His Secretary Mistress(27)

The throaty roar of Alex’s car could be heard long before he pulled up outside the house on Monday morning, and she snatched up her bags and ran down the front path.

She didn’t know how Lee was able to keep track of her movements, and perhaps he had just said it to frighten her, but she was taking no chances. She didn’t want him to find out that she had gone away without Maisie.

‘What’s the hurry?’ Alex queried with a frown as she stumbled to a halt in front of him. ‘You’re not late.’

‘I just thought you’d want to get away,’ she muttered, casting a furtive glance along the street, as if expecting to see Lee spring out from behind a tree.

She glanced back at Alex and felt a hand close around her heart at the sight of him. He was handsome in a suit, but in black jeans and matching sweater he was stunning, his tan corduroy jacket adding a sexy informality to his appearance. At least in the office rules of convention deemed him remote, but now his casual clothes and relaxed air made him seem dangerously accessible, and to her chagrin she found that her legs had turned to jelly.

‘In you get, then.’ He opened the car door to allow her to scramble inside with more haste than dignity, and he frowned as he spied the haunting vulnerability in her eyes. ‘Do you feel all right? You look very pale.’

‘I’m fine.’ She couldn’t avoid his gaze when he cupped her chin and tilted her face, the gentle concern she could see mirrored in his blue eyes causing tears to burn behind her eyelids.

She looked achingly fragile, and Alex felt a curious pain in his chest as he noted the smudges beneath her eyes and the droop of her mouth.

‘I’m just tired, that’s all. I didn’t get much sleep last night.’

‘Spare me the details.’ He released her chin abruptly, but as she turned away he caught sight of a purple bruise on her temple, noting the way she quickly shook her head so that her hair covered the mark. ‘What have you done to your head? You’re hurt.’

‘It’s nothing.’ She shied away as he pushed her hair back. ‘I walked into a door. I’m notoriously clumsy,’ she added with a feeble laugh.

Hitting her head on the doorframe was the truth, but she couldn’t reveal that Lee had stormed into the house and had knocked into her—deliberately, she was sure—and that she had cracked her head so hard she had literally seen stars. During her marriage Lee had never been deliberately violent, but he was spiteful, and she had suffered numerous accidents—like the time he had slammed a car door and broken two of her fingers.

Alex stared at her in silence, filled with a sudden surge of anger. The bruise on her forehead had not resulted from any accident, he was certain of it, and her tension, the way she avoided his gaze, only reinforced his suspicions.

‘Is your husband annoyed about the trip? I could talk to him.’

‘No! Leave it, Alex, please. There are a lot of things you don’t understand.’

A heavy silence filled the car, and Alex had to force himself to keep within the speed limit until they reached the motorway, then he gunned the engine, exorcising his frustration with sheer speed.

‘Why are we going to Paris?’ Jenna asked, desperate to break the taut silence. For some reason Alex was furious, his pent-up aggression an almost tangible force, his jaw rigid, although the expression in his dark eyes gave nothing away. ‘Maybe you should fill me in on a few details.’

‘Sebastian Vaughn is an old friend,’ he explained heavily. ‘We were at university together, and at the moment he’s staying in Paris with his French grandmother. It’s Madame Roussel’s eightieth birthday party tomorrow, and obviously Seb doesn’t want to miss it, but I need to go over a few things with him before his case goes to court on Friday.

‘Seb is married to Ellisa Trent, the famous model,’ Alex continued. ‘On the surface they appear to be the golden couple who have it all, but the reality is that they’ve spent the last five years trying to have a child. Ellisa has suffered numerous miscarriages, but this time her pregnancy was going well—until a photographer from the paparazzi chased her relentlessly, demanding an interview. In her desperation to escape she stumbled into the road and was hit by a car.’

Jenna gasped. ‘Was she badly hurt?’

‘At first it was feared she would lose the baby. Seb is a mild-mannered politician, a rising star of the opposition party renowned for his pacifist views, but faced with his wife’s injuries, and possibly the loss of his child, he saw red. He attacked the photographer and smashed his camera, and now he faces charges of assault and criminal damage.’