LITMIR.BIZ

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excellent candidates?’ he drawled smoothly, but with an edge that told her the incident in Reception was not forgotten or forgiven.

      She had had the answer to just such a question drilled into her during the business management degree she had taken at university, and had even encountered it first-hand when she had applied for her last job, just over two years ago, but now, in the face of Lucas Kane’s cruelly mocking scrutiny, something hot and contumacious rose up in Kim’s chest.

      ‘That’s for you to weigh in the balance and consider, surely, Mr Kane,’ she answered coolly.

      The silver eyes iced over a fraction more; her tone of voice clearly hadn’t been to his liking. ‘Is it, indeed?’ It was soft and low but with an underlying sharpness that suggested velvet disguising pure steel.

      He had expected a stock answer—she had read that in the brief dart of surprise the silver-grey eyes had been unable to conceal—but she wasn’t playing any sort of game with this man. If he wanted to conduct a straightforward interview that was one thing, but she wasn’t going to be intimidated by Lucas Kane or anyone else.

      He stared at her for another moment or two and she forced herself not to drop her gaze, and then he flicked the intercom on his desk.

      ‘Yes, Mr Kane?’ June’s voice sounded so wonderfully normal it made Kim want to get up and fly into the outer office.

      ‘Coffee, June, for Mrs Allen and myself.’

      Kim had been half expecting him to tell his secretary that the interview was finished, or ask June to show her out—anything, in fact, but request coffee for them both. She found she badly wanted to smooth her hair but restrained the impulse to fiddle with the thick shining braid coiled tightly on top of her head, knowing the intuitive, razor-sharp mind on the other side of the desk would recognise the nervousness behind such a gesture.

      ‘Or perhaps you would prefer tea?’ The brilliant gaze had fastened on her again after the brief respite.

      ‘Coffee will be fine, thank you,’ she answered carefully, keeping her voice in neutral.

      ‘So, Mrs Allen…’

      His voice was very distinctive, she thought shakily as she watched him settle himself comfortably in the vast leather chair and lean back slightly, crossing one long leg over the other knee as he surveyed her unblinkingly. Deep and ever so slightly husky, with the merest trace of an accent she couldn’t quite place.

      ‘Are you a career woman?’ he asked softly.

      There was only one answer she could possibly give to such a leading question, given the circumstances; a reply in the affirmative was what he was expecting and what she must make—the knowledge was screamingly obvious. ‘My work is very important to me, Mr Kane, yes,’ Kim said quickly. But not necessarily for the reasons he supposed, she added silently.

      ‘And I see you got a First at university. That must mean you worked hard but had a natural aptitude for the subject too?’ he commented thoughtfully.

      She couldn’t read anything from either his tone or his face but somehow she felt a punchline was on the way, and she couldn’t quite keep the wariness out of her voice when she said, ‘Yes, I suppose so.’

      She saw the firm hard mouth twitch slightly, as though he was enjoying some private joke of his own, but his voice was still very even—almost expressionless—as he continued, ‘So why did you get married immediately on graduating from university, and moreover start a family within months, if you intended to make the most of your excellent qualifications and carve a career for yourself? It doesn’t quite seem to add up, Mrs Allen.’

      Flipping cheek! She thought about making some facetious reply and passing off what she considered an extremely intrusive question, but he had hit her on the raw—possibly because she had had cause to bitterly regret the marriage almost immediately—so her voice was cold when she replied, ‘Whether it adds up or not, that is what happened, Mr Kane, and it is my business, no one else’s.’ Okay, so she’d blown it good and proper, she thought sickly, but she didn’t want his rotten job anyway!

      She expected a cutting retort, something stinging to put her in her place, but even as she had started speaking he had straightened in his seat and was bending over the papers again, his voice businesslike as he said, ‘Did you meet your husband at university?’

      ‘Yes.’ It was succinct in the extreme but he didn’t look up.

      ‘And I see you were widowed barely three years later. That must have been hard for you.’

      There was nothing she could say to that and so she kept quiet, but he obviously didn’t expect a comment as he continued immediately, ‘That would have meant your daughter was two years of age when you became a single-parent family?’

      ‘Yes.’

      ‘Tough break.’

      There was a smokier quality to his voice as he spoke, a trace of warmth evident in the deep husky tones for the first time, and it unnerved her. Kim didn’t know why it bothered her but it did, and she suddenly found she was acutely aware of the formidable breadth of his shoulders and the muscled strength evident beneath the superficial veneer of expensive cloth.

      It took all coherent thought clean away, and in the pause which followed Lucas Kane raised his dark head, his piercing eyes narrowing on her troubled face. ‘You find it painful to talk about this, Mrs Allen?’ he asked quietly.

      Kim nodded—it seemed the safest option—but she was heartily thankful he had misunderstood the reason for her evident agitation.

      ‘I think you can appreciate I have to ask whether you have suitable arrangements in place should the need arise for you to work late or even be away from home for a few days?’ he continued expressionlessly after another brief pause. ‘Such occurrences are not unusual in this office.’

      ‘Yes, I do.’ This was more solid ground and Kim’s large chocolate-brown eyes expressed the sentiment to the perceptive metallic gaze watching her so closely, although she was unaware of it.

      ‘Melody was in full-time nursery care for two years before she started school in September and she loved it,’ Kim said quickly, ‘and she’s just sailed into school. The school provides an after-hours club for children with working parents which finishes at five-thirty, but if ever I’m unavailable to pick her up a good friend who lives close by and works from home steps in. If I had to go on a business trip, Maggie would love to have her for however long it took.’

      ‘How fortuitous.’

      It was even and spoken without any expression but somehow Kim felt an implied criticism in the smooth tone. Her eyes narrowed and she stared hard into the tough masculine face in front of her, but other than ask him outright if he had a problem with the way she organised her affairs she could do nothing but say, coolly, ‘Yes, it is. I’m very fortunate to have a friend like Maggie.’

      ‘You don’t have family living near?’

      ‘No. My…my husband was an only child and his parents had him late in life. They’re now in their sixties and his father is in poor health so they rarely travel from Scotland, where they live.’

      ‘And your family?’ he persisted relentlessly.

      What this had to do with her aptitude to do the job, she didn’t know! ‘I have no family,’ she said shortly.

      ‘None?’

      He sounded faintly incredulous and she supposed she couldn’t blame him. ‘I was orphaned as a young child,’ she said matter-of-factly. ‘I lived with an elderly aunt for a time but when she died and left her estate to her own family I was put in a children’s home.’

      The silver-grey eyes flickered briefly.

      ‘So,’ Kim continued quietly, ‘I suppose I might have some distant relatives somewhere but I wouldn’t go so far as to call them family, and I certainly have no wish to trace any of them. I’ve made

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