A Little Seduction Omnibus Read Free Page B

happened...
    To her chagrin, Beth could feel her face starting to heat and then burn.
    ‘God, but you’re wonderful. So sweet and gentle on the outside and so hot and wild in private, so very hot and wild...’
    Furious with herself, Beth jumped up.
    ‘You weren’t going to think about him,’ she told herself fiercely. ‘You aren’t going to think about him.’

CHAPTER TWO
    ‘M ORE COFFEE , B ETH ...?’
    ‘Mmm...’
    ‘You seem rather preoccupied. Is anything wrong?’ Dee asked Beth in concern as she put down the coffee pot she had been holding.
    They had finished eating and were now sitting in Dee’s sitting room, where several furnishing and decorating catalogues were spread open around them. Dee was planning to redecorate the room, and had been asking Beth for her opinion of the choices she had made.
    ‘No. No...I like the cream brocade very much,’ Beth told Dee quickly. ‘And if you opt for the cream carpet as well, that will allow you to bring in some richer, stronger colours in the form of cushions and throws...’
    ‘Yes, that was what I was thinking. I’ve seen a wonderful fabric that I’ve really fallen for, and I’ve managed to track down the manufacturer, but it’s a very small company. They’ve told me that they can only accept my order if I pay for it up front, and of course I’m reluctant to do that, just in case they can’t or don’t deliver.
    ‘I’ve asked my bank to run a financial check on them and let me have the results. It will be a pity if the report isn’t favourable. The fabric is wonderful, and I’ve really set my heart on it. But of course one has to be cautious in these matters, as no doubt you know.
    ‘You must have really been keeping your fingers crossed in Prague whilst you waited for your bank to verify that the Czech company was financially sound enough for you to do business with.’
    ‘Er...yes. Yes, I was...’
    Beth took a quick gulp of her coffee.
    What would Dee say if Beth were to admit to her that she had done no such thing, that she had quite simply been so excited at the thought of selling the wonderful stemware she had seen that every principle of financial caution she had ever learnt had flown right out of her head?
    ‘Kelly rang me today. She was telling me that she and Brough are hoping to make an extended trip to Singapore and Australia...’
    ‘Mmm...they are,’ Beth agreed.
    She ought to have asked her bank to make proper enquiries over the Czech factory. She knew that, of course. Not just to ensure that they were financially sound, but also to find out how good they were at meeting their order dates. She could even remember her bank manager advising that she do so when she had telephoned him to ask him for extra credit facilities. And no doubt if he hadn’t been on the point of departing for his annual leave on the very afternoon she had rung he would have made sure that she had done so.
    But he had and she hadn’t and the small, nagging little seed of doubt planted earlier by her inability to make telephone or fax contact with the factory was now throwing out shoots and roots of increasingly strong suspicion and dread with frightening speed.
    ‘How will you manage whilst Kelly’s away? You’ll have to get someone in part-time to help you...’
    ‘Yes. Yes, I shall,’ Beth agreed distractedly, wondering half hysterically what on earth Dee would say if she admitted to her that, if her worst fears were confirmed and her incorrect order had not been a mistake but a deliberate and cynical ploy to take advantage of her there was no way she would need any extra sales staff because, quite simply, there would be virtually nothing in the shop to sell.
    Another fear sprang into Beth’s thoughts. If she had nothing to sell then how was she going to pay her rent on the shop and the living accommodation above it?
    She had absolutely nothing to fall back on, not now that she had over-extended herself so dangerously to purchase the Czech