The Reluctant Duke. Кэрол Мортимер

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      ‘Are you always this disrespectful?’ he rasped harshly.

      She shrugged. ‘My parents brought me up to believe that respect has to be earned, not just given,’ she came back challengingly.

      Lucan growled something unintelligible under his breath. ‘I want you to sit in on my ten o’clock meeting and take notes.’

      ‘Well, that is what you are paying me for,’ she came back sarcastically.

      Lucan’s patience—what little he possessed—was fast running out where this particular woman was concerned. ‘If you continue with your present attitude you will leave me with no choice but to call your agency back and explain exactly how ill-suited I believe you to be for this or any other position,’ he warned her coldly.

      Lexie grudgingly acknowledged that she might be allowing her inner resentment towards this man to get the better of her. After all, he was Lucan St Claire, world-renowned businessman, and a man who was rich as Croesus and even more powerful. The last thing Lexie wanted was for her parents to return from their cruise and discover the hard-earned reputation of Premier Personnel, which they had so painstakingly built up over the last twenty years, was in tatters after only a matter of days under Lexie’s management!

      ‘Shouldn’t you at least give me a few hours to prove my efficiency before doing that? ‘ she came back lightly.

      Even when this woman was saying all the right words she still somehow managed to sound challenging, Lucan recognised with a frown. Almost as if she had been predisposed to dislike him.

      Simply because of the unfeeling way she believed he had behaved towards Jessica Brown?

      Or was her dislike for another reason entirely?

      Considering that Lexie Hamilton hadn’t even known Lucan’s ex-PA, the former didn’t sound like an acceptable explanation for her attitude. So maybe it was something else?

      Or perhaps it wasn’t personal at all, and she really was just this prickly and outspoken with everyone?

      If he could tolerate this woman in such close proximity to him for the next three days he was probably going to find that out.

      And he still had to decide what he was going to do about John Barton’s call concerning the damage to Mulberry Hall.

      ‘Is there something wrong, Mr St Claire?’ Lexie prompted lightly a couple of hours later, once Gideon St Claire had left the office to accompany Andrew Proctor and his legal representative down in the lift.

      ‘What could possibly be wrong? ‘ Lucan bit out tautly as he stood up impatiently, a nerve pulsing in his tightly clenched jaw. He moved around the desk, the darkness of his gaze narrowed on her icily.

      Lexie gave a shake of her head. ‘I had assumed you might offer to take Mr Proctor out to lunch once the contracts had been signed—’

      ‘I believe Proctor would much rather have had lunch with you than with me.’

      ‘Me?’ Lexie repeated incredulously.

      ‘Don’t play the innocent with me, Lexie; you know exactly what effect you had on Andrew Proctor,’ he growled scathingly.

      She frowned. ‘I believe I laughed at several of Mr Proctor’s jokes—’

      ‘Laughed inappropriately at all of his jokes,’ Lucan corrected disgustedly, fresh anger boiling up inside him just at the thought of the meeting that had just taken place in his office.

      Andrew Proctor was a handsome man in his late forties, owner of an extensive transport business that Lucan wished to acquire for the St Claire Corporation. There had been several meetings between Gideon and Proctor’s own legal adviser already, to negotiate the details of the sale, and Lucan had fully expected the meeting this morning—the signing of the contracts—to go off without a hitch.

      Obviously he hadn’t taken Lexie’s presence into account when he’d made that assumption!

      Andrew Proctor had taken one glance at Lucan’s PA and the whole tenor of the meeting had changed. The man had begun to flirt with her instead of paying attention to the final discussion of the contract that had been drawn up for their signatures.

      The fact that Gideon had seemed equally interested in her certainly hadn’t improved the situation.

      Lucan’s mouth tightened. ‘You all but got into bed with the man, damn it!’

      Lexie’s eyes widened indignantly. ‘Believe me, Mr St Claire, when I get into bed with a man I don’t do it in front of an audience!’

      Lucan drew in a sharp breath at the graphic vision that remark instantly induced.

      Her complexion was pure ivory, and Lucan had no doubt that the slenderness of her body would be just as palely translucent. Her skin would be soft and smooth to the touch. Her uptilted breasts would be tipped by rose or red-coloured nipples. The silky triangle of hair between her legs would be the same dark—

      Good God!

      Had he totally lost his mind? Christmas in Scotland, followed by the wedding at Mulberry Hall and now this call from Barton in Gloucestershire—all that had been unsettling, certainly, but surely not enough to addle Lucan’s brain so much he was having these erotic thoughts about her?

      Addled his brain?

      It was another part of his anatomy entirely that responded to Lexie’s exotic beauty.

      ‘I have no interest in learning what you do or do not require when you go to bed with a man,’ he bit out grimly—and not altogether truthfully. ‘I am merely endeavouring to point out that your overtly friendly behaviour towards Andrew Proctor made a complete fiasco of what was supposed to be a business meeting.’

      Lexie was uncomfortably aware that Lucan’s criticism was partly merited. She had obviously been expected to just fade quietly into the background of the meeting, rather than allow Andrew Proctor to draw her into conversation. And she knew she would have done exactly that if not for the fact that she had seen exactly how annoyed Lucan had looked every time Andrew Proctor spoke to her.

      She gave a self-conscious grimace now. ‘I apologise if you found anything about my behaviour this morning less than professional.’

      Lucan looked taken aback. ‘What did you just say…?’

      Lexie shot him a frowning glance from beneath dark lashes. ‘I believe I apologised,’ she repeated impatiently.

      Exactly what Lucan had thought she had done! Totally unexpectedly. So much so that he wasn’t quite sure what to do or say next, damn it.

      Indecision wasn’t something he could normally be accused of, either.

      What was wrong with him this morning?

      From a professional angle Lucan knew he should call this woman’s agency and demand that she be replaced immediately, or he would have no choice but to contact another agency.

      What he personally wanted to do was another matter entirely.

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