First Love, Last Love (4 page)

‘Do I? And why should I know that? You seem to have two boy-friends that I know of, possibly more, and I made the mistake of kissing you yesterday. Maybe you’ve come to continue where we left off.’

‘No, I haven’t! And I don’t have two boy-friends! As for that kiss, you can’t think it any more a mistake than I do.’

‘That wasn’t the impression you gave yesterday,’ he drawled.

‘Why, you arrogant—! How dare you!’ Her hands clenched at her sides. ‘You forced me to kiss you back,’ she accused. ‘I didn’t have any choice in the matter.’

‘A lady always has a choice,’ he taunted. ‘Although
you could hardly be classed as a lady, not even a
young
lady, more like a girl really. How old are you?’

Lauri was so startled by the question she replied instantly. ‘Seventeen—nearly eighteen,’ she added defensively.

His eyes narrowed. ‘How nearly?’

‘Nearly!’ she repeated resentfully.

‘Which means you’ve only just turned seventeen.’ He watched the guilty colour enter her cheeks. ‘I thought so. Aren’t you a little young to be doing this sort of thing?’

Lauri frowned. ‘What sort of thing?’

‘Chasing men, especially one twice your age.’

‘I am not chasing—
Are
you really that old?’ she asked insultingly.

His mouth tightened. ‘Or you’re that young, it depends which way you look at it.’

‘That makes you as old as my aunt,’ she said thoughtfully.

‘Really?’ He looked down impatiently at his wrist-watch, a plain gold affair, more indicative of his wealth than a flashy one would have been. People who were as rich as he was never needed to flaunt it, it was just there in their every movement, every word. ‘Now what did you want to see me about?’

‘Your car,’ she feverishly grasped for something to say. ‘I—er—I wanted to know if you’d had anything done about it yet,’ she explained with a certain amount of triumph, pleased with herself for thinking of something so quickly.

‘As it happens I have. But I thought your boy-friend was dealing with that?’

‘He isn’t my boy-friend!’ she said crossly. ‘He—he’s a friend, that’s all.’

‘And do all your boy-friends later become just friends?’

She drew an angry breath. ‘He’s always been just a friend.’

‘That takes care of him,’ he remarked thoughtfully. ‘And the other boy-friend departs at the end of the week. Would that be Saturday?’

‘Morning,’ she nodded. ‘But—’

‘Then that leaves you free to have dinner with me on Saturday evening.’

Her eyes became huge in her surprise and disbelief. ‘I—I beg your pardon? What did you say?’

‘Isn’t dinner suitable? Or are you one of these females who makes do with a cracker and an apple?’

‘I’ve always had a healthy appetite. But—’

‘Then dinner it is.’ He gave another glance at his watch. ‘I have to get to a meeting now, so if you’ll just tell me where you live I can be on my way.’

Lauri shook her head dazedly, searching his arrogant features for some sign of mockery. The mouth looked impatient, the eyes questioning, but as far as she could see there was no mockery there. ‘Who says I want to have dinner with you?’ she demanded, annoyed with his assumption in thinking she would agree.

He sighed. ‘Don’t you?’

‘Not particularly. Just because your girl-friend is out of town it doesn’t mean I’m willing to—’

‘It would appear you aren’t
willing
to do anything without an argument,’ he said tersely. ‘I made the suggestion in the hope that we might come to some agreement over the payment for the damage to my car.’ He shrugged. ‘But if you would rather it went through the insurance agents that’s just fine by me. Of course, you may have a little difficulty explaining to the police what you were doing driving without L-plates, but then that’s your choice.’

Lauri’s mouth gaped open. ‘You know?’ she asked in a whisper.

‘That you’re a learner? If I didn’t before I do now. You just confirmed my suspicions.’

‘Why, you—That wasn’t fair! You tricked me!’

‘Not really,’ he said calmly. ‘It was a natural assumption to make. Your driving leaves a lot to be desired, and by your own admission you’re only just seventeen.’ He eyed her mockingly. ‘So it would be very doubtful if you’d already passed the driving test, not with the way our system works. I took a shot in the dark and it paid off. Your friend is a braver man than I to allow you to drive his car.’

Lauri blushed at the sarcasm in his voice. ‘I don’t suppose you ever let anyone drive you.’

‘Never. Not even the girl-friend you say is out of town. Tell me,’ he taunted, ‘who is she?’

‘You must know who she is! I wish you’d stop treating me like an idiot.’ She glared angrily as she realised that was exactly what he had called her to Jane. ‘You may think that’s what I am, but that doesn’t mean you have to treat me like one. Everyone knows you’re seeing Connie Mears.’ A slight exaggeration here, but she felt she could be forgiven it.

‘Then “everyone” is wrong. Do the gossips have nothing better to do than make up stories to colour their day?’

No doubt he considered her to be one of the gossips! ‘I got my information from a reliable source,’ she said defensively.

‘Then it’s a little dated,’ he returned coldly. ‘Connie and I finished weeks ago.’

‘Oh. I—I didn’t know that.’

He gave her a long slow appraisal, making her blush from head to toe at the undisguised insolence in those deep blue eyes. ‘There’s no reason why you should know. And I wouldn’t consider you a suitable replacement in any case. I was hardly asking you for a date,
Lauren, just trying to work this thing out like two reasonable adult—people,’ he amended tauntingly.

‘I am an adult!’

‘You don’t act like one. Look, I couldn’t give a damn whether this goes through the police or not, it’s completely up to you.’

He obviously felt he had wasted enough time on her for one day. But Lauri couldn’t let him go like this. ‘Do the police have to be involved?’ She despised herself for that almost pleading quality in her voice.

‘I told you, that’s up to you.’

‘You said you wanted to discuss terms,’ Lauri said suspiciously. ‘What sort of terms?’

‘Not those sort anyway.’ He gave a harsh laugh. ‘Credit me with some sense, Lauren,’ he snapped. ‘I’m hardly likely to want to seduce a teenager.’

‘But—’

‘Oh, forget it, Lauren!’ he said angrily. ‘I don’t have any more time to discuss it. I don’t know why the hell I should help you out anyway.’ He turned on his heel and walked off.

‘Mr Blair!’ Lauri ran after him. ‘Mr Blair, please—’

He either didn’t hear her or didn’t want to hear her, opening a door farther up the corridor and slamming the door in Lauri’s face as she would have followed him inside. She had deserved that, she thought dully. Like he said, why should he help her? But he had been willing to, and she had thrown his offer back in his face.

She started guiltily as she heard the ascent of the lift, and turned to confront her aunt. ‘Jane!’ she sighed her relief that it wasn’t someone else of importance who might also demand to know what she was doing up here.

‘Lauri!’ Jane looked shocked. ‘You shouldn’t be up here.’

Lauri sighed, wishing she had never dared to brave the top floor. ‘I know.’

‘Then why are you?’ Jane was obviously agitated by her presence here, looking about her almost guiltily. ‘If Mr Blair or one of the managers should see you you’d have a hard time explaining what you’re doing wandering around up here.’

She already had! ‘You’ve got my purse,’ she said by way of explanation.

‘I know that.’ Jane held it out to her. ‘I went downstairs to give it to you as soon as I realised.’

‘We must have missed each other.’ Lauri took the purse. ‘I’ll have to go now, I’m late as it is.’

‘But, Lauri—’

She dived into the waiting lift, pressing the button. ‘See you later,’ she had time to call before the doors closed.

Phew! That was a narrow escape. Thank goodness Jane hadn’t probed too deeply into why she had been standing aimlessly about in the corridor. If she had Lauri might have had to reveal that she had called the owner of the company arrogant, had accused him of being insulting, and of tricking her into revealing that she was a learner driver.

She might also have inadvertently revealed that Alexander Blair had invited her out to dinner, although invited was perhaps the wrong word to use. It had been an order, but a strange one, despite his assertion that he wanted to discuss terms for payment on the damage to his car. Terms! What could he mean by that? He had been furious at her assumption that he had any but the best intentions in mind, but she didn’t think it could have been an entirely innocent suggestion. How on earth could she pay him back, unless he intended taking it from her wages, a little each week?

Perhaps that was what he had in mind, although
surely he didn’t need to invite her out to dinner to discuss that. Maybe he was at a loose end and wanted someone to amuse him for a few hours. And she had to admit, she certainly seemed to amuse him. Whatever his reason, she shouldn’t have turned him down. He could make things pretty awkward for the whole of her family if he chose to.

It was for that reason, and that reason alone, that she decided to accept his dinner invitation. The trouble was telling him she had accepted!

She walked casually up to Carly’s desk as she sat in her sectioned-off office, the partition walls consisting mainly of windows so that she could see what was going on in the outer office.

‘Is there something wrong?’ Carly looked up from the holiday rota she was working on.

‘Er—no, not really. I—Do you think I could use your telephone?’ she said in a rush. ‘I know you’ve said in the past that we can, but I’ve never needed to bother before.’

‘Of course you can,’ Carly stood up to vacate the office to give her privacy for the call. ‘Give me a shout when you’ve finished.’

‘Thanks.’ Lauri gave her a grateful smile, relieved that her supervisor had shown no curiosity about who she would be telephoning.

She had to look up the number for Alexander Blair’s office, aware that she would have to go through her aunt to speak to the man himself. Was it worth it? she asked herself. It had to be if it meant they all kept their jobs.

‘Er—good morning,’ she said as the telephone was suddenly answered by Jane, deliberately deepening her voice and giving a husky sound to it that had sexual undertones. ‘Could I speak to Alexander, please?’ she asked in that same sexy voice.

For a moment there was silence and Lauri wondered if her ruse had gone wrong. If Jane should guess it was her little niece on the line …! ‘Who shall I say is calling?’ came Jane’s businesslike reply.

Lauri heaved an inward sigh of relief. At least she hadn’t been recognised yet. Now came the hard part ‘Tell him it’s—Lauren.’ After all, he did call her that, and strangely he was the only one ever to do so, giving an intimacy to their relationship that didn’t exist

‘Lauren …?’ Jane was obviously prompting for a surname.

‘Just Lauren.’ She forced a provocative laugh. ‘He’ll know who it is.’ She hoped! How awful if he demanded to know Lauren who?

‘Very well.’ Jane sounded at her most haughty, which meant she wasn’t pleased at being treated in this high-handed manner, even by someone she thought to be another of Alexander Blair’s girl-friends.

Did he have
girl
-friends? She doubted it. He was much too sophisticated and sure of himself to tolerate naïveté in one of his women. No, he would go for women who knew exactly what they were doing, women who—

‘I’m putting you through now,’ Jane abruptly interrupted her thoughts.

Thank goodness he had remembered her. ‘Thank you so much,’ she replied in the sexy voice she had been using for the whole of the conversation.

‘Glad to be of help,’ drawled the unmistakable voice of Alexander Blair. ‘Although this doesn’t sound like the Lauren I know, and I haven’t the faintest idea what I’m being thanked for.’

‘I wasn’t thanking you!’ she told him in her normal voice.

‘Ah, that’s better.’ He sounded mocking even over
the telephone. ‘Why the change in voice?’ he asked interestedly.

‘I didn’t want to be recognised. After all,’ she added hastily, ‘I do work here. I wouldn’t want your secretary to make the connection between Lauri in the typing pool and the Lauren who just telephoned you.’

‘Is that likely?’

‘I—Well, it could be.’

‘I would doubt my secretary is any more familiar with the girls in the typing pool than I am,’ he drawled mockingly. ‘Would you?’

This girl she was! ‘Probably not,’ she evaded a direct answer. ‘But it wasn’t worth the risk.’

‘Would it be too much to ask what this call is about? I thought it had been decided that your—friend was to take the blame for allowing you to drive his car.’

‘Yes, well, I—I’ve been thinking, and—and—’

‘And?’ he prompted tersely.

‘And if your invitation to dinner still stands I would like to discuss—terms.’

‘It doesn’t,’ he told her curtly. ‘Forget the dinner invitation.’

‘Oh.’ Her heart sank. She had been rude to him and he wasn’t about to forgive such an insult from a nobody like her. ‘Please, Mr Blair. I’m sorry for what I said. I—’

‘The dinner invitation is out,’ he repeated. ‘But one for lunch today is open,’ he added enquiringly.

‘Lunch today?’ Her mouth gaped open and she quickly closed it again, realising that although her conversation couldn’t be heard by the girls outside the office her reaction to it could clearly be seen.

‘Well?’ he rasped, pretty much as he had done after administering that punishing kiss yesterday.

‘I—’

‘Or do you usually have lunch with your boy-friend?’ he interrupted before she could form an answer.

‘Not always. Usually, but not always.’

‘Then today can be one of the exceptions.’ It sounded like an order. ‘I’ll meet you in reception at twelve-thirty.’

‘No! No, Mr Blair,’ she said more calmly. ‘I’d rather meet you somewhere away from here.’

‘I am not in the habit of sneaking out to meet anyone.’ His icy anger could quite easily be detected.