The Irresistible Tycoon Read Free Page A

about this, Mrs Allen?’ he asked quietly.
    Kim nodded—it seemed the safest option—but she was heartily thankful he had misunderstood the reason for her evident agitation.
    â€˜I think you can appreciate I have to ask whether youhave suitable arrangements in place should the need arise for you to work late or even be away from home for a few days?’ he continued expressionlessly after another brief pause. ‘Such occurrences are not unusual in this office.’
    â€˜Yes, I do.’ This was more solid ground and Kim’s large chocolate-brown eyes expressed the sentiment to the perceptive metallic gaze watching her so closely, although she was unaware of it.
    â€˜Melody was in full-time nursery care for two years before she started school in September and she loved it,’ Kim said quickly, ‘and she’s just sailed into school. The school provides an after-hours club for children with working parents which finishes at five-thirty, but if ever I’m unavailable to pick her up a good friend who lives close by and works from home steps in. If I had to go on a business trip, Maggie would love to have her for however long it took.’
    â€˜How fortuitous.’
    It was even and spoken without any expression but somehow Kim felt an implied criticism in the smooth tone. Her eyes narrowed and she stared hard into the tough masculine face in front of her, but other than ask him outright if he had a problem with the way she organised her affairs she could do nothing but say, coolly, ‘Yes, it is. I’m very fortunate to have a friend like Maggie.’
    â€˜You don’t have family living near?’
    â€˜No. My…my husband was an only child and his parents had him late in life. They’re now in their sixties and his father is in poor health so they rarely travel from Scotland, where they live.’
    â€˜And your family?’ he persisted relentlessly.
    What this had to do with her aptitude to do the job, she didn’t know! ‘I have no family,’ she said shortly.
    â€˜None?’
    He sounded faintly incredulous and she supposed she couldn’t blame him. ‘I was orphaned as a young child,’ shesaid matter-of-factly. ‘I lived with an elderly aunt for a time but when she died and left her estate to her own family I was put in a children’s home.’
    The silver-grey eyes flickered briefly.
    â€˜So,’ Kim continued quietly, ‘I suppose I might have some distant relatives somewhere but I wouldn’t go so far as to call them family, and I certainly have no wish to trace any of them. I’ve made my own life and that’s the way I like it.’
    He leant back in the chair again, his eyes never leaving her face. ‘I see.’
    Exactly what he saw Kim wasn’t sure, but she felt she had as much chance of being offered this job as a snowball in hell.
    â€˜Since your husband died you have worked for Mr Curtis of Curtis & Brackley, is that right? And the firm went into liquidation four weeks ago.’ He was reading from her CV again and the relief of having that laser-sharp gaze off her face was overwhelming.
    â€˜Which is when I saw this job advertised,’ Kim agreed.
    â€˜Mr Curtis seems to have thought a great deal of you. He has written what I can only describe as a glowing reference.’
    And she had earned it. Hours of overtime a week; calls in to the office to deal with minor panics at weekends; interrupted holidays—Bob Curtis had had no compunction in wringing every last working minute he could out of her. But the salary had been good and Curtis & Brackley had been practically on her doorstep and just down the street from Melody’s nursery. But it had been the memory of trailing from interview to interview, in the span between Graham’s death and securing a job, that had induced her to put up with almost anything.
    Bob had been kind enough in his own way and she had found the running