Here Comes The Bride

hear about his change of mind. That was sisters for you!

‘And who knows?’ said Janey, amusement threading her voice. ‘Maybe you’ll decide that Helen is the right woman for you after all, and you’ll ring me tomorrow and tell me you don’t need Nell’s number anymore!’

P.J. didn’t think that was very likely. When Janey had rung off, he sat for a while, staring down at the phone.

He had been so sure that he was over Nell, and, after the years spent dismissing Janey’s suggestions that he was simply searching for a substitute for her, it was galling to realise that his sister had been right all along.

Irritably, he swung his chair round and prowled over to the window. Part of him had been overjoyed to see Nell that morning, but there was part of him too that wished she hadn’t stepped out in front of him and that he had simply driven past her without knowing that she was there.

No, not that, P.J. corrected himself. He had wanted to see her. He just wished that she hadn’t been so familiar, that she hadn’t still been so easy to talk to, still so beautiful… Now it felt as if everything had changed. Nell wasn’t just part of his past, whatever she might say about it. Now she was his present, too. She had been ever since he had looked into her grey eyes that morning and felt his heart squeeze in his chest at the realisation that it was really her, after all this time.

He turned back to his desk, but he didn’t sit down again. He felt edgy and restless, almost cross, and it was because of Nell. She had shaken him so easily out of his own sense of certainty. P.J. didn’t like the feeling, and he especially didn’t like the thought that she had found someone else. Janey had told him that she was divorced, but she hadn’t known that Nell already had the oh-so-perfect John to make her happy again. She didn’t need P.J., and she had made it plain that she didn’t particularly want to see him again.

It had all changed so suddenly, too. He had woken up that morning not knowing that Nell would be part of his life once more before the day was even halfway through. Not knowing that sixteen years of missing her would lead to this moment, and that he would have to face the fact that he still wanted her, and needed her, and that, in the end, nothing had changed at all.

What was it Janey had said about him being too used to having whatever he wanted? P.J. hunched his shoulders uneasily. He didn’t think that he was like that, but there was no doubt that realising that he might not be able to have Nell had left him feeling tense and twitchy and exposed. It was a long time since he had felt like this.

Sixteen years, in fact.

But he wasn’t twenty two anymore, P.J. reminded himself. He was a grown man, and he didn’t have to just accept things anymore. He might not be able to have Nell, but he would do whatever he could to get her back, John or no John. He would go on this date tonight as Janey had insisted, but after that he was going to find Nell, with or without his sister’s help. He would have to. He couldn’t face the thought of losing her all over again.

CHAPTER SIX

THE meeting was scheduled for three o’clock, by which time Nell was wishing that she had never heard of Sygma or its need for a new director of finance. She knew what electronic meant-sort of, anyway-but that was as far as her awareness of, or interest in, firms at the cutting edge of technology went.

Her boss was much more enthusiastic. ‘Sygma are huge,’ she told Nell, several times. ‘They dominate the technology market in North America, and now they’re expanding their operations in London to take advantage of the enlarged European community. They’re going to have phenomenal influence on the business world here, and if we do a good job for them this time, the possibilities are enormous for us.’

Eve’s eyes shone at the prospect. ‘We’ve got to get this meeting right. We’re dealing with an American company, remember, so we need to be punchy and assertive. None of this British self-effacement, Nell! We’ve got a can-do philosophy. We’re positive, professional, the best.’

Nell clenched her fist in what she hoped was a suitably gung-ho gesture. ‘The best,’ she agreed, wishing that Eve would go away and let her get on with her work. ‘Absolutely.’

‘They’ve got a reputation as tough negotiators,’ Eve went on, ‘but we can be tough, too. The important thing is to convince them that we’re consummate professionals, and that we can find them exactly the right person to be their new director of finance. We don’t compromise on quality. Ever.’

Nell suspected that Eve was nervously rehearsing what she would say that afternoon, and after a while she restricted herself to nodding absently. She respected her boss rather than liked her, but she had to admire her when they arrived at Sygma’s offices. No sign of Eve’s earlier tension showed as she shook hands with Lester Graves, the director of human resources who came to meet them.

Nell was glad that she was wearing her best suit. The Sygma offices were extraordinarily stylish, all glass and steel and unobtrusive quality. She began to see what Eve had meant when she’d talked about the company being a force to be reckoned with, and she tried not to feel intimidated as Lester Graves shook her hand and gestured towards a meeting room on their right.

‘Shall we go straight in?’

Punchy, positive, professional, Nell repeated to herself, squaring her shoulders and pulling down her jacket as she followed Eve and Lester across the lobby.

‘By the way, our president will be sitting in on the meeting,’ Lester said to Eve as he opened the door. ‘The director of finance is a key position, and he wants to be sure that you know exactly what we’re looking for.’

In other words, the president didn’t trust his director of human resources to do his job properly, thought Nell, but Eve didn’t miss a beat.

‘Naturally,’ she said coolly. ‘It’s essential that we establish clear channels of communication at this stage.’

A man was standing by the window, but he turned at the sound of Lester’s voice and came over to greet them. Bringing up the rear and half hidden behind Eve, Nell couldn’t see him properly at first.

‘Peter, can I introduce Eve Fleming and Nell Shea?’ said Lester. ‘Ladies, this is our president, Mr Smith.’

Eve shook his hand and said something gracious, and then stepped aside to draw Nell forward.

‘My assistant, Nell Shea.’

It was only then that Nell saw who was holding out his hand towards her.

P.J.

The breath seemed to be stuck in P.J.’s throat, and for a moment he could only stare. It wasn’t just the surprise at seeing her here, although that was startling enough. It was the way she looked.

He had never seen Nell like this before, poised and elegant in a pale pink suit and high heels, her ash blonde hair twisted up and away from her face. The contrast with the way she had looked that morning, in a faded old sweatshirt and with her face bare and her hair tumbled, could hardly be greater, and P.J. was conscious of an absurd spurt of anger at her for changing, and throwing him once again.

He had only decided to sit in on this meeting because he hadn’t been able to concentrate on anything all morning. Lester was more than capable of dealing with recruitment issues, but he had agreed readily when P.J. had suggested that he come along as well.

But then he was hardly going to refuse, was he? P.J. thought, shifting uncomfortably at the memory of Janey’s comments about his so-called flunkies who said, ‘Yes, sir,’ and, ‘No, sir,’ and jumped whenever he snapped his fingers. ‘You think you can have whatever you want,’ she had accused him.

Now, P.J. looked at Nell and knew that his sister was right. He couldn’t have Nell for a snap of his fingers. The exultance he had felt when he’d seen that fate had put her in his way once more evaporated. She looked so lovely, so cool and professional, that his confidence faltered. This Nell wasn’t the girl he remembered. She was a woman, who would have to be wooed and won anew, and she wasn’t going to be impressed by his position here, no matter how obsequious his staff were.

Belatedly, P.J. became aware that Lester and Eve were looking at him, evidently waiting for him to finish greeting Nell so that they could get on with their meeting. He glanced back at Nell, and her expression was so appalled that his ready sense of the ridiculous came to his rescue.

If she wanted to pretend that this was a business meeting like any other, so be it.