A Physical Affair

Keira watched him sceptically. Was his seemingly genuine bonhomie another ploy? Or had his ego taken her rejection of his outrageous proposal without offence? In the unlikely event that this was so, then why was he here?

One fairly obvious reason came immediately to mind. The rumours that had been rife throughout the magazine’s staff in the past week, rumours of employment cuts.

Keira went a little cold. Was he going to fire her? Wine her and dine her and then tell her he was dispensing with her services? That her failure to take him up on his blatant proposition was to put paid to her career?

If that was the case, he’d find he’d victimised the wrong woman. She’d never allow him to get away with it. She’d…

‘Wrong on all counts, Keira,’ he said seriously, straightening in his chair as the waiter appeared with the wine. They spent several moments while a taste was proffered to Eden and he’d nodded an acknowledgment.

‘As a matter of fact I have come to discuss business. And this time I think I’ll have an offer you can’t refuse,’ he added, his lips twisting self-derisively as he raised his glass to his lips.

Keira watched, that same traitorous craving rising in her, until she was almost hypnotised by the pursing of his lips on the wine glass, the movement of the muscles in his throat as he swallowed, and she had to force herself to concentrate on his words. Desperately she took a gulp of her own wine.

‘However, before we go into that,’ he was continuing, ‘I’d like you to tell me something about Natural Life.’

Keira sat forward in surprise. ‘With respect to what? Cassidy-Ford bought the magazine over five years ago and-’ she shrugged ‘-a couple of issues later it was discontinued.’

‘You started the magazine with a friend, I believe.’

‘Yes. With a schoolfriend. We were cadet journalists together and we decided to try Natural Life on a small scale and see how it went. We were reasonably successful considering the fact that we were novices and produced the whole thing on a shoestring budget. We were just beginning to get our heads above water financially when Cassidy-Ford made its offer. But you must know all this.’ Keira set down her glass and absently rubbed at the tension in the back of her neck.

‘Why did you sell out?’ he asked without comment.

‘Why wouldn’t we, when the price was right?’ Keira parried.

‘Humour me with this, Keira, hmm?’ he said equitably, his voice quietly persuasive. ‘What was the real reason?’ he persisted, and Keira sighed, knowing she had no defence against his pervasive probing.

‘Gail, my partner, married a few months before I did but within the year she’d given birth to a set of twins, so she was finding it difficult to devote as much time to the magazine as it required. She felt bad about putting more and more of the physical burden on me so-’ Keira gestured resignedly with her hands ‘-we decided the best interests of the magazine and our small staff would be served by accepting your offer. Gail and I both got our financial investment back and none of the staff, including myself, lost jobs.’

‘Why do you think Cassidy-Ford discontinued the publishing of the magazine? It was a growing concern when we bought it. What went wrong?’

Keira eyed him undecidedly and took another stalling sip of her wine, suddenly becoming aware that she’d almost finished her glass.

‘Don’t get evasive on me,’ he said quickly. ‘You’ve been honest, sometimes brutally so, until now, and I can assure you I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t want your opinion.’

‘Fair enough. I think you had too many overheads for the limited market. We were producing the number of magazines to fill the demand. When Cassidy-Ford took over they tried to increase that demand when the demand wasn’t there.’ Keira regarded him levelly. ‘Of course, I could be wrong.’

Eden’s lips quirked but he made no comment as the waiter materialised with their meal. He placed before them an appetising stack of sandwiches surrounded by crisp salad, and only when she looked at the well-presented food did Keira realise she was hungry. Her tummy tightened as she reached for her cutlery.

They ate in silence for some time and only when Keira set down her fork did Eden motion to the waiter for coffee.

‘Now, where were we?’ he remarked when they were alone again. ‘Ah, yes. You were telling me where we went wrong with Natural Life.’

‘You did ask for my opinion,’ Keira put in quickly. ‘And that’s simply what I gave you. My opinion.’

Eden took a sip of his coffee, grimaced, and added a little more sugar. ‘Don’t be so prickly. Although I suppose you have every right to be, don’t you? Look, Keira, perhaps we started out on the wrong foot. Well, I did, anyway. But I’d prefer not to be in constant dispute with you.’

‘I really can’t see any point in-’ Keira started to say, and he held up his hand.

‘Hear me out, Keira, before you give me the verbal reprimand I undoubtedly deserve. I’ve spoken to Daniel and he assures me you are just good friends.’

‘Which I also told you,’ Keira put in drily.

‘Which you also told me,’ he agreed easily. ‘However, in my defence, as Daniel’s guardian I was simply concerned about him. We haven’t been seeing eye to eye lately over this business about deferring his studies so-’ he shrugged ‘-I guess I was all primed up to over-react and I did. I’d like to apologise. So let’s call a truce, hmm?’

Keira held his dark gaze for long moments before giving a slight acquiescing nod, while her defences suggested vehemently that she keep up her guard.

‘All that aside, I wanted to say I know just how good you are at your job,’ Eden continued evenly. ‘And I’m aware of how much of yourself you put into Chloe. It shows in the finished product.’

‘I’m just the assistant editor, Mr Cassidy.’ Keira fought the wave of pleasure that washed over her at his praise. Yet part of her warned her to beware. ‘Dianna-’

‘For God’s sake, call me Eden,’ he broke in. ‘And I don’t want to discuss Dianna Forester. Can’t you accept a compliment on your ability for what it’s worth?’

‘When there aren’t any strings attached, yes, I can,’ Keira replied just as forthrightly, and Eden sighed exasperatedly.

‘I thought we’d finished with that. There aren’t any strings, I assure you. Now, to get back to Natural Life. If we decided to recommence publication, what would you like to see retained, discarded or added?’

‘Are you going to publish the magazine again?’

‘Perhaps. Our research shows that today’s climate is more suitable for that type of publication.’

‘How long have you been considering reissuing Natural Life?’ Keira asked him suspiciously, wondering if he might have conjured up what may very well be a bogus ploy to do more checking on a woman he considered an unacceptable match for his nephew.

Eden shrugged. ‘A couple of months. We’ve done all the research and now I’m here to confer with you as the magazine’s previous editor,’ he finished blandly. ‘So, let’s hear your ideas.’

His query seemed genuine enough, Keira thought uneasily and then she frowned, realising that in spite of her misgivings he’d peaked her interest. ‘If you intend to pick up where you left off with Natural Life then I think perhaps you need to broaden its guidelines. Don’t aim the magazine at one socio- economic group. The articles should be of interest to a more diverse audience than they were before. The focus of the original magazine was fairly limited.’

Eden opened his briefcase and took out a folder, shifting his coffee-cup so he could spread it out in front of him. ‘I have a list of the regular features, those which rated highly and those our survey suggested we discard.’

He handed Keira a loose sheet and she glanced down at it, skimming the list with interest before she nodded and went to pass the paper back to him.

‘Keep it. I have my copy here. Do you think the survey was on track?’ he asked.

‘Pretty much so. I agree the articles should appeal to both sexes. With both men and women working, the woman isn’t necessarily the exclusive homemaker, even more so now than was the case ten years ago. There should also be something geared to the unemployed, of interest but still affordable.’

Eden made short, concise notes on his copy and Keira watched the sure movements of his hand, the furrow of complete attention etched between his dark brows. And the unnerving part of her that registered his undeniable