.

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ surrounded by so many students, carrying files and laptops, listening to their iPods and generally making her feel like someone from another era.

      She had made sure to go to the college dressed in jeans and trainers, in an attempt to blend in, but even her jeans and trainers seemed to be of just the wrong variety, ever so slightly off-key. Rose had poured it all out over the coffee Joe had insisted on buying her in the college canteen.

      In the end she had found the right department but, as it turned out, the course wasn’t quite what she wanted. So the college was out but Joe, a friend made, was in.

      They had exchanged numbers and from that peculiar meeting had blossomed a growing friendship on the telephone.

      Rose wasn’t sure what would emerge from the friendship but she was willing to follow the road wherever it might take her.

      And the evening was a success. The play was good and, over a very late evening meal, they discussed it amongst a thousand other things. She even found herself telling him about Gabriel! Not about her ridiculous feelings for him, of course, but about his annoying, unpredictable ways. In fact, she had to stop herself or risk becoming a bore, and then they chatted easily about Joe and what he did and, before she knew it, it had gone midnight and he was hailing a cab for her.

      ‘I guess this is the time when I ask whether you’d like to risk my company again,’ he said, pulling her to one side and kissing her on the forehead. A perfect end to a lovely evening, Rose thought. No pressure for sex, no pushiness. And he was cute too. Blond hair, blue eyes that crinkled when he smiled, and he smiled a lot.

      ‘I think I could see my way to doing that…’Rose couldn’t help but smile back at him. ‘It’s been a great evening out.’

      ‘And we never even got around to discussing what course you’ve finally signed up to.’

      ‘Oh, and that’s the most riveting conversation in the world!’

      ‘Absolutely riveting. Don’t forget I’m a lecturer. I like to know what it is that you students are interested in.’ He smiled again and turned to open the cab door for her. ‘So there’s no question now. We have to go on another date. Research purposes for me. I’ll give you a call on Monday, first thing. I have no idea how much time I’ll have to myself on this outward bound weekend of mine. Does this ogre of a boss allow you to use the land line for personal calls or should I call your mobile?’

      ‘Mobile…’ Rose said hurriedly, as a mental picture of Gabriel flashed into her head. ‘Definitely mobile.’

      ‘In case he ties you to the typewriter and forces you to type a thousand times…I must never disobey company rules…?’

      ‘Oh, no. Gabriel’s very fair.’ It was fine for her to air her moans but she felt hot and flustered at Joe’s slight hint of criticism. ‘In fact, there’s a very low employee turnover rate. One of the lowest in the city. He would…’

      ‘It was meant to be funny, Rose,’ Joe interjected gently. ‘Now, off you go, Cinderella, before the taxi decides to leave you behind. I’ll call you tomorrow.’

      He would. Amongst all his good qualities there was a dependability to Joe that Rose knew was just what every woman wanted. If he said he would call, then he would. He was, she went to bed musing, a thoroughly decent man. Not the sort to string a woman along. Not the sort to equate caring with buying expensive gifts. Not a man given to large, extravagant gestures. Definitely not a man who should carry a Dangerous to Health warning on his forehead so that women could take note and keep away. And not a man that would make her skin tremble every time he was near.

      But there was a spring in her step when she went to work the following Monday. Joe hadn’t called but he had sent her a couple of brief text messages, making her laugh with his outward bound stories which he promised to bore her with more fully when they met.

      She arrived to find Gabriel already at his desk and, judging from his rolled up sleeves and lack of tie, he had been there a good while. And he did not seem to be in the best of moods.

      Rose decided that she wouldn’t allow that to deflate her. She fetched him his coffee before making her way into his office and the smile only wavered when he raised his head and frowned at her.

      ‘I’m pleased to see that one of us had a good weekend.’

      ‘Good morning, Gabriel.’ She sat in her usual chair, facing his desk, notepad on her lap, ready to begin the day.

      He grunted.

      ‘I’ve brought you your coffee. Is there anything urgent you need me to do or shall I just crack on with the emails from Friday? Don’t forget you’ve got another two ladies to see this afternoon. I’ve already had the preliminary interviews with them and both seem promising.’

      ‘Cancel them.’

      ‘What? Why?’

      ‘Because one of our places in the Caribbean is behind with some building work and now there’s a hold up on some vital equipment, so we’re going to have to try and sort this out before the end of the week, preferably before the end of the day.’

      ‘Why the urgency?’ Rose was well aware of which particular development this was. There had been ongoing problems with it from day one. The island was very small and very difficult to access. Supplies, in the first stages of building, had been a nightmare to ship across and things had pretty much carried on with that handicap. Gabriel had mentally written the venture off as an ongoing white elephant. It had lost its appeal as a commercial venture, but she knew from the way he spoke about it that he had developed a peculiar fondness for the place. The original structure of a hotel had gradually morphed into a massive villa overlooking the wild side of the Atlantic and the details were more appropriate to a private residence than to a busy tourist spot. Gabriel now nurtured the plan of turning it into an exclusive fourteen bedroomed villa which would be rented for corporate entertaining or else hired by the super-wealthy for the occasional retreat from the rat race.

      ‘There are murmurs of an approaching hurricane. Eileen’s sweeping towards Florida but there’s a chance it might divert and if it hits us it’s going to be fatal for the project. There just aren’t sufficient bricks in place to stave off a category four.’

      ‘I’ll see what I can do…’Rose privately thought that there was nothing she could do. Time and urgency meant different things out there. The infrastructure on the island, from everything she read in the files, was basic. There were some shops, a school, transport to and from the island. Business was something that happened offshore, largely.

      ‘Good. And, in the meantime, sort out flights for me to get there. I’ll leave first thing in the morning or today if nothing’s available for tomorrow.’

      ‘Leave?’ Rose looked at him in astonishment. She could feel the blood seeping out of her face and she cleared her throat briskly. ‘Leave as in travel to an island which is on alert for a hurricane? Where would you stay when you got there? You’ve been there, Gabriel, and we’ve both seen detailed pictures of the place. There are no hotels.’

      ‘I could always camp down on the beach.’ He stood up and began prowling his office, deep in thought. As he prowled, Rose tried to imagine Gabriel caught up in a hurricane, at the mercy of the elements. The trip to the island was a convoluted one, involving two airports and a boat crossing. What if the hurricane hit while he was in the boat? He would be as vulnerable as an ant in a matchbox hurtling down a СКАЧАТЬ