Singing in the Wilderness Read Free Page B

he has at his disposal.’
    ‘Yes, but tomorrow, it won’t be easy for either of us, will it? I should tell you that I’ve never worked for anyone besides my father. You may expect too much from me.’
    ‘Are you such a bad secretary ? ’ he asked her.
    She threaded her fingers together. ‘I don’t know,’ she said.
    ‘But you think my standards may be higher than your father’s? Well, without wishing to offend you, my dear, you’re very probably right. If you don’t come up to what I expect from my secretary I shall have no hesitation in replacing you. There are other people in the company for whom you can work without having to go back to England immediately. But I’d rather worry about that tomorrow, if you don’t mind ? Who knows, you might be better than you think!’
    The most pressing problem for her was what he wanted from her now. She looked him straight in the face, unaware that her uncertainty was written clearly in her wide hazel eyes.
    ‘Do you still want to take me out to dinner?’ she demanded. ‘If I’m going to be your secretary you may not want to know me socially as well. I shall quite understand if you’d rather not.’
    ‘I’m not a snob, Stephanie Black,’ he warned her.
    ‘No. But you’re not to know that I won’t take advantage—’
    ‘Will you?’
    ‘I’ll try not to.’ Her eyes flickered over his large frame and she tried to imagine herself doing the same things for him she had done for her father, and she knew then and there that it wouldn’t work. ‘I’d rather work for somebody else,’ she said.
    ‘We’ll see,’ he said comfortably. ‘I don’t eat my secretaries for breakfast, not unless they provoke me unbearably. Nobody who’s worked for me has ever accused me of being the tyrant you seem to be afraid I’ll turn out to be.’
    Stephanie managed a dignified gesture of disapproval. ‘It isn’t that! I think I might manage the work, only when we’re not working, what then ? With my father it was different. I looked after him in the office and I looked after him at home and the two roles ran into each other— ’
    ‘I’m not your father,’ he drawled.
    He didn’t have to tell her that! ‘Wouldn’t you find it confusing?’ she murmured.
    ‘Not in the least!’ he assured her, an edge to his voice. ‘As far as I’m concerned my secretary will be one person called Miss Black. Any time I spend with Stephanie will be with quite a different person, and Miss Black would be very ill advised to mention my relationship with her, or with any other of my girl-friends. Is that clear?’
    ‘I suppose so.’ She didn’t like the thought that he might have other girl-friends to amuse him when he wasn’t working. ‘It sounds a bit cold-blooded to me. You may be big enough to be two people, but I’m sure I’ll get you muddled up sooner or later!’ She cast him a swift glance to see how he was taking that, hoping he hadn’t noticed that she had taken his continued interest in Stephanie Black rather for granted. ‘I’ll try to be an adequate secretary,’ she went on hastily, ‘if you’ll just be a bit patient at first. I haven’t had much to do since we came here. I’m rather out of practice.’
    He smiled at her and she was quite dazzled by the ironic amusement in his eyes. ‘In which capacity are you asking me to be most tolerant?’
    She swallowed. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about!’ she denied crossly.
    ‘No?’ He raised an eyebrow, putting a friendly hand on her shoulder. ‘I have to admit I prefer Stephanie to Miss Black,’ he confessed. ‘Is that what you wanted to know?’
    She muttered something completely incomprehensible, a little scared by the pleasure his words had given her.
    ‘I think I prefer Cas too,’ she mumbled under her breath. ‘At least—’
    His laughter brought the colour racing up her cheeks. ‘Oh, don’t go and spoil it!’ he begged her. He touched her lips with his fingers, daring her to withdraw