‘And you can answer a phone.’
‘Yes, of course, but I-’
‘And you’ve got common sense-although that’s not always obvious, I must admit,’ he added with one of his glinting looks. ‘Most important of all, you’re here and you know Sheila’s password, which means you can start straight away and I don’t need to wait for HR to shunt people around or get someone from an agency. That makes you the best candidate in my book.’
Lucy swallowed. ‘I’m not qualified to be a PA at this level.’
‘That doesn’t mean you can’t do it,’ said Guy.
‘But I’ve never done a job like that before!’ Lucy couldn’t believe how casually he seemed to be taking it all. Wasn’t he worried that she would come in and make a huge mess of everything?
‘Well, here’s your chance to try,’ he said, and then he fixed her with keen blue eyes. ‘Or are you scared that you won’t be able to do it?’
That brought her chin up immediately. ‘I’m not scared.’
‘Good, because you shouldn’t be,’ said Guy. Perching on the edge of his desk, he put his hands in his pockets and regarded Lucy thoughtfully. ‘I think you’re capable of a lot more than you think you are, Cinders,’ he said, not ungently.
‘I don’t know…’ Lucy chewed her lip anxiously. She might not be scared, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t nervous. Very. ‘I suppose I do avoid situations where I might be asked to do something I don’t know how to do. Perhaps it’s something to do with being the baby of the family. There’s always someone to look after you, and so nobody has very high expectations of you.’
‘Or is that you don’t have very high expectations of yourself?’ said Guy. ‘I’m the youngest, too, and I know what it’s like. I spent a lot of time drifting around, not wanting to do anything but have a good time, believing that was all I was good for.
‘I don’t regret those years at all,’ he told her, ‘and there’s nothing wrong with having a good time, but…there was something missing. I was always looking for something else, some new thrill. I’d set myself physical challenges, and it never occurred to me that running a business could be far harder and just as stimulating. I only discovered what I could do when I came home and had to take over at Dangerfield & Dunn.’
‘I don’t think I’m ready to tackle being chairman just yet,’ said Lucy nervously, and Guy laughed.
‘Once you know what you can do as a PA, who knows where you’ll end up?’
Lucy drew a deep breath. ‘Well, all right, I’ll do it, if you’re sure. I’d better let Imogen know, though. I said I’d just be ten minutes. She’ll be wondering what on earth I’ve been doing up here.’
Guy straightened and went round to sit at his desk. He pulled the file towards him as Lucy left to phone from Sheila’s office. ‘Tell her that you’ve been raising your expectations.’
In spite of her nervousness, Lucy couldn’t help being excited at the prospect of taking over from Sheila for a while. Guy seemed to think that she could do it, so maybe she could. All she needed to do was keep her cool and put the memory of that kiss right out of her mind. From now on, he would be her boss. Not her pretend fiance, not the boy who had once wanted to be a rodeo rider, not Bridget’s son doing his best to live up to his father’s expectations.
Not the man who had kissed her until her bones dissolved.
Just her boss.
She could do that, Lucy told herself. No problem.
There had been days Lucy thought were busy down in Reception, but she had never worked as hard as she did that day. The phone rang constantly, emails banked up in Sheila’s in-box, and there was a steady stream of people wanting to see Guy. He had one meeting after another, and Lucy had to make sure that he had all the right information to hand for each one. She supplied people with coffee when required and hurried back to Sheila’s desk to set up new meetings, keep a careful eye on Guy’s diary or check up on the arrangements for the reception Dangerfield & Dunn were hosting that night.
It was an eye-opening day for Lucy. She hadn’t realised that she was capable of working that hard, or that she could cope with the avalanche of phone calls and emails and the multiple crises which all had to be dealt with immediately, without descending into panic or asking for help.
She saw a new side to Guy, too. He might look the same, he might smile the same smile, but this was not just the lazily good-humoured Guy who had somehow become so familiar to her. This Guy knew exactly what he was doing. He might wear a beautiful cashmere suit and sit in a luxurious office but there was nothing soft about the way he did business. Lucy could hear an edge of steel in his voice, and beneath the smile and the charm was a toughness she had only glimpsed before.
It made her feel funny inside whenever she thought about it.
‘Are you still here?’
It was almost half past six when Guy came back from a meeting to find Lucy printing out one last document.
Her heart gave a little lurch at the sight of him, which was annoying as she had managed to keep it pretty steady for most of the day. She had been too busy to remember how it felt to kiss him, but now the memory was back with a vengeance and she was suddenly, acutely, aware that the floor was empty except for the two of them.
She kept her eyes on the printer, lifting out the document as soon as it was complete and putting it into its file. ‘I’m just finishing now,’ she said, glad she had something to keep her hands and eyes busy. Filing might not be glamorous, but it was a lot more dignified than flinging herself into his arms and begging him to kiss her again.
‘I was wondering if I should just check that everything is OK for the reception downstairs,’ she went on, rather pleased at the coolness of her voice. ‘It’s starting soon.’
‘I know,’ said Guy. ‘That’s why I’ve come back. I’m supposed to be making a speech of welcome.’
Lucy nodded. ‘I’ve put the notes for your speech on your desk.’
She went back to fretting about the reception, which had been occupying her all day and was a lot safer than noticing how well Guy’s jacket fitted his broad shoulders, or wondering what it was about the line of his jaw that tangled her en-trails into knots. ‘I could just put my head round the door and see that there are no problems behind the scenes,’ she said, talking to herself as much as to him. ‘The guest list has been changing all day.’
‘I’ve got a better idea,’ said Guy, strolling over to prop himself against her desk. ‘There’s no need for you to skulk around behind the scenes. Why don’t you come to the reception as a member of staff? You could probably do with a drink, couldn’t you?’
Lucy was gasping for one, but it didn’t seem very professional to admit it. ‘I probably need something to eat more,’ she said. ‘I didn’t have time for lunch.’
‘No lunch! Poor Lucy. That never happened at Wirrindago, did it?’ Guy’s eyes rested on her face. ‘I tell you what,’ he said. ‘We’ll go to the reception, have a drink and some of those nice canapes that Sheila always organises. I’ll make my speech and then I’ll take you out to dinner to thank you for all your hard work today. You’ve been brilliant.’
‘I’m not really dressed for a reception,’ she prevaricated.
‘Sure you are,’ said Guy briskly. ‘Everyone will be coming straight from work so they’ll all be in office clothes.’
‘They won’t be in borrowed suits!’
‘You look fine,’ he soothed. He studied her scoop-necked top and the neat little skirt whose matching jacket hung over the back of her chair. ‘More than fine, in fact. Go and put your lipstick on, or whatever it is you women do before you go out, and we’ll go.’
So Lucy found herself in his private bathroom, pulling the clip out of her hair with hands that weren’t nearly as steady as she wanted. She looked a mess. Bending at the waist, she brushed her hair out vigorously before shaking it back and clipping it firmly away from her face once more. She was still at work after all. Executive PAs didn’t let their hair tumble to their shoulders, and she had better not forget that a PA was all she was-and a temporary one at that.
Lipstick, blusher, a squirt of perfume and she was ready, but she found herself pausing with her hand on the bathroom door and taking a couple of deep steadying breaths before she put on a bright smile and went out to meet Guy.
The reception was held on the mezzanine floor, overlooking the dramatic semicircular atrium with its curved
