settled on her shoulder, searing her through the fabric of her dress, and she jumped like a startled colt.
‘I’m not playing power games, Mr Cassidy. And no means no in my language,’ she made herself add bitingly, looking meaningfully down at his hand on her upper arm.
‘'No” is not what your body language is saying to me,’ he said softly, his fingers sliding down her arm, his thumb gently teasing the soft inner skin of her elbow.
Keira’s physical response to his touch rose almost to choke her and she was just as suddenly terribly afraid of the strength of her reaction, of the knowledge that she didn’t want to reject him.
‘I can’t believe this.’ She made herself snatch her arm from his hold. ‘Only hours ago I wasn’t good enough for your precious nephew and now you’re lowering yourself and your lofty standards to take me on yourself. You’re either selling yourself cheaply or you’re desperate. Neither of which I am, fortunately. I told you before I don’t sleep around. I never have-’
‘I don’t recall implying you did,’ he cut in concisely.
‘And I don’t intend to start now with you,’ Keira continued, the bit well and truly between her teeth. ‘No
matter how-’ she paused, regarding him scathingly
from head to toe ‘-impressive your credentials are. So, to correct any misapprehension you may be under, let’s use some old but straightforward cliches. Don’t call me, I’ll call you. Goodnight, Mr Cassidy. Oh, and I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for the phone to ring if I were you.’
With that Keira marched back into the ballroom, not looking back to see if he was following her. Once back inside she went in search of Daniel and pleaded tiredness, retiring to spend a sleepless night in the opulent bedroom. And when Daniel and Keira appeared for a late brunch the next morning Burton informed them that Eden and Megan had already left to return to the city.
After a perfunctory knock on the office door Keira’s assistant walked in waving a newspaper around in front of her, and Keira sighed resignedly. At this rate she’d never get any work done.
Daniel had already interrupted her unnecessarily and it was hard enough keeping her errant thoughts from drifting to other, more regrettably disturbing incidents, without these intermittent intrusions.
‘How long have we known each other, Keira?’ Roxie Denahey demanded without the usual preliminaries as she tossed her well-proportioned frame into the chair in front of Keira’s desk. The chair creaked in protest.
‘Do you really want me to admit out loud that it’s been over twenty years?’ Keira asked with a faint smile. She and Roxie had attended primary school together.
‘Twenty years, Keira Strong. And you can’t even tell me, can’t even breathe so much as a whisper, when something momentous happens in your life.’ Roxie frowned disgruntledly.
‘This is a particularly momentous something, I take it?’ Keira raised her eyebrows. ‘You know what an exciting life I lead, Roxie, so would you care to give me a hint about which significant event I’ve failed to give you details of, thus maliciously ruffling your sensitive feathers?’
‘Which significant event?’ Roxie scowled. ‘This one.’ She fluttered the newspaper. ‘Featured all over the social pages of the Sunday paper.’
Keira’s heart sank. It had to be Sir Samuel’s party. She hadn’t given a thought to the public interest such a distinguished occasion would generate. Or, until this moment, recalled the camera flashes. But in her defence, she had had other things on her mind. Like Eden Cassidy. And his outrageous proposition. Keira almost groaned.
‘Don’t tell me you haven’t seen it?’ Roxie’s voice rose in disbelief. ‘Good grief I You haven’t!’ she exclaimed at Keira’s expression. ‘Well, let me be the first to flash it by you.’
Reluctantly Keira took the newspaper from the other girl and glanced down at the grainy photographs. Then she did groan out loud.
One photograph was larger than the six or seven others. And it immediately drew attention. Any photograph of Eden Cassidy’s incredibly rugged good looks would, Keira acknowledged.
However, it wasn’t simply a shot of Eden Cassidy. He was in the photograph, looking as attractive as he always did. And so was Sir Samuel Ford, smiling broadly at the camera, his arm around his only grandson.
But on his right stood a reasonably tall woman with shoulder-length fair hair, a heart-shaped face and a firm chin. The photographer had caught that chin as its owner lifted it with a hint of tenacity as she gazed levelly into the lens.
‘Newsy little caption under the photo, too,’ Roxie remarked and recited it off pat. ‘Helping to celebrate Sir Samuel Ford’s eightieth birthday were his grandson, Daniel Ford Cassidy (right), Eden Cassidy (left) and Keira Strong. Eden Cassidy is the younger son of William Cassidy, Sir Samuel’s late partner and co-founder of the Cassidy-Ford media conglomerate. Keira Strong is the assistant editor of the family company’s highly successful
Keira’s eyes were drawn from her own features to those of the man standing so close beside her, so close that their shoulders appeared to be pressing together. Keira moved in her chair to disguise the sudden quiver that began in the pit of her stomach and rose to set her skin tingling. Almost as if Eden Cassidy were touching her again.
‘I didn’t even know we’d been photographed,’ she said a little breathily.
‘Shucks! And
‘You were away last week and Daniel didn’t ask me to go with him until Thursday,’ Keira began to explain.
‘Daniel?’ Roxie’s mouth fell open in amazement. ‘Daniel Cassidy? Are you putting me on?’
‘Of course not. Would I dare?’ Keira threw back quickly.
‘Our young, our very young Daniel Cassidy?’ Roxie continued as though Keira hadn’t spoken.
‘Daniel asked me to go with him as a favour.’
‘You had a date with-’
‘Roxie, please,’ Keira appealed. ‘It wasn’t a date. He needed someone to go with him to his grandfather’s party and I, well, I agreed. End of story.’
‘Daniel!’ Roxie repeated. ‘And here I was fantasising that while my back was turned you’d been whisked off by Eden Cassidy, the heart-throb of the social set.’
‘Are you kidding, Roxie?’ Keira’s heartbeats performed their recklessly uninhibited dance yet again» as if their cue was simply the mention of Eden Cassidy’s name. What would her friend think if she told her about that very same Eden Cassidy’s preposterous proposition?
‘If I’d known you were interested in younger men-’ Roxie began, but Keira quelled her friend with a constraining look.
Briefly subdued, Roxie gazed at Keira for long moments and then she sighed. ‘How long have I been working with you, Keira?’
‘More twenty questions?’ Keira asked quizzically and shook her head in capitulation, knowing Roxie wouldn’t let it rest until she’d had her say. ‘About ten years, including the last five years on
‘OK. I do know you pretty well, don’t I? I’ve been with you through thick and thin, marriage and divorce. So tell me, in the three years since Dennis died how many dates have you had?’
‘Quite a few,’ Keira began defensively and Roxie pulled a face.
‘A few is right. I’d say you’ve been lucky to average two a year.’ She held up her plump hand and ticked off on her fingers. ‘There was that cowboy. That fizzled out, thank heavens.’
‘I didn’t want to move to the country and he didn’t want to settle in the city. It was a mutual decision to part,’ Keira told her.
‘Then there was the lawyer with no sense of humour,’ Roxie continued. ‘And the computer guy who was only interested in your chips rather than your whole circuit.’
Keira laughed. ‘There’s no need for the roll-call, Roxie. I haven’t lost any sleep over any of them.’
‘That’s precisely your problem. Honestly, Keira, don’t you sometimes yearn to go to bed for something other than sleep?’ Roxie sat back in the chair and grinned at Keira’s embarrassed discomposure.
‘Is this any way to talk to your boss?’ Keira asked with mock seriousness and Roxie rolled her eyes.
‘I’m not wearing my assistant-to-the-assistant-editor’s cap at the moment. Right now I’ve got on my friend-of- long-standing hat. And I won’t be sidetracked. You can blush all you want, but haven’t I gone right to the seat of your problem?’
Keira grimaced. ‘I see no problem. Shall we just say I’ve deprogrammed that part of my life? And are you
