The Lethal Encounter (9 page)

By 7.10, she was sitting at a
table in the restaurant, flicking through the menu and sipping on a cold glass
of wine. She spotted Hugo coming in and rose to greet him. They embraced warmly
and sat down.

“Sorry I'm late,” said Hugo,
slightly out of breath. “I got stopped by Alastair in IT. Do you know him? No?
He's one of the tech geeks and he had a question about.....anyway that doesn't
matter. So how are you? Did you have a good weekend? How are your parents?
What's new?”

Katie smiled. “Whoa…..calm
down. Yes thanks, I had a good weekend. Mum and Dad are fine thanks.”

Hugo smiled back and they
fell into an easy banter. Katie fell a surge of warmth for the man and realised
that they did get on well. He was smart, good looking (although not in Peter
Jarvis' league!) and he made her laugh. He was obviously very fond of her and
Katie of him.....but....Katie didn't really know what the “but” was at this
stage. She just knew that her life had been irrevocably changed with regard to men
and that was going to affect her relationship with Hugo - and probably her
attitude in general to opposite sex going forward.

Dinner finished with a
liqueur, a real treat on a Monday, and, as they went outside and stood by the
side of the road, Katie knew that Hugo wanted to come back with her. He put his
arm around her shoulders and looked around for a cab. She turned to him and
their lips met. He smelt good and his tongue tasted of the drink they had just
had. However, before she could stop herself she was mentally comparing his kiss
with that of Peter Jarvis and immediately realised it was not in the same
league. Despite these feelings, their tongues lazily circled and Hugo's grip on
her tightened. He drew his head back and smiled.

“You're lovely Katie, you
know that?” he said in a low voice. “Let's get a cab.”

Katie took a deep breath,
knowing what she had to do.

“Hugo, I've had a great time
but I'm knackered and have an early start tomorrow…..can we take a rain check?
I know that's what I said on Friday and I'm sorry.” Katie then quickly added,
seeing the look on Hugo's face.

 “I just need my beauty
sleep tonight, if you know what I mean.....” she squeezed his arm, knowing that
she was floating out an obvious invitation, one that she was suddenly almost
certain now she would not act upon. She had a pang of guilt but it was only
fleeting, particularly as she saw the look of disappointment on his face turn
into one of anger and frustration.

“Fine Katie. You do what you
want. We'll see each other soon, OK?” He bent to kiss her again and their lips
touched. Gone, however, was the intimacy of a few moments before, to be
replaced by a more brusque and businesslike feeling. And with that he turned
and walked off up the street towards the tube.

Katie watched him go with a
curious twinge of regret. She knew that the exchange could have signalled the
end of their fledgling relationship and she was not sure how she felt about
that. Above all, the last few days had turned all her preconceptions and
thoughts on men and relationships on their head…..even though she was trying
desperately hard not to let it. The moment of intimacy with Peter Jarvis had,
however fleeting it may have been, changed her, and she now realised there were
deeper emotions within her waiting to be unlocked.

She watched Hugo disappear
around the corner and turned back to the road to find a cab. Seeing a familiar
orange light she raised her hand, waited until the vehicle drew up alongside
her and climbed in.

As she watched the familiar
streets of London pass by, she let her mind wander into a world where she and
Peter did get together. She wondered what type of world that would be and how
she would possibly fit into it. And then she thought of Peter Jarvis himself
and felt that unfamiliar tug of emotion and desire. Despite her misgivings and
whatever the consequences, she couldn't stop the earlier feelings that there
was unfinished business between the two of them.

CHAPTER 6

The following morning, Katie
had made up her mind on the course of action.

After she had arrived home
last evening, and then later in the middle of the night, she had thought long
and hard, weighing up all the pros and cons and possible outcomes. Despite her
determination to put the incident in the south of France behind her, she knew
she could not without some sort of closure. Her current feelings about men,
manifesting themselves in her actions the previous night with Hugo, screamed
out for her to do something and, as the morning sun rose up into the sky, she
had decided her course of action.

After she had logged in to
her computer, she rose from her desk and made her way to the stairs. She had
purposefully come in a bit early to beat the rush and, as she walked up to the
executive offices, she was glad she had made that decision. This was going to
be hard enough without the prying glances of her colleagues.

She walked up to Nancy
Kleiner, Peter Jarvis' trusted assistant, who was already engrossed in her
monitor. She knew Nancy slightly but was still aware that this course of action
was slightly unusual, to say the least.

“Morning Nancy, in early as
always I see. I was just wondering if Peter was in and free?”

Nancy
looked up inquiringly and smiled at Katie.

“Oh hi.....” Nancy was obviously having trouble remembering Katie's name, so she stepped in

“Katie McGovern, from sales”

“Oh yes.....of course. How
are you Katie? Yes Peter's in…..but I don't recall seeing a meeting in the
diary with you.”

“No, you wouldn't....” Katie
said quickly, “because I haven't…..got a meeting that is. I was just wondering
if he had a few moments to discuss an agreement I have been working on in France. Peter knows about it.”

Katie was aware that she was
again starting to babble. What was it about this man that reduced her to a
nervous wreck?

Janice looked at her
strangely. Katie knew what she was thinking. Why on earth would Peter Jarvis
want to discuss a deal with a lowly salesperson?

“I'll check….to see if he has
a spare moment.”

She rose and walked behind
her chair to open the door to the Chief Executive's office. She went in, closed
the door behind her and Katie heard muffled voices. Despite the slightly
incredulous look on Nancy’s face as she went in to the office, Katie pretty
much knew he would see her and the thought of being alone with him again was
making her stomach start flipping again. She felt her pulse hammering in her
throat as she stood nervously in the hall. She took a deep breath and Nancy retuned through the door.

“He'd be happy to see you,” she
said, obviously surprised that he had agreed so readily.

 “In you go.”

Katie smiled gratefully and,
shaking her hair out from behind her ears she walked purposefully into the
office and shut the door behind her. She then turned to look at the person who,
singlehandedly, had turned her life upside down in a matter of days.

“Hello Katie,” said Peter,
smiling. “I'm so glad you came by. Please sit down.”

He pointed to the couch at
the side of his office and stood up himself. He came round his desk and stood
in front of her.

Katie backed over to the sofa
and sat down. Peter seated himself on an armchair next to her and she was
immediately pleased he had not sat on the sofa as well. This was going to be
hard enough without the threat of physical proximity.

“I thought it would be a good
idea to come and speak to you.” Katie started, a trifle lamely.

“And I'm
so
glad you
did,” murmured Peter, a small smile playing around his lips. Katie looked at
him hard, wondering just how much he was playing with her. Nevertheless, she
plunged on.

“Yes, I realise I should have
mentioned something about me working for you in France but it never really came
up and the more time passed, the more difficult it was to say anything.....and
anyway, what difference would it have made?”

Katie paused for breath and
stared at Peter, hoping that he was going to say something, say anything that
would clear this whole matter up. Instead he just stared at her and Katie felt
herself drawn into that gaze.....his eyes seemed to be boring into her very
essence, heightening her senses to an almost uncontrollable level. He had a way
of connecting to her in a way she never thought possible and it worried her and
excited her in equal measures. She continued on, even though she was aware that
the best strategy was probably to sit back and shut up.

“Anyway, I just wanted to say
that I am more than up for this deal in France and any impression you might
have got from my pathetic display in the boardroom was entirely wrong. I'm very
good at my job and......that's what I wanted to say.”

“But why on earth didn't you
tell me up front who you were?” Peter repeated. “You knew who I was.”

Katie paused. This was moving
off work and into other areas - areas she did not really want to get into.

“Well. It was fun to start
with, you not knowing who I was, and then I thought how people might talk if
something happened between us and how that would affect my job and so after a
while it just got really difficult to tell you.....” Katie tailed off.

“But this thing about people
talking would only be problem surely if we had finished what we kind
of…..started.....and then, anyway, people would have had to find out, wouldn't
they?” Peter responded gently.

“Yes, you're right but…..” Katie
realised the trap she had fallen into. She had as good as admitted that she had
not told him who she was because of a potential relationship - before anything
had really happened. She relaxed and smiled.

“Oh god. Alright then. I give
in. I was enjoying our drink and your company. And the more time went on, the
more difficult it was to say anything. But anyway, that was last week and now
we are back here and we have work to do and I just want to kind of forget about
that and move on. If that's OK with you.” Katie added hurriedly.

“And that's what you want is
it?” Peter stared at Katie long and hard and she felt her pulse hammering in
her throat and the side of her head. No, of course that's not what she wanted!
She wanted to go over to him now and run her hands through his hair and kiss
his face all over and feel his arms around her, crushing her body to hers once
again - just like he had done in the hotel room in Cannes. She wanted for him
to whisper wonderful things into her ear and then whisk her off to his bedroom!
Katie started, realising that her face had probably gone red and her hands were
shaking slightly.

She stared back at him and,
summoning all the will power she could muster replied.

“Yes, I think that's best,
don't you?”

“Well, I'm not sure…..and you
haven't answered the question! Is that what you want?”

Katie paused before
responding. She took a deep breath and replied in a quiet voice.

“Yes it is.”

There was a long pause during
which time Katie refused to look up at Peter….she knew her resolve would falter
if she did that. He cleared his throat.

“OK. If that’s what you
really want. And don't worry about the work thing. I know you can do it.....and
your bosses have assured me you can, so that's fine.” With that, Peter got up and
went around his desk again to sit down. He looked at her again.

“Goodbye Katie, and keep me
posted on the French deal.”

With what seemed to Katie to
be a terrible finality, he looked at the monitor and picked up his phone. Katie
opened her mouth to respond but did not. Instead she stood up and went to the
door. As she opened it she turned back, but he was not looking at her. She left
the room and smiled at Nancy, who seemed to smile sympathetically back.