“I told one of the staff that I urgently needed to see the person in charge. And I do.”
After seeing how Clarice had operated downstairs with Blake, the other woman would have refused to take no for an answer. More than likely she’d even given the staff member a monetary “donation.”#p#分页标题#e#
Samantha frowned. She would deal with the security breach later. “This is a private area. You shouldn’t be here at all. If you needed anything, you should ask at the front desk.”
The woman sent her a haughty look. “I’d prefer to deal with Blake, Miss…”
“Thompson.” Samantha recognized being put in her place. “Blake’s not here at the moment,” she said his name deliberately, “but I can pass on a message when he gets back. Now let me walk you to the elevator.”
Clarice looked disappointed. Then, “I’ll give you my room number.” She picked up a sticky-note pad from the desk and wrote on it. “You’ll make sure you tell him Clarice called, won’t you?” she said, tearing off the slip of paper and handing it to Samantha.
“Of course.”
Clarice went to turn away then spun back. “Tell him that I have a proposition for him,” she said in a breathless voice.
“Fine.” There was nothing to worry about with Blake, but it annoyed Samantha to have to deal with another woman who threw herself at him. There had been so many of them over the years. Clarice was very attractive, but so were the other women who had chased Blake.
Samantha stayed at her desk and waited for Blake to return for lunch. Knowing she was being contrary, she was still upset that he was looking at replacing her, and now she just wanted to spend more time with him. But he didn’t return until after lunch, and she spent a quiet lunch break by herself.
“There’s a plate of sandwiches on your desk,” she said when he walked back through to his office.
“I ate lunch with Trevor.”
It would have been nice to be told, she decided, then admitted to herself that as her boss, Blake didn’t owe her his time.
She followed him into his office. “Here are your messages. You’ll see there’s one from Mrs. Richardson.” When his face remained blank, she said, “Clarice.”
He let out a heavy sigh. “What does she want?”
“For you to call her. She delivered it in person.”
He scowled. “How did she get up here?”
Samantha told him. “I’ve passed on my concern to the front desk. They’re going to look into it.”
He nodded. “Good.”
“By the way, Clarice left her room number for you to call her back. She says to tell you she has a proposition for you.”
“A proposition?” He grimaced. “I bet she does.”
Samantha picked up the plate of sandwiches and put them in the refrigerator near her desk, feeling better that Clarice hadn’t fooled him. Not that she expected he wouldn’t see through it all. He knew more about women than she did herself.
It was fairly quiet for the next two hours as Blake returned messages and she typed up some reports. Then, he came out carrying his coat. “I have to go into town for a meeting. It’ll take a few hours.”
She almost asked if she could go with him, then stopped. Her place as his assistant was here.
Suddenly he came over and kissed her hard. “I’ll see you later at the lodge. We can go out for dinner if you like.”
She shook her head, pleased. “No, let’s eat in. I’ll get something from the hotel kitchen on the way home.”
His eyes flickered, and she suspected he’d noticed her mention of the word home. “Okay.” He left.
Not long after that, Samantha decided to go down to the kitchen to see about tonight’s dinner. She took the plate of sandwiches down to the front desk, as one of the staff might appreciate them for later, rather than throwing them in the trash.#p#分页标题#e#
She was walking through the lobby toward the front desk when out of the corner of her eye she happened to glance over at the bar. Her heart stuttered. Blake and Clarice were sitting in there having a drink. Both of them were focused on each other, though she noted Clarice was leaning toward him and doing the talking, more with her cleavage than not. Was this where the other woman offered her “proposition?”
So much for his appointment in town, Samantha thought, not sure what she was doing as she spun around and headed back to her office, giving herself time to adjust to what she’d seen. She had to put this into perspective.
Okay, so there was probably nothing to it, but she just didn’t like that Blake was telling her one thing, then doing another. And wasn’t he getting Clarice’s hopes up even by sitting with the woman? Then again, he was a free man and once she left Aspen he would get lonely. The other woman was certainly beautiful.