unrepentant.
'Ill-mannered people never do!'
His dark brows drew together in a dangerous
Did she? Kate felt as if she had been suddenly brought up short. Could she really contemplate working for Luke Hardman? It would be hideously embarrassing if he ever recognised her, but how likely was that? If he hadn't remembered her by now he probably never would. When Paula Stephens had described the job on the phone it had sounded so much more interesting than the other jobs she had contemplated.
Kate stared down at her hands. It would be wonderful to have a good salary again, too. Luke was rude and unpleasant, but she was surprised at how little he frightened her now. He would be infuriating, of that she had no doubt, but she was oddly certain that she could handle him.
With a little shock she realised that she found the prospect exciting. Steady, sensible Kate had always been content with security and routine, had never yearned for excitement, but suddenly it seemed natural to be sitting here contemplating working closely with Luke with a small thrill of disbelief. Only last night she had seen him for the first time in ten years, and now she was calmly considering spending most of her days with him!
`Well?' he demanded again impatiently. `Make up your mind!'
Kate looked up from her hands. `Yes,' she said. `I do want it.'
`You don't seem very sure.'
`I am sure.'
`Why?' he asked abruptly. `According to your CV, you had a good job with a wine exporter in Dijon. What made you give that up? You're not the kind of girl who chucks in a job on a whim, are you?'
'No,' Kate said in a level voice. `My niece has been sent to boarding-school in England while her parents are in Africa. She doesn't know anyone else here, so I said I'd be around to take her out for weekends or in case there were any problems. That meant coming back to England and finding a job here.'
`Very worthy,' Luke jeered. `Not many aunts would give up a good job to go and work in another country just to be near a niece. There must be some other reason for all this altruism.'
Kate flushed angrily at his tone. `I'd been thinking about coming back to England anyway -for personal reasons,' she added, seeing brows raised in enquiry. There was no need to go into details about her mother's new husband. It was none of his business.
'Hmmnn,' he grunted. `I suppose that means boyfriend trouble?'
'No.' Kate refused to elaborate. `This just seemed a good opportunity to come back,' she said with a note of finality.
Luke was tapping his pen on the desk. `How long had you been living in France? I assume you're English, with a name like Kate Finch?'
'I'm half-French and half-English. I grew up in England, but after my father died my mother took me back to Dijon. We must have lived there about ten years now.'
`I see. And what happens if you get homesick for France and want to go back there?'
'I won't. I grew up in England; it feels like home to me to me. I still have school friends here, so it's not as if I'm all alone. In any case, I wouldn't leave Solange, my niece, here on her own.'
Pushing back his chair, Luke stood up and prowled over to the window. `My last secretary left before Christmas, and I'm sick of a succession of temps who all burst into tears as soon as I raise my voice. At least you don't look as if you'll do that.'
`Certainly not,' Kate said crisply.
`What did Paula tell you about the job?' he asked suddenly.
`She said it was very much a personal assistant's role. You wanted an efficient secretary, but also someone who was prepared to get involved so that you could delegate some of your responsibilities when you were away.'
`That's about it. I don't want someone who's going to sit and file her nails all day!'
Involuntarily Kate glanced down at her hands. They were slim and elegant, but she had always kept her nails cut short and neat for practical reasons.
`Do you know what we do here at LPM?'
'I know the letters stand for London Project Management,' Kate said cautiously. `I gathered you were engineering consultants of some kind.'
Luke nodded, moving away from the window to pace about the room, hands thrust in his pockets, as if he had too much energy to sit still any longer.
`We dress it up in nice language for the clients, but we're more or less Mr. Fixit on major building projects. There are an enormous number of interests involved in any one project- architects, consultants, contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, you name it-and we act as a liaison between them all, representing the client. That means we have to know exactly what's going on at any one point, sort out any problems, and make sure our client is getting what he's paid for.
'I used to spend a lot of my time on site, but ,he firm has expanded in the past couple of years,
'Yes, except for when Solange comes to me for.he weekend.'
`Nobody else likely to make a fuss if you're away a lot? No boyfriend lurking in the wings, ready to sulk if you don't leave work at five-thirty on the dot?'
'No,' said Kate.
It was strange, she thought, how he could be so familiar, and yet a stranger at the same time. The brusque, aggressive businessman was new to her, but the turn of his head or the set of his mouth would bring back vivid memories of the Luke she had known, a wilder, more reckless Luke. This man prowling around the room was harder and tougher, his rebelliousness channeled into impatient ambition and the old half suspected vulnerability firmly vanquished by an air of crisp efficiency and clear indifference to other people's opinions.
Luke was standing by the window again, staring down at the street as he thought.
`You seem sensible enough,' he admitted grudgingly. `And you're the first person I've seen who can speak French properly. We've done quite a bit of work in the States and Australia, but I want to move into Europe now. There are plenty of opportunities opening up, and I want to be the first in there. We're bidding for a big French project at the moment, but, although I can understand French, I can't speak it, so I badly need an assistant who can. I also need someone who's prepared to work as hard as I do without whining or crying or droning on about her rights. Is that clear?'
'Perfectly,' Kate said, a dry edge to her voice.
`I'm a difficult man to work for,' he warned.
`I'd gathered that,' murmured Kate.
`But in return,' Luke went on, ignoring her interruption, `you'll get a generous salary. I expect you to earn it. I don't want you bleating that you didn't know what I was going to be like or how much work you'd have to do!'
`Are you offering me the job?' Kate sat up a little straighter and fought down a feeling of panic. What had she done?
`On a month's trial,' he said quickly. `I want to see those famous skills of yours in action before I commit myself to paying you that kind of money every month.'
'Very well.'
Luke raised a sardonic eyebrow. `Is that all you've got to say?
`You don't sound very enthusiastic about employing me,' Kate retorted, nettled by his grudging offer.
Over the desk their eyes met and clashed. Kate's cheeks were pink, and her brown eyes bright with antagonism. Luke glared at her, clearly unused to being answered back, and then, quite suddenly, the wrathful expression disappeared.
He walked back round his desk towards Kate, still sitting straight and prim in her upright chair. He had always moved like that, she thought irrelevantly, with that deliberate tread. It overwhelmed her with memories, like a
