Carole Mortimer Romance Collection. Carole Mortimer

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СКАЧАТЬ style="font-size:15px;">      He gave another dismissive shrug. ‘I can’t see that it’s important. Would you like to take me to my father’s office,’ he added coldly, ‘and send Diana along to me there?’

      Juliet’s eyes widened. ‘But—’

      ‘I believe it’s my office now?’ Liam raised dark blond brows.

      No one had used that office since William’s death two months ago, but it was the obvious choice for Liam during his time here. Juliet just hoped that that time was going to be short!

      ‘Unless you’re using it now?’ Liam looked down at her challengingly.

      ‘Of course I’m not.’ Juliet drew in a deep, controlling breath. This man meant to annoy her, and he could see that he was succeeding; there was a mocking glint in the dark blue of his eyes. ‘That office is empty,’ she told him stiffly.

      His mouth tightened. ‘Not any longer!’

      He really was the most objectionable…! The truth of it was that she couldn’t bear the thought of anyone using that office. The room represented William to her, and she could never enter it without thinking of him. It was where she had first met him, where they had spent a lot of their time together during the last seven years; the thought of Liam now using it as his office was unacceptable to her.

      ‘Do you have a problem with that?’ He continued to look at her coldly.

      Yes, she had a severe problem with it! ‘Not at all,’ she assured him coolly. ‘It’s this way.’ She led the way down the corridor to the last door on the right-hand side, one hand on the door-handle as she turned briefly to look at him. ‘This is my office.’ She indicated the door on the opposite side of the corridor.

      His mouth twisted mockingly. ‘How cosy!’ he drawled.

      She literally had to bite her bottom lip to stop the sharp comment that instantly sprang to her lips, and turned abruptly away from him to push open the door to his father’s—his!—office.

      As with the house, this room was decorated and furnished in the style that William liked; the desk and accompanying chairs were antique, the walls papered a muted green, the carpet the same shade of green. The green leather desktop was bare now, but during William’s day it had been littered with paperwork—paperwork that was now in Juliet’s office, where Diana Gilbraith had been waiting for the last half an hour.

      ‘I’ll send Miss Gilbraith—’ Juliet turned to leave the room so sharply that she walked straight into Liam as he stood behind her. She stared up at him wordlessly, their bodies almost touching.

      ‘I don’t know how you’ve behaved in the past, Juliet, but I don’t approve of that sort of thing in the office!’ he rasped harshly, clasping the tops of her arms to put her firmly out of his way as he walked further into the room. ‘And when you get into your office would you ask Diana to come in here?’ he added by way of dismissal, moving to sit in the high-backed chair behind the desk.

      Juliet was glad to escape from the room; she couldn’t bear the sight of him sitting in the chair which William used to occupy. She wished, not for the first time, that she had never gone to Majorca, had never found Edward William Carlyle at all!

      Except, as she very well knew, she hadn’t exactly found Liam at all; he had found her. And he had been playing games with her ever since!

      She took a deep, steadying breath before opening the door to her office and standing in the doorway to look across the room to where Diana Gilbraith sat, not, as Juliet had assumed, behind her desk but on the opposite side of it.

      Diana looked up with a warm, friendly smile, a file open on her knee as she sat with her elegantly curved legs neatly crossed. ‘Hello again.’ She stood up in one smooth movement. ‘Are you feeling better now?’

      Juliet wasn’t quite sure what she had expected when she entered her office, but it certainly hadn’t been this woman’s friendliness! And as far as she could see none of the papers on her desk had been disturbed.

      She stared at the other woman blankly. ‘Better?’ she repeated with a frown.

      ‘Hmm,’ Diana nodded, her blonde hair as neatly styled as usual, her skin still tanned from the time she had recently spent in Majorca. ‘When Liam telephoned me yesterday he explained that the reason he had been delayed was that you hadn’t been too well. I must say you have a bit more colour in your cheeks than the last time I saw you,’ she added encouragingly.

      Juliet wasn’t too sure of this woman’s friendliness. After all, Diana did work for Liam. Maybe she was just lulling her into a false sense of security!

      ‘I spent several days in the sun,’ she answered vaguely. ‘Er—Liam is in the office across the corridor,’ she added, her voice hardening at the mere mention of his name. ‘He would like you to join him.’

      Diana nodded lightly, her blue eyes still warm. ‘I’ll probably see you later, then.’ She left the room with a smile.

      Juliet closed the door thankfully behind the other woman before moving to sit behind her desk, letting out a sigh as she did so, relieved to be on her own again.

      She should have known Liam was a businessman through and through; he hadn’t succeeded in his own business without being extremely competent at what he did. And ruthless. God knew what hornets’ nest she had opened up by seeking him out and having him come here. But she couldn’t possibly have known he would want to come here personally to investigate the company; she had assumed that he would send an assistant, someone like Diana Gilbraith, to come and check things out. But then, she hadn’t known Liam Carlyle and the type of man he was…

      ‘It would appear that this is the office to be in!’

      Juliet was startled by Liam’s intrusion, looking up sharply from the file she had been working on. ‘But this is my office.’ She frowned her puzzlement. What was it? Didn’t he like the view from William’s office?

      The door across the corridor from her own had remained firmly shut during the forty-five minutes since Diana Gilbraith had entered it, and after fifteen minutes of sitting at her desk waiting for some sort of reaction from Liam—she wasn’t even sure what!—Juliet had decided to get on with some of the work on her desk that had accumulated since she left for Majorca nearly two weeks ago.

      Whatever Liam had been doing in the last forty-five minutes, he didn’t look very happy! Juliet tensed guardedly.

      After closing the door with quiet purpose behind him, Liam strode forcefully into the room, looking about him curiously as he did so. Juliet’s office was decorated in blue and white—white walls, dark blue carpet, her dark wood desk and chair serviceable rather than richly ornate as William’s office furniture was. She preferred to work in this more clinical atmosphere, felt comforted by the starkness of the room. But somehow Liam managed to make her feel uncomfortable about it as he stood across the desk from her looking down at her with such superiority!

      She sat back, determined not to be intimidated. ‘I don’t think this room altogether meets with your approval,’ she recognised drily.

      He gave a dismissive shrug of those broad shoulders beneath the pale blue shirt, having removed the jacket to his dark blue suit. ‘I don’t care one way or the other,’ he asserted scornfully. ‘My comment referred to the fact СКАЧАТЬ