A Grand Illusion Read online

  'So, how do you like working for my brother?' he asked with an attempt at nonchalance that made her smile turn to a grin.

  'He's a challenge,' she said softly.

  'He treats you well?'

  'As well as most employers treat their secretaries.'

  'He pays you a good wage?'

  She nodded. 'Very generous.'

  He took his time digesting this. 'Then you probably wouldn't be as happy with anyone else, would you?'

  'Is there some question of my leaving?' Her eyebrows rose.

  'Oh no,' Adam interrupted quickly. 'He doesn't mean that at all. Royce said you'd still work here after you married him. He told us he couldn't run this office without you. Besides, he knows you're a liberated woman with a baby of your own, so he wouldn't ask you to stay at home and have his babies, the way most… ordinary…' he faltered and his voice trailed away uncertainly when he saw a bright red flush run into her face.

  'Now you've gone and done it!' Zachary snapped irritably, throwing an exasperated look at his brother. 'I told you to let me do the talking.' He turned back to Jenna, straightening for the attack, but before a word come out of his open mouth. Adam cut in.

  'I was only trying to soften her up and let her know she wasn't going to have to give up this job. Susan intends to babysit for her son. Royce said he didn't know if he made that clear when he proposed.'

  Zachary visibly winced and gritted his teeth, looking as if he'd like to pound his brother. Ignoring Jenna altogether, he began to shout. 'You dummy! You're supposed to use finesse. You don't go blundering in, talking about her son and telling her how liberated she is. You've got to be subtle and beat around the bush for a while. Make it sound like a compliment instead of an accusation. What's the matter with you? Hasn't watching Royce trying to make it with girls all these years taught you anything?'

  Adam coloured painfully and nudged Zachary sharply in the ribs, motioning in Jenna's direction with a toss of his head, trying to remind him she was there listening to every word they said. 'You're dumb yourself,' he muttered under his breath. 'You're not supposed to let her know how many girls he's had.'

  They both stopped arguing and looked at her.

  Finally Zachary said contritely, 'Sorry, I guess we blew it too. Maybe worse than Ryan did yesterday.'

  'Not at all, boys.' Jenna let out a small sigh. 'I couldn't work for your brother and not know what a ladies' man he is.' Her fingers sifted through a small stack of papers on her desk. 'These are florists' receipts for this month's roses he's had me send to his different women.'

  'Wow!' Zachary's eyes rounded with surprise.

  'No wonder you don't want to marry him,' Adam said shrewdly. 'Exactly how many women does he have, anyway?'

  She shrugged. 'I don't waste my time counting them. They change from week to week anyway. I just send them roses, note their preferences when it comes to jewellery and jot down their messages when they ring here. It all goes in one ear and out the other.'

  Adam grimaced slightly and she could see a flare of compassion come and go in his eyes. 'He calls you his paragon. Now I see why. I don't think any other secretary would put up with that.'

  'Oh, you'd be surprised,' she said softly. 'There are a lot of men like him.'

  He looked at her for a long moment, weighing what she said. He shook his head and pounded a fist against the arm of his chair and when he finally spoke his voice was ragged. 'How could he be so selfish? He was wrong to insult you with a proposal of marriage. You're too good for him!' He jumped to his feet and stood breathing heavily. 'Come on, Zack. I'm not waiting around for Royce.'

  With a slightly confused frown, Zachary looked from him to Jenna and then back again. 'I think I missed something.'

  'I'll explain it on the way home,' he said shortly. 'Goodbye, Jennifer. I'm glad we had this chance to meet you.'

  She gave him a troubled nod, watching them leave, biting her lip. Somehow she didn't think that had turned out quite the way any of them expected. But how was she to know Adam would be so sensitive?

  As she began to clear her desk, a sudden trickle of apprehension slithered down her spine. Lifting her chin, she looked straight into condemning, icy grey eyes.

  'Thanks, Paragon!' Royce ground out savagely before he slammed the door between their offices so hard it rattled the windows.

  From the murderous look on his face she knew he had been in his office the whole time and had heard everything. Feeling somehow to blame even though she knew she wasn't, she numbly finished clearing her desk and then typed out a short terse page, not giving herself time to think about what she was doing. It had been building a long time. Now her actions became automatic, all sensation flat and dead.

  With a soft knock on the office door, she pushed it open and silently crossed the room to stand before her employer's desk.

  Royce was sitting stiffly in his high-backed swivel chair, absorbed in the papers in his hands, a brooding scowl on his handsome face when she smoothly settled the resignation she had typed on top of the other papers he was holding.

  He did not look up, and his scowl deepened as he read it in silence.

  It stretched endlessly between them, but Jenna rigidly stood her ground without speaking, waiting.

  Finally he found his voice. 'Why?'

  'I won't come between you and your family, Mr Drummond. This will be best for all of us.'

  'I won't accept it.' Standing, he ripped it in two, never taking his burning eyes off her. 'You heard my brothers. I can't run this office without you.'

  'That's not true and you know it. It was an empty compliment meant to flatter me.'

  'Isn't that just great?' he exploded. 'Am I supposed to applaud you because you've got your head sitting square on your shoulders? Come down off of your high and mighty perch long enough to see what's happened here! Adam's been hurt. And you're the one who hurt him. You're not walking away now and leaving me to pick up the pieces all by myself. You'll stay and you'll help me!' It wasn't a request; it was a command.

  Her mouth fell open as she stared at him, anger flashing in her eyes. 'I didn't hurt him, Royce Drummond. You did. You, with your string of conquests—and your bloody roses!'

  'For God's sake!' He came right around his desk and stood close to her, his own anger vibrating all around them. 'Why do you have to make such a production out of everything? Why can't you be like every other woman I've ever known?'

  'Never!' she shouted. 'They don't have the sense to see how you despise them. I won't be used and then discarded like all the rest!'

  'But I've asked you to marry me—I thought I made that clear. You won't be discarded. It wouldn't be just a brief affair.'

  'No, you'd rather give me a sham of a marriage.' She was numb with outrage, her eyes blazing in her white face. 'It's the rest of my life we're talking about, not some weekend fling. The answer was no before. It's still no.'

  'I'll triple your salary.'

  Stunned, she stood absolutely still, staring straight into grey eyes glazed with a strange sheen of ice. 'How dare you!' she choked.

  A muscle was working furiously in his jaw and he looked ready to explode. 'Can't you see? I'm not the only one who'll benefit from this marriage. As my wife, you'll have a claim to everything I own. You know I'm a wealthy man.'

  'I wouldn't marry you for all the money in the world.' Her voice was deadly calm.

  All his taut muscles began to relax and his shoulders slumped. 'If you won't think of me, think of my mother. She's desperate. You have to help me help her—you're the only one who can.' His hands came up to grip her shoulders, unthinkingly crushing her slender bones. 'How can I reach you? I've offered you everything I own, but you keep turning me down. I thought my family could plead their case better than I could. After all, I'm doing this for them, not for myself. They're only children, but they know you're their only hope. They offered to come and talk to you.' He bit back a sharp sigh. 'All I've done is complicate things, haven't I? God!' The cry came from d
eep in his throat and was husky and full of despair.

  He stood for a long taut moment staring with a desperate kind of pleading, his eyes glowing like polished bits of steel, roaming over her face with a hungry brilliance. His hands clenched on her shoulders and she could see he was struggling with himself. 'Jennifer,' he muttered in a shaken voice. 'Jennifer!'

  Jenna watched in fascination as his face came down to hers. Mesmerised, she didn't think to turn away. His hands gentled on her shoulders, curving right around her, gathering her close, enfolding her in a warm encompassing embrace before his lips parted hers.

  All resistance fled, giving way to desires she had never known before, and she was swept away on a swiftly rising tide of terrifying sweetness. She wouldn't have been surprised had he been rough or ruthless or demanding, but this tenderness was her complete undoing.

  A strange curling sensation began in the pit of her stomach, radiating to the rest of her before dissolving her bones in a treacherous flooding weakness. Without realising it, she clung to him, her hands hesitating only for an instant before stealing up around his neck and sliding through the thick black silk of his hair. The blood sang in her ears when she felt his whole body quivering as he moulded her slender length against his, his hands warm and firmly caressing on the small of her back, holding her firmly to him.

  The merest thread of a sound, almost a gasp, reached her consciousness before Royce stiffened, lifting his face away from hers, tilting his head to a listening angle. The door between the two offices stood open, but it was empty.

  Then all at once someone in the outer office was noisily clearing his throat and jingling the coins in his pocket to let them know they were not alone.

  Jenna broke away from him guiltily and smoothed her hands down the sides of her skirt, hoping she didn't look as heated as she felt. He dragged his hands through his hair, looking strangely embarrassed, and for a moment their eyes met, hers full of unanswerable questions, his naked and unguarded, revealing enough to tell her everything she wanted to know if only she'd been experienced enough to read them.

  They were still, breathless, staring at one another, then Chad Redwicke appeared in the doorway followed by a tall, slender, white-haired woman, and the fleeting moment passed as they both turned towards them.

  'Royce, I met this charming woman in the hallway asking for directions to your office.' He smiled then and arched an eyebrow in Jenna's direction.

  She shuddered, knowing he had seen them and knowing it was only a matter of time before everyone else in the building heard about it.

  'Thanks for showing her in.' Royce cleared his throat, banishing its husky tremor.

  'Hello, dear. Won't you introduce me before this charming young man has to go back to his work?' The woman smiled serenely, her grey gaze narrowing on Royce's look of discomfiture and the hectic colour running into Jenna's face. She chattered on before he had a chance to do as she asked. 'The children finally told me what you've been up to and I just had to come and see for myself what my prospective daughter-in-law looks like.'

  Jenna's heart fell down to her shoes. That was all Chad had to hear! Five minutes after he left this office, the whole building would be buzzing. She looked murderously at Royce, willing him to explain that she wasn't going to marry him, but he quickly seized the opportunity and smiled.

  'Mother, I'd like you to meet Jennifer Caldwell, my secretary, soon to be my wife.'

  'How lovely to meet the woman who's finally tamed my son,' she smiled, offering her hand to Jenna.

  'How do you do, Mrs Drummond,' Jenna said shakily, putting her hand in hers. 'But Royce is wrong. I'm not—'

  He cut her off quickly with the other introduction. 'And this is Chad Redwicke, Mother, one of our best illustrators.'

  'The pleasure's all mine, ma'am,' Chad beamed at her, shaking her hand and nodding with a practised flourish before turning to Jenna. 'May I be one of the first to offer congratulations? I should have known you'd set your sights higher than the graphic department. What do they always say? It's the quiet ones you have to watch, or something like that.'

  She cringed at his acid tone and saw the sudden rigid stiffening of Royce's body out of the corner of her eye, but she couldn't keep silent. 'There are no congratulations in order, Chad. I turned him down, and I also handed in my resignation.'

  'What?' Both he and Mrs Drummond spoke at once.

  Her eyes flashed with triumph. 'You explain it, Royce,' she said sweetly, turning on her heel to leave them.

  But he reached out and clamped a hand on her wrist, dragging her back to him, smiling a hateful silky smile that didn't reach his eyes. 'A mere lovers' quarrel, but nothing I can't handle,' he drawled, crushing her wrist when she tried to struggle away, pulling her back against his long heated length.

  Her whole body burned where his touched hers and she wanted to scream with frustration, but she knew she was beginning to look ridiculous.

  Royce nodded a dismissal to Chad and smiled at his mother. 'Won't you sit down? I'm sure Jennifer's dying to tell you all the reasons why she doesn't want to marry me.'

  CHAPTER SIX

  Mrs Drummond took an appraising look at both of them, then seated herself on the comfortable sofa, setting her handbag on the low table in front of her. For such a tall woman, she looked particularly fragile in a rose linen dress, but she lifted her head and there was a look of determination on her pleasant face. As she patted the cushion beside her, her bright grey eyes sparkled with something Jenna couldn't name. 'Come and talk to me,' she said quietly. 'I assure you I don't bite.'

  Royce released Jenna's wrist and gave her a small push towards his mother. She nervously unclenched her hands and brushed back several wisps of hair falling across her eyes, gratefully sinking down on to the sofa, trying to pull herself together. Her hands were still shaking when she noticed her blouse had come loose from the waistband of her dark skirt and she hurriedly tried to tuck it in.

  'What have you been doing to this poor child, Royce?' his mother accused gently. 'Caveman tactics may be all right for some, but this fragile flower needs delicate treatment.'

  'She only looks fragile. She's a lot more resilient than any of us think.'

  Mrs Drummond's eyebrows rose as she looked from one to the other and then she noticed the light of resentment in Jenna's eyes. 'You shouldn't have let my son in on one of our best kept secrets,' she chuckled. 'He'd much rather think of a woman as a simpering idiot whose one aim in life is to find a man to take care of her than one who's able to take care of herself.'

  'She values her independence too much to ever let herself lean on a man,' Royce cut in.

  'What's wrong with that?' Jenna grated.

  'Everything's wrong with it. You've got your son to think of. He suffers from choking bouts of bronchitis, but will you see that my offer will help him too? No,' he answered his own question with a sneer, 'you're too stubborn to admit this marriage would be good for both of you. You've refused me point blank—probably hoping I'll think you're wonderful for standing on your own two feet.'

  'You beast!' she snapped furiously, glaring at him. 'You're turning it all around on purpose to humiliate me in front of your mother! You know there's more to it than that.' Her fists curled, the nails digging deeply into her palms, her breathing quickening as she sprang to her feet.

  But Royce was right there waiting for her, looking down at her with blazing eyes, his breathing, like hers, swift and shallow. It seemed an age before he moved, coming closer to her, their bodies almost touching.

  Jenna wanted to step back, but her legs refused to move. Her heart hammered noisily in her ears and their eyes locked together. Every clamouring nerve in her body reached out to him. Why can't I think straight when he's near me? she thought wildly. Why can't I resist him? Her body betrayed her and, unnerved by his nearness, she began to quiver uncontrollably, swaying towards him.

  She forgot his mother sitting there watching them. She forgot her surroundings. She was only conscio
us of him and her senses started to swim. The heated scent of his body enveloped her and in spite of herself she wanted again to feel his body against hers, touch the warm rippling muscles in his chest, stroke his thick silky hair and watch it cling to her fingers, taste his mouth on hers. A sudden warmth swept through her, an increasing urgency beginning in her stomach and uncurling to every nerve end.

  Watching her, his eyes changed, narrowing to diamond-bright pinpoints, and then she realised he could see everything. She was telling him things she wouldn't even admit to herself. To love him was sheer insanity! He would take her heart and soul and give only his meaningless wealth in return. In the end it would be an unfair exchange. Oh no, she thought, not me. Never me.

  Swallowing back a bitter sob, she searched for her pride, trusting her chin up higher than necessary. 'Oh, I hate you!'

  Royce laughed softly at first, not drawing away from her. But then, at the swift rush of blood coming into her face, he threw his head back and laughed mockingly. 'Oh no, my passionate paragon. You want to, but you don't hate me.'

  'Go to h—' She remembered his mother sitting there and bit the word off just in time.

  'Now, now,' he grinned, 'you mustn't let your mother-in-law see what a temper you've got!'

  She glared at him in reckless fury, but he stepped away and nodded at his mother.

  'Since you're obviously here to see Jennifer, I'll leave you two ladies to get acquainted. If you need me, I'll be in Accounting.'

  Jenna threw daggers into his back long after he was gone.

  After a moment Mrs Drummond cleared her throat and softly chuckled. 'I never would have credited my son with such exceptional taste, my dear. I always thought he'd choose someone more…' she hesitated, '… more worldly.'

  'You mean glamorous,' she said without rancour. 'Don't forget, I've seen the women he dates.'

  Her eyes twinkled. 'Royce has no secrets from you, has he?'

  Jenna shook her head and sank down on the sofa with a slow defeated sigh. No, she thought, I know how depraved he is.