His Darling Valentine. Carole Mortimer

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СКАЧАТЬ thorns. ‘I think someone must be playing a practical joke on me,’ she excused lamely.

      ‘An expensive practical joke,’ Ross disagreed with a shake of his head. ‘No, Tazzy—Miss Darling,’ he corrected himself as she gave him a pointed look, ‘I think you should look at the distinct possibility that you have a secret admirer.’ He lightly touched one of the velvety soft flowers.

      Then whoever it was had kept it such a secret that she didn’t have a clue as to who it could possibly be!

      ‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ she snapped, deciding that office protocol had been broken enough for one day. ‘I have some work to do,’ she added pointedly when Ross still made no effort to leave but continued to look at her speculatively.

      ‘I think, Miss Darling,’ he finally murmured consideringly, ‘that you and I ought to have lunch together today in order to discuss the possibility of someone stealing you away from me, don’t you?’

      She glared at him. ‘I told you, there is nothing to discuss!’

      Ross shook his head. ‘I disagree.’

      Oh, great, not only did she not know who was indulging in these ridiculous Valentine pranks, but now she had to try and explain it to her employer!

      She gave a heavy sigh. ‘I’ll ask Mrs Brown to make us both some sandwiches.’ It would be far from the first time Tazzy had worked through her lunch-hour.

      ‘No, I don’t think so.’

      Tazzy gave a puzzled frown. ‘You would prefer me to ask her to prepare something else?’ A cooked lunch would save her the problem of cooking for herself this evening when she got home. In view of the fact that she had to do something about the kitten, that arrangement could work out quite well.

      Ross smiled as he shook his head. ‘I would prefer it if we went out somewhere to eat. What’s the name of that little place you occasionally go to with that friend of yours—Anne, isn’t it?—that sometimes calls for you here?’

      ‘Luigi’s?’ Tazzy supplied with a frown.

      ‘That’s the place!’ His smile deepened. ‘We’ll go there for lunch.’

      For one thing, Luigi’s was a small Italian bistro, hardly the sort of place Ross usually frequented, with his accumulated wealth and preference for French cuisine. For another, she did not relish the idea of going there with Ross only to bump into her friend Anne—who did go to Luigi’s often. Knowing Anne, she would demand to know all the details the next time the two of them met! What was wrong with Mrs Brown’s cooking anyway? It had always been good enough before!

      Then she remembered …

      ‘Have you forgotten what day it is today?’ she reminded Ross.

      ‘That would be a little difficult, wouldn’t it, when your office is full of red roses?’ He gave the long-stemmed blooms a pointed look.

      Tazzy felt the warmth in her cheeks. ‘Hardly full,’ she said, shifting the bouquet to one side of her desk. ‘I was actually trying to point out to you that there is no way we will get a table at Luigi’s for lunch today. He was fully booked weeks ago.’

      ‘He was?’ Ross looked startled by this information.

      Tazzy found it quite endearing that it obviously hadn’t even occurred to him that almost all restaurants would be fully booked today, both at lunchtime and this evening; apparently he had never tried to take anyone out to lunch on Valentine’s Day before!

      ‘Okay, forget Luigi’s,’ Ross dismissed impatiently.

      Tazzy nodded. ‘Shall I ask Mrs Brown to get us both a sandwich, after all?’

      ‘Certainly not!’ he said firmly. ‘I invited you out to lunch, and out we will most definitely go.’

      ‘But—’

      ‘Leave it to me,’ Ross interrupted. ‘I’ll book us a table somewhere for lunch.’

      Her eyes widened. ‘You will?’

      ‘I will.’ He nodded, his expression becoming mocking at her obvious surprise. ‘Tazzy, believe it or not, before the advent of your undoubtedly efficient self into my life, I was quite capable of telephoning a restaurant myself and booking my own table!’

      She knew that he still did that if he was taking a woman out to dinner. Something, in view of her own feelings towards him, she had always been grateful for.

      But that wasn’t the point she had been about to make; it was the fact that this didn’t sound like a business lunch to her, and the two of them having lunch together under any other circumstances was not a good idea …

      ‘I’m sure you were,’ she soothed. ‘It’s just that—’

      ‘I said leave it to me, Tazzy,’ Ross insisted, moving towards the connecting door.

      ‘Use the intercom the next time you need something,’ Tazzy was stung into advising him sharply as he was closing the door, inwardly wondering when the strangeness of today was going to end!

      The door opened again, Ross grimacing across at her. ‘I loathe that damned intercom,’ he muttered. ‘I rue the day I ever let you persuade me into having it installed.’

      She was well aware of Ross’s feelings concerning the intercom system between their two offices. But, for her part, it was yet another move to keep their relationship on a businesslike footing; before the intercom had been installed Ross had been altogether too fond of just wandering into her office whenever he felt like it, sitting on the side of her desk to discuss whatever problem was bothering him at the time. And in the process usually managing to upset Tazzy’s equilibrium for at least half an hour after he had left—by which time he had usually wandered back in again! The intercom system had stopped all of that. At least … until today, it had …

      ‘Nevertheless, it’s there to be used,’ she insisted primly.

      ‘So was the guillotine!’ Ross pointed out. ‘And we all know what use that was put to! Not all machines are progress, you know, Tazzy.’

      This sounded more than slightly ridiculous coming from a man who specialized in clearing any glitch or bug that might attack a computer or its software!

      He had also called her by her first name yet again! It was way past time this familiarity was put to an end!

      ‘I’m afraid I really can’t have lunch with you today,’ she told him determinedly. ‘I have to go and check on the kitten,’ she explained as he gave her a frowning look.

      His brow cleared. ‘We’ll both go,’ he offered. ‘We can go on to the restaurant from there.’

      Tazzy stared at him. Never once during the eighteen months she’d worked for him had there been a need for him to go to her home. ‘I don’t think—’

      ‘Oh, come on, Tazzy,’ he encouraged. ‘After all, I might end up taking the kitten off your hands.’

      ‘I told you, I haven’t decided yet whether or not I’m going to СКАЧАТЬ