The Valentine Affair

But clearly that aspect of his life had been left aside as he calmly welcomed members of the press. In fact, Leo’s tall figure appeared perfectly relaxed—the wide, powerful shoulders and lean hips accentuated by the immaculate formality of his well-cut, dark grey lounge suit—as he smoothly explained the reasons behind his bank’s new merger with a German financial institution. Watching the cool, unruffled way in which he dealt with a host of questions from the assembled journalists, Alex had no problem in understanding why he’d been chosen to present this exercise in public relations.

But, while Leo appeared to be exuding an air of relaxed charm, he didn’t succeed in fooling her...not for one minute! Because, as she knew only too well, beneath the suave and charming exterior Leo Hamilton had always been as hard as tungsten steel.

The perfect example of an iron fist clothed in a soft velvet glove, Alex reminded herself grimly, unable to prevent an icy shiver of apprehension from feathering down her spine.

Buried in unhappy memories, it was some moments before she realised that the meeting was breaking up. Noting that, while one or two journalists were busy checking some final points with Leo, the majority of those present were slowly leaving the room, she muttered a brief goodbye to Ben before mingling with the crowd as they made their way out through the door.

One swift, rapid glance around the large foyer was enough for Alex to see that she’d have to move sharply if she wished to avoid attracting the attention of either the receptionists or the commissionaire, who was now carefully shepherding the press corps out of the building. Using a group of journalists as a shield, she edged towards the bank of lifts, slipping inside and quickly punching a button at random.

‘Hello, Dora,’ she called out some minutes later, having charmed a passing office boy into giving her not only the exact location of Leo’s office but also the name of his personal assistant. ‘I’ve just popped in to see Leo. Is it all right if I wait in his office?’

Glancing up from her desk, Dora stared at the slim figure standing in the open doorway.

Quite certain that she’d never seen this person before, Dora was also well aware of Mr Hamilton’s inflexible rule that girlfriends were never allowed anywhere near his office. And, since no respectable office would dream of employing anyone with that untamed cloud of fair, sun-bleached hair tumbling down around her shoulders—not to mention one wearing such a disgracefully short black skirt over long slim legs encased in sheer black stockings—she clearly didn’t work here, at the bank.

However, just as Dora was about to pick up the phone and call Security, she took another, hard look at the girl leaning casually against the door. You didn’t have to be a serious follower of fashion to realise that suit must have cost a fortune. And those Gucci shoes and matching handbag on its gold chain wouldn’t have been exactly cheap, either. So...

Oh, heavens! It looked as though she’d nearly made a dreadful mistake. Because, of course, this extraordinarily attractive-looking girl must be Mr Hamilton’s new fiancée.

‘I’m sorry, I didn’t realise...’ Dora muttered, rising quickly from behind her desk. ‘It’s Miss Fiona Bliss, isn’t it?’

‘How did you guess?’ Alex smiled happily at the older woman. ‘Er...darling Leo is just finishing a meeting downstairs. So, is it all right if I wait for him in his office?’

‘Of course.’ Dora beamed at the girl and led her into the palatial mom. ‘Can I get you anything?’

‘I’d sell my soul for a cup of coffee,’ Alex admitted with a grin, waiting until Leo’s secretary had left the room before sinking down into a leather chair.

‘Phew!’ she muttered with relief a little while later, gratefully sipping her hot coffee—and thankful that she didn’t have to go through such an exhausting charade every day of the week. What a piece of luck, his secretary mistaking her for Leo’s fiancée! Although exactly what she was going to say or do when he returned to his office, she had absolutely no idea.

However, while she had the chance, maybe she ought to have a good look around his office? If her articles were going to be a success, it was important to try to pick up some clues about both his present lifestyle and his new fiancée.

Unfortunately, there was virtually nothing in Leo’s opulent suite of rooms which couldn’t just as well have been found in the office of any highly successful man—a huge leather-covered mahogany desk with its back to the large window, a grey and white marble mantelpiece over a fake log fire, comfortable black leather chairs and sofa... It all looked depressingly bare of clues. Apart from the fact that there were no photographs, of course. That was definitely odd. Surely he ought to have a picture of his beloved fiancée placed prominently on his desk?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of firm footsteps approaching down the marble-floored corridor. Bracing herself for the forthcoming confrontation, Alex heard his secretary informing Leo that his fiancée was waiting for him in his office.

‘Oh, really...?’ a deep voice queried sardonically, before the door was thrown open and Leo Hamilton walked into the room.

He paused on the threshold, his hard green eyes flicking quickly over the figure of the girl by the fireplace, and Alex held her breath as she stared at the tall, broad-shouldered figure in the doorway.

It was one thing to have viewed this man across the length of the large room downstairs a few minutes ago. But quite another to find herself now standing only a few feet away from Leo’s tall, dominant figure—and almost reeling from the forceful impact of his dark, physical attraction.

How could she have forgotten...? Why hadn’t she remembered the devastating aura of sheer, raw sex appeal projected by this man, who was now studying her with such calm detachment on his handsome, tanned face?

Desperately trying to control a hot flush rising over her cheeks, and the quivers of awareness scorching through her body, she put out a hand to clutch hold of the mantelpiece for support. Fearful memories of their last encounter were now welling up inside her like a sudden sickness, and Alex could feel herself trembling as if in the grip of a fierce tropical fever.

She should never have come here! What on earth had possessed her to even contemplate such folly?

But Leo’s gaze of cool, calm uninterest helped to steady her nerves. She held her breath, watching as he gave a slight, dismissive shrug of his shoulders and began moving across the thick carpet towards his large desk by the window. It was some moments before she realised that, despite her own strong, almost overwhelming response to his presence, he apparently had no recognition of the girl staring at him so intently.

‘It would seem to be my lucky day for collecting “fiancées”!’ Leo drawled, sitting down and pulling out various drawers. ‘However, if you can provide me with some aspirins, I’ll seriously consider bestowing on you both my hand and my heart!’

Thrown completely off balance by this calm reaction to her unexpected presence in his office, Alex found herself giving a startled, involuntary gurgle of nervous laughter.

Obviously surprised by her response, he shot her a quick, penetrating glance, and continued to search through the drawers of his desk.

‘I must say that I’ve had better offers in my time,’ she told him with a grim smile, making a determined effort to pull herself together. ‘But that definitely sounds an interesting proposal!’ she added, opening her handbag and walking over to place Tessa’s small bottle of white pills on his desk.

‘Bless you,’ he murmured, filling a glass from the carafe of water in front of him, and sighing deeply as he leaned back in his chair.

‘Well, now...yes. I can imagine that you will have. had several possibly better offers,’ he drawled a few moments later, his gaze moving slowly over the tall, slim figure of the girl standing in front of him.

The intense, insulting thoroughness with which he scrutinised the cloud of sun-bleached hair, the high, firm breasts, and the length of her legs beneath the short skirt brought a flush to her cheeks and an angry sparkle to her wide blue eyes.

‘It’s no good glaring at me like that, my girl!’ he grinned with sardonic amusement, clearly enjoying her discomfiture. ‘Especially as we both know that you must have spun a complete yarn to poor Dora. And, since you most definitely are not Fiona Bliss, maybe you’d be good enough to tell me your name?’

She regarded him warily in silence, and then shrugged. ‘I did wonder if you’d recognise me, after all this time. But clearly it would seem that you haven’t.’ She paused for a moment. ‘I’m Alex Pemberton.’ .

He frowned, staring at her intently, before giving a shake of his dark head. ‘No, sony—I simply don’t recall that name. And I’m very sure that I wouldn’t have forgotten meeting you,’ he added, once more allowing the green eyes beneath their heavy lids to slowly and carefully scrutinise her figure. ‘Quite certain, in fact!’

‘Ah. well—that just goes to show how even the cleverest of men can be mistaken!’

Alex smiled blandly at him, suddenly feeling lightheaded, and totally amazed to find that she wasn’t frightened of this man after all.

So, OK...she had been startled and confused a few moments ago by the sudden, shocking reminder of his overwhelming sexual attraction. But she was now recovering fast, and couldn’t think why, over the past eight years, she’d stupidly allowed Leo’s dark image to become magnified in her mind until it had assumed the proportions of a nightmare.

She had, of course, been pathetically young and innocent at the time. But now, standing here in his office, everything seemed very different. For the first time in her life—certainly as far as this man was concerned—she was feeling quite extraordinarily confident, with no doubts about her ability to cope with the situation.

‘I hear that you are about to become engaged. I imagine that must make your parents very happy,’ Alex said, casually sitting down on a Chippendale chair set in front of his desk.

‘I really don’t see that the private life of myself, or my family, is any business of yours,’ he drawled coolly.

‘Oh, dear—it looks as if I might be guilty of bad manners, doesn’t it?’ She gave him a false, penitent smile. ‘I should have enquired after your mother. Tell me—how is dear Eleanor these days? Still busy raising funds for charity?’

There was a long silence as Leo stared intently at the calm, self-assured figure smiling so confidently at him from the other side of his desk. He was damned certain that he’d never seen this extraordinarily good-looking girl before. But, if so, how come she seemed to know his mother?

‘And how is your stepfather?’ Alex asked brightly.

‘I really don’t think—’

‘It’s a long time ago, of course, but I have very fond memories of Sir Geoffrey—far and away the nicest member of your family.’

She smiled artlessly at the man whose face had suddenly become a blank mask. Only the piercingly sharp green eyes gazing at her with hard, intense speculation gave any hint of the furious mental activity going on behind that deadpan expression.

‘I do hope that he’s enjoying his retirement in Gloucestershire? It must be such a contrast to all those years he spent as an ambassador in South America!’ she continued, suddenly recalling one of the snippets of information from the newspaper library commenting on the successful diplomatic career of Sir Geoffrey Lucas which she’d briefly had time to look at before driving to the bank.

This girl is definitely trouble—with a capital T! Leo told himself grimly. Although, quite why he was suddenly so certain of that fact, he had no idea. But he still had no clue as to why she was here. Or what she’d hoped to gain by pretending to be Fiona Bliss...

And leaving aside any speculation about her visit to his office, he had a very strong, uneasy feeling that his life was about to be seriously disturbed. Maybe it was that slight trace of irony in her voice? Or, possibly, the sight of those wide, clear blue eyes regarding him with such a guileless, innocent gaze? Whatever the reason, his instincts were telling him that the sooner he got rid of this Miss Pemberton the better it would be for his peace of mind.

‘Well, it’s been very interesting meeting you, but I’m afraid that I’m going to have to ask you to leave,’ he murmured smoothly. ‘Unfortunately, I’m very busy today, and...’

‘Yes. I listened to your speech downstairs just now. Very impressive!’

‘Thank you,’ he murmured through gritted teeth, making a mental note to have a few harsh, sharp words with the bank’s chief security officer.

The fact that this girl had managed to gain entrance to the building—let alone being able to wander casually around the offices—was absolutely disgraceful! In fact, now he came to think about it, such a total breach of security could have had dire consequences. He was probably lucky that she wasn’t some mad gunman, waving a kalashnikov rifle and demanding the keys to the bank’s safe!

With a slight, irritated shake of his dark head, Leo made a determined effort to clear his mind.

Oh, boy—it really wasn’t his day! First all that business about his ‘engagement’ to Fiona—and now, seemingly bemused by this unknown girl’s bewitching smile, he’d actually found himself thinking that some crazy idiot might appear in his office brandishing a gun!

Pull yourself together—get a grip on life! he told himself roughly. So...OK, he was prepared to admit that he found Miss Pemberton very sexually attractive. But so what? He had, after all, known plenty of women who were far more beautiful. And yet... well, most unfortunately, there was no escaping the fact that, while she’d only been in his office for a few minutes, this girl appeared to be having a disastrous effect on his normally levelheaded, logical mind!

‘I have several calls to make, and then an early luncheon appointment,’ he informed her curtly, pulling one of the telephones on his desk towards him. ‘So, if you don’t mind letting yourself out...?’

‘Well, yes, I do—mind, that is. Because I was really hoping that we could have a lovely long talk,’ Alex told him with another completely false, beaming smile. ‘I mean, we’ve so much news to catch up on, haven’t we?’ she added, leaning back in her chair. ‘For instance, I can’t wait to hear all about your romance with Fiona Bliss!’

Leo gave a heavy sigh, before slowly rising to his feet. ‘I’m sorry, but I really am very busy. So, unless you leave this office immediately, I shall be forced to call the security guards—and have you thrown out.’

‘I don’t think I’d like that.’

He gave a short bark of exasperated laughter. ‘No, I’m quite sure that you wouldn’t,’ he agreed grimly, determinedly averting his eyes from her long, slim legs in those sexy black stockings. ‘So, why not be a sensible girl and leave quietly while you have the chance to do so?’

‘Because we’ve got some talking to do—that’s why,’ she retorted, opening her handbag and extracting a white business card, which she placed firmly on the desk in front of him.

‘I’m simply not interested...’ he snapped, irritably flicking the card away as he lifted the receiver of his phone, angrily punching some numbers on the dial.

‘Oh, I think you will be interested,’ she countered swiftly, leaning forward and firmly cutting off his call. ‘Because, while I use the name of Alex Pemberton for professional reasons, I was actually christened Alexandra Rothstein.

‘Not that it really matters,’ she continued bleakly as he slowly put down the phone. ‘Because, as far as you are concerned, Leo, my real name is Nemesis!’

CHAPTER THREE

GAZING up at Leo’s tall frame, which had suddenly stiffened, his dark brows drawn together in a frown as he stared down at her, Alex found herself wondering why the name of Nemesis—the mythical Greek goddess of retribution and revenge—should have so suddenly come into her mind.

As he replaced the phone and slowly sank back down into his seat, Alex realised that deep down, within the dark recesses of her subconscious, she must have been waiting for an opportunity to finally confront Leo face to face. Not ever really knowing exactly how, when or where, of course. But now the strong feelings of anger and injustice, which she’d so firmly suppressed for the past eight years, were swiftly rising to the surface and demanding to be heard.

Alexandra Rothstein...? ‘Well, well...’ Leo murmured, leaning back in his chair, regarding her intently from beneath his heavy lids.

‘Surprise, surprise!’ Alex murmured, taking the opportunity to steady her nerves as she bent down to retrieve her business card, which he’d so arrogantly flicked down onto the floor by her feet.

‘It certainly is a surprise to see you again after such a long time,’ he agreed slowly. ‘Especially since you seemed to have completely dropped out of sight for the past eight years. In fact, I can hardly believe...’ He paused, staring at her silently for a moment. ‘I take it that you really are “The Bolter”’s daughter?’

Alex gave him a cool smile. ‘I’m afraid so.’

‘So, what’s your mother up to these days?’ he enquired sardonically. “The last I heard of Gina, she’d run away from a rich Italian prince—was he her fifth or sixth husband?—and “bolted” off with a young Argentinian polo player. However, I imagine that she must have married and discarded several more husbands by now.’

‘She might well have done so,’ Alex agreed stonily. ‘Unfortunately, my mother and her husband died in an aeroplane crash some years ago.’

‘Oh, Lord—I’m sorry!’ Leo exclaimed, grimacing in self-disgust and clearly wishing that he’d kept his mouth shut as he brushed a hand roughly through his dark hair.

Alex shrugged. ‘Apparently, it seems the young Argentinian was far more skilled at handling his polo ponies than he was at managing the controls of his private plane.’

‘I really am very sorry,’ Leo assured her earnestly. ‘What I said about your mother was completely uncalled for and desperately unkind. Believe me, I had no intention of...’

‘Yes, well, it all happened a long time ago,’ she said quickly, determined to avoid a discussion on Gina’s obvious defects as a wife and mother.

Besides, it had been a generous and handsome apology from Leo, who certainly had no reason to think well of her mother.

His stepfather, Sir Geoffrey Lucas, had only been Gina’s second husband for a very short time. Barely a year after their wedding she’d run off with a French pop star, leaving Sir Geoffrey to subsequently marry Leo’s mother, Eleanor Hamilton, then a widow with a young ten-year-old son.

Leo glanced down at his watch. ‘I really do have a lunch appointment with some bankers. However, I think our “family reunion” calls for a quick gin and tonic—don’t you?’ he murmured, rising from behind his desk to move lithely across the room. He opened a large bookcase to reveal a well-stocked drinks cabinet, and Alex noted that, while busy mixing her an alcoholic drink, he was pouring himself a large glass of plain water.

Suddenly feeling strangely nervous, Alex quickly reviewed her basic strategy for the forthcoming interview. There had been no reason why it shouldn’t work. Back at the newspaper office, she’d been quite certain—provided she could get access to the rotten man—that gaining his cooperation would be a fairly straightforward matter. But now, rising to her feet as he strode back across the thick carpet, she was beginning to have severe doubts about her ability to carry out her plans.

Not only did he appear to be taking her unexpected reappearance in his life far too calmly, but it was also proving difficult to ignore the almost overpowering aura of forceful, aggressive masculinity surrounding the man now standing so close to her. As he placed the heavy crystal glass in her hand she almost jumped at the light touch of his fingers, which seemed to send a quick electric shock tingling through her body.

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