The Virgin Secretary's Impossible Boss. Кэрол Мортимер

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      He shrugged. ‘It’s the way I do business, Andrea.’

      She shook her head. ‘I can’t possibly make such a life-changing decision in just a few hours.’

      ‘That will be your loss.’

      A frown darkened her creamy brow. ‘Why the hurry?’

      ‘My present PA is leaving at the end of the month and I need a replacement before that happens.’ Linus moved to lower his long length into one of the goldbrocade armchairs that adorned the perfection of the spacious drawing-room.

      As Linus already knew, every room in Tarrington Park was decorated and furnished in this same gracious, elegant style. It was a style that Linus wanted to keep when he took possession of Tarrington Park in several weeks’time and turned it into another of his luxury spahotels and conference centres. It was a style that Marjorie Buttonfield, Andi’s mother, had informed Linus was all her daughter’s own work.

      Style—that was the word that applied to everything about Andrea Buttonfield. Not surprisingly. Andi had grown up on the Tarrington Park estate, the only child of Miles and Marjorie Buttonfield. Her childhood had been one of luxury and indulgence. Her private boarding-schools were the best in the country. Her English degree from Cambridge university was one of the highest attainable. Following university, Andrea had moved to live in London, becoming the PA of Gerald Wickham, head of Wickham International.

      Yes, Andrea Buttonfield had style.

      Linus’s own childhood and education was the complete opposite of Andi’s, and it was her style and class he had coveted from the moment he’d first met her eight weeks ago, when he’d come to look over Tarrington Park with the intention of buying it.

      Andrea’s father had been killed in a car accident four weeks earlier, along with her fiancé, David Simmington-Browne. The following weeks had revealed that, not only was her father’s company bankrupt, but there were considerable debts too. Selling the family home had become the only solution to paying off those debts.

      Linus had done his homework on Tarrington Park, Andrea and the recently widowed Marjorie Buttonfield. He knew selling the family home would leave the already grief-stricken Marjorie homeless and without any means of support other than the wage her daughter earnt as Wickham’s PA.

      It was a chink in Andrea Buttonfield’s armour that Linus didn’t hesitate to use to his own advantage.

      ‘Think about it, Andrea.’ Linus smiled humourlessly. ‘As my PA, you’ll get an increase in wages. You and your mother get to move into the gate house, which as well as being rent-free has to be less traumatic for the both of you. You could continue to keep your horse at the stables here. As far as you’re concerned, it’s a winwin situation.’

      Andi was already well aware of all the pluses of accepting Linus Harrison’s offer. It was the minuses that concerned her. She didn’t know Linus Harrison. She didn’t trust Linus Harrison. Most of all, she didn’t like Linus Harrison!

      His well-earned reputation for ruthlessness in business didn’t give the impression that he ever did things impulsively, telling Andi that he must have given this offer a lot of thought before making it. ‘And what do you get out of it, Mr Harrison?’ she prompted shrewdly.

      ‘In Gerald Wickham’s opinion, the best PA in the western hemisphere!’ Those green eyes openly mocked her.

      Andi’s own eyes widened incredulously. ‘You’ve already spoken to Gerald about me?’ That was how he knew that the money he was offering her was an increase…!

      Linus Harrison shrugged wide shoulders. ‘I would hardly consider taking you on as my own PA without first talking to your previous employer.’

      ‘My current employer!’ Andi corrected with an impatient shake of her head as she glared at him. ‘You had absolutely no right to talk to Gerald.’

      ‘I had every right,’ Linus Harrison cut in coldly, those eyes hard. ‘I would no more consider employing someone because she looks the part than I would consider buying a car just because it has sleek lines!’

      Her mouth thinned. ‘I’m not sure whether that was an insult or a compliment!’

      ‘It was a statement of fact,’ Linus rasped. ‘For all I knew, you could be lousy at your job and just sleeping with Gerald Wickham to keep it!’

      It was a possibility that hadn’t found any favour in Linus’s eyes, and definitely detracted from that style and class Andrea Buttonfield possessed in spades. Admittedly, until three months ago Andrea had been engaged to Simmington-Browne. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t also sleeping with her boss. One meeting with Gerald Wickham had convinced Linus that the other man thought of Andrea in the way an indulgent uncle might a favourite niece, rather than an expensive mistress reserved for his physical pleasure.

      Why that information should have mattered to Linus he had no idea. Admittedly, his own code of conduct concerning female employees dictated he not become personally involved with any of them, but he knew that a lot of men in his position didn’t feel the same way.

      Andi didn’t know whether to be furious or just indignant at the familiarity of this man’s conversation. She decided that disdain probably suited the occasion better. ‘I presume Gerald satisfied your curiosity on that score?’

      ‘Totally,’ Linus Harrison confirmed.

      Andi eyed him frustratedly. ‘I am more than happy with my present employment, Mr Harrison. My mother has been offered a cottage in the village to live in. And one of the local livery-stables has agreed to take my horse. So you see, Mr Harrison—’

      ‘As I said, I have no use for the gate house, so it would be rent-free. Your horse would also be stabled free of charge. Plus,’ he continued before Andi could interrupt, ‘do you really think that your mother’s already-delicate emotional health is up to moving into a cottage in the village where your family has long been considered the local gentry?’

      Andi became very still. The car accident that had killed both Andi’s father and her fiancé had seemed an almost unbearable blow at the time; initially only the necessity to keep focused for her mother’s sake had held Andi’s own grief in check. The revelation only days later of the bankruptcy of her father’s company was a blow Andi certainly hadn’t been expecting.

      Her mother hadn’t coped well; the loss of her husband of thirty years, quickly followed by the knowledge that she was shortly to lose her home as well, had left Marjorie balancing on a very precarious mental edge. One more blow and Andi knew her mother was likely to topple over into the precipice.

      As it was, these last weeks had been a nightmare as Andi had tried to balance visits to her mother at the weekends and her demanding job in London as Gerald’s PA during the week. It was a strain that Andi knew was beginning to take its toll on her after three months, both emotionally and physically.

      The truth of the matter was, her mother would be much happier if Andi moved back to live with her in Hampshire, especially if she was also allowed to stay in the gate house of Tarrington Park. Andi would feel happier knowing that her mother was comfortable. It was only the thought of becoming Linus Harrison’s PA that stopped Andi from jumping at the opportunity he was offering her.

      That, and the fact that she simply didn’t like or trust him.

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