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He opened the door and paused, looking back, oh so sleekly elegant in his grey silk suit, unruffled, uncreased, supremely self-assured, the tantalising little smile quirking his mouth.
“By the way, you look utterly stunning in red, Amy. You should wear it more often.”
He winked flirtatiously at her and was gone, the door closing smoothly behind him.
Amy saw red.
Her mind was a haze of red.
Her heart pumped red-hot blood through her veins.
Her brain sizzled. All of her sizzled.
Since Jake Carter enjoyed cracking her composure, he could damned well enjoy a monumental crack! She was not going to look after someone else’s baby...a baby who had no connection to her whatsoever. It wasn’t her job. And today of all days, she didn’t need a vivid reminder of what she had lost and why. Let Jake Carter look after his own...the staunch family man! The Godfather!
She looked down at the baby, still peacefully asleep, oblivious to the turbulent emotions it stirred in Amy. She looked at the plastic bag at the foot of the capsule. It was printed with fun Disney characters. Today, Jake Carter could have fun with his nephew. The game with her was over and she didn’t care if he fired her for it In fact, if he dared to try any pressure on her over minding his nephew she’d get in first and dump him.
It would probably be a new experience for him, getting dumped by a woman. And he wouldn’t be expecting it, either. There hadn’t been any exit signs for him to spot.
A savage little smile curled her lips.
She was about to give Jake Carter a red letter day.
And serve him right, too!
CHAPTER TWO
AMY barged into her boss’s office, wishing the capsule swinging in her hand was a cudgel to beat him with. It infuriated her further to find him leaning back in his executive chair, feet up on his executive desk, hands cupping the back of his head, gazing smugly at the panoramic harbour view through his executive windows.
No work was being done. The mail she had printed out for him had been tossed on the in-tray. He looked as if he was revelling in recalling the pleasures he had undoubtedly indulged in over the weekend. While she had been dealt one killing blow after another.
It wasn’t fair!
Nothing was fair!
But by God! She’d make this man honour his commitment!
Her unheralded entrance drew a bland look of inquiry. “Some problem?”
Welcome to hell on wheels! she thought, marching straight up to his desk and heaving the capsule onto it. She did refrain from knocking his feet off. She didn’t want to wake the baby. It wasn’t the infant’s fault that his uncle was a male chauvinist pig.
With her hands free, she planted them on her hips and took her stance. Apparently fascinated by the vision of his normally cool personal assistant on the warpath, Jake stayed locked where he was, which suited Amy just fine. She opened fire at point-blank range.
“This baby...is your responsibility.”
Her voice shook, giving it a huskiness that robbed it of the authority needed. She hastily worked some moisture into her mouth and resumed speaking with more strength.
“Your sister elected you to be her son’s baby-sitter.”
She stretched her mouth into a smile designed to turn Medusa to stone. It must have worked because he still didn’t move. Or speak.
“She trusts you implicitly,” Amy said sweetly. “As she should since you’re his godfather. And a staunch family man.”
It gave her a fierce pleasure to throw that claim back in his face, an even fiercer pleasure to see him look so stunned and at a loss for a ready reply. Join the club, brother, she thought, and fired the last volley.
“Looking after your nephew is not my job. Hire someone who specialises in baby-sitting if you can’t do it yourself. In the meantime, he belongs with you.”
She swivelled on her heel and headed for the door, her spine stiff, her shoulders squared, her head tilted high. If Jake Carter so much as breathed at her she would wheel and attack him again.
There wasn’t a sound.
Silence followed her to the door.
She didn’t look back.
She made her exit on a wave of righteous fervour.
It wasn’t until the door was shut and she was alone in her own office, that the silence she’d left behind her took on an ominous quality in her mind.
Silence...
Like the silence after Steve had walked out.
She’d lost her man.
Amy closed her eyes as the realisation of what she’d done rushed in on her.
She was about to lose her job.
Lose everything.
This black day had just turned blacker.
CHAPTER THREE
AMY lost track of time. She found herself sitting at her desk and didn’t remember sinking into her chair. It was as though she’d pressed a self-destruct button and her whole world had slipped out of control, shattering around her.
Vengeance...that’s what she’d wreaked on Jake Carter...paying him out for what Steve had done to her. And she’d had no right to do it. No right at all.
A personal assistant was supposed to personally assist. That was what she was paid for. Any other day she wouldn’t have blinked an eyelid at being left with a baby to mind. She would have taken it in her stride without so much as a murmur of protest, cynically accepting that Jake, the rake, wouldn’t want to be bothered by a baby. Besides which, in business hours, his time was more important than hers. He was the one who pulled in the profits.
She slumped forward, propped her elbows on the desk and dropped her head into her hands. Dear merciful God! Was there some way out of the hole she’d dug for herself?
She couldn’t afford to walk away from this job, not now she was alone. Steve’s departure meant the rent on the apartment would double for her unless she got someone else in to share the cost. These few weeks before Christmas was not a good time for changes.
Besides, who would pay her as much as Jake did? Her salary was more than generous for her qualifications. And she would miss the perks that came with meeting and doing business for rich and famous people.
Her gaze lifted and ruefully skirted the photographs hanging on the walls; celebrities on their luxury yachts, on board their private jets, travelling in style to exciting places, wining and dining in classy surroundings, perfect service on tap.
Of course Jake was in all the photographs, showing off his clientele and what he had provided for them. The man was a brilliant salesman. The photographs were public proof that he was the one to deliver what was desired.
And the plain truth was, however much he provoked her with his teasing and wicked ways, Amy did, for the most part, enjoy the challenge of matching wits with him. He kept her on her toes, goaded her into performing at her best, and the work was never boring. Neither was he.
She’d miss him.
Badly.
Especially with Steve gone.
She’d miss this plush office, too.
Where else would she get a workplace that could even come near to matching what she had here at Wide Blue Yonder?
Her gaze drifted around, picking up on all she could be about to lose. The carpet was the jewel-like turquoise colour of coral reef lagoons, the paintwork the mellow yellow shade of sandy beaches, outlined in glossy white. Fresh arrangements of tropical flowers were brought in every week, exotic blooms in orange and scarlet mixed with glowing greenery. Every modern technological aid for business was at her fingertips—no expense spared in providing her with the best of everything.
Then there was the million dollar view—an extension of the vista that could be seen from Jake’s office—Darling Harbour and Balmain directly across the water, Goat Island, and stretching along this shoreline, Luna Park with its cluster of carnival rides and entertainment booths.
Mortified at her own lunacy for giving none of this a thought before barging in to confront Jake, Amy pushed out of her chair and moved over to the picture window overlooking the grinning clown face that marked the entrance to the old amusement park. Fun, it promised. Just like Jake. Except she’d hot-headedly wiped fun off today’s agenda.
She should go back into his office and apologise.
But how to explain her behaviour?
Never had she struck such a blistering attitude with him. He was probably sitting in there, mulling over what it meant, and he wouldn’t gloss over it. Not Jake Carter. No way would he leave it alone. If he wasn’t thinking of firing her for insubordination, he was plotting how to use her outburst to his advantage.
She shivered.
Give Jake even a molehill of an advantage and he could build it into a mountain that put him on top of any game he wanted to play. She’d seen him do it over and over again. If he let her stay on...
The sound of the door between their offices being opened froze her train of thought. It raised prickles around the nape of her neck. Panic screamed along her nerves and cramped her heart. She’d left it too late to take some saving initiative. In helpless anguish she turned to face the man who held her immediate future in his hands.
He stood in the doorway, commanding her attention by the sheer force of his presence. The absence of any hint of a smile was stomach-wrenching. He observed her in silence for several tension-riven seconds, his eyes focused intensely on hers. Amy’s mind screamed at her to say something, offer an olive branch, anything to smooth over what she’d done, but she couldn’t tear her tongue off the roof of her mouth.
“I’m sorry.”
Soft words... words she should have said. She stared at his mouth. Had they really come from him or had she imagined it? Yet how could she imagine an apology when she hadn’t expected it?
His lips twisted into a rueful grimace. “I was out of line, dumping Joshua on you and taking it for granted you’d mind him for me.”
Incredulity held her tongue-tied.
The grimace tilted up into an appealing smile. “Guess I thought all women melted over babies. I didn’t see it as an imposition. More like a novelty.”
She felt hopelessly screwed up. Her hand shot out in an agitated gesture. “I...over-reacted,” she managed, her voice a bare croak.
He shrugged. “Hell, what do I know? You’re so buttoned up about your private life. There must be some reason you’re not married to the guy you’ve been living with all these years.” His eyebrows slanted in an expression of caring concern. “Is there a problem about having a baby?”
The sympathetic tone did it.
Like the trumpets that brought down the walls of Jericho, it struck chords in Amy that triggered a collapse of her defences. Tears welled into her eyes and she couldn’t find the will to stop them. She wanted to say it wasn’t her fault but the lump in her throat was impassable.
She had a blurry glimpse of shock on Jake Carter’s face, then he was moving, looming towards her, and the next thing she knew his arms had enveloped her and she was weeping on his shoulder and he was muttering a string of appalled comments.
“I didn’t mean it... Honest, Amy!... I was just testing... never thought it was true...”
“’Snot,” she sobbed, her hands clenched against his chest.
“Not true?” His bewilderment echoed in her ears.
She couldn’t bear him thinking she was barren, making her even less of a woman than Steve had left her feeling. She scooped in a deep breath and the necessary words shuddered out. “He didn’t want a baby with me.”
“Didn’t?” He picked up sharply on the past tense.
The betrayal was so fresh and painful, it spilled out. “Having one with her.”
“He knocked up some other woman?”
Jake’s shock on her behalf soothed her wounded pride. “A bwonde,” she explained, her quivering mouth not quite getting around the word.
“Well, I hope you’ve sent him packing.” A fierce admonition, giving Amy the crazy sense he would have done it for her, given the opportunity, probably cracking a bullwhip to effect a very prompt exit.
“Yes,” she lied. It was too humiliating to confess she’d sat like a disembowelled dummy while Steve had gone about dismantling and removing his half of their life together.
“Good riddance,” Jake heartily approved. “You wouldn’t want to have a baby with him, Amy. Couldn’t trust a man like that to stick around.”
“’Sright.” She nodded mournfully, too water-logged to make any cynical parallel to Jake’s attitude to women.
“Still feeling raw about it,” he murmured sympathetically.
“Yes.”
“Guess you only found out this weekend.”
“Tol’ me Sat’day.”
“And I had to slap you in the face with Joshua.”
The self-recrimination stirred her to meet him halfway. “Not your fault.” There, she’d finally got it out. “Sorry,” she added for good measure.
“Don’t worry about it, Amy. Bad timing, that’s all.”
He was being so kind and understanding, patting her on the back, making her feel secure with him, cared for and valued. His warmth seeped into her bones. Her hands relaxed, fingers spreading out across the comforting heat of his chest. She nestled closer to him and he stroked her hair.
Like a wilted sponge, she soaked in his tender compassion, needing it, wanting it. She’d felt so terribly alone these past two days, so bereft of anyone to care about her...
A baby cry pierced the pleasant fuzziness swimming around in her mind. Joshua! Left alone in the other office! Amy lifted her heavy head, reluctant to push out of Jake’s embrace but she couldn’t really stay there. Kind understanding only went so far. This was a place of business. A line had to be drawn.
Jake might start thinking she liked being this close to him. In fact, weren’t his arms tightening around her, subtly shifting their body contact, stirring a consciousness of how very male he was? To Amy’s increasing confusion, she found she wasn’t immune to the virility she’d always privately scorned. For several electrifying moments she was mesmerised by its effect on her.
