‘Lucy?’
‘My sister.’ Blonde, blue-eyed and beautiful. Just the sort of woman that Curtis Diaz would make a beeline for. If she could have yanked back her words, she would have.
‘Oh, the one you’re putting through college. By the way, how is it that you’re responsible for paying for her education?’
‘That’s just the way it is and it has been that way since I was a teenager.’ She shrugged, dismissing his interest and looking down at the redundant pad sitting on her lap.
‘Must be a burden on your finances,’ he remarked thoughtfully. ‘Is that why you took this job? Because of the salary?’ His thoughts were already moving along, though, playing with other possibilities and enjoying the probing process while being fully aware that he was prying into areas of her life in which he was unwanted.
‘Amongst other things.’
‘Oh, sure, job satisfaction.’ He linked his fingers behind his head and surveyed her with open curiosity. ‘Of course, more money would be reason enough. After all, there’s only so much of those free pleasures you can have, especially in winter when it’s freezing cold outside. Walks in the park just aren’t quite the same, I find… Oh, I forgot. All your money’s going to help your little sister through college. You should tell her to take on some evening work so she can put herself through.’
‘Lucy isn’t into evening work,’ Tessa said without thinking. She could have kicked herself. She could almost hear his ears pricking up at that admission. The truth was that she had mentioned evening work to Lucy and had hit a brick wall. Her sister liked to party. The small legacy from their parents, which had been shared between them, had been put into storage, on the advice of their very shrewd solicitor who had foreseen a time when it might be needed to buy property. Tessa had had no difficulty in concurring with this as far as her half went. Lucy, after much nagging when she had hit her landmark eighteenth birthday, had agreed to have a small allowance paid into her bank account every month to fund her lifestyle. Tessa should have stood firm, but as always she had caved in. Most people did when faced with Lucy’s optimistic, winning smile.
‘Not into evening work? You mean she’s happy for you to pay for her so that she can enjoy herself?’
‘I don’t mind.’
‘Tut-tut. There’s nothing worse than a martyr.’
That did it. Tessa snapped shut her notepad and gave him her steeliest glare. ‘I can think of lots of things worse, actually, and I am not a martyr. Lucy is much younger than me and she’s always been the baby of the family. We all indulged her, including me, and I don’t mind at all paying for her fees. She deserves to have a good time while she’s young!’
‘Because you never did?’ he asked quickly, hitting the mark with such effortless ease that Tessa’s mouth dropped open and she was momentarily lost for words. ‘I mean,’ he continued to expand in a lazy, musing voice, ‘you were forced into the role of surrogate mother when you were just a teenager and since then you haven’t really stopped. Who knows? Maybe you get a personal vicarious thrill from your sister’s fun-loving lifestyle because you were denied it.’
‘I thought we were going to go through these costings.’
‘We are. In a minute. It’s just so rewarding finding out more about one of my employees, knowing what makes them tick.’
‘You’re not finding out more about me,’ Tessa said coolly, sitting back in her chair. ‘You’re second-guessing my life.’
‘You’re not denying any of what I’ve said.’
‘I don’t have to. I’m here to do a job. I don’t have to defend myself in the process.’
‘True.’ He sat forward abruptly and gave her a dazzling smile loaded with a mixture of charm and apology. ‘And it’s outrageous of me to start prying and probing into what’s none of my business! I’m glad you spoke your mind and told me to back off!’ He absent-mindedly flicked his tie between his fingers and continued to look at her contritely. ‘That’s the problem, you know. I rush in where I’m not wanted and make a nuisance of myself.’
‘It’s good you recognise the problem, in that case,’ Tessa said weakly. The warmth and sincerity in his voice had punctured all traces of indignation. Now she felt as though she should be the one apologising, for what she had no idea!
‘Oh, I do!’ He shot her a crooked smile that would have had any little old lady buckling at the knees. He was also an incurable flirt. She had seen him in action, taking time to chat with the cleaner who came in after hours, even though she was a happily married lady in her mid fifties. He did it almost without thinking. She wondered how many of his young, pretty secretaries had lost their heads over him. Whatever, she assumed that he was as charming when he dispatched them as he was when he hired them, because in the space of two weeks she had transferred no less than three separate calls from women who said that they had worked for him in the past and were just phoning to touch base.