LITMIR.BIZ

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the corridor was far from private, although she acknowledged that so far they hadn’t been interrupted; probably Liam’s raised voice had been heard by any employees who might have wanted to come down the corridor, and they had considered it the wrong time to do so! ‘Could I talk to you later this evening?’ There was none of her past anger and resentment towards this man in her voice; all the fight had gone out of her.

      ‘At the house?’ His voice was sharp, his eyes narrowed.

      ‘No!’ She held back a shudder with effort.

      She had already packed her things—that was another reason why she had been late this morning—and she intended to return to Carlyle House only once more herself, in order to pick up her suitcases.

      She drew in a deep, controlling breath. ‘Perhaps we could have dinner?’ she suggested more calmly.

      ‘A dinner at which I would have to sit and watch you not eat!’ He dismissed her words scathingly with a negative shake of his head.

      ‘A drink, then,’ she conceded agitatedly, knowing that he was right about the dinner; she didn’t think that she would be able to swallow any food even if she tried to. ‘Just somewhere where we can talk privately.’ She looked up at him pleadingly.

      His expression remained hard. ‘What’s so private that we can’t talk about it here, Juliet?’

      ‘I—’ She broke off abruptly as John Morgan walked down the corridor towards them.

      ‘OK, point taken,’ Liam muttered as he too saw the other man’s approach. ‘But this had better be good, Juliet,’ he added impatiently. ‘I have a damn sight more on my mind at the moment than Carlyle Properties!’

      She didn’t know whether he would consider it good at all; she intended telling him that she wanted no further part of the business or Carlyle House; that they were both his. And as he didn’t seem to want them either…

      ‘John,’ he greeted the other man abruptly. ‘Is it me or Juliet you want? Or is that a stupid question?’ He looked at the two of them speculatively.

      The implied insult went over John’s head as he gave Liam a puzzled look, and as the younger man was due to marry his long-standing girlfriend the next month that wasn’t so surprising. ‘Juliet, actually,’ he replied.

      ‘Naturally,’ Liam drawled. ‘I’ll leave the two of you to it, then. We’ll leave together at five-thirty, Juliet; will that do? We can sort out where we’re going then,’ he added challengingly.

      It was far from ideal, because it meant that she would have to go back to the house to pick up her things after she had spoken to him, but in the circumstances … ‘That’s fine,’ she agreed softly.

      ‘Good.’ He somehow managed to convey the point that he really didn’t care whether it was fine with her or not; if she wanted to talk to him privately, that was when they would do it, at his convenience, not hers.

      ‘Five-thirty, then,’ she confirmed abruptly, very aware of John’s presence.

      ‘Yes.’ Liam turned and re-entered his office.

      John gazed after him frowningly. ‘I can’t quite work him out,’ he finally said slowly. ‘He’s been prowling up and down this corridor for the last hour, I’m sure waiting for you to arrive, and now that you have his mood doesn’t seem to have improved!’

      Liam might have been waiting for her to arrive, but only so that he could snap her head off for being late once she got here! It didn’t actually take a lot to work Liam out; he hadn’t wanted to be here at Carlyle Properties, didn’t want to be here, and resented being so. She didn’t doubt that it was only his curiosity that had got him to come back here at all—a curiosity that must have been more than satisfied by now! And Juliet didn’t doubt that now that it had been he would very shortly be leaving. Except that she was leaving first, so he might find it a little difficult to do that.

      But she wouldn’t go before telling him what she was doing, even if she couldn’t tell him all the reasons why.

      The minutes and hours of the morning dragged by, possibly because it was her last day at Carlyle Properties and, like Liam, she didn’t want to be here either. Despite what she might have originally thought, perhaps it would be best if Liam let the company fold; after what he had told her about its past, it was probably better if it did. The company was tainted.

      By one o’clock she decided that she needed a break. And she didn’t care what Liam had to say about her taking an hour off for lunch. What did it matter anyway? She wouldn’t be here at all tomorrow!

      It was just her luck that Diana was walking down the corridor as she left her office. The other woman gave her a warm, friendly smile. ‘Off for lunch?’

      Lunch hadn’t actually entered into her plans; just an hour out in the fresh air somewhere would be one hour less that she had to spend here. ‘Yes,’ she answered abruptly, not quite meeting the other woman’s gaze.

      Diana’s face brightened. ‘I’ll come with you, shall I? Lunch the other day didn’t really count!’

      Juliet didn’t want to spend an hour with this woman, trying to act sociably. She didn’t want to spend an hour with anyone at the moment. ‘I—’

      ‘I’ll just tell Liam we’re going,’ Diana said, cutting lightly across her objection. ‘I’ll only be a moment,’ she promised before entering the office she and Liam had been sharing for the last couple of days.

      Juliet could imagine that Liam was going to be absolutely thrilled at the idea of her taking his personal assistant away for an hour, especially as she herself had been in an hour late already this morning! It wasn’t even as if she wanted the other woman to come with her…

      Liam’s explosion wasn’t long in coming!

      ‘What do you mean you’re going to lunch with Juliet?’ he snapped angrily. Diana had left the office door slightly ajar when she’d gone back into the office.

      Juliet cringed at the anger in his voice, wishing she were anywhere but standing in this corridor, an unwilling listener to the exchange. She didn’t hear Diana’s quietly spoken reply, only Liam’s response.

      ‘How else should I feel?’ he challenged harshly. ‘I’m wasting precious time even looking at this damned company, when I have interests of my own that need attention. You’re pregnant, and—God, I’m sorry, Diana!’ His voice had softened in his hurried apology. ‘I know you feel badly enough about that already. Don’t worry, we’ll work something out. It isn’t the end of the world. Tom will come round. He’ll understand. Oh, God, Diana, don’t cry; you know I don’t know what to do when you cry! Diana…’

      Juliet didn’t stay to hear any more, but turned and walked in a daze from the building, sure that she had been forgotten by both Diana and Liam. Interests of his own that needed attention, Diana pregnant, her husband Tom would understand. It all added up to one thing: Diana was pregnant with Liam’s child!

      Juliet was stunned, totally shocked; she sat in her car for several minutes, unable to move.

      What had she expected, hoped? That somehow during her conversation with Liam this evening she might have been able to salvage something, some sort of relationship with him?

      God, she did love him. And he was having an affair with a married woman—a woman who was now expecting his child. What a mess!

      How she drove back to the house she never knew afterwards; she couldn’t recall the journey at all. But she knew, after the conversation she had just heard, that she couldn’t return to Carlyle Properties, that she couldn’t see Liam again. The only course left open to her now was to collect her things and go. She would leave a note for Liam in his father’s study explaining what she was doing, and saying that he would hear from her lawyer concerning the business and house. There was no way she could actually talk to him herself now. Whatever awareness there had been between them, and no

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