Sally had no chance of competing. It would take years and years of city life before she developed the finely honed sophistication and fashion know-how of the women who’d been born and bred here.
So what if Logan had been relaxed and happy this evening? Dinner and pleasant conversation did not mean that she and the boss were an item.
Now, as they walked beside the harbour to the parked car, their tense silence seemed to magnify the sounds of the night. Footsteps on paving stones. Waves from the wake of a boat slap-slapping against the harbour’s rock wall. The blast of a ferry’s horn, warning that it was about to leave Circular Quay.
A fresh burst of wind gusted across the inky water, making Sally shiver.
‘You’re cold,’ Logan said. ‘Here, have my jacket.’ Gallantly, he ignored her protests that it wasn’t far to the car and he slipped his jacket around her shoulders.
‘Thanks,’ she whispered and a high voltage thrill zapped through her when the silky lining settled intimately over her shoulders. The silk was warm from Logan’s body heat and the very thought that his hunky torso had been inside this garment robbed her breath and made her head spin.
Running footsteps erupted on the pavement behind them and Logan, immediately alert, kept his arm protectively around her. But their pursuers turned out to be a group of young people, running and laughing to catch the last ferry. Logan’s arm remained there and Sally thought there was every chance her knees might give way before they reached the car.
‘Keep the jacket on,’ he said as he opened the car door for her.
She looked up and her breathing faltered when she saw his face in the faint moonlight.
This isn’t a date. He’s out of my league.
Nevertheless, the emotion shimmering in Logan’s eyes stole Sally’s breath. A shadow fell as he dipped his head closer and she knew that he was going to kiss her.
Her senses reached out to him. Instinctively, she lifted her lips just a fraction…
‘Sally,’ he whispered and his dark gaze devoured her, roving from her hair to her eyes, to her mouth, her white throat.
His hand lifted to touch her hair and Sally held her breath. Her blood hummed with anticipation. Every cell in her waited…
But then she saw sadness—unmistakably—in his eyes. With a gruff, thick-throated sound, he dropped his hand and stepped back abruptly.
Mortified, Sally scrambled into the car and pulled the door shut before Logan could attend to it. Fighting silly tears of disappointment, she scolded herself for being so foolish. Of course she understood that Logan couldn’t kiss her. How could he when they’d both spent the entire evening making a song and dance about the fact that he was her boss and this was not a date?
When they reached her house, he walked her to the door, but she didn’t ask him in.
‘Thanks for your jacket,’ she said as she handed it to him. ‘And thanks for a lovely evening.’
‘My pleasure, Sally. Thanks for your company.’ About to return to his car, he said, ‘I should have checked my diary. I’ll let you know on Monday about the next lesson. Is that all right?’
If she was sensible, she would have told him that she couldn’t manage any more dancing lessons. She was quite sure she couldn’t endure more time alone with him. But he’d just bought her a lavish meal. And, honestly, even though she knew it was pointless to love him, how could she bear to give him up?
‘Sure,’ she said softly. ‘You still need some more polish. Let me know on Monday.’
When he reached her front gate, she called, ‘Have a good weekend.’
‘Thanks, Sally. You, too.’
As she went inside, she thought, I’m not sure that’s possible.
Memories of that moment when Logan had almost kissed her reverberated in Sally’s awareness all weekend. As a distraction, she invited Anna and the children over for Sunday lunch and afterwards they all went to a park by the harbour, played on the swings, fed the ducks and generally had a good time. Sally fought off memories of that time she’d seen her boss playing in the park with his nephews.
On Monday morning, Logan arrived at Blackcorp with his mobile phone welded to his ear. He gave Sally a hurried nod as he sped past her, then disappeared.
So…it was business as usual. What else did I expect?
She was a fool to be disappointed.
Maeve bounced in with a smile that spread from ear to ear. She and her geologist had spent a weekend away in the Blue Mountains and it had been so-o-o romantic. Sally tried not to feel jealous, with little success.
Maeve was in the middle of describing a marble spa bath set in a bay window overlooking the Megalong Valley when Maria Paige swept through the security door.