I suppose you’ll get it next,’ he snapped accusingly, before going into his office and closing the door firmly behind him.

Considering he had more or less told her she was incompetent she was surprised that the prospect of her being off work should bother him. What a bad-tempered old man he was!

Tears filled her eyes, and she buried her face in her hands as she wept. She had been trying so hard to please him, had thought she was succeeding, and with a few biting words he had shown her exactly what he thought of her efforts.

‘Is there anything wrong?’

She looked up with a start, to find herself looking straight at Gideon Maitland, the dark brown suit and cream shirt he wore seeming to make his tan appear even darker. She gulped as he came into the office, reaching frantically into her handbag for a tissue to blow her nose, wiping away the telltale tears at the same time.

‘ ‘Flu?’ he enquired softly, his voice as rich and deep as she remembered.

He was all just as she remembered him, every virile inch of him!

And once again she was making an idiot of herself. Why couldn’t she just act normally about him for once? ‘I—er—no.’ She took her compact out of her bag, viewing her reflection in the mirror with distaste. Heavens, no wonder he thought she had a cold, with her puffed eyes and red nose that was exactly what it looked like! She hastily closed the compact, knowing she couldn’t make the necessary repairs to her face in front of this man. ‘I think I must have had something in my eye,’ she invented.

Gideon Maitland’s mouth twisted, as if he knew very well that the ‘something’ had been tears. ‘Is James back from lunch yet?’

She nodded, glad he didn’t pursue the subject of her tears. ‘He came back several minutes ago,’ she confirmed.

‘I see.’ He pursed his lips. ‘And would he be the—er—reason you had something in your eye?’ Dark eyebrows rose over light grey eyes.

Colour flooded her cheeks. ‘I—er—Yes.’ The question came as too much of a surprise for her to prevaricate.

His handsome mouth twisted with humour. ‘His lunch obviously didn’t sweeten his temper.’

Laura licked her lips nervously. What was she supposed to say to a comment like that! ‘I wouldn’t know, Mr Maitland,’ she replied demurely.

He didn’t seem surprised that she knew his name; he leaned back easily against her desk, his arms folded across his chest. ‘That’s very loyal of you,’ he drawled. ‘Your lunch obviously agreed with you.’

‘I didn’t—–’ She bit her lip, her lashes fluttering up, only to lower quickly again as her green eyes clashed with clear grey ones.

‘Didn’t what?’ Gideon Maitland probed sharply.

‘Nothing,’ she shook her head. ‘I’ll tell Mr Courtney you’re here,’ and she moved to press the intercom.

Long tapered fingers came out to stop her. ‘Didn’t what?’ Gideon Maitland requested firmly.

Laura extracted her hand from his, her heart fluttering wildly in her chest from the contact. ‘I—I haven’t had time for lunch. You see—–’

He stood up. ‘Go and have some now,’ he ordered briskly.

‘There’s really no need—–’

‘There’s every need, Miss Jamieson,’ he told her coldly. ‘Lack of food is apt to lower your resistance to infection. The last thing James needs is to have no secretary at all.’

That put her firmly in her place—even an incompetent secretary was better than none at all! ‘I’ll go now,’ she said jerkily. ‘If you’ll just explain to Mr Courtney …’

He nodded curtly and moved impatiently to the door that connected her office to James Courtney’s. ‘I’ll do that,’ he told her abruptly.

She grabbed her handbag and almost ran out of the office, having once again found Gideon Maitland completely overwhelming.

Her hand trembled as she sat alone in the canteen drinking her coffee. There had been a coldness about him, a bitter twist to his beautiful mouth. And no wonder, he probably still missed his wife very much.

And Petra Wilde? Well, he was a man, she shrugged, and men had—appetites, especially if they had been married. Her cheeks coloured delicately as she realised her thoughts had taken her to Gideon Maitland’s bed. A shiver of delight ran down her spine as she imagined those strong, sensitive hands making love to her.

Heavens, she was acting like an infatuated adolescent, fantasising about the latest pop or film-star! But it was more than that, she knew it was. She felt so attracted to him, so aware of him, as if she had always been waiting for such a man. A pity he hadn’t always been waiting for a redheaded, green-eyed nineteen-year-old!

It was good that she could still laugh at herself, as no doubt Gideon Maitland was laughing at her. He was experienced enough with women to know what her reaction to him meant. If only she could stop this childish trembling every time he came near her, and the way she stuttered and stumbled over her words was so juvenile.

She didn’t even know if he was still in with James Courtney when she returned from eating her sandwich lunch, as the walls of the inner office were soundproofed. Her own office still contained the aroma of the cheroot he had been smoking, and the tangy smell was pleasant to the senses, his aftershave masculine and spicy.

Was there nothing she disliked about the man! Yes, of course there was, she told herself crossly, she just didn’t know him well enough to say what they were. His eyes were cold, for one thing, cold and assessing, and he had a cynical twist to his lips constantly, mockery or boredom seeming to be his two main expressions.

She shouldn’t be thinking about him now, she should be thinking of the work she still had to do before she could go home tonight. And goodness knows, there was enough of it!

She was pounding away on her typewriter when the communicating door opened and Gideon Maitland strolled out of the main office. Laura sighed heavily as she hit the wrong key. Her typing teacher would have a fit if she could see the mess she was making of her work today—first James Courtney unnerving her and now Gideon Maitland! She back-spaced and corrected her mistake, half listening to the two men’s conversation without really meaning to. But when Gideon Maitland mentioned her name she found herself more than half listening.

‘I’ll see your Miss Jamieson on Monday morning, then,’ he drawled.

‘First thing,’ the other man nodded.

That perfect mouth twisted derisively. ‘I’m sure Miss Jamieson is never late.’

Chilling blue eyes swept over her rigid figure as she could only make a pretence of typing. ‘Are you, Gideon?’ James Courtney clipped. ‘I can’t say keeping an eye on Miss Jamieson’s timekeeping has exactly occupied any of my thoughts.’

Her mouth tightened as the two men seemed to taunt her without actually talking to her directly. And what did Gideon Maitland mean, she would see him on Monday morning?

‘I’m sure it hasn’t.’ He was smiling openly now, his teeth very white and even against his tan, suddenly looking years younger than the thirty-five years she knew him to be.

James Courtney gave him a considering look. ‘Has it occupied any of yours?’

The other man’s expression at once became bland. ‘Not that I recall,’ he replied distantly.

‘Sure?’ Once again those light blue eyes flickered over Laura.

‘Very sure,’ Gideon Maitland said tightly. ‘Will you be over to see Natalie tomorrow?’ he firmly changed the subject.

‘Of course.’ The other man’s voice was gruff.

Gideon Maitland nodded curtly. ‘I’ll tell her to expect you.’

‘I thought I might take her to the Zoo.’

‘She’ll like that,’ he nodded.

Laura tried to envisage James Courtney entertaining his granddaughter at the Zoo, and failed miserably. She couldn’t see him anywhere other than seated behind his huge mahogany desk, master of all he surveyed.

She chided herself for being unfair. The man obviously thought a lot of his daughter’s child—he had to if he was willing to take her to the Zoo!

‘Finished yet, Miss Jamieson?’

Lord, she wished he would stop pouncing on her like that! She had been trying to imagine him in the role of doting grandparent, and during that time Gideon Maitland seemed to have taken his leave.

‘Almost,’ she was relieved to be able to answer.

He continued to stare at her, not moving back into his own office as she had expected him to. ‘My son-in-law tells me I’ve been working you too hard,’ he said mildly.

Colour flooded her cheeks. ‘Oh no,’ she shook her head. ‘You—–’

‘Oh yes,’ he insisted. ‘What do you have to say about that?’

‘Why, nothing,’ she gasped. ‘I—–’

‘Nothing?’ he pounced. ‘Then you don’t agree with him?’

‘Well, I—I—–’

‘You do!’ A grim smile of satisfaction lightened his features.

‘Not really,’ she evaded his piercing eyes. ‘I—We’ve all been busy lately, I’ve worked no harder than anyone else.’

‘Exactly what I told Gideon,’ he nodded. ‘Well, we’ll see which one of us you consider a slavedriver after Monday.’

‘Sir?’ she eyed him questioningly.

A ghost of a smile lightened his harsh features. ‘I can assure you that Gideon is even more difficult to work for than I am.’

Laura frowned, having no idea what this man was talking about. Whatever it was it seemed to amuse him.

‘Dorothy will be back on Monday,’ he informed her curtly, obviously tiring of being amused at her expense. ‘You’re to report to Gideon at nine o’clock Monday morning. His secretary has gone down with this damned ‘flu bug—and you’re to be her replacement.’

CHAPTER TWO

‘IT’s a wonderful opportunity for you!’ Laura’s mother exclaimed when told of the arrangements for Monday morning.

‘But I already work for the chairman of the company,’ Laura sighed. ‘I can’t get any higher than that.’

‘You’re only his junior secretary, dear,’ her mother said dismissively. ‘And besides, you said this Gideon Maitland is going to be made chairman next year when James Courtney steps down.’

‘Steps down’ didn’t quite apply to the way Laura expected James Courtney to relinquish his control of Courtneys. She had no doubt that he would be about for years to come, that although he might be willing to appear to give control to his son-in-law that there would one day be quite a power struggle between the two men. James Courtney would still be capable of running the firm when he was eighty, she had no doubt of that.

‘He is,’ she confirmed her mother’s statement. ‘But filling in for his secretary when she’s off sick isn’t exactly what I’d planned for my future.’

‘Don’t be silly, dear!’ Her mother’s tone was impatient, the red of Laura’s hair a deep chestnut on the older woman, her face and figure still youthfully attractive. ‘When he’s made chairman, if you’ve made enough of an impression on him, then he may just make you his personal secretary.’

Laura knew her mother was ambitious for her, in fact it had been her mother’s promptings that had made her apply for the senior position she already had at Courtneys, but surely even she couldn’t imagine she could be made personal secretary to the chairman of a company as big as Courtneys at the age of twenty, as she would be next year? It appeared she could.

‘There are plenty of other girls more qualified for the position,’ she pointed out to her mother. ‘The girl I’m standing in for on Monday, for one.’

‘I’ve no doubt she is.’ Her mother’s eyebrows rose. ‘But you’ll just have to make yourself even more—indispensable to him, won’t you?’

Laura frowned, looking at her mother disbelievingly. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Oh, don’t be naïve, Laura!’ Her mother stood up to pace the room impatiently. ‘No girl gets anywhere these days on qualifications alone, there are just too many talented women. I’ve no doubt Gideon Maitland’s present secretary makes more than her secretarial attributes available to him.’

‘Mother!’ Laura gasped her indignation on the other girl’s behalf. ‘Diane Holland is happily married.’

‘So?’

‘Mother, really!’ And Laura left the room in disgust, going upstairs to her bedroom before she lost her temper.

Where her mother got these ridiculous ideas from she just didn’t know, but this one about Gideon Maitland was the most ridiculous yet. Her mother couldn’t really imagine she would enter into an affair with a man just to get on in her career. No woman had to do that nowadays. It was the time of equality, wasn’t it?

Besides which, she had no reason to suppose Gideon Maitland had even realised she was female, let alone that he was attracted to her. Goodness, a man like that, with his looks and money, could take his pick of any woman in the world. Hadn’t he chosen the beautiful and famous Petra Wilde to be his girl-friend?—and they didn’t come any more exclusively beautiful than that. Gideon Maitland had no need to indulge in needless affairs with his secretary. Why cause complications like that in his office when he had the lovely Petra Wilde in his life—in his bed?

Nevertheless, her mother had put the thought in her mind, and consequently she felt awkward about facing Gideon Maitland on Monday morning. Not that he could possibly know about the embarrassing suggestion her mother had made, but she knew, and she could hardly bear to face him.

She arrived early on Monday morning, her intention being to explain the work of the past week to Dorothy before she had to go down the corridor to Gideon Maitland’s office. Dorothy always arrived at eight-thirty, so Laura had decided to do the same this morning, spending the next half an hour going over every detail of the work she had done in the other woman’s absence.

When she had finished she gave Dorothy a shy smile. ‘It’s good to have you back.’

The other woman smiled, a woman in her mid-forties who had been with James Courtney for the last twenty years. It was rumoured that she had been in love with her boss years ago, but her sudden marriage at the age of forty seemed to have put an end to that. But her loyalty to James Courtney remained constant even during his cruellest of moods—and he had plenty of those.

‘Mr Courtney doesn’t like his routine disturbed,’ Dorothy excused, as if guessing that he had been unbearable to work for the last few days. ‘You’ll find Mr Maitland a lot less—strict about the rules.’

In other words he wasn’t such a swine to work for! Even guessing how impossible their bad-tempered boss had been the last few days Dorothy could still defend him. And no doubt his mood would mellow now that his efficient, almost mind-reading secretary was back.

Laura stood up reluctantly. ‘I suppose I’d better go along to Mr Maitland’s office now, it’s almost nine.’

Dorothy was sorting through the pile of mail on her desk, already back in command. ‘Good luck, dear,’ she said absently. ‘And if you run into any problems don’t hesitate to call me for help, although you should find the work more or less the same as here.’

‘I hope so,’ Laura said fervently.

She had no choice but to go to Gideon Maitland’s office now, remembering his comment about her not being late.

The door to the inner office was closed, so she assumed he was already in there. Now what did she do? His secretary’s desk seemed to be clear of all visible work, but she couldn’t just sit here doing nothing.

‘Good morning.’

She turned with a start, blushing as she saw Gideon Maitland standing casually in the doorway of his office. ‘Good morning—er, sir,’ she returned awkwardly.

He straightened, very dark and attractive in a navy blue three-piece suit, the waistcoat fitted against his taut stomach. Most men of his age, seated behind a desk all day, would have run to fat by now, but this man obviously had some way of keeping fit. The memory of Petra Wilde and his relationship with her instantly flashed into Laura’s mind, and she blushed at her own awareness of this man’s attraction. He made her quiver all over just to look at him, and how she was going to work with him she had no idea.

‘Call me Gideon,’ he invited smoothly.

‘Oh no,’ she shook her head, wishing she had more confidence in her appearance. Once again she was dressed to look cool and efficient, the brown tailored suit and cream blouse were smart if not exactly attractive. ‘I—I couldn’t.’

‘Of course you could,’ he insisted briskly. ‘I have every intention of calling you Laura.’

She flushed with the pleasure of him actually being aware of her first name. ‘That’s different.’

His mouth twisted. ‘Because I’m the boss and you’re the secretary?’

‘Well, I—Yes.’ She looked down at her hands.

Gideon looked at her steadily, his piercing grey eyes taking in everything about her. ‘We may not always have just a business relationship,’ he drawled.

Laura swallowed hard, looking at him with wide eyes. Goodness, her mother couldn’t be right, could she? This man wouldn’t expect more than secretarial duties from her, would he? Not that she wasn’t attracted to him, but she didn’t approve of those type of relationships. Besides, he had Petra Wilde, hadn’t he? No, he must just mean that perhaps they could become friends. She would like that.

‘What would you like me to do, Mr Maitland—er—Gideon?’ It didn’t feel right calling him that, and she doubted she would be able to do it again.

The morning rushed by in a haze of work. Gideon Maitland was as dynamic as James Courtney, although he wasn’t so aggressive to the people he worked with, making sure she went to lunch even though they were really busy. Laura enjoyed working with him, and found him decisive and accurate, quick to put people down if they made a mistake but equally quick to give praise if praise were due.

For all the wall of harshness that surrounded him he was popular with the other staff, male and female alike, and most of them could hardly wait for the time he took over as chairman.

‘I wouldn’t mind being his secretary,’ one of the girls at Laura’s table remarked as she ate her lunch in the staff canteen. Gideon Maitland was up in the executives’ dining-room—and not, Laura felt sure, eating a ham salad either.

Laura shrugged. ‘He’s very nice to work for.’ She wasn’t going to get into a discussion about him, feeling a loyalty towards him after only one morning of working for him.

‘Who wants to work?’ the other girl laughed; she was secretary to one of the department managers.

Laura blushed. ‘Mr Maitland works very hard,’ she defended, and gulped down her coffee, anxious to leave.

‘He plays very hard too,’ Susan grinned. ‘There’s a photograph of him in my magazine this week,’ she bent to take it out of her handbag. ‘He’s with Petra Wilde.’ She found the appropriate page and spread the magazine out in front of Laura.

Laura didn’t want to look, hadn’t wanted to see how well Gideon and the beautiful actress looked together. And they did look good, as she had known they would. Petra Wilde was almost as tall as her escort, her flaming red dress daring in the extreme as the two of them attended the premiere of the actress’s latest film. Gideon Maitland was laughing down at the other woman, looking happy and relaxed, completely unlike the harsh man he was during working hours. He looked so tall and distinguished, the photograph showing the wings of grey at his temples, his magnificent physique shown to full advantage in the black evening suit and snowy white shirt.

No wonder Petra Wilde gazed up at him so adoringly, her blue eyes sparkling with some secret message. The couple’s whole relationship looked intimate, Gideon’s arm firmly about the actress’s waist as he held her at his side.

‘Very nice,’ Laura pushed the magazine back across the table to Susan. ‘It’s a very good photograph,’ she added as she saw the other girl’s disappointed expression at her reaction.

‘You don’t seem very interested, I must say,’ Susan said in a disgruntled voice.

If the other girl knew what a wrench the photograph gave to her heart she wouldn’t say that. Laura had expected to have her romantic illusions about Gideon destroyed once she began working for him, had thought the familiarity would show her how silly her infatuation was, but if anything she had fallen more under his spell, gazing at him longingly when he wasn’t looking at her.

‘I have to get back.’ She stood up, knowing that she still had twenty minutes of her lunch-break left, but not prepared to sit and answer questions about Gideon for all that time.

As she had thought, her new boss was still out at lunch when she got back, but she could use this time to finish her typing.

‘That’s what I like to see.’

She looked up to see Nigel Jennings, the Personnel Manager for the company, standing in the open doorway. She returned his smile as he came over to her desk. ‘What’s that?’ she asked.

‘Well, I must have made the right decision when I employed you,’ he grinned, sitting on the edge of her desk. ‘Otherwise you wouldn’t be working for Gideon.’

‘It’s only temporary.’

He nodded; he was a man of about thirty, with boyishly blond good looks. He looked too young to carry the responsibilities he did, and yet Laura knew James Courtney valued his work, that he trusted his judgement implicitly. The only time he seemed to have doubted his judgement had been in Nigel’s employment of her!

‘Diane’s off with ‘flu.’ He picked up the paperweight from the desk. ‘But then so is almost everyone else.’ He grimaced. ‘That’s why I’m here to see Gideon, actually. It’s the firm’s annual dinner-dance next week, and if half the company isn’t going to be able to go it might be better if we just cancelled it.’

‘I suppose so.’ Laura had forgotten all about the dinner-dance, and in any case had not intended going even if she did manage to evade catching this ‘flu bug that was running rife in the company.

Nigel quirked an eyebrow at her. ‘I suppose you’re bringing your boy-friend along?’

‘Well, actually—–’

‘You aren’t?’ he cut in eagerly.