`Even though he must do it all the time working with you?' Xavier asked with heavy gallantry. `He is a hard man!'
Kate ran a finger around the rim of her glass. `He's just… Luke.'
His image rose in front of her as she stared down into her wine: the cold slate eyes that could warm with sudden laughter, the hard mouth that could soften with devastating charm, the strong hands whose merest touch could send her heart into overdrive.
`And you're in love with him,' Xavier said flatly.
Kate looked up. She could deny it, the way she had been trying so hard to deny it to herself, but it was useless. She might as well accept it, and learn to live with it.
`Yes,' she said.
CHAPTER NINE
'WELL,' said Luke, leaning back in his chair after he had finished dictating some letters the next morning, `how did you get on with Xavier 1ast night?’
'We had a very nice evening, thank you.' Kate ignored the sarcastic edge to his voice as she picked up her notebook and got to her feet. She had no intention of telling Luke that she had spent the whole time thinking about him.
`Very nice? Is that all you can say?' Lu sneered. `It must have been dull!'
`It wasn't dull. It was… very pleasant.'
`Pleasant!' Luke gave a shout of laughter `That's even worse.' He leant over the desk towards her. `If I'd taken you out on Valentine’s Day I'd have made sure that you had an evening that was wild, exciting, unforgettable… anything other than pleasant!'
Kate clutched her notebook defensively in fro of her and kept her composure with an effort. I might not have enjoyed that so much.'
`Why not? Too daring for you? I can't belie that after the way you were carrying on in Paris!’
The mockery in his voice hurt her. So he had had a wild evening with Helen, had he? He obviously thought she was no fun compared to her.
`Surely it's who you're with on Valentine's Day that matters more than what you do?' she said coldly. `You don't have to paint the town red to have an unforgettable evening if you're with the right person.'
Luke's face closed. `How right you are!' he said, and spun round in his chair, effectively dismissing her.
He was withdrawn for the rest of the day. Kate knew that she should have been pleased at having been able to hide her feelings so successfully, but she was restless and miserable, and eagerly accepted Serena's invitation to go and see the latest release at the cinema that evening. The film had been slated in the reviews: mindless entertainment was just what she needed.
It didn't take Serena long to worm the truth out of her. In spite of all Kate's attempts to appear bright and cheerful, her friend brushed aside assurances that she was fine and demanded to know what the matter was. In the end, Kate gave in.
`It's Luke,' she admitted as they queued to buy their tickets.
`I knew it!' Serena crowed. `You've fallen for him, haven't you?'
Kate nodded, shamefaced.
`It was inevitable,' Serena reassured her. `I guessed as soon as you started going on about how difficult he was; it was a dead giveaway. I don't blame you. He's terribly attractive, even if he is as awful as you always say he is.'
`He's not awful!' Kate sprang instinctively to Luke's defence, and then subsided. `Well, not all the time, anyway.'
Serena glanced at her mischievously. `I thought you said he was rude and arrogant and horrible and thoroughly unpleasant?' she said in an innocent voice, recalling all Kate's phone conversations over the past weeks. `Not to mention overbearing and unreasonable!'
`He is, but…' Kate trailed off, unable to explain, and Serena rolled her eyes.
`Oh, Kate, you have got it bad!'
`Yes,' Kate said a little wearily. `I have.'
Serena touched her arm with quick sympathy. `What does he feel about you?'
'I don't know.' Kate thrust her hands in her pockets and stared glumly down at the pavement. `Sometimes I think he finds me quite attractive, but the next moment he's being unpleasant again. He wouldn't go out with Helen and Lynette if he was interested in me, would he?'
'He might if he was trying not to be,' Serena said not very clearly. `He's awfully proprietorial as far as you're concerned, isn't he? Look at the fuss he made about your going out with Xavier! It sounds to me as if he was jealous.'
`You wouldn't have thought so if you'd seen him this morning. He was impossible!' Kate remembered morosely. `I made the mistake of telling him I'd had a pleasant evening, and he sneered all day, comparing it to the wild, exciting time he'd had with Helen.'
`In that case, he's
'No!' Kate recoiled instinctively. `I couldn't possibly.'
`Why not?'
'He doesn't want to get involved with anyone.
He's told me as much. He'd hate a clinging, emotional woman.'
`You wouldn't be clinging, though,' Serena pointed out. `You're not the type.'
`No, but I couldn't be detached either.' Kate's eyes were clear as she turned to look at her friend. `I love him, Serena. I've never felt like this about anybody before. If it were just a crush I might be able to laugh it off. We might even be able to have a brief affair. That's all he'd be interested in, but that kind of casual physical relationship wouldn't be enough for me.'
She paused. The queue was moving closer to the doors and her eyes fell on a still advertising the film. The hero and heroine were exchanging a passionate embrace. It reminded her of the time Luke had kissed her on the street corner. `I love all of him,' she went on slowly. `I love the difficult, annoying things about him as much as the way he looks, or the way he makes me feel. If I can't have all of him I'd rather keep my feelings to myself and carry on as his secretary. That way, neither of us is embarrassed.'
Easy to say, but as the days passed Kate found it more and more difficult to hide her feelings for Luke beneath her aura of cool efficiency She watched him with a heightened awareness, and flinched whenever he brushed against her inadvertently, reaching for a file or leaning next to her to look at the diary.
She was terrified that he had guessed. The astringent quality in their relationship that h2 stimulated as well as infuriated her had gradual evaporated. Instead of their snippy exchange there were long, awkward silences intersperse with sticky lumps of conversation. They only talked about business and avoided looking at each other.
Kate felt strangely lonely. Luke was remote, detached, and she missed arguing with him more than she would have believed. She even missed his being rude.
Was he trying to warn her off?
She was dreading their return to Paris. The contract was due to be signed the following Tuesday, early in the morning, and Luke had suggested that they fly out the night before to make sure they were there in time. He had even asked if that was agreeable to her! Kate agreed in a colourless tone. Paris held too many memories. She didn't want to go there with this stranger.
The week seemed endless; Kate couldn't decide whether she longed for the weekend, or dreaded it for bringing the Paris trip nearer. She was glad that Solange was coming out of school for the weekend, and planned a non-stop whirl of activities, as much to distract herself as amuse her niece. By the time she had taken Solange back to school on Sunday evening, she was exhausted, but had recovered her composure.
It seemed unbearably intimate to be travelling to the airport together after a largely silent day at the office.
