His Secretary Mistress(16)

Her shoulder was throbbing, and she toyed with the idea of taking one of the painkillers Alex’s doctor had given her but decided against it. She hated taking pills, especially ones that might make her drowsy. Despite Alex’s orders, she was determined to go to work the next day—and arrive on time.

Chris had gone to bed early, tired from travelling, and she was just about to do the same when the phone rang. She frowned as she went to answer it, recalling the spate of nuisance calls she had received a few months before. If Lee was starting his mind games again she would report the calls to the phone company, she vowed. But the voice at the other end of the line was very definitely not her ex-husband’s.

‘Alex!’ She fought to control the sudden pounding of her heart, and her voice sounded annoyingly breathless and excited.

‘I thought I’d better phone and check that you’re all right,’ he told her, his own voice so cool that the little flame of pleasure in her breast was quickly doused. He was merely doing his duty, she reminded himself. It wasn’t as if he actually cared about the injury she had received at the hands of the mugger. ‘Have you taken the painkillers Guy prescribed?’

‘I was just about to.’

‘Hmm.’ He was plainly disbelieving. ‘Make sure you do. What did Chris say about your attempt to be Superwoman?’

Jenna frowned. ‘I haven’t told him about it yet.’

‘You haven’t told your husband that you were injured?’

‘It’s nothing,’ Jenna said quickly, belatedly remembering that he believed Chris to be her husband. She wasn’t used to lying, and already it seemed that her one small lie was sprouting shoots like fast-growing ivy. If she wasn’t careful she could very easily trip up. ‘Thank you for ringing,’ she murmured huskily, and heard him sigh.

‘I owe you an apology; I should have believed the reason for your lateness this morning. I’m sorry.’

How could the sound of his voice affect her so strongly? Jenna thought frantically. Her legs felt like jelly, and a curious warmth, which had begun in the pit of her stomach, was flooding through her veins so that she felt hot and flustered. ‘It’s fine, really—a simple misunderstanding.’ She hesitated, remembering the other misunderstanding that had occurred in the park, when he’d thought she was inviting him to kiss her, and she prayed that he was not experiencing the same flashback. ‘I must go,’ she mumbled. ‘It’s been a traumatic day.’

‘For you and me both,’ he replied, somewhat obliquely, but before she could decipher his meaning he bade her goodnight and hung up.

Chris offered to take Maisie to nursery the next morning, so that Jenna could catch an earlier train, and consequently she was the first to arrive at the office—although to her chagrin Alex was not there to witness it.

‘Alex will be in court for most of the day,’ Margaret explained. ‘But he won’t be happy when he discovers that you disobeyed him and came into work this morning.’

It was a pity Alex hadn’t informed his numerous girlfriends that he would be out of the office, Jenna commented crabbily, after three different women had rung for him in the space of an hour.

‘He is popular with the ladies,’ Margaret agreed. ‘But so far none of them have managed to pin him down. He’s a brilliant barrister—a wonderful successor to his father—but I hope he meets someone special one day, otherwise work will take over his life.’

‘Selina Carter-Lloyd seems very keen. Perhaps she’s the one?’ Jenna suggested. ‘She was very insistent that I ask Alex to return her call.’

‘Well, the two families have been friends for years, and Selina is very cultured and charming, but I don’t believe Alex is in love with her.’

‘What’s love got to do with it?’ Jenna muttered bleakly. She had been in love once, and look where it had got her. The husband from hell and a mortgage the size of third world debt. ‘I’m not convinced that being in love is the best reason to get married.’

Margaret threw her a speculative glance, but said nothing. Her few gentle enquiries into Jenna’s private life had been in vain and she didn’t want to pry. If Jenna had problems she wished to confide she would do so in time, and Margaret was determined to provide a sympathetic ear. She had taken an instant liking to Jenna, and was certain that Pippa would not return to work after her maternity leave. She was also aware that Katrin Jefferstone would jump at the lower position if it meant working directly for Alex. Not if she could help it, Margaret vowed; sharing an office with Katrin was bad enough!