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The Business Arrangement
NATASHA OAKLEY
HE'S NEGOTIATED HER SERVICES FOR TWO WEEKS!Amy has known–and been in love with–Hugh Balfour for as long as she can remember. Her strategy has been to avoid him at all costs. But now Hugh needs Amy's help–he needs a secretary and only Amy will do!BUT ARE HIS TERMS STRICTLY BUSINESS?With a bit of a makeover–courtesy of Hugh's generous allowance–Amy is the epitome of a cool, calm professional, at least on the surface. But what Hugh didn't tell her is he expects twenty-four-hour attention from his secretary–especially as he's now looking at his old friend in a very different light….
“Amy,” Hugh said softly, touching her arm. “Wake up. It’s late. It’s time you were in bed.”
She stirred slightly. The only sign she’d heard him was a faint fluttering of the dark eyelashes resting on her pale cheeks. “Amy…”
This time she mumbled and tried to turn over. Sleepy brown eyes looked up into his face. “Hugh,” she said with a soft smile lighting up her face. “You’re back.”
And he wanted to kiss her.
What was happening to him? He’d known Amy for years and never felt the slightest inclination to do anything of the sort. He’d picked her up when she’d fallen off her horse at fourteen and broken her wrist without the slightest stirring of the emotions troubling him now. Even when he’d held her while she sobbed at her mother’s funeral he hadn’t felt the stirrings of any attraction. This was Amy.
From city girl—to corporate wife!
Working side by side, nine to five—and beyond…. No matter how hard these couples try to keep their relationships strictly professional, romance is definitely on the agenda!
But will a date in the office diary lead to an appointment at the altar?
The Corporate Marriage Campaign
by Leigh Michaels
Harlequin Romance #3857
The Business Arrangement
Natasha Oakley
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE (#ua34908e3-8acd-50e7-aa02-465fcb7a7bd3)
CHAPTER TWO (#ufc8175f6-de91-53e0-bf23-48a4271c8297)
CHAPTER THREE (#u1d11d28c-7457-5478-b9a3-662958d9eb44)
CHAPTER FOUR (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FIVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SIX (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE
‘WHAT do you mean “no”? Come on, Amy,’ Hugh coaxed, stretching his arm out along the back of the floral-patterned sofa. ‘I need your help.’
Amelia Mitchell scarcely looked up from the book she was reading, merely pulling her legs tightly under her and snuggling deeper into the cushioned window-seat. ‘I’m sure you don’t. Not really. There must be someone else you can ask.’
‘I’ve asked you.’
‘Sorry, no can do.’
‘Why can’t you? You’re not working at the moment.’
‘That’s not the point, though, is it?’ she replied, risking a look up at Hugh Balfour’s confidently smiling face. The assurance in his voice had been irritating, but his expression made her angry. Clearly he felt he needed only to exude some of his well-documented charm and she’d crumble. ‘I don’t want to.’
‘Why?’
‘Because I’d hate it. You’d be horrid. I’d be bored. If I wanted to be your secretary I’d apply for the job.’ She uncurled and threw her book to one side. ‘Actually I can’t think of anything worse. I’m angry with Seb for having suggested it.’
‘He was trying to help.’
‘Help who exactly?’ she asked, turning to face him, all five feet two inches bristling with indignation. This was just typical! ‘I know you two go back a long way, but I’m his sister. You’d think he’d put me before his friend.’
Even as she said it she knew it was nonsense. Seb wouldn’t see anything wrong in offering his sister’s help to his best friend, however inconvenient it might be to the sister. She loved him to pieces, but he’d never yet considered her feelings or appeared to notice any of the sacrifices she’d made.
It hadn’t even occurred to him that he ought to let his sister know he was coming to stay this weekend for the annual regatta. If challenged, he would, no doubt, say he’d a perfect right to be there since he owned a third share in their mother’s Henley-on-Thames cottage. But it would have been nice if he’d made a courtesy telephone call. Remembered the seventeenth-century cottage they’d inherited was her home.
Hugh’s long fingers traced a small circle on the mahogany table by his side; he was completely unfazed by her outburst. ‘It’s only for a couple of weeks. Think of the money. I’ll pay well.’
‘Don’t need any.’
‘You must be the first student to say so.’
‘I’m not a student any more. Fully fledged BA (Hons)—’
‘Currently unemployed.’
She shot him a look of dislike. ‘With no ambitions to be a secretary and certainly not yours.’
‘Amy, please. I really do need your help,’ he said, flashing her a crooked smile, his eyes lighting up with an irrepressible glint of pure sex appeal.
As her stomach twisted in recognition it crossed her mind to wonder whether anyone had been able to refuse Hugh Balfour anything. His mother certainly hadn’t. He was her shining blue-eyed boy, one without blemish.
Amy could have enlightened her, as could the numerous ex-girlfriends he’d dumped with ruthless expediency at the first hint of boredom. Six feet high with the muscle tone of a natural sportsman and the kind of charisma that made everyone follow his lead, Hugh was blessed with more gifts than it was fair for one man to possess.
Nevertheless he’d some serious character flaws. Flaws encouraged, no doubt, by getting his own way on practically every occasion since birth. It was just difficult to remember them when you faced the full force of Hugh’s charm—particularly when he normally reserved it for women with legs up to their armpits and a chiselled bone structure.
Which actually made this whole situation rather funny when she came to think about it. Hugh must really be desperate if he was spending so much time on Seb’s little sister. He hadn’t done that since he’d broken the Rev. Adderton’s window with a cricket ball and had persuaded her not to tell. Her lips twitched. ‘More.’
‘More what?’ he asked, confused.
‘Don’t stop there. I’m enjoying seeing you beg.’
‘If that’s what it takes I will.’ He smiled slowly, the grooves in his cheeks deepening. ‘Sweet Amy—’
‘Don’t overdo it. I’m beginning to feel queasy.’
Hugh relaxed back in his chair, evidently certain of success. ‘As soon as Seb suggested it I knew you’d be perfect. And before you get angry again he wasn’t thinking about it as a job opportunity. It’s more…about protecting me.’
‘From what?’ As if she needed to ask. Hugh’s problems only ever involved women and this would be no exception. ‘If you want my help you’re going to have to tell me what’s really going on. Go on, tell the truth.’
‘The truth?’
She folded her arms in front of her. ‘If you can manage it. Look, if you just needed a secretary while your PA’s away you could ring an agency or borrow someone from another department. I’m not a complete idiot.’
He smiled. ‘I never thought you were. The truth is…sensitive information.’
‘Surprise me.’
‘If I get someone in from an agency I can’t rely on them not to…gossip.’ Hugh paused again, unusually having to search for his words.
‘About?’ she prompted, watching his face closely. Normally Hugh was the archetypal Mr Smooth. Always in control. But something had really got to him this time.
‘I’m hoping to avoid anyone knowing…’ He petered out again, his eyes flicking past her to look down the long cottage garden.
‘About?’ Amy repeated without relenting.
‘About…a woman—’
‘Ah.’
He shot her a look of irritation. ‘I don’t know what you mean by “Ah”. There’s no “Ah” about it. This has never happened to me before and I’m running out of ideas on how to contain…the problem.’
‘A problem with a woman?’ Amy leant forward and gracefully crossed her legs, mockingly adopting the pose of a therapist. It was getting better every moment. It was about time some woman somewhere managed to strike a blow for the rest of their kind.
She liked Hugh. She’d always liked Hugh. He was great fun. Interesting to talk to. But he treated women with all the careless contempt given to a disposable tissue and there was something truly satisfying in seeing him rocked off balance. She nodded with her head tilted onto one side. ‘How surprising. Go on.’
Hugh rubbed his left shoulder in a vain attempt to ease the knotting muscle forming there. When Seb had first mooted the idea of his sister taking the temporary vacancy in his office he’d conveniently forgotten how exasperating Amy could be.
She could type, she was loyal and she was almost family, for heaven’s sake. They were all great credentials for what he needed, but he’d completely overlooked her irritating habit of laughing at him. All the time. And this situation with Richard’s wife was becoming anything but funny.
On the other hand Amy was still his best option. In fact, she was his only option. He took a deep breath. ‘This…woman telephones, sends…letters and…gifts to me at the office. She’s m—’
‘Married! I can guess,’ Amy interrupted, standing up swiftly. ‘I’m not doing it! You get yourself out of your own muddles. I’m not sitting about your office lying for you.’
‘I—’
‘You should have known I wouldn’t do anything to help you break up anyone’s marriage. After everything I’ve seen—’
‘Will you shut up and listen? It’s difficult enough without you interrupting all the time. Sit down and let me explain.’
‘Go on, then,’ she said ungraciously, sitting back down in a chair opposite him and tracing the pattern on the carpet with the edge of her shoe.
‘That’s why I need your help. I’m not doing it either.’
She looked up, a slight frown between her eyebrows. ‘Not doing what? I don’t understand. Wh—?’
‘Married women have never been my thing, Amy. And even if they were there’s no way I’d be tempted by this one.’
‘So what’s the problem?’
His blue eyes met her brown ones. ‘Trying to get Sonya Laithwaite to accept the fact,’ he stated baldly, watching closely for her reaction.
Amy’s lips opened and closed a couple of times before she managed to repeat, ‘Sonya Laithwaite?’
Hugh sat back. At least he’d finally got her attention.
Hell, this was so much more awkward than he’d ever imagined. He hated even saying the woman’s name. Hated thinking what it would do to Richard if he discovered what his wife was up to—and with whom. He doubted his relationship with the older man would survive it.
And that mattered to him. Richard was so much more than his employer. He’d been there at all the difficult turning points of his life, helped guide his future, and as Hugh had grown to adulthood they’d become friends. Nothing could have been more calculated to hurt Richard than what Sonya was doing.
Hugh watched Amy’s mouth move pointlessly a couple more times before saying dryly, ‘Stop doing a fish impersonation. This is serious, Amy. I really do need your help.’
It brought her up short. ‘Sonya Laithwaite? My godfather’s wife?’
Hugh nodded.
‘B-but…but they only married last May.’
‘And she’s bored already and looking for entertainment,’ he said, standing up and pacing towards the window. He could feel her eyes on his back watching him. Judging him. ‘Honestly, Amy,’ he said, turning suddenly, ‘as God’s my witness I’ve not done anything to encourage her…’ He trailed off and thrust an angry hand through his hair.
Without any difficulty Amy conjured an image of Sonya in her mind’s eye. Apart from the wedding itself, when she’d worn a white puff-ball dress with far too much diamante, the one and only time Amy had seen her had been at her father’s house-warming party the previous autumn and she’d made a colourful impression.
A full-frontal assault of a redhead in baby pink with a bust that could take your eye out if she turned suddenly and you hadn’t seen her coming. She wasn’t the kind of woman who’d need much encouragement for anything, judging from the way she’d danced with Seb. But even so there must have been something. Something Hugh’d done to convince her he was interested.
It didn’t bear thinking about. He owed Richard Laithwaite so much. When Hugh’s father had died it had been Richard, a childhood friend of both their mothers, who’d come alongside the bewildered twelve-year-old boy and filled the void. How could Hugh even think of repaying him like that?
‘You can’t have an affair with Sonya. You can’t do that to Richard. He believed in you, mentored you in the beginning. I don’t believe even you would sink so low.’
‘Exactly. That’s what I’ve been saying. I can’t. Even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t,’ he said, meeting her eyes with a steely determination.
She pulled at the gold chain round her neck. ‘You don’t want to?’
‘No.’
His reply had been unequivocal but she looked a little doubtful. Men did go for women like Sonya, after all, and Hugh was more easily distracted by the next pair of legs than most. ‘You’re not even a little bit tempted?’
