‘It’s OK, Reg,’ Logan said at last. ‘There’s no problem here. We’re just finishing up.’
‘I’ll be on my way, then.’ The guard’s eyes were still wide with disbelief as he exited backwards, pulling the door closed as he went.
Logan turned and his gaze met Sally’s. Her heart thumped as they stood watching each other without speaking. It was an age before he reacted and then his mouth tilted into a tiny lopsided smile. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said quietly. ‘I shouldn’t have kissed you.’
So that was how it was going to be. He would dismiss it as a mistake, easily forgotten. Sally managed to turn her sigh of disappointment into a casual shrug. ‘It doesn’t matter.’ She forced a cheerful smile. ‘We can blame it on the music.’
He seemed relieved that she was happy to leave it at that. ‘I guess we’ve done enough for tonight,’ he said. ‘I should take you home now.’
Her mind was reeling from the double shock of his kiss and its interruption and she simply nodded and unplugged the player from the wall.
They walked back to the car in silence.
Before Logan turned on the ignition, he said, ‘If you open the glove box, you’ll find a CD that I thought might interest you. I meant to show it to you earlier.’
Sally took it out and read the label. ‘Hattie Lane at the Piano. Is this your grandmother’s music?’
He nodded and set the car in motion, reversing smoothly out of the parking space.
‘I’d love to hear Hattie play. Can we listen to this now?’
‘You’re welcome to borrow it.’
The car shot out into the busy lanes of traffic and Sally stared at Logan’s handsome profile. What an enigma he was—one minute distancing himself from her and behaving as if their kiss was nothing more than a careless mistake, and then suddenly opening a door into his private life and offering to share something of deep personal significance. Did he realise he was sending her so many mixed signals?
When he pulled up outside her house, he said, ‘About the ball.’
Sally hoped he wasn’t going to ask for another lesson. How could she stand the stress of pretending this was just about business? She’d already breached her personal pain threshold.
But the question of lessons wasn’t raised. Instead, Logan looked at her and continued calmly, as if he were discussing the weather, ‘I thought you might like to come to the ball. As my partner.’
This time Sally didn’t just stare, she gasped. Several times. Logan had, quite literally, taken her breath away.
‘You’ve told me how much you love balls and this is a truly glittering event,’ he added with a smile that was pure Prince Charming. ‘And I can’t think of anyone I know who’d enjoy this ball as much as you would.’
‘But…I…we…’
‘Don’t you think you’ve earned it, Sally?’
Her mouth opened and shut. She was quite sure she should refuse him loudly and promptly, and her inability to do this immediately was frightening. Her best defence against this boss, who sent her so many confusing signals, was to stay well clear.
His right hand tightened around the steering wheel. ‘To be honest, I should confess that the whole Diana Devenish thing still terrifies me and I could do with a little moral support.’ He shot her another of his gorgeous smiles. ‘A comrade in arms, so to speak.’
Sally gulped. ‘Like a coach, cheering you on from the sidelines?’
‘Exactly.’
Oh, help. She feared she was weakening. ‘But—but a ball’s very public. If I went as your partner, everyone at Blackcorp would be bound to find out.’
‘I’d say that cat’s already out of the bag. The security fellow is bound to talk.’ He shrugged and his jaw squared as he stared out through the windscreen at a rubbish bin that someone had forgotten to take back inside. ‘So what do you think?’
‘I…I don’t know.’ Her mind seemed to have frozen. But one sure thing she couldn’t ignore was that Logan Black needed her help.
Looking down, she saw Hattie’s CD in her hands. There was a picture on the cover of an elegant dark-eyed woman seated at the piano in a slinky silver gown. She was aged about forty and barely recognisable as Logan’s elderly grandmother. Sally stared at the glamorous photograph and, thinking aloud, said, ‘I don’t have anything to wear.’
He chuckled. ‘That’s easily fixed. There’s a woman in Rose Bay with a fabulous dress shop. If I send you to Agathe, she’ll kit you out.’
Rose Bay? The prices in those shops were exorbitant.