Page 10 of His Secretary's Nine-Month Notice
‘This situation has all been very sudden,’ she said truthfully, ‘but it’s going to provide me with a break to explore other avenues aside from working behind a desk in an office.’
‘What other avenues?’
‘I know it’s in my contract to work out my full six-week notice period, but if I find a replacement before then, would you consider freeing me of that obligation earlier? Naturally, I wouldn’t be paid for any time I didn’t work. Maybe you could sleep on that and we can discuss it when I come in tomorrow morning?’
‘I can’t believe I’m hearing this!’
She’d gone to the door and now he joined her, scowling.
‘You don’t always get what you want,’ Violet told him gently.
‘If you want to leave that desperately, then far be it from me to chain you to your desk and force you to work out your notice period!’
‘You mean that? Because, the sooner I can be with my dad, the better.’ He was going to release her from her contract, she thought. He’d done what for him was the equivalent of begging, and now he intended to throw the towel in the ring with his usual flamboyance. All or nothing. That was his nature.
It was terrifying.
But she kept smiling as he stared down at her, glowering. Then, quite unexpectedly, he rested his hand on the door to the sitting room, which was ajar, and half stumbled as it flew open. And there he was, in the sanctuary of her sitting room.
For a few seconds, he was lost for words as he stared at the baby grand piano positioned by the bay window. Violet followed his gaze. Without thinking, she walked towards the piano and gently smoothed her hand over the rich chestnut lid, then along the ivory-and-black keys, hardly aware of the picture she was painting, just doing something that was purely instinctive.
‘You play?’ Matt was mesmerised by just how slender and elegant a figure she cut, standing there, half-turned away from him, ethereal and wistful, exerting some weird magnetism over him.
He was right behind her. Violet could feel his warmth radiating outwards, swirling around her, but she didn’t feel uncomfortable or self-conscious because this was her comfort zone. She absently played a few keys and a soft, melodious tune took shape under her moving fingers, then she stopped and turned to him, embarrassed now.
‘I play,’ she murmured. ‘I must have inherited some of my father’s musical talent.’
He was staring down at her with a veiled, oddly disturbing expression and she smiled, eager to lighten the moment and bring things back down to earth.
‘Don’t look so surprised, Matt. So what if I’m more than just the efficient, invisible secretary you’ve spent the past two-and-a-half years taking for granted?’
‘Take you for granted? Never,’ Matt murmured. His eyes drifted away from hers, down to the surprisingly full and perfectly shaped mouth. Asexymouth, he realised, a mouth fashioned for kissing. ‘Invisible? Hardly.’
The atmosphere had changed. Violet felt the shift and backed away, bumping into the piano and instantly straightening so that she didn’t sit on the keys. He was so close to her and he was no longer her boss. They were man and woman, eyes locked, breathing laboured, suffused in an electric charge that was suddenly so potent that she wanted to pass out.
‘You should go now,’ she said huskily. For a few seconds he didn’t move, and she wondered what she would do if the unthinkable happened—if that cool, firm, sensuous mouth covered hers.
He backed off, and when there was some safe distance between them he said, gruffly, ‘One week. After that, Violet, you’re free to go.’ He spun round on his heels and headed for the door.
He was already opening the front door by the time she caught up with him. Her body was still burning, as though she’d stepped too close to a conflagration that had suddenly changed direction and begun soaring towards her at speed.
‘What about me finding a replacement for you?’ she asked, and he looked at her coolly.
‘I’ll manage.’ He paused then said, cutting her to the quick, ‘I thought I knew you, Violet. Turns out I couldn’t be further from the truth.’
CHAPTER THREE
VIOLETWENTTOwork the following morning, at the safe time of nine on the dot, to find the usually buzzing office almost completely empty.
‘Hush-hush, top-secret meeting.’ Lisa, one of the junior computer software analysts, approached her from behind and Violet spun round with a frown.
‘Top-secret meeting? I didn’t know that there were any meetings booked for today.’ She peered in the direction of the conference room, but the door was open and there was no one inside.
‘They’ve disappeared to one of the hotels. All the CEOs and the head of Accounts and a handful of the tech guys.’ She began heading towards her desk and threw over her shoulder, ‘Hey, you should be glad you’ve been spared that ordeal. You know how long they can go on for! Anyway, I’m holding the fort until they decide to start drifting back. Probably lunchtime. Knowing that lot from the tech team, they won’t be passing up the subsidised meal in the office cafeteria.’
Bemused, Violet headed towards her office.
By the time she got there, it had sunk in that Matt had delivered what could only be called a body blow.
