Lovers in the Afternoon Read online

  ‘You’re dripping blood all over the carpet,’ David snapped impatiently, taking out a handkerchief to wrap it about her hand, pulling her to her feet. ‘We had better get you cleaned up before we go anywhere.’ He led her into his office, the First Aid box kept there.

  He took the rose she still clutched and threw it in the bin, concentrating on washing her hand and applying a bandage as the small but deep wound continued to bleed.

  Leonie felt sick, and not because of the pain in her hand but because of her deliberate destruction of such innocent beauty. It wasn’t in her to deliberately hurt anything. Even when she had discovered how Liz and Adam had deceived her she hadn’t wanted revenge or retribution, had felt sorry for her trapped sister, although Adam seemed to be continuing with his life as if it had never happened.

  ‘Are you all right?’ David frowned at how pale she had become. ‘Maybe we should cancel this meeting with Faulkner, you look as if you should go home and rest.’

  She shook her head determinedly, not intending to delay this confrontation any longer than was necessary; she had already spent one sleepless night, she didn’t intend having any more because of Adam Faulkner. ‘I’ll be fine,’ she insisted, flexing her hand under the bandage; it was a bit sore, but workable.

  ‘Sure?’ David still looked concerned.

  ‘Yes,’ she smiled brightly, standing up. ‘Shouldn’t we leave now, Mr Faulkner is going to think unpunctuality is normal for us.’

  ‘For you it is,’ David mocked as they went down to his car, a white Cortina that he drove with the usual reserve he had to the rest of life.

  The cut on her hand was only a throbbing ache by the time they reached Thompson Electronics, the bandage showing no sign of heavy bleeding.

  Mrs Carlson greeted them with a smile, instantly informing Adam of their arrival, ushering them straight in to his office.

  ‘Sorry we’re late,’ David greeted the other man, their handshakes firm. ‘I’m afraid a little—accident, delayed us.’

  Leonie hung back behind David, feeling uncomfortable about seeing Adam again. The flesh and blood masculinity of him was much worse than she had imagined after the passion they had shared the previous evening, the royal blue three-piece suit and lighter blue shirt he wore making him look devastatingly attractive, his eyes more blue than grey.

  His gaze moved surely past David to her flushed face. ‘What did Miss Grant do this time?’ he drawled.

  Leonie’s blush deepened as David grinned. ‘A collision with a glass, I’m afraid,’ he explained.

  ‘The rose you sent me was in it,’ she put in quickly, challenge in her eyes as she realised he wasn’t about to reveal their marital status to David either. ‘It had to be put in the bin, I’m afraid,’ she added with satisfaction.

  For timeless seconds Adam held her gaze, transmitting a message that made the colour burn in her cheeks. ‘The rose can easily be replaced,’ he finally said softly. ‘There’s only one Leonie Grant.’

  ‘Thank God for that,’ David said thankfully, missing the undercurrent of tension between them, taking the conversation at face value.

  Leonie was perfectly aware of the double meaning to Adam’s words, her mouth firming frustratedly as she longed to knock that smile off his lips.

  ‘We may as well talk over lunch,’ Adam decided arrogantly. ‘If that’s all right with you?’ he consulted the younger man as an afterthought.

  ‘Fine,’ David agreed eagerly, seeing nothing wrong in this man taking charge of the meeting.

  It was embarrassing how easily David had been taken in by Adam’s charm, Leonie thought angrily. He was supposed to be romantically interested in her himself, and yet he seemed to find nothing wrong with the way Adam’s fingers closed possessively over her arm as they left the office together, seemed not to notice when Adam moved his thumb erotically against her inner arm.

  ‘What have you done to your hand?’ Adam frowned as he noticed the bandage for the first time, his fingers entwining with hers as he lifted her hand for closer inspection.

  ‘She cut herself with a piece of the broken glass.’ It was left to David to answer for her, her breath catching in her throat at the intimacies Adam was taking with her hand in full view of the other man.

  Adam’s gaze bored into hers. ‘Have you seen a doctor?’

  She swallowed hard, shaking her head to clear the spell he was casting over her. ‘Only David,’ she dismissed lightly, putting her other hand into the crook of the other man’s arm. ‘But he knows how to take care of me,’ she added pointedly.

  Dark brows met over suddenly icy grey eyes. ‘Indeed? You have some experience in taking care of Miss Grant, Mr Stevenson?’ the question was put innocently enough, but Leonie could feel the tension in the hand that still gripped hers.

  ‘A little.’ Once again David was innocent of the innuendo behind Adam’s words. ‘I took her to the hospital when she got high using glue in her office one afternoon, and another time when she stuck her letter-opener in her leg.’

  Adam’s eyes twinkled with suppressed humour as Leonie’s ploy to imply intimacy between David and herself failed miserably. ‘I wondered how you had acquired that scar,’ he said throatily.

  Leonie blushed as she remembered the way his caressing fingers had explored the half-inch scar above her knee, how they had explored the whole of her body, pulling out of his grasp to move closer to David. ‘He’s always rescuing this Damsel in Distress,’ she gave David a warm smile. ‘I don’t know what I’d do without him.’

  David looked pleased by her encouragement, having received little enough of it the last six months.

  ‘We’ll take my car,’ Adam decided abruptly, striding over to the BMW. ‘You don’t mind if Miss Grant sits in the front next to me, do you, Stevenson, she gets car sick in the back,’ he said smoothly.

  David looked surprised. ‘I didn’t know that.’

  Neither did she! But short of calling Adam a liar, and possibly alienating him as a client for David she couldn’t very well say so, getting ungraciously into the car next to Adam while David sat in the back. She almost gasped out loud when Adam took advantage of their relative privacy in the front of the car to guide her hand on to his thigh, keeping it there with his own hand when she would instantly have pulled away.

  His leg felt firm and warm through the material of his trousers, and she could feel the heat rising in her cheeks as both of them acted as if the intimacy weren’t taking place, Adam coolly conversing with the unsuspecting David.

  By the time they arrived at the restaurant Leonie’s nerves were in shreds, her senses in turmoil as she fought against the desire Adam had deliberately instigated. His gaze was silently mocking as he helped her out of the car, although she flushed as she saw his body wasn’t quite as controlled, looking away quickly from the evidence of his arousal, her cheeks burning as they entered the restaurant.

  She could see David was impressed by the other man, and the restaurant he had chosen, as they studied the menus. She was going to have to do something, and fast, if she wanted David to take her off this job.

  ‘So,’ Adam sat back after they had ordered their meal. ‘Is there some problem with Miss Grant coming to work for me?’

  David looked disconcerted by the other man’s bluntness. ‘Problem?’ he delayed.

  Adam shrugged. ‘Does the owner of Stevenson Interiors usually go to a routine business meeting with his employees?’

  ‘Er—Well—No,’ David answered awkwardly. ‘But Leonie is rather new at her job. Not that she isn’t good at it,’ he put in hastily. ‘She is. But she—we, wondered if you wouldn’t rather have someone more experienced.’

  ‘Just how much experience does Miss Grant have?’ Adam asked softly, his hand somehow locating her knee beneath the table, his fingers caressing.

  Leonie’s mouth tightened at the—to her—unsubtle double-meaning behind the question. ‘Not enough for you, I’m sure,’ she bit out, drawing in a pained breath as his fingers tighten
ed in rebuke.

  ‘I’m sure you’ll satisfy me,’ he told her blandly.

  ‘And I’m equally sure I won’t,’ she grated.

  ‘I’m not a demanding man, Miss Grant,’ he drawled. ‘I simply know what I like.’

  So did she after last night, having explored the hard planes of his body then more thoroughly than ever before, Adam encouraging her to do so, to both their delight.

  ‘I like what you’ve done for me already,’ he continued softly. ‘I’d like it to continue.’

  Her mouth thinned. ‘I don’t think I can—work, for you, Mr Faulkner.’

  ‘Leonie!’ David gasped. ‘What Leonie means is that she does have a couple of other little jobs that need her attention,’ he quickly invented. ‘And anyway, this conversation might be academic’

  Adam looked at him. ‘And why should it be that?’

  David gave a nervous laugh at the other man’s quiet intensity. ‘Well I know we’re the best, but I’m sure you’ll have other quotes in for the work, and—’

  ‘No other quotes,’ Adam told him arrogantly. ‘I want Miss Grant to do this for me.’

  David flushed with pleasure, and Leonie could understand why. Interior designing was a competitive business, and they lost as many prospective jobs as they won, other companies often undercutting them. If only Adam only had work on his mind!

  ‘In that case,’ he beamed, ‘I can get someone else to clear up Leonie’s odd loose ends.’

  ‘I would appreciate it,’ Adam drawled. ‘I need Miss Grant right away.’

  And he wasn’t lying either! His hand had captured hers as she tried to pry his fingers from her knees, guiding it to the throbbing hardness of his thighs. She flinched away from him as if he had burnt her, glaring at him furiously for this subterfuge.

  ‘And, of course, if her work proves as satisfactory this time as last I would consider using her when I have my apartment refurbished,’ he added challengingly.

  ‘It’s a brand new apartment!’ She almost groaned out loud as she realised she had revealed to a shocked David that she had been to the other man’s home. ‘Mr Faulkner insisted on taking me home to give me a drink to steady my nerves last night before driving me to my flat,’ she quickly explained.

  ‘Leonie has a habit of walking into one catastrophe after another,’ David smiled.

  ‘I’ve noticed,’ Adam said dryly. ‘I feel that my apartment lacks the homely touch at the moment, I’m sure Miss Grant could help me create that.’

  She was so angry with him at this moment that if he didn’t stop baiting her in this way she was going to pick up his soup and tip it over his head! But maybe if she could show David how Adam kept flirting with her he would realise she couldn’t possibly work for the other man; the cold treatment certainly hadn’t worked!

  ‘I’m sure there must be a woman in your life who could do a much better job of that than I,’ she suggested throatily.

  His eyes widened questioningly, and then he smiled knowingly. ‘I always think this sort of thing is better accomplished by someone who knows what they’re doing.’

  She blushed as he turned the innuendo back on her. ‘I’m sure you’re just being modest, Mr Faulkner,’ her voice was husky.

  ‘On the contrary, since my wife left my life has been lacking in a woman’s—touch.’

  She glared at him in silent rage. And if he really expected her to believe there had been no woman for him since their separation he was insane! Liz might be out of his reach at the moment, but there were plenty of other women who weren’t, and God knows he had found little enough satisfaction during their brief marriage.

  ‘How about you, Stevenson,’ Adam turned to the other man. ‘Does your life have that special woman’s touch?’

  ‘I’m not married,’ David answered in all innocence, receiving a frustrated glare from Leonie at his candid reply.

  ‘Neither am I—now,’ the other man told him in amusement. ‘But one doesn’t have to be married to have a special woman in one’s life.’

  David glanced awkwardly at Leonie. ‘I suppose not,’ he muttered.

  ‘Just as one can have a special woman in one’s life even if one is married,’ Leonie put in with sweet sarcasm, looking challengingly at Adam as his expression remained bland.

  ‘Leonie!’ David was shocked at the turn the conversation had taken.

  She gave him a scornful look. ‘We’re all adults here, David,’ she bit out. ‘And the sanctity of marriage does seem to have lost its meaning to some people. Don’t you agree, Adam?’ she added hardly.

  He shrugged, completely relaxed. ‘Divorce has been made too easy,’ came his reply.

  ‘Easy?’ she repeated disbelievingly. ‘You’ll excuse me if I disagree!’ She glared at him, remembering that she had only been able to be legally separated from him without actually revealing the reason she could no longer live with him, had to wait two years to be free of him.

  He gave an acknowledging inclination of his head. ‘It seems to me that at the first sign of trouble in a marriage now one of the partners runs to the nearest lawyer rather than trying to work the problem out with the logical person, their spouse.’

  If Leonie could have spoken immediately after that arrogant statement she would have told him exactly what he could do with his theory. As it was, by the time she had overcome her rage enough to be able to talk she had also controlled the impulse, conscious of David even if Adam wasn’t. ‘You believe that’s what your wife did, hm?’ she prompted hardly.

  ‘Oh no,’ he denied easily. ‘My wife was perfectly right to leave me, I was lousy husband material.’

  Having expected a completely different answer Leonie was once again left speechless. Adam certainly knew how to disconcert her. And he knew it, damn him.

  David coughed uncomfortably, obviously finding the conversation embarrassing.

  ‘You’ll have to excuse us,’ Adam turned to him with a smile. ‘Both being statistics in marriage failure I’m afraid Leonie and I got carried away comparing notes. We’ll have this conversation some other time, Leonie,’ there was a promise in his voice. ‘I’m sure you must have been a much better wife than I ever was a husband.’

  Had she been? She doubted it. She had been too young and unsophisticated to cope with the trauma of her honeymoon, had made no effort to bridge the gulf that had arisen between them because of it, had found the physical act between them embarrassing. Then why had last night been so different? Could Adam be right, the lack of a commitment between them made it all so much more uncomplicated, easier to relax and enjoy what they did have?

  She looked up to find silver-grey eyes on her, realising he was still waiting for an answer. ‘No,’ she sighed. ‘I don’t think I could have been.’

  His gaze held hers for long timeless moments before he turned to signal for the bill, breaking the mood, his hand finally leaving her knee as they all stood up to leave.

  ‘So when do you think Miss Grant will be able to start work for me?’ he asked David on the drive back to his office, the other man once again in the back of the car, although this time both Adam’s hands remained on the steering-wheel; and why shouldn’t they, he had no further reason to torment her, he had won. She was going to work for him.

  ‘Monday,’ David answered firmly, ignoring Leonie’s dismayed expression. ‘Is that suitable for you?’

  ‘Very,’ Adam nodded, his mouth quirking triumphantly at Leonie.

  She glared back at him. ‘You will, of course, have to move out of your office once the work begins,’ she told him tightly.

  ‘I understand that. But you will be supervising the operation personally, won’t you?’

  ‘It’s the usual practice,’ she conceded grudgingly, knowing that she had to give in, that she had to subject herself to several weeks of working for Adam. But working for him was all she intended doing. If he expected anything else from the arrangement he was going to be disappointed!

  * * *

  ‘You nearly lo
st us that contract!’

  She had been expecting the rebuke from David ever since they had parted from Adam half an hour ago, but he had remained silent as they went down to the car park to their respective vehicles, had waited until they reached the privacy of his office before turning on her angrily.

  ‘All that talk about not being good enough to do the work,’ David continued furiously. ‘The man will think I employ amateurs!’

  ‘David—’

  ‘And I could have sunk through the floor when you started talking about the sanctity of marriage. The man’s private life is none of our business, Leonie,’ he told her disgustedly.

  ‘I—’

  ‘And just how long did you stay at his apartment last night?’ he added with a frown.

  All colour left her face. ‘I—What do you mean?’ she forced casualness into her voice.

  ‘The two of you seem pretty familiar with each other’s private lives. I’ve been seeing you for the last six months and yet in one evening that man seems to know more about you than I do!’ he accused.

  He had given her the perfect opening for her to tell him that Adam was her estranged husband, and yet she couldn’t take it. It was much too late for that. The time to tell him had been this morning, before she and Adam acted like strangers for a second time, before David would be made to feel too foolish by the knowledge. He would never forgive her if he was told the truth now.

  ‘I knew you were separated from your husband,’ David continued forcefully. ‘But I had no idea you were actually divorcing him.’

  She shrugged. ‘It’s the usual conclusion to that sort of mistake.’

  ‘But don’t you see, I didn’t know,’ he said heatedly. ‘And yet you told Faulkner after knowing him only a few hours!’

  ‘I—er—Maybe the fact that he’s separated too gave us a mutual interest in the subject,’ she invented.

  ‘How mutual?’ David asked suspiciously.

  She sighed. ‘Did I seem as if I wanted to see him again, even professionally?’