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‘Yes, it was,’ Jordan agreed, a wry gleam in his eyes. ‘Very pleasant.’
‘But we’ve got to work together and I don’t think we should complicate things.’
‘Who said anything about complicating things?’ Jordan shrugged. ‘I’m all for keeping things simple.’
She nodded. ‘Of course.’ She had never for one moment thought that he would read anything serious into last night. ‘Look, I’ll be honest with you, I’m feeling a bit awkward.’ She tried desperately to hold his gaze but failed miserably and had to look away. ‘I’m hoping we can put this…incident behind us and forget about it, go back to the way things used to be.’
Jordan reached out a hand and tipped her chin upwards so that she was forced to meet his eyes. ‘Do you feel guilty about last night because you are still in love with David?’ He asked the question quietly.
The question and the touch of his hand against her skin brought a very heated response coursing through her veins. ‘I don’t think that’s any of your business, Jordan,’ she snapped, pulling away from him.
He shrugged. ‘Well, if you are still holding a torch for David, you’re making a big mistake. The guy is a loser.’
‘And I really don’t need your analysis of David, thank you. You’re hardly a model of perfection where women are concerned yourself.’
Jordan smiled at that. ‘You weren’t complaining last night,’ he said teasingly and watched the even brighter flare of colour in her cheeks.
‘You see! This is exactly why last night was such a mistake,’ she spluttered indignantly. ‘I can’t have you reminding me about it every two minutes we have to work together.’
‘I’m not reminding you about it every two minutes; we were discussing the implications of last night before moving on to the day’s work, like a couple of grown-ups—remember?’
‘Don’t get smart with me, Jordan. There are no implications from last night; it was just two people enjoying a bit of light-hearted fun. So let’s just forget about it and move on. OK?’
‘Fine with me.’ Jordan shrugged.
‘Good.’ She picked up some papers that were sitting beside her. ‘Those are for you; they are the estimates for the soft furnishings.’
‘Great, thanks.’ His voice was dry. ‘I’ll look through them and get back to you.’
‘Good idea.’
‘And I’ve got something for you.’ He opened his briefcase. She thought he was going to pass her some papers that he wanted her to look at. Instead he took out a folded black lacy bra and put it on her desk. ‘It was on the floor in the lounge.’
Mortified beyond belief, Charlotte grabbed it and stuck it in the top drawer of her desk. ‘What are you thinking of?’ she said shakily, glancing around through the glass walls to see if any of her co-workers had noticed. Her office made her feel a bit like she worked in a goldfish bowl—everyone could see what she was doing.
‘Well, I was thinking that you might just be missing your bra,’ he said with a smile.
‘I’ve got to work here, Jordan! I don’t want everyone knowing that I’ve had a moment’s insanity with the boss.’
‘Charlotte, they’d have to have bionic vision to see what that tiny scrap of material is,’ he said with a shake of his head. ‘Relax, for heaven’s sake.’ Before she realised his intention he reached out and tipped her chin up so that she was forced to meet his eyes.
‘And as moments of insanity go it was very, very pleasant,’ he murmured huskily, his eyes moving towards her lips.
Then he released her and walked out of her office. Her heart was thumping. She felt sick inside with the knowledge that she had just handled that situation appallingly. Maybe she should just have laughed the whole thing off instead of acting so uptight?
Breathing deeply to release the tension inside, Charlotte tried very hard to think straight. But her mind was a jumbled mess of words and feelings she couldn’t get a handle on. In desperation she reached for the phone and dialled her sister’s number.
The answering machine came on and she was just about to hang up in complete frustration when Jennifer answered, sounding a bit breathless.
‘Oh, hi, sis. Sorry, I was just attending to Matilda here. She won’t stop crying.’
In the background Charlotte could hear her four-week-old niece giving full vent to her lungs. ‘Sorry, I’ve obviously caught you at a bad time. I’ll ring back later.’
‘No, no, it’s OK,’ Jennifer assured her hastily. ‘What’s the matter?’
Charlotte smiled to herself. Jennifer was her younger sister by five years but they were very close. ‘You know me so well,’ she murmured.
‘I know that tone in your voice, if that’s what you mean.’ Jennifer was shushing her baby and Charlotte could hear her picking her up, could imagine the scene as she wedged a phone on one shoulder whilst holding a wriggling infant on the other.
‘I don’t know what’s the matter with me. I’m not coping with anything at the moment, and my emotions are all over the place.’
‘Well, I think that’s pretty normal given the circumstances with you and David. You have been dating him for a long time; you’re bound to be upset. You should have taken time off work—’
‘Jen, I did something terrible last night.’ She cut across her sister, swiftly needing to unburden herself. ‘I slept with Jordan.’
There was a deathly silence at the other end of the phone. Even Matilda had gone quiet.
‘Crikey, Charlie!’
‘I know!’ Charlotte flicked a glance through the glass partition and saw Jordan’s secretary laughing with him. He looked incredibly relaxed and for some reason that made Charlotte feel even more on edge. ‘I don’t know what happened! One moment I was going to have coffee with him and the next we were in bed.’
Jennifer laughed.
‘It’s not funny.’
‘No, but it’s not that terrible either! To be honest, I’ve always secretly thought that Jordan would be perfect for you. Dad thinks so too. In fact he was saying not so long ago how well you two work together now and what a blessing he has you both at the business. And Jordan is so nice and so good-looking—’
‘Oh, come on!’ Charlotte cut in drily. ‘Don’t start taking artistic licence. The only thing Dad would say is that Jordan makes lots of money for the company. Dad is a businessman first and foremost.’
‘No, he’s not. He’s a big softie really, and he’ll be pleased you’re having a relationship with Jordan.’
‘We’re not having a relationship—it was sex!’
‘Well, a relationship has to start somewhere. Why not in bed? At least you’ve sampled the goods and found them in working order.’ Jennifer giggled. ‘I’m so pleased. If nothing else, you needed someone to take your mind off David.’
Jordan had certainly done that, Charlotte thought wryly.
‘Listen, why don’t the two of you come for Sunday dinner?’ Jennifer said excitedly.
‘I don’t think you’ve been listening to me, Jen. We’re not dating. In fact, we’re barely being civil to each other this morning. And besides, you know what he’s like where women are concerned—I’ll be just another notch on his bedpost.’
‘Not necessarily; you could be special.’
‘And the world could be flat,’ Charlotte drawled. ‘Anyway, it’s too close for comfort. I’ve got to work with the guy and I don’t want the complications; I’ve enough problems. I don’t know what the hell possessed me.’
‘I do—he’s gorgeous!’ Jennifer giggled again. ‘All right, well, you just come for dinner then. I’d better go. Madam here has just been sick down my blouse. See you Sunday.’
‘See you Sunday.’ Charlotte was speaking to a dead phone line now. She supposed she shouldn’t be surprised that Jennifer would be pro-Jordan. She’d been singing his praises since he had joined the company, and her husband, Steve, had got very friendly with him. Even though they lived just outside London in quite a rural area, Jordan was often over at their house. In fact it was through her sister that Charlotte got to hear snippets of information about Jordan’s girlfriends.
It was a wonder Jennifer didn’t know about the fact he had once had a daughter. But she definitely didn’t, otherwise Charlotte would have heard about it. Obviously it was just too painful a subject for Jordan to talk about, which was understandable.
She glanced down at the designs in front of her, but her mind was flicking over Jennifer’s words.
I’ve always secretly thought that Jordan would be perfect for you. Dad thinks so too.
Where had that come from? Jennifer had never said that to her before. And as for her father, he would think anyone was good for her as long as it wasn’t David. He really disliked David, and that was before he had heard of their break-up.
But Jen was wrong. Romantically speaking, Jordan wasn’t her type. He was too sure of himself, arrogant even. But then she remembered last night and the way he had made her laugh at dinner…the way he had looked so raw when he had spoken of his little girl…the way he had kissed the inside of her wrist… Why had that kiss been so erotic? she wondered. She had never thought of the wrist being an erogenous zone before.
She frowned. All right, maybe last night Jordan had sort of grown on her a bit. But not romantically, definitely not romantically; Jennifer was wrong about that. The sex had been wonderful though.
Charlotte scored a line through the piece of paper in front of her. She had to work with the guy, she told herself fiercely. Remembering things like that wasn’t helpful.
She looked over at him again; he was signing something now and he gave Laura a boyish smile that for some reason had a funny effect on Charlotte’s loins. He was basically a nice man. Obviously he had loved his wife, and his little girl. Whatever was going on in his life now, he’d certainly been through a tough time in the past.
Maybe she should apologise for being a bit sharp this morning. They had both enjoyed last night. She should have acted in a more mature way about it all.
She watched as Laura left his office. He was talking to someone on the phone now. If she was going to apologise, now was probably the time to go over, whilst his secretary was out. She didn’t want the whole building knowing that she was Jordan’s latest conquest. That would be too humiliating.
Before her courage could desert her she got up and went across to his office. They never knocked on each other’s doors, so Charlotte didn’t think twice about just walking in on him. He was sitting with his back to her, having swivelled around in his leather chair, and he was still talking on the phone.
‘We went out for dinner,’ he was saying. ‘Then I invited her back to my place for coffee.’ He laughed, a deep, husky, teasing kind of laugh. ‘OK, what can I say? I’m weak, yeah…that’s right, I got sidetracked. Not one of my better moves. But it was very enjoyable.’
Charlotte’s blood started to freeze in her veins as she realised he was talking about her.
Her first instinct was to get out of the room before he saw that she was there. She certainly wasn’t going to apologise to him now. Hurriedly she started to back away, closing the door behind her with a quiet click. How dared he? she thought as she stormed back to her office. Not one of his better moves, indeed! He could say that again!
She sat back down at her desk and glared at the back of his head through the plate glass. How dared he discuss her like that…and who had he been talking to? She hoped it wasn’t someone they worked with—if this got out in the office everyone would be gossiping about her.
She burned with the indignity of it all. She had always been an intensely private person. And she had always prided herself on being in control of her emotions. Now her personal life was being bandied around for all and sundry to know, and she certainly wasn’t in control of her emotions because at this moment she really thought she hated Jordan Lynch.
His chair swivelled around suddenly and their eyes locked through the glass. Hers simmered with intense anger, his were coolly unperturbed.
Swiftly she lowered her head and returned her attention to her work. That was it; she would have nothing more to do with Jordan Lynch, she told herself fiercely.
CHAPTER THREE
IT WAS Sunday afternoon, the sky was a clear blue but the breeze that stirred the trees, sending showers of cherry blossom fluttering onto the front lawns, was ice-cold. It felt more like March than the first day of May, Charlotte thought as she pulled up outside the tall Victorian detached house where Jennifer and Steven lived.
She parked her car on the road and walked into the driveway past her sister’s people carrier, Steve’s convertible and Harriet’s bicycle, which had been abandoned at right angles by the front door in a strategically placed booby trap.
Smiling to herself, Charlotte stepped over it and in through the front door, which had been left ajar.
The first thing that hit her was the smell of roast beef wafting through from the kitchen; the second was the discordant sound of Harriet practising her scales on the piano in the lounge.
‘Hello,’ Charlotte called out. Immediately the playing stopped and her six-year-old niece came flying out, feet thundering on the polished wooden floors, blonde pigtails bouncing as she flung herself at Charlotte like a whirling dervish.
‘Auntie Charlie!’ she screeched with delight as Charlotte picked her up and whirled her around. ‘Guess what…guess what?’
‘What?’ Charlotte hugged her tight and then put her down.
‘Uncle Jordan is here as well.’
‘Oh.’ The moment of happiness inside Charlotte faded as she looked up and saw Jordan framed in the kitchen doorway, watching the welcome she had received. Charlotte was used to seeing Jordan dressed in suits but today he was wearing jeans and an open-necked blue shirt. The casual look suited him, made him look younger than his thirty-eight years, and even sexier than usual, if that was possible. She dragged her gaze away from him, annoyed for thinking along those lines.
‘Hello, Jordan.’ She was aware that her voice was very cool, but she couldn’t help it. She had been looking forward to a relaxing dinner with her family, away from her problems, especially the problem of Jordan. ‘What are you doing here?’ Even as she asked the question she knew the answer.
‘Jennifer invited me over for lunch.’
She hoped to high heaven he didn’t think she’d put Jen up to it! Jordan Lynch didn’t need his ego boosting any further—it was already off the scale.
‘That was nice of her.’ There was a definite edge to Charlotte’s tone now.
He smiled, totally unperturbed. ‘Yes, I thought so too.’
Charlotte took off her beige suede jacket and slung it over the end of the banisters. She was going to kill her sister.
‘Where is Jen?’
‘On the phone, trying to dig Steve out of the golf club. He went for a quick game and apparently should have been home over an hour ago.’
Charlotte smiled. That sounded like Steve. ‘I’m surprised you didn’t join him.’
Jordan shrugged. ‘I had to go into the office today to sort out some paperwork.’
For the first time Charlotte realised just how much extra work Jordan had on his desk with her father staying on in France all this time. ‘If you need some help with paper-work I don’t mind giving you a hand,’ she offered impulsively. ‘I know I’m more on the design side than office management, but I can do both. I did run my own business once.’
‘Yes, I know.’ He smiled at her. ‘Thanks, I’ll bear that in mind.’
Something about the way he smiled at her made her go hot inside. Hurriedly she glanced away. Then, catching her niece’s eye, she remembered she had some sweets for her in her jacket pocket. She took them out and passed them to the little girl.
‘Thanks!’ Harriet’s eyes lit up. ‘These are my favourites. And look what Uncle Jordan brought.’ She raced into the lounge and came back with a rag doll in one hand and a teddy in the other. ‘This is for me, and this…’ she brandished the teddy ‘…is for Matilda.’
‘How lovely.’ Charlotte smiled. ‘I hope you said a big thank-you to Uncle Jordan.’
Harriet nodded. ‘He’s a lovely uncle.’ She said the words with a seriousness that sounded very grown-up for a six-year-old.
Charlotte laughed and glanced over at Jordan with amusement.
‘It’s official, I’m a lovely uncle.’ He nodded, humour also sparkling in his dark eyes. ‘Even if it is only an honorary title.’
Maybe he was a bit of a rat when it came to love, but you couldn’t help but like the guy, Charlotte thought. ‘Well, it was very kind of you.’
As she made to follow him into the kitchen she noticed the gleam of male interest that took in her close-fitting beige leather trousers and cream jumper. It was as if he could see straight through to the scanty underwear beneath and, shockingly, it made her body leap in a response that was purely sexual as she remembered the wild passion they had shared on Thursday night.
Instantly she was annoyed with herself, and annoyed with him for looking at her like that. Would their night together never be forgotten? She had the horrible feeling that it was going to haunt the rest of their working relationship. Remembering the way he had talked about her on the phone, she cringed inwardly. She’d been such a fool.
Matilda was in her carry-cot by the French doors, and, glad of the diversion, Charlotte went across to peep into the lacy crib. She expected the baby to be asleep, she was so quiet, and got quite a surprise when Matilda turned big blue eyes up at her and seemed to smile.
