Chapter One
CLAIRE
“Claire Bretton, why is it you get all the good jobs?” Fran leant back in her chair and gave her a huge grin.
Claire knew she was teasing. For a start, she was working as a temp at the law firm and worse, she was supposed to have been on her way out of the building thirty minutes ago. If she hadn’t nipped into the powder room to change into her tee-shirt and jeans, Isabella Price wouldn’t have caught her in the corridor.
Claire frowned back at her colleague. “Delivering a package to a client is not what I’d planned to do with my evening.
“It’s not so bad. I wouldn’t mind giving up a couple of hours to get the chance of five minutes in the company of Tevis Drummond.” Fran licked her lips salaciously, making Claire laugh.
She pushed the package towards Fran. “Why don’t you take it then?”
Fran held up her hands and laughed. “No way! I’m not going to cross Isabella Price. She’s expecting you to do it, not me.” Fran’s face softened. “Besides, I’ve got a date tonight with Matt.”
There was no chance of getting Fran to do the delivery if she had plans with the new man in her life.
“This was to be the start of my long weekend off.” Claire pushed the package into her messenger bag, tucking it behind her camera. She’d planned to go down to the West End and do some candid shots. That was now out. By the time she delivered the package most of the evening would be gone.
“I wonder why Isabella didn’t place an order with a courier?” Fran mused.
“I don’t know. She seemed keen to have me deliver it by hand on her behalf. She’s even given me two hundred pounds to cover my time and the taxi fares.”
“That’s odd.” Fran looked at Claire thoughtfully as she tied her long hair back into a ponytail. “We have contracts with taxi firms. The fare could have been booked straight to our account.” She frowned as she studied Claire, “She must trust you, to give you this job.”
“I think it’s because I’m the last admin person left here on a Friday night. If I’d been quicker at changing out of my work clothes, I’d have been out of here before she spotted me.”
“No, I don’t think so.” Fran lowered her voice to a whisper. Not that she really needed to, most of the staff had gone. Across the room, only Derek Jones, one of the accountants, was still at his desk. Everyone knew he’d sleep at the office if he could.
Fran gave him a quick glance before continuing. “I think this is hush-hush. Off the record. Isabella Price does everything by the book and not using our courier firm is pretty unusual.”
“Perhaps she wanted this client to get the personal touch? I mean, he must be important.”
“Do you have any idea at all who Tevis Drummond is?”
“No. Though he must be wealthy to afford the services of Isabella.”
“Damn it, Claire, you need to get up to speed on the rich and famous in London if you want to get on. Tevis Drummond could buy this firm several times over and barely see a dent in his bank account.”
Claire grinned back at Fran. “Firstly, I’m a temp. Secondly, I don’t need to know people. When I’ve got the money together to take a year out, I’ll be off.”
“You’ll need to know who they are—if you want to sell your photographs. They’ll be the ones scrambling to buy an original ‘Claire Bretton’.”
Fran pulled open the bottom drawer of her desk and pulled out a gossip magazine. Claire hated them, but for Fran they were required reading. She flicked through the pages until she found the one she wanted and passed it over to Claire.
Claire eyed it with distrust, she hadn’t touched one in over ten years, but she couldn’t tell Fran why. With a slight hesitation, she took the offending magazine from Fran’s proffered hand.
Fran pointed to the photograph at the top of the page. “That’s Tevis Drummond.”
Dark-haired, with a serious look on his face, Tevis Drummond’s eyes stared
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