Читать книгу Carole Mortimer Romance Collection - Кэрол Мортимер, Carole Mortimer - Страница 6

SILKE had had some reactions in the past to the way she looked, the largeness of emerald-green eyes and her full pouting mouth having caused emotions from mild interest to outright lechery, depending on the man’s taste in women. But she had never before known a man collapse just at the sight of her face!

The three people in the room still standing took several seconds to realise exactly what had happened, and then—predictably—Lyon Buchanan was the first to move.

‘What the hell—?’ He quickly reached his uncle’s side, his earlier disparagement of the older man completely belied by the concern now etched into his face, grim lines beside his nose and mouth as he moved to loosen his uncle’s tie and release the top button of his shirt. ‘Henry!’ he prompted determinedly. ‘Uncle Henry!’ he urged again when he received no response, reaching for his uncle’s jacket now.

‘I don’t think you should move him.’ Silke put out the cigar before going down on her haunches beside the two men.

Grey eyes were turned on her like rapiers. ‘I wasn’t going to!’ Lyon Buchanan rasped harshly. ‘I was looking for these.’ He held up a bottle of pills he had taken from the inside pocket of his uncle’s jacket. ‘Put one of these under your tongue, Henry,’ he instructed the elderly man firmly, and his uncle roused himself enough to take the pill into his mouth, the room becoming deathly still as they waited for the pill to take effect.

Pained grey eyes finally blinked open, the older man focusing on Lyon with effort. ‘I—what happened?’ his uncle said groggily as he began to straighten in the chair, his recovery rapid now.

Lyon Buchanan moved back slightly, the concern that had etched his face minutes before replaced by his usual cynicism. ‘One bunny girl too many, I believe,’ he drawled derisively, giving Silke a scathing look, his worry about his uncle’s health—and Silke wasn’t sure now whether or not she had imagined it!—completely gone.

And, in fact, his uncle did look completely recovered, the colour back in his cheeks, only the merriment in his eyes slightly dulled. His expression was apologetic as he once again looked at Silke. ‘Sorry about that, my dear. I—I was just—surprised, when I saw you.’ He gave a rueful grimace at what he now seemed to feel was an embarrassing incident.

‘You don’t usually react that way to a beautiful woman,’ Lyon Buchanan drawled mockingly, moving to sit back behind his imposing desk. ‘Perhaps age is finally catching up with you after all!’

‘Don’t you believe it, boy,’ his uncle rallied with some of his earlier spirit. ‘And don’t be too hard on this young lady either.’ He turned to give Silke a conspiratorial smile. ‘There has obviously been a genuine mistake made. And if I had realised my coming up here to congratulate you on finally moving out of the stuffy Buchanan mould by introducing a lovely bunny girl into the store would result in this young lady’s being hauled over the coals in the way that she has been, I would have kept my mouth shut.’ He reached out and clasped Silke’s hand. ‘I’m sorry, my dear, but I don’t know your name...?’

Silke ignored Lyon Buchanan’s scathing snort at his uncle’s familiarity in holding her hand in this way, although she was ridiculous standing here in her bunny girl costume, big holes in her tights, holding the hand of a man she had considered a lecherous old devil until a short time ago.

In fact he probably still was, she decided, removing her hand to place it behind her back together with the other one. ‘Silke,’ she supplied huskily. ‘Silke Jordan.’

‘Is that for real, or a stage name?’

Her eyes flashed as she looked across at Lyon Buchanan, her pointed chin raised defensively. ‘It’s for real,’ she snapped, stung by his derisive tone. ‘I don’t have a “stage name”.’

He shrugged unconcernedly. ‘I thought most of the people who worked for agencies like yours were out-of-work actors or actresses?’

And it was obvious what opinion he held of people in that profession! Really, ‘stuffy’ didn’t even begin to describe this man. He looked conservative through and through, from his short-styled hair and tailored dark suit to his plain black leather shoes. The only thing that saved him from being a complete pompous ass, in Silke’s eyes, was that he was so damned good-looking—arrogantly so, of course, but even that would hold a certain attraction for some women. Not Silke; she wasn’t interested in any man at the moment, and hadn’t been for some time. And it was obvious that Lyon Buchanan was completely unimpressed with her too, still looking at her as if she were some sort of oddity that had wandered into his ordered—stuffy!—existence. As no doubt she was. Not that she had ever thought of herself as an oddity; but to Lyon Buchanan she probably was!

And he was right about the people who worked for her mother’s agency; most of them were actors and actresses momentarily ‘resting’. Nadine had managed to get an audition this morning, which was the reason she had cried off this assignment at the last minute. The very last minute, calling in at the agency on her way to the audition to tell Silke’s mother she couldn’t be at Buchanan’s today.

And as Silke had been there talking to her mother... And as Buchanan’s was an important new account... Besides, the bunny girl outfit was Silke’s size! As far as her mother had been concerned, no further argument was necessary!

‘Most of them are,’ she confirmed Lyon Buchanan’s statement distantly.

Grey eyes narrowed on her in cold assessment. ‘But not you?’ Lyon Buchanan finally said softly.

‘No, not me,’ she told him dismissively—unwilling to tell him exactly what sort of an ‘out-of-work’ she actually was.

Besides, she wasn’t out of work, she was a self-employed jewellery designer, who just hadn’t managed to sell any of her designs lately!

His mouth twisted derisively. ‘You do this sort of thing because you like it?’

Her cheeks became flushed at his insulting tone. ‘As your uncle has so rightly pointed out, there has been a genuine mistake concerning the sort of bunny costume you wanted.’ She deliberately didn’t answer his challenging remark. ‘If you will give me an hour to get back to the agency, I will make sure you are supplied with the cuddly fluffy kind.’ And she had no intention of being inside the costume herself; had no intention of coming anywhere near Buchanan’s—or Lyon Buchanan himself!—ever again! She couldn’t afford the prices in a store like this anyway, had only ever window-shopped in the past when she had come in. She could easily forgo that particular pleasure for the certainty of never having to see Lyon Buchanan again!

‘I don’t believe we have yet ascertained just exactly whose “genuine mistake” it was,’ Lyon Buchanan said hardly, shooting his personnel manager a hard, questioning look.

‘Oh, for goodness’ sake, Lyon.’ His uncle stood up impatiently, a short, dapper man who bore little resemblance to his nephew in build—or manner. ‘That really isn’t important now. Allow me to drive you wherever you need to go, my dear,’ he offered Silke smoothly.

She deliberately avoided looking at Lyon Buchanan as she sensed the scorn emanating from him across the room at her. ‘It’s very kind of you—’

‘My uncle is rarely kind—unless he has an ulterior motive,’ Lyon Buchanan cut in derisively now.

‘Thank you, I would appreciate that,’ Silke firmly accepted the offer she had had every intention of refusing until Lyon Buchanan’s scathing intervention.

Did the man never stop? Of course, he probably knew his uncle better than she did, but even so she was quite capable of deciding for herself whether or not she was prepared to accept a lift from him; she didn’t need the younger man’s derisive interference. The fact that she now agreed to Uncle Henry’s offer of a lift—she really must find out his full name!—didn’t really matter; she could easily get out of that once they had left this office.

Lyon Buchanan was now looking at her speculatively, as if he now suspected her motives in accepting the older man’s offer. He would! He was a suspicious individual. Arrogant in the extreme. But he was also the owner of Buchanan’s. And when she got back to the agency she would have to explain exactly how they had upset this powerful man. Silke didn’t doubt for one moment that her mother’s agency would never be used again by this man. Unless...

Swallowing her pride, she turned to the owner of Buchanan’s with a bright, meaningless smile. ‘Someone will return from the agency this afternoon when an—appropriate costume has been acquired.’ Her pride wasn’t dampened enough for her not to resist reminding him of the description he had given earlier for her present costume!

But considering she had actually been hired to hand out free chocolate Easter bunnies to bright-eyed, expectant children, it was probably the only description that fitted!

God, she was going to start giggling over the ridiculousness of the situation in a minute, the humour of the whole thing finally getting to her. And Lyon Buchanan didn’t look as if he would be impressed by that at all!

He was looking down at her with those cold grey eyes again now. ‘I’ll have your agency called and let them know my decision. When I’ve made one,’ he added pointedly.

And for the moment she would have to be satisfied with that, his tone clearly stated. Oh, well, she had tried; she certainly wasn’t going to grovel to this man—not even for the sake of her mother’s agency.

‘And you ought to go and see your doctor.’ Lyon Buchanan was talking to his uncle now as the older man turned to leave.

Henry looked irritated by the instruction. ‘Don’t fuss, Lyon,’ he dismissed impatiently. ‘As you so rightly said, it was just a question of “one bunny girl too many”!’ his humour returned, his eyes twinkling mischievously as he looked at Silke.

‘Nevertheless, I intend calling Peter Carruthers and making an appointment for you,’ his nephew told him determinedly.

Silke could see that Henry didn’t like the younger man’s arrogance one little bit—did any of them?—but he didn’t attempt to argue with him any further. She couldn’t help wondering if many people ever had during this man’s thirty-five or thirty-six years, or if that could be the reason he seemed to be a law unto himself?

‘Not you, Doug,’ Lyon Buchanan rasped now as his personnel manager would have followed them from the room. ‘I don’t believe we have finished our conversation.’

Silke felt sorry for Doug Moore—but that didn’t stop her hurrying from the room as Henry held the door open for her; she didn’t want again to become the focus of Lyon Buchanan’s displeasure.

Unfortunately, she wasn’t quick enough!

‘As for you, Miss Jordan—’ his voice was raised slightly as he halted her departure ‘—I suggest you go and cover yourself up as soon as possible.’

Her cheeks were fiery red as, after shooting him a look of resentment from flashing green eyes, she made good her escape.

Henry was chuckling as he closed the door firmly behind them.

Silke looked at him curiously, unable to see anything remotely funny about the situation.

‘No wonder there isn’t a woman in Lyon’s life at present,’ he explained his humour as they walked towards the lift. ‘I had always thought it was that he’d become so jaded because most of them were only after the Buchanan money and name. But on second thoughts I think it’s because he frightens them all away!’

Silke wasn’t in the least interested in Lyon Buchanan’s private life—or lack of it! As far as she was concerned, she never wanted to see the man again! And yet at the same time this elderly man’s description of Lyon’s cynicism where women were concerned evoked a very lonely life for the younger man. Although looking at him, the stern handsomeness of his face, his lithe body beneath the tailored suit, Silke couldn’t see him, jaded or not, being without some sort of female companionship in his life. And if he didn’t have a woman in his life it was obviously of his own choosing, so she certainly shouldn’t be feeling sorry for the man. My God, what did she have to feel sorry for Lyon Buchanan for? He was a man who had everything, looks, power, money. And if there was no woman in his life, as his uncle seemed to be claiming, then it had to be because he frightened them away!

‘Silke is a very unusual name, my dear,’ Lyon Buchanan’s uncle prompted softly as they made their descent in the lift.

She shrugged dismissively. ‘My mother chose it.’ It wasn’t something she had ever really questioned; it was just her given name.

‘It’s very pretty.’ Henry nodded, his expression thoughtful. ‘Your mother must be an unusual woman...?’

‘Unusual’ described her mother exactly, Silke acknowledged ruefully. She hadn’t met and married Silke’s father until she was twenty-seven, and before that time she seemed to have travelled the world, doing all sorts of casual jobs, having no responsibilities except to support herself. Which she seemed to have done quite capably.

Silke’s father had been a rancher in Colorado, and the marriage between the two only seemed to have lasted long enough for them to have produced Silke, after which Silke’s mother had gone off on her travels again, this time with Silke on her back. Silke’s relationship with her father had been nil once they had left the ranch, Jack Jordan seeming to have washed his hands of both of them once the decision to go had been made.

Silke’s childhood had been a succession of temporary homes and schools, until at thirteen her father had died and left her a legacy that enabled her mother to send her to boarding school. It was the first settled home Silke had ever known, and despite missing her wanderlust mother she had revelled in the stability she found there.

As her mother had revelled in her new-found freedom, travelling more than ever, always one step ahead of being tied down to any one place, or person. How long this agency would last, Silke had no idea, although she had to admit her mother seemed to find the variety of running an agency like Jordan’s Miracles exciting, and its success couldn’t be doubted, having gained a very creditable reputation in the year it had been open.

Silke couldn’t help wondering if that would still be true after today’s blunder!

‘Something like that,’ Silke answered the elderly man non-committally. ‘Look, thank you for the offer of a lift back to the agency.’ She turned to him once they were on the ground floor of the department store. ‘But—’

‘But you only accepted to put my nephew firmly in his place,’ Henry acknowledged ruefully, eyes twinkling sympathetically for the awkward situation she had found herself in—something Lyon Buchanan didn’t seem to appreciate at all! But then, why should he? As far as he was concerned, dressed as she was, she had just dragged his store down to a level he found intolerable.

A delicate blush darkened her cheeks at the elderly man’s astuteness. ‘I have to go and change into my own clothes before I leave, and—’

‘As Lyon instructed?’ Henry taunted softly.

Her chin went up defensively. ‘No, not as he instructed! I have no wish to be seen out in public dressed like this either,’ she added disgustedly.

Henry looked at her appreciatively. ‘I think it’s rather—fetching.’

She knew exactly what he thought, had been left in no doubt of that earlier. But his view of her appearance just enhanced her desire to be back in the comfort of her own clothes. ‘If you’ll excuse me—’

‘I’m going to wait for you, Silke,’ he told her firmly.

She frowned at his determined expression. ‘I don’t think—’

‘My car will be waiting outside for you, my dear.’ The laughter had gone from his eyes now as the impression of a flirtatious elderly man was erased by the intensity of his expression.

Silke looked at him frowningly. What a strange family these two men were; she couldn’t work them out at all.

But she did know that both of them were too fond of having their own way! This man’s car might be ‘waiting outside’ for her, but she had no intention of getting into it. They were too arrogant by far, both uncle and nephew!

She gave Henry a vaguely dismissive smile before disappearing off to the staff-rooms where she had left her own clothes when she had changed earlier.

She had never been so glad to get back into her own familiar denims and black jumper neatly tucked in at her waist, brushing her hair loosely about her shoulders in a silver-blonde curtain. If Lyon Buchanan had imagined she actually liked wearing that awful bunny girl outfit...!

The humour of the situation suddenly hit her, and she sat down on a chair in the staff-room as she succumbed to the laughter, easily able to imagine Lyon Buchanan’s apoplectic horror at finding a half-clothed woman cavorting around his store. My God, it was a wonder he hadn’t been the one to have the heart attack!

That particular part of it sobered her slightly. Henry Whoever-he-was—certainly not a Buchanan if his opinion of the Buchanan family was anything to go by!—really should go and see a doctor after collapsing in that way; she agreed with Lyon Buchanan over—

It was none of her business, she firmly admonished herself. Besides, she had no wish to agree with Lyon Buchanan over anything!

The fact that she almost walked into the man himself as she came out of the staff-room did nothing to settle her already jangled nerves; the last thing she wanted was another verbal shredding from Lyon Buchanan before she could make good her escape! But as he looked at her blankly with those metallic grey eyes, she realised he hadn’t even recognised her! Maybe he had taken more notice of the briefness of the bunny girl outfit than he liked to admit, after all!

But as those grey eyes suddenly narrowed in recognition, the sculpted mouth thinning, Silke knew she wasn’t going to escape that easily. Damn!

He came to an abrupt halt in front of her, still towering over her now that Silke was wearing flat black ankle boots. Not that it would have made a lot of difference if she were wearing the high-heeled shoes she had had on earlier; this man was at least a foot taller than her.

‘You seem shorter than I remember,’ he suddenly bit out. ‘Besides which, I didn’t recognise you with your clothes on.’

Silke gave an involuntary gasp at the outrageousness of the remark, looking about them self-consciously, knowing by the speculative smile being exchanged by two female shoppers a short distance away that the clear timbre of Lyon’s voice had reached them, at least. ‘Didn’t recognise you with your clothes on’, indeed! She hadn’t got away with the defiance of accepting his uncle’s offer of a lift, against this man’s obvious wishes, as lightly as she had thought she had...!

Her eyes flashed deeply green as she looked up at him, her hand tightly gripping the bag containing the costume that had caused her all this trouble in the first place. ‘Height doesn’t seem to matter when you’re lying horizontal, does it?’ She smiled up at him sweetly, challenge in her eyes now.

‘Touché,’ he drawled appreciatively, also aware of their audience, the two women having moved a little closer now on the pretext of looking at a rack of scarves near them, seemingly enthralled by the conversation. ‘Not in the least,’ Lyon spoke loudly enough for the two women to hear again now. ‘Shall we arrange a time for us to lie horizontal together again?’

This conversation, as far as Silke was concerned, was getting totally out of control! And it was so unexpected from a man who, minutes ago, had seemed so icily remote that a raging fire wouldn’t have melted that cold reserve. She was sure his uncle, a man who obviously knew him reasonably well, wouldn’t believe the humorous—albeit at her expense!—innuendoes of the conversation. But it was at her expense, and there could be no doubting that Lyon Buchanan was enjoying putting her at a disadvantage.

She moved closer to him, standing on tiptoe, giving the appearance of intimacy—very aware of their listening and watching audience. ‘Actually—’ she spoke conspiratorially, but still loud enough for the two women to hear ‘—while I found our last—encounter interesting, it isn’t one I want to repeat!’ She looked up at Lyon Buchanan triumphantly as she saw that the two women were now looking at him with open speculation, disappointment in their faces that a man who looked so virilely handsome should—apparently!—have been such a failure in bed. ‘Just my personal opinion, of course,’ Silke added with feigned apology, challenge returning to her eyes as she looked up at the now stony-faced Lyon Buchanan; he certainly didn’t like having the upper hand taken away from him!

His mouth was a thin line. ‘And it’s such an experienced opinion, isn’t it?’ he rasped contemptuously.

She should have known he wouldn’t let her get away with that one! ‘Well, one doesn’t like to boast...’ she returned dismissively.

He looked down at her coldly. ‘In this day and age “one” would be insane to do so.’

She might be in there fighting, but she was wise enough to know she wasn’t about to win in this conversation! Better to give up now, before she lost too badly... ‘Well, if you’ll excuse me,’ she told him lightly, ‘one of my other clients is waiting outside.’ She gave him a falsely bright smile. ‘If you should need the agency’s services again, just give them a ring. But don’t ask for me,’ was her parting shot before she turned to give the now open-mouthed women a bright, meaningless smile on her way out of the store.

She knew exactly the impression she had given with that last comment, of herself—and Lyon Buchanan. And it was him she had meant to hit out at. She didn’t particularly care for herself, knew who she was, also what she was, and the opinion of two women she was never likely to see again was completely unimportant to her. Lyon Buchanan was the one who needed to be shown that she didn’t consider herself one of his underlings whom he could browbeat with his damned arrogance, or a woman he could ‘frighten away’ with his rudeness.

Arrogant. Self-opinionated. Chauvinistic. Silke had never met a man like him before!

And she didn’t want to meet him again either.

Though there was no reason on this earth why she ever should!

* * *

‘Stop laughing, Mother.’ Silke frowned across at her mother as she rocked back and forth in the leather chair behind her desk. ‘God!’ She gave an impatient sigh. ‘I was worried sick you would be upset about annoying Buchanan himself, and instead you go off into hysterical laughter! I should have realised your warped sense of humour would find the situation funny!’ She sat down dejectedly in the chair opposite her mother.

Tina Jordan, an older version of Silke, sobered slightly, her mouth still twitching as she tried to contain her laughter, laughter that had convulsed her ever since Silke had told her what had happened to her after the discovery of the mistake over the rabbit outfit.

‘Sorry.’ She chewed on her top lip in an effort to stop herself laughing again. ‘It’s just that I would have loved to have seen the look on Lyon Buchanan’s face when he first saw you dressed up as a bunny girl and not the fluffy bunny he had been expecting!’ Green eyes, so like Silke’s, glittered with suppressed humour.

‘Believe me,’ Silke groaned at the memory, ‘you wouldn’t!’

Her mother sobered slightly. ‘Maybe not,’ she acknowledged drily. ‘Doug Moore sounded under more than a little pressure when he telephoned a short time ago.’

Remembering the grim determination on Lyon Buchanan’s face as she hastily left his office, Silke thought ‘more than a little pressure’ was probably putting it mildly—very mildly! ‘Well, I for one am not going back there, Mother,’ she said firmly. ‘You don’t pay enough for me to put myself through clashing with Lyon Buchanan again.’ She still shuddered at the thought of her disastrous morning.

‘You don’t have to go back,’ her mother assured her with a shake of her head. ‘Nadine’s audition didn’t go well this morning, so I’ve sent her along to Buchanan’s.’

Silke could hardly contain her relief. And then she berated herself for being such a coward. Who was Lyon Buchanan, anyway? Just a man. An arrogantly powerful one, yes, but still just a man.

‘What’s he like?’

She gave her mother a sharp look. She hadn’t realised she was being watched, that her every expression would give away her confused anger where Lyon Buchanan was concerned. And that would intrigue her mother—the fact that Silke had reacted to Lyon Buchanan at all. Because she hadn’t reacted to any man for almost a year. Since James. The man she had been dating for three years. The man who, on the eve of their wedding, had eloped with a girl he had only met the week before!

Since that time, Silke had considered that men weren’t worth bothering with, that she couldn’t put her trust in any of them. Her mother had been telling her as much for years, but, like the naïve idiot she had been, Silke had thought James was different. The two of them had been friends as much as anything else, so in effect she felt she had been let down not only by the man she loved but by her friend as well.

‘He’s just a man, Mother,’ she dismissed with a grimace, not wanting to give away the fact that he was probably unlike any other man she had ever met.

‘Yes, but—’ Her mother broke off the conversation as the office door opened, her smile one of polite enquiry as she turned towards what she hoped was a prospective client.

But the smile froze on her lips, and the colour faded from her cheeks, her eyes wide.

Silke frowned at this sudden change in her mother, turning towards the door herself, her frown deepening as she saw ‘Uncle Henry’ standing there. What on earth—?

‘Hal...!’ Her mother’s voice was a strangulated croak.

‘Satin!’ Henry returned with satisfaction, grey eyes glowing excitedly.

Hal? Satin! Her mother’s name was Tina, so—but what did it matter what her mother’s name was, when it was perfectly obvious that Henry and her mother knew each other, and more than casually if her mother’s stunned reaction was anything to go by, her mother standing up now, still very pale, and totally unable to tear her gaze away from Henry—Hal...?

And, as Silke looked at the two of them, she couldn’t help wondering if it had been her likeness to her mother that had caused Henry’s collapse earlier...