Read Online The Secretary's Scandalous Secret by Cathy Williams - Free Book Online
Authors: Cathy Williams
Ads: Link
you; I think you’ll agree with me. I know you were made to help me out, and I’m very grateful, but I’m a liability—you said so yourself. What if you hadn’t recognised Stewart? What if he had…done whatever it was you thought he would do? It’s not as though I would have clued up and smelled a rat.’
She gave a choked, hysterical laugh. ‘I have no experience of big business, or of finance. Or of anything, for that matter.’ She thought back to her high hopes when she had first arrived in London. She had counted all the positives of stepping outside her comfort zone. She had recognised that small-village life might have been fine as a kid but that there wasn’t a single young woman she knew who wouldn’t trade it for the experience of working in a top company in London. She had thought she would throw herself into office life and gain lots of invaluable experience. She would make dozens of new, exciting friends and into that heady mix would come lots of boyfriends.
Yes, she had made lots of friends, but her optimism about forging a career in an office had proved to be ill-founded. She’d struggled with her computer course and she had become the dumping ground for work no one else wanted to do. How one earth could she hope to compete with all those bright young things with their degrees in economics and languages?
And where were all those thrilling young men who were going to rush in to replace her hopeless crush on Luc Laughton? Few and far between.
‘I feel much better now,’ she said in an unnaturally high voice and she offered him a watery smile. ‘I’m definitely not going to get angry again.’
‘Why not? I’m tough. I can take it.’
‘I’m going to be realistic,’ she told him, while her heart continued to beat a steady, crazy drum roll inside her. ‘I’m going to cut my losses and go back to Yorkshire. There’s no point in looking for another office job in London, and I’ve been to Kew Gardens to ask them if there were any vacancies and there were none. I’ve been thinking of doing a landscaping course. I’d like that. I’m not cut out for anything else.’
‘Why don’t you look at me when you’re talking to me? I don’t bite.’
He had kept his voice low and amused, but her refusal to meet his gaze was really beginning to get on his nerves. Was she so terrified of him or was she scared witless that something might show in her eyes—resentment at being put in the unenviable position of supplicant, manoeuvred there against her will?
He hadn’t been kidding when he had told her that looks could be deceptive when it came to her, and that flash of anger which he had provoked had hinted at a passionate nature lurking below the surface. Was it something that she was aware of and shied away from?
Agatha looked up into those glittering, unreadable eyes and fought for something sensible to say, but her mouth was dry and all she could see in her mind’s eye was his beautiful face close to hers, and all she could hear was her racing heartbeat and the rush of blood in her ears.
‘So this is what you’ve been hiding.’ He had never suspected it. She had managed to maintain such a low profile that even his highly developed antennae had missed it.
‘What?’ Agatha managed to squeak in a preternaturally high voice.
The silence thrummed between them. Agatha found that she could hardly breathe as he continued to stare at her, his dark, winged eyebrows raised speculatively.
‘Is it because I’ve caught you in a vulnerable moment?’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘Course you do,’ he chided softly, reaching out to brush one long finger against her cheek—then finding his body charged with a savage, urgent want that descended so fast and so hard that he sucked his breath in sharply. Agatha shuddered and closed her eyes and rested against the back of the sofa, her body yearning up towards him.
With a stifled groan, he pulled her towards him with a
She gave a choked, hysterical laugh. ‘I have no experience of big business, or of finance. Or of anything, for that matter.’ She thought back to her high hopes when she had first arrived in London. She had counted all the positives of stepping outside her comfort zone. She had recognised that small-village life might have been fine as a kid but that there wasn’t a single young woman she knew who wouldn’t trade it for the experience of working in a top company in London. She had thought she would throw herself into office life and gain lots of invaluable experience. She would make dozens of new, exciting friends and into that heady mix would come lots of boyfriends.
Yes, she had made lots of friends, but her optimism about forging a career in an office had proved to be ill-founded. She’d struggled with her computer course and she had become the dumping ground for work no one else wanted to do. How one earth could she hope to compete with all those bright young things with their degrees in economics and languages?
And where were all those thrilling young men who were going to rush in to replace her hopeless crush on Luc Laughton? Few and far between.
‘I feel much better now,’ she said in an unnaturally high voice and she offered him a watery smile. ‘I’m definitely not going to get angry again.’
‘Why not? I’m tough. I can take it.’
‘I’m going to be realistic,’ she told him, while her heart continued to beat a steady, crazy drum roll inside her. ‘I’m going to cut my losses and go back to Yorkshire. There’s no point in looking for another office job in London, and I’ve been to Kew Gardens to ask them if there were any vacancies and there were none. I’ve been thinking of doing a landscaping course. I’d like that. I’m not cut out for anything else.’
‘Why don’t you look at me when you’re talking to me? I don’t bite.’
He had kept his voice low and amused, but her refusal to meet his gaze was really beginning to get on his nerves. Was she so terrified of him or was she scared witless that something might show in her eyes—resentment at being put in the unenviable position of supplicant, manoeuvred there against her will?
He hadn’t been kidding when he had told her that looks could be deceptive when it came to her, and that flash of anger which he had provoked had hinted at a passionate nature lurking below the surface. Was it something that she was aware of and shied away from?
Agatha looked up into those glittering, unreadable eyes and fought for something sensible to say, but her mouth was dry and all she could see in her mind’s eye was his beautiful face close to hers, and all she could hear was her racing heartbeat and the rush of blood in her ears.
‘So this is what you’ve been hiding.’ He had never suspected it. She had managed to maintain such a low profile that even his highly developed antennae had missed it.
‘What?’ Agatha managed to squeak in a preternaturally high voice.
The silence thrummed between them. Agatha found that she could hardly breathe as he continued to stare at her, his dark, winged eyebrows raised speculatively.
‘Is it because I’ve caught you in a vulnerable moment?’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘Course you do,’ he chided softly, reaching out to brush one long finger against her cheek—then finding his body charged with a savage, urgent want that descended so fast and so hard that he sucked his breath in sharply. Agatha shuddered and closed her eyes and rested against the back of the sofa, her body yearning up towards him.
With a stifled groan, he pulled her towards him with a
Similar Books
