The Lethal Encounter (2 page)

She shook her head and smiled.
Now was not the time to get morose! She had enjoyed a good few days, finalised
a new deal and was now about to tuck into the best food and drink this
particular restaurant could provide. She lowered her eyes to study the menu
and, after a few mouth watering moments decided to go for the crevettes royales
to start followed by a simple filet de boeuf with green salad. She moved onto
to the wine list and picked out a half bottle of Cotes de Ventoux that she knew
would go well with the meat. She would make the champagne last for the first
course.

Her waiter returned with the
drink and she relayed her food order to him. Now, with the first sip of her
drink gently fizzing inside her mouth she took time to study her fellow diners.
The restaurant was quite large, with room for over sixty people, but only about
half the tables were occupied. There was the usual selection of French
retirees, dressed up for the night and inevitably stroking a small dog that was
perched on the laps and every now and again poked its nose up to receive a
titbit. Katie always wondered about that and what would happen if you tried the
same thing in an English restaurant.

There was also a couple of
tables occupied by businessmen, jackets off, wine flowing and the hubbub of
general chatter in several languages over the clank of cutlery and glasses.
Katie strained to hear what was being said but could not follow the
conversations to any great extent.

Her first course arrived with
a flourish and she picked up an enormous prawn from the elaborate arrangement
and gently peeled off the skin before plunging the white meat first into the
mayonnaise and then her mouth. The flesh was cold and tender and the flavour of
the sauce a perfect compliment. Katie relished the food and then reached out to
take another sip of her drink. This was going to be good.

The sun had disappeared by
the time Katie had finished the last piece of meat and pushed her plate to one
side. Everything had been superb and she looked at the final half glass of red
wine that remained on the table. She was feeling a bit lightheaded and very
content as her plates were cleared away.

“Un dessert, Madame?” said
her waiter as he scraped the crumbs off the table cloth with a small metal
spatula that he had produced with a flourish from his breast pocket.

Katie contemplated the small
selection of sweets on the menu card that the waiter had laid in front of her.
Whilst they looked very tempting, she felt pretty full and, with a twinge of
regret, she looked up at the man and smiled.

“Non, merci. Un espresso s'il
vous plait,” said Katie.

At that moment she noticed
some new arrivals, a group of four men, as they came down the steps from the
Croissette and got shown to their table on the other side of the restaurant.
Her attention was particularly piqued because she instantly recognised one of
the men to be the chief executive of her company, Peter Jarvis. In her
position, she did not come into daily contact with him at all and, in fact, was
several rungs below in the organisation's hierarchy. But, like most employees,
she knew of his reputation and thought that people at Shire held him in high
esteem.

She watched him as he
confidently signalled the waiter over and discussed the menu and wine list with
him, speaking, as far as Katie could see, fluent French.

Peter Jarvis was pretty much
a legend in the computer software industry. He had built Shire Electronics up
from scratch into a major player on the world stage, employing hundreds of
people around the globe. Katie worked for a small subsidiary specialising in
security software for larger tech firms but felt the influence of the parent
company in most things she did. Although she had obviously seen the chief
executive in the headquarters and company presentations, she had not met him
face to face and never really had much business contact. In fact, she had never
been so close to him as she was now and so took the opportunity to make a
detailed scrutiny.

Like most men in his
position, Peter Jarvis oozed confidence and character. Although dressed
casually, his linen jacket and trousers were obviously from a major name and
his crisp white shirt was immaculately ironed. As she watched, he shrugged off
the jacket from his broad shoulders and placed it on his chair. He then
casually rolled up his sleeves to reveal quite thick forearms covered in a
multitude of little blonde hairs to match his blonde/brown hair that looked
suspiciously like it had been professionally streaked. Either that or he had
spent a lot of time in the sun, because his skin was healthily bronzed and
Katie could not help think that a man like him would spend a lot of time, and
probably money, looking after his appearance. He was sitting at right angles to
her and so she had a good look at his profile that boasted a classically
straight nose leading down to a firm chin and sensual lips. He was,
undoubtedly, very good looking in a kind of James Bond way and he probably knew
it. Just looking around the restaurant, Katie could see women sneaking covert
glances at him as he casually chatted with his dinner companions. Was he her
type, she wondered, and came to the conclusion that he probably wasn't but he
was just too good looking to ignore.

Just then Katie's phone rang
and she guiltily rummaged in her bag to retrieve it, all the while mouthing a
“sorry” to other diners, although she was not quite sure why she was doing that.

Looking at the incoming number,
she pushed the receive button and place the device to her ear.

“Hugo, hi,” she said in a
tone slightly lower that normal speaking. “You've just caught me having dinner,
so can't speak too loudly.”

“No problem, I just rang to
see how you were and when you were likely to be back,” said Hugo in his usual
laid back drawl that was one of the first things that had attracted him to her.

“I'm coming back tomorrow
lunchtime, I'll be back in the office in the afternoon.” Responded Katie,
turning her head towards the beach to shield her conversation from the rest of
the restaurant.

“Hey, you'll never guess
who's sitting just across from me…..none other that our boss Peter Jarvis,”
added Katie in a conspiratorial tone.

“Really? Probably doing one
of his mega deals and chatting up the ladies. You be careful of him, Katie
McGovern, his reputation is lethal,” said Hugo.

“Hey, he's just in the same
restaurant as me, we're not on a date,” teased Katie, sensing that Hugo did not
like the idea of her being in the same place as Peter Jarvis.

“Perhaps we can grab a bit to
eat after work tomorrow, have a drink, stuff like that,” went on Hugo.

“That would be good. Why don't
I ring you when I get back?” responded Katie, wanting really to end the
conversation. She always felt that people desperately tried to listen in when
hearing people talk (although they probably couldn't care less in reality) and
did not want to provide any snippets.

“OK, cool, speak then,” said
Hugo, before signing off.

Katie clicked the red button
on her phone and smiled to herself.

Hugo was a colleague who
worked in a different department to her at Shire and they had started “going
out” a few weeks ago after getting chatting at an office function, realising
that they both had a good deal in common and both obviously finding each other
attractive. The three or four dates had been good and she knew that he was now
expecting the big jump into bed. Whilst she did not find the idea unattractive
by any means, she had done enough of the casual sex stuff to realise that good
things were probably worth waiting for. So far they had enjoyed some pretty
steamy kissing and fondling sessions but nothing further. Perhaps tomorrow
would be a good time to consummate things. Katie felt that she was ready to
commit to a relationship again, even though her last, rather acrimonious, break
up with a boyfriend of over two years some months previously still left a sour
taste in her mouth.

Katie put her phone down on
the table in front of her and absentmindedly stirred the coffee that had been
placed there whilst she was speaking. She looked up again and across at Peter
Jarvis who, she realised with a huge jolt, had his head turned and was staring
straight at her with a slight smile on his face. In that instance, Katie felt
as if her insides had been pulled out of her.....in the same way as those
magicians pull tablecloths off tables without disturbing the glasses and
cutlery. She immediately looked away and her heart started thumping
uncontrollably.

“Oh for god’s sake, get a
grip.” Katie said to herself, unable to believe her reaction. It was as though
she had been transported back to seventh year at school when Andy Marshall had
looked at her in the history lesson and given a huge wink. She rubbed her hands
together and immediately became aware of her ridiculous self-consciousness. She
tried to look every where but at that table across the room and, at the same
time, found it virtually impossible not to. It was as if her head and eyes were
being irresistibly drawn back and she turned to look over again.

Peter Jarvis was no longer
looking at her and she breathed a huge sign of relief. Her heart was still
pounding but the adrenalin that was pumping around her body started to slowly
recede. She finished her coffee in one quick gulp and signalled to her waiter
for the bill. He nodded and disappeared into the recesses of the restaurant.
Meanwhile, she sneaked another look at Peter Jarvis, at exactly the same time
as he glanced over again in her direction. This time their eyes locked in a
lazy embrace and Katie felt another surge of adrenalin pump through her. Her
stomach dropped again and she felt as if her body was going to melt under his
piercing gaze.

Then he smiled.

Not just a quick grin, or
even a smile of mutual acknowledgement. No, this was a huge, open, welcoming
smile that emanated from him and floated lazily across the restaurant to
envelop Katie in its warm and welcoming entirety. It was an amazing feeling
but, before Katie could respond with any sort of meaningful riposte, his head had
turned and he had resumed the conversation with his colleague. She took a deep
breath, convinced now that he knew precisely the effect he was having on her
and was relishing at her discomfort.

Whatever the reasoning, it
was all too much and Katie grabbed the bill out of the waiter's hand, gave it a
cursory glance and returned it with her credit card. The man seemed to take an
age inserting it into the machine and then slowly punching in the totals before
handing it back to Katie. She quickly looked at the figures in the small window
and pressed the numbers on the keypad, forgetting momentarily her PIN number.
She handed it back and, as she did so, she noticed with disgust that her hands
were shaking. All she could feel was something akin to a magnetic power on the
other side of the restaurant and the only thing she wanted to do was to get out
of there as quickly as possible.

Pulling up her bag and phone
she rose unsteadily and headed for the exit, knowing without a shadow of doubt
that her progress was being watched. Ridiculously she straightened her back and
walked with measured, laboured steps that, she realised afterwards, must have
made her looked like she was desperate for the toilet.

Katie stumbled up the steps
and mounted the Croisette in relief. She started walking quickly in the
direction of the Palais, not that she had any intention of going there, but she
just needed to get away from that restaurant.

After five minutes of brisk
walking, she crossed the road and went up the long drive of the Majestic Hotel.
Once in the lobby, she turned left into the bar and sat down in an empty seat
bordering the veranda and the swimming pool. It was only then that she let
herself calm down and, after ordering a glass of wine, she thought back.

Her immediate reaction was
one of disgust at herself…..for being so totally, utterly out of control and
over the top. For ten minutes, she had behaved like a love struck schoolgirl
and what’s more, she could not for the life of her understand what had
happened. She was twenty eight years old, had been through several
relationships (as well as two casual encounters), and yet she had been struck
down by one look from a man she did not even know. OK, he was very attractive,
but then so were many men and none had ever that effect on her. She thought
back to that look Peter Jarvis had given her and she felt her insides rollover
again and her skin began a familiar tingle. Of course, she knew what this
feeling was…..but she just couldn’t for the life of her understand its intensity.