The Millionaire Boss′s Baby
The Millionaire Boss's Baby
Maggie Cox
The virgin– Georgia Cameron has led a sheltered life. She raised her younger brother alone, sacrificing everything for his welfare. The boss– Keir Strachan is the most handsome man she's ever seen–and as her boss, he's forbidden fruit. And their baby!But Georgia cannot resist Keir's sensual seduction. To him the affair is only temporary, until Georgia discovers she's pregnant!
The Millionaire Boss’s Baby
Maggie Cox
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
To Evelyn, John and Stephen with all my love
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER ONE
IT HAD been a long, seemingly endless journey—the most ambitious drive Georgia had undertaken in ages. Her saving grace was that she adored driving and prided herself at being quite good at it. With her Labrador Hamish in the back behind her she had the best companion she could wish for, next to her brother Noah. Now, well into the summer evening, she drove silently, with the radio off, her gaze lapping up the extraordinarily beautiful landscape of the Scottish Glens, tiredness banished by what had to be one of the most heavenly sights on earth.
Everywhere she looked she was treated to the most incredible beauty—sunlit lochs, mountain peaks and shimmering green fields. Even Hamish seemed to perk up as he looked out of the window, as if silently contemplating the large open spaces in which to romp and run free with eager relish. It was a far cry from the overcrowded London suburb where Georgia lived.
Already she sensed the accumulated knots and kinks of tension in her back start to unravel a little.
They had made quite a few stops during the long journey, for food and drink, but they had still made very good time. Now, Georgia knew, by the map opened on the seat beside her, as well as her new boss’s very precise e-mail directions, that there was not too much further to go before they reached Glenteign—the large country estate of which he was Laird.
‘No wonder Noah loved working here!’ she declared out loud, and Hamish wagged his tail enthusiastically as if to agree.
Her brother had assured her that she would grow to love Glenteign too. He’d recently spent six months there, in his capacity as a freelance garden designer hired to help work on the formal gardens. It was a place where a person could really breathe, he’d told her, his passion for nature and beauty spilling over into his voice. And in his opinion Georgia wouldn’t regret leaving London behind for a while, with its continual gridlocked traffic and polluted air. Working as the Laird’s temporary secretary, while his permanent secretary recovered from a bad fall, she would have some breathing space from the grinding commute into the City every day. She would find out what a different way of life it was up here—a much more relaxed, ‘sane’ way of life.
She had accepted the job because she wanted so much to believe him, but Georgia still had some reservations about her decision. What would it be like working for a man who had probably never had to worry about where the next meal was coming from in his life? A man who, because of his status, epitomised the old feudal system of ‘Lord of the Manor’ while those around him were mere serfs?
She didn’t exactly have a problem with the concept of inherited wealth—she begrudged nobody their comfortable circumstances—it was just that she was so weary sometimes of her own struggle to keep the wolf from the door, and the idea that somebody could just be born into such good fortune and not have to do anything to earn it was apt to rub salt into the wound. Still, no doubt the wealthy Laird of Glenteign had his own problems…they just didn’t come in the same shape as Georgia’s. But—problems or no—surely he couldn’t fail to take solace in so much wonderful scenery?
When her reliable but old Renault finally drew into the grounds of Glenteign, Georgia switched off the engine, leaned her elbow on the window’s ledge and considered her surroundings with a flare of wonderment in the pit of her stomach.
The house immediately proclaimed its historic past—its impressive edifice of Pictish stone, with its turrets reaching towards the presently cloudless azure sky, reminding Georgia of an ancient impenetrable fortress that had survived every onslaught both nature and man could throw at it and still there it stood, proud and inviolable, with an almost defiant grace. Turning her head, Georgia viewed the lushness of emerald lawns rolling out into the distance like an expansive glittering carpet, and over to the right a high stone wall that perhaps led to the formal gardens that her brother had been working on for the past half-year.
She couldn’t deny she was eager to see them—not just because of the work Noah had done there, but because he’d told her they were incredibly beautiful. Moving her gaze further afield, a grove of tall firs captured her attention, stretching endlessly beyond the exquisite perfection of the immaculate lawns. There was just so much land! It didn’t seem feasible that one person could own all of this. She began to realise what a prestigious opportunity this was for Noah, coming to work here. And now, because of the success he had achieved, he was working at another large estate in the Highlands—a commission he had secured on the Laird’s recommendation because he had been so impressed with what he’d done at Glenteign.
She felt a flicker of love and pride. Every sacrifice she’d made to help Noah get his business off the ground had been worth it…
‘You found us, then?’
Abruptly lured away from her reverie, Georgia found her glance commanded by a pair of eyes that were so faultlessly, intensely blue that for a moment no speech was possible on her part. The rest of the features in the masculine face before here were not exactly difficult to look at either. It was as if they might have been sculpted—the planes and angles so strongly delineated that they were surely the loving work of an artist’s reverent hand? But Georgia wasn’t the only one who was transfixed…The man’s unflinching perusal of her own face came as a shock.
She wasn’t used to being regarded with such uncommon directness and everything inside her clenched hard in sudden self-consciousness. But before she could find her voice, he was opening the driver’s door and standing aside for her to step out onto the gravel.
‘Yes…hello.’ She held out her hand, then awkwardly withdrew it almost as soon as her skin came into contact with his. Such an acceptably polite gesture shouldn’t feel as if it was bordering on intimacy but somehow it did. As he considered her further, his gaze no less direct, Georgia silently bemoaned her travel-worn appearance. After several hours’ travelling her clothes must resemble unironed laundry, she was sure. The cream linen shift dress she wore, with its scooped neckline, had been cool and fresh when she’d donned it early this morning, but it definitely didn’t look like that now.
‘Did you have a good journey?’
Beneath the polite questioning Georgia thought she detected a slight strain—as though he neither welcomed nor enjoyed this kind of inconsequential chit-chat. Her heart sank a little.
‘Yes, I did. The directions you gave me were spot-on.’
‘Good.’
‘I presume you must be the Laird?’
‘Yes, I am…And you are Georgia…Noah’s sister.’
It was a statement of fact, not requiring a reply.
‘How do I address you?’ she asked, her voice determinedly bright.
‘The correct title is “Chief,” but I would be quite happy for you to call me Keir—the same as I told your brother. Talking of which…I have to say I can hardly see a resemblance between the two of you.’
‘People usually say that.’
‘Then I’m sorry to be so predictable.’
He was still a little perturbed by the handshake they’d shared—although the contact had been less than brief, Keir had been genuinely taken aback by the warm electrical ‘buzz’ that had flowed straight through him. It had been a very arresting wake-up call, and now he sensed his attention magnetised by Georgia Cameron’s lovely face. He was surprised that she was so different in colouring from her tall, blond, blue-eyed brother, and perhaps more pleased than he should be by the contrast. Anybody with a penchant for beauty would admire such dazzling green-gold eyes, but in a face as animated and compelling as hers, with its high, elegant cheekbones and wide, generous mouth, it was hard not to elevate them as perhaps the most beautiful he’d ever seen…
But Keir could hardly attest to welcoming such distracting assets. It was her professional skills he was interested in, not her looks. He had employed her because her brother had assured him that if he was looking for a first-class secretary, he should look no further than his very capable sister. He’d said she was temping with an agency in the City, and her current job would be coming to an end soon, so she could start at Glenteign practically straight away.
Way behind with the administration of running such a large estate, after reluctantly inheriting the mantle of Laird from his brother Robert, who’d been killed in an accident abroad, Keir was in urgent need of some first class secretarial and organisational skills. Doubly so since his own secretary Valerie had unfortunately tumbled down the stairs and broken her leg. Only the next few days would tell if Noah Cameron had exaggerated his sister’s capabilities or not…
‘I expect you’d like to go straight to your room and freshen up?’
‘There’s something that I really need to do first if you don’t mind?’
‘What’s that?’
‘I need to take Hamish for a bit of a walk. The poor creature’s been cooped up for too long in my small car, and to tell you the truth I feel the same. We won’t be ages…is that all right?’
‘That’s fine. I should have thought of it myself.’
Keir moved to the passenger door behind the driver’s seat of Georgia’s dusty little car, pulled it open and invited Hamish to jump out. The Labrador was ridiculously grateful, leaping up at him excitedly and wagging his tail at a rate of knots.
‘Oh, my gosh—he’s taken to you straight away! He doesn’t do that with everybody…he must sense that you’re friendly.’
Georgia’s smile was genuinely delighted.
Being the unexpected recipient of such a fulsome expression of joy, Keir stared—caught between wanting to arouse more of the same rather beguiling delight and needing to assert some formality between them pretty quickly. The truth was he suddenly found himself having serious reservations about the wisdom of employing this rather disarming woman to work for him…even though the post was only temporary.
He decided to try and keep her gestures of friendliness at bay as much as possible. Theirs was a strictly business relationship, and if she didn’t come up to scratch then Keir would have no compunction in telling her she was no longer needed. And he wouldn’t cut her any slack just because her brother had impressed him either. James Strachan certainly wouldn’t have. A less compassionate and sentimental man would have been hard to find anywhere! And, even though his father had shown evidence of relenting his rather austere manner towards the end of his life, the die had been cast. His efforts to try and forge with his younger son an emotional bond that had never existed before had come too late, Keir acknowledged with some bitterness. It had certainly come too late for his brother Robbie…
‘I wouldn’t read too much into it,’ Keir said, deliberately pushing his hands into the pockets of his light coloured chinos, as if signalling that he wouldn’t be paying the animal any undue attention while he was there. He had agreed to her request to bring the dog with her, and that should be enough. ‘He’s just grateful to be let out. You can walk anywhere, but I’d be glad if you kept the dog away from the flowerbeds. Is your stuff in the boot? All the staff in the house are busy, so I’ll take it upstairs to your room. It’s on the second floor. I’ll leave the door open so that you know which one it is. Dinner is at eight, and I like people to be prompt. Enjoy your walk.’
Her smile gone, Georgia frowned and murmured, ‘Thanks.’ And if the withdrawal of that smile made Keir feel as if he’d deliberately deprived himself of something extraordinary, then he told himself he deserved it. Watching her collect Hamish’s lead from her handbag beside the driver’s seat and walk away, he opened the car boot and lifted out her luggage to carry it into the house.
Freshly showered after her walk round the grounds with Hamish, Georgia sat on the bed in her room and examined the employment contract Keir had left for her to sign. He didn’t waste much time, did he? What did he think she was going to do? Run away after driving since the early hours of the morning to get here?
Even though she might have briefly entertained the thought, after the distinctly frosty way he’d shut down on her following her remark about Hamish liking him, Georgia was not about to give him the satisfaction. She would show Keir Strachan, Laird of Glenteign, that she was a reliable, efficient and skilled worker—and most of all that she kept her word when a promise was made.
Signing her name with a deliberate flourish, she laid the paperwork aside, then shook her damp hair free from the towel she’d wrapped it in. Pushing her fingers through the dark slippery strands, she let her gaze wander over her new surroundings. The room was the height of elegance, with plenty of loving feminine touches everywhere—from the rose-pink velvet curtains, with their matching gathered tiebacks and deep swags, to the rather grand mahogany dressing table with its gleaming surfaces, ornate lace doilies and sparkling oval-shaped mirror. The drowsy scent of late summer pervaded the air, and there was a breathtaking bouquet of white roses in a pink vase arranged on top of a polished satinwood chiffonier that made Georgia’s heart skip with pleasure.
She wondered who had been responsible for such a delightful touch. Noah had told her that Keir wasn’t married, so it must be some other female…Georgia felt vaguely annoyed that she was even speculating about it at all. She should be concentrating on getting ready to present herself to her new boss; that was what she should be doing!
Jumping up, she went to fetch her hairdryer from her almost empty suitcase. Realising that it was almost ten to eight, an unwelcome twist of anxiety knotted her stomach at the recollection that her new employer expected people to be ‘prompt’ for dinner. Trying to quell the feeling of rebellion that the thought surprisingly inspired, she turned her mind instead to the prospect of meeting the other staff who worked in the house.
Noah had told her how fond he’d grown of Keir’s housekeeper, Moira Guthrie, while he’d worked there, and if the woman was as friendly as he had described then perhaps she needn’t be as daunted as she was feeling at present at the idea of living in such a grand, impressive residence. Not to mention acting as secretary to a man who appeared to welcome gestures of friendliness with about as much enthusiasm as finding a viper in his bed!
Unlike her bedroom, the dining room had plenty of masculine touches in evidence—from the array of shining swords placed strategically round the walls to the several portraits of presumably past lairds who overlooked the proceedings with a definitely superior air. Breathtakingly impressive, the room was decorated in true baronial splendour. In fact, as she’d followed the very amiable Moira Guthrie inside, Georgia had half expected a fanfare to sound.
She bit down on her lip to suppress a smile. Under its high-raftered ceilings and candle sconces on the walls, and seated at the long refectory table with its burnished silverware and elegant cream dinner service, it was easy to imagine herself transported to a much more elegant and mannered era. All this finery was a far cry from Georgia and Noah’s ridiculously small dining room at home, with its well-used pine table bought at a local second-hand store, and the four matching chairs that were in urgent need of refurbishment…
Glancing briefly down at her simple pink cotton dress, worn with the heart-shaped rose quartz pendant that her mother had left her, Georgia couldn’t help musing that her employer might expect much more elegant attire in her dressing for dinner in his imposing house. Oh, well…Noah hadn’t seemed to worry about such things, and nor should she. Neither of them had ever been able to afford elegant clothes even if they’d desired them. Most of the time they had been too busy just trying to survive.
Bereft of both parents since Noah was fourteen, Georgia, just five years his senior, had taken over her brother’s care from that too young age, and worrying about finances had dominated her life for more years than she cared to remember. Even to the point of sacrificing any opportunity for a loving relationship, according to her concerned friends. But there was no real sacrifice in Georgia’s mind. She would do it all again tomorrow if she had to. Still, she couldn’t deny that the valuable commission to help work on the gardens at Glenteign had literally arrived in the nick of time.
Georgia had sunk every spare penny she’d had after paying the bills and running their home into Noah’s fledgling gardening business. With her blessing, he was intending to reinvest as much of the cash he’d received from that commission into making the business even more viable…In a couple of years’ time maybe they would both be able to relax a little where money was concerned, instead of working practically every hour God sent.
‘Don’t worry, my dear…we won’t be so formal every night,’ Moira assured Georgia, having seen the doubt flicker across her face. ‘We do like to do things properly at the weekends, but during the week we’re very informal. There’s a smaller dining room, just down the hall from the kitchen, and we usually eat in there. Now, if you’ll excuse me for a second, I’m just off to see where Chief Strachan is. I expect he’s busy finishing off some work and has forgotten the time. God knows the poor man’s been up to his eyes in it since he came back here! And what with poor Valerie breaking her leg, you haven’t arrived a moment too soon, lassie, and that’s a fact!’
Georgia breathed a sigh of relief when the other woman exited the room. She couldn’t deny she welcomed a few moments by herself, to reflect on where she’d landed. Considering the job in hand, there was no doubt in her mind about her secretarial abilities passing muster—but, having finally met her new boss, she did have some concerns as to whether they would get along. Lord knew, it could be frankly exhausting working for someone without a sense of humour, and quite honestly Georgia had been hoping for a breakthrough in that department. People in London these days seemed so uptight, with most of them consumed by long working hours and making career goals their God, that it made working as a temporary secretary for such driven individuals sometimes frankly hellish.
Sighing, she got up from her chair to examine the paintings that bedecked the walls. Turning up her nose at the stern male portraits to rest her gaze instead on the more genial scenes of pastoral serenity that were so invitingly displayed alongside them, she felt a little of the anxiety she was holding in her body ease from her shoulders.
‘My apologies for keeping you waiting.’
She turned at the sound of that richly attractive and commanding voice, her gaze diverted by the sight of Keir walking straight to the head of the table in a brisk manner, straightening the cuffs on his open-necked white shirt, as though about to head up a board meeting instead of sitting down to dinner. Surprisingly, he was wearing denim jeans, and the faint aura of some classic male cologne lingered in the air as he moved.
Catching the briefly intense flare of the searching azure glance that immediately came her way, Georgia felt her stomach react as if she’d just plummeted several thousand feet without a parachute. Noah should have warned her that the Laird was so…so compelling! But perhaps it was understandable that younger brothers left out such important details when describing another man to their sisters!
Feeling ridiculously annoyed that she should be so thrown off-centre by her employer’s good-looks, when she wasn’t remotely an easily impressed girl at all, Georgia lightly shrugged her shoulders.
‘Not at all. I was just enjoying looking at your beautiful paintings. The portraits are a little too severe for my taste, if you don’t mind my saying…but the country scenes are lovely.’
‘You like art?’
‘Of course.’
The surprise on her face held the unspoken question. Doesn’t everybody? and Keir found himself inordinately pleased by her vehemence.
‘There are many paintings in the house—some by some very famous Scottish artists indeed. Perhaps when we’re not so busy there might be an opportunity for me to show them to you? Now, please…sit down. There’s only the three of us this evening as some of the staff are off duty, so there’s no need to stand on ceremony. Moira, why don’t you tell Lucy that she can serve the soup?’
As the older woman turned hurriedly away again, Georgia felt her cheeks burn with indignation beneath Keir’s disconcerting scrutiny. She arranged herself in her chair. Didn’t he know it was rude to stare? She swallowed hard, irritated with herself that she should let herself be so affected by the way he looked at her. She’d worked for attractive bosses in the past…of course she had. But none had bothered her sufficiently that she couldn’t think a single straight thought without feeling flustered!
Reaching for her perfectly folded napkin, Georgia shook it out and laid it in her lap. ‘This is such an incredible house, and the grounds—from what I’ve seen so far—are quite breathtaking! You must love living in such a beautiful place,’ she commented conversationally.
Her blood ran cold as ice water at the look in his eyes. ‘That is your assumption, is it?’
‘I only meant that—’
‘Don’t be so quick to make careless judgements, Miss Cameron,’ he advised broodingly. ‘Have you not heard the adage “never judge a book by its cover”?’
CHAPTER TWO
‘WHAT DO YOU MEAN?’
She found herself trapped by his glance for an almost excruciatingly long moment, and Georgia wondered what she’d said that was so wrong. There wasn’t just irritation in his chastising glare. She was sensitive enough to detect some deep unhappiness there too, and for some reason her stomach turned hollow. There was such strength of will and vitality in Keir’s strong, handsome face, and the idea that such an indomitable visage might be hiding some profound hurt behind it disturbed her more than she considered natural for somebody she’d only just met, and she didn’t know why…
‘It doesn’t matter. Have you heard from Noah recently? No doubt you know he’s coming for a visit next weekend?’
The swift change of subject caused her smooth brows to draw momentarily together. ‘Yes, I know. He rang me yesterday. We speak on the phone every couple of days.’
‘And has he told you how he’s getting along?’
Even as he asked the question Keir knew it wasn’t Noah’s welfare that was uppermost in his mind. He admired the younger man, of course—his professionalism, ability to work hard and deliver on a promise were commendable. But right then Keir was actually dwelling on the obviously close relationship he enjoyed with his disarming sister. To speak on the phone so often when they were away from each other was hardly something he could have imagined doing with his own brother.
He and Robbie had drifted apart many years ago—with Robbie preparing to take on the mantle of Laird after their father, with all that that entailed, and Keir leaving Glenteign just as soon as he could, to pursue his determination to go into business for himself and put his less than joyful childhood memories firmly behind him. Talking to his brother on a regular basis would only have reminded him of that dark period in his life, and Keir definitely didn’t want reminders. The fact that he was back at Glenteign now, after all these years, and had inherited the role of Laird of the estate himself when he’d never wanted anything remotely to do with it again, was a twist of fate he hadn’t foreseen. He was still learning to live with it…
‘He seems happy enough…settling in and immersing himself in the job that has to be done.’ The edges of her mouth lifting in a tentative smile, Georgia laid her hands one on top of the other in her lap, as if considering her words very carefully.
Sensing that his cutting remark had made her nervous, Keir told himself he should have been more guarded. Usually he was. After all, shielding his true feelings from others had become second nature to him since childhood.
‘It was very good of you to recommend him to your friends in the Highlands,’ Georgia continued. ‘He’s grown to love Scotland, and I know he would have found it a wrench to leave. Also, I don’t think I thanked you for offering me this job of filling in for your own secretary. It’s good to get out of London for a while. How is she, by the way? Your secretary, I mean?’
‘Recovering slowly. It was a bad break, unfortunately, with some complications. She may have to have another operation to put it right.’
‘I’m sorry to hear that.’
‘That’s why I needed someone who could step in and competently take over where Valerie left off. I’ve only been back at Glenteign for nine months myself, and what with organising the work on the gardens and getting them up to scratch again after the death of my brother…Well, there’s a lot of work involved in running an estate like this and it doesn’t get done by itself. Come and sit down, Moira…Is Lucy bringing the soup?’
‘She’ll be along directly.’
Georgia felt relief that the other woman had reappeared. Even though she’d been shocked and sympathetic to hear that Keir had so recently lost his brother, and she longed to learn more, she was also wary of saying the wrong thing again. Hunger was also gnawing at her. Fast food at a motorway service station was no substitute for good home-cooked food, and that was a fact! She was honestly looking forward to her meal.
Sitting opposite Georgia at the beautifully laid table, Moira let her friendly brown eyes focus kindly on her.
‘I just wanted to tell you, lassie, that Hamish has had the food you left for him, and is now curled up by the range in the kitchen. He was looking quite content when I left him, so there’s no need for you to worry. I’m sure he’s going to settle in just fine!’
‘Thank you. It was very good of you to see to him like that. I’m sure he’s loving every bit of all the extra attention he’s been receiving!’
‘He’s a wee lamb, that’s what he is! It’s lovely for us to have a dog about the place again…isn’t it, Chief Strachan?’
‘If you say so…’ Refusing to be drawn, Keir glanced impatiently at the doorway just as the soup arrived, carried on a large solid silver tray by a very pretty auburn-haired girl who couldn’t have been much older than seventeen.
When she would have served Keir first at the head of the table—as no doubt she usually did—surprisingly he directed her down to Georgia instead.
A brief smile touched the corners of a mouth that seemed somehow reluctant to utilise that gesture too often, and his gaze was wry. ‘No doubt you’re only too ready for your meal after your long drive, Georgia, and we won’t keep you waiting any longer to fulfil your great need!’
Although pleased by his apparent thoughtfulness, Georgia was slightly embarrassed too. Perhaps he’d seen her relieved glance at the bowls of steaming soup on the tray Lucy carried and secretly thought it unseemly somehow that a woman should so unwittingly display her hunger? She was inhabiting a whole new world of manners and formality that she wasn’t used to, and she would probably have to learn to be a little less impulsive and less apt to reveal her feelings.
‘Well, it smells absolutely delicious! Carrot and coriander, if I’m not mistaken?’
‘That’s right lassie. So…do you like to cook yourself?’ Moira asked politely.
Daring a swift glance at Keir from beneath her curling chestnut lashes, Georgia picked up her spoon, waiting for both he and Moira to do the same before she started eating. ‘I’ve always tried to prepare fresh food for me and Noah when he’s at home, and, yes, I do enjoy a bit of cooking…But it’s not always possible when we’re both busy working and invariably get in quite late. I usually try and do something nice at the weekends, though…like a roast on a Sunday, with a home cooked pudding to follow. Apple crumble is Noah’s favourite.’
‘There’s not many young women of your age who know a lot about cooking in my experience,’ Keir commented thoughtfully. ‘Apart from your brother, do you often cook for other people?’
In the flickering candlelight, his blue eyes glowed like the glint of fireflies, and for a moment Georgia felt as if they were the only two people in the room. ‘No, not really. Like I said…’ Her cheeks throbbed and burned beneath his unflinching cynosure. ‘I’m usually busy working…both outside and in the home.’
‘Are you telling me that you don’t have a social life?’
Where was this leading? Georgia wondered, a sense of panic flowing through her bloodstream. All she wanted to do was enjoy her soup and assuage her hunger—not answer too awkward questions that made her feel vaguely as if she was being interrogated.
‘I see my friends, and we do the usual things—like going to the cinema or eating out…So, yes—I do have a social life.’
The fact that she hadn’t done any of the above for quite some time now, because she’d been too busy working hard, worrying about finances and fretting about Noah’s welfare, was Georgia’s private business and not the kind of thing she would remotely want to discuss with people she’d just met…however curious.
Keir saw the slightly agitated rise and fall of her chest in the unremarkable pink dress and didn’t know why he was suddenly fishing for details about her private life. He was only aware of a disturbing tension deep inside him whenever his glance happened to settle on her beautiful face, which it seemed to be doing at a rather compelling rate. He should have quizzed Noah more about his sister. He should have somehow learned that she had the ability to mesmerise with her eyes, her smile, her voice…he should have learned that she blushed easily when discomfited or embarrassed, and that her smooth, silky skin glowed like satin in the flickering candlelight…If Keir had known these things before he’d gone ahead and hired her—then he might never have agreed to her coming to Glenteign at all. Georgia Cameron was too much of a disturbing distraction. Especially when there was so much that had to be done.
As much as he didn’t want to be back in the family home, now that Robbie was gone he had a responsibility to carry on in his stead. Besides that, there was also the livelihood of the staff to think of, as well as the local people in the surrounding villages who had lived and worked on this land since time immemorial and had certain expectations of their Laird.
Glenteign had been in Keir’s family for generations, and now there was no one left but him—and a distant ailing uncle in Cape Town, who was hardly interested or even desirous of coming back to Scotland after spending the majority of his life tending vineyards in South Africa. Keir had to be focused and committed to the task in hand if he was going to win the respect of people who looked up to him, and he needed to inspire the help and support that was necessary to help him do that. No…it wouldn’t help his case one bit to become too friendly with the bewitching Ms Cameron…
‘Let’s eat, shall we? Or the soup will get cold.’
Directing a final rueful glance Georgia’s way, Keir deliberately diverted his attention to his meal…
Rising early the next morning, Georgia pushed the memory of last night’s slightly strained atmosphere at dinner determinedly out of her head. Today was a new day, she told herself, and she and her new boss needed time to get to know each other’s ways before they both relaxed their guards a little around each other and felt more comfortable.
Although she didn’t think it was likely that someone with the responsibility of such a large country estate and the weight all that must place on his shoulders would ever really relax their guard around anyone.
Nevertheless, Georgia was even more determined this morning to make things work. She’d been given a great opportunity to get out of London for a while and live in the countryside, which had always been a longed-for dream, as well as earning the best salary she’d made in ages, and she wasn’t going to waste even a second filling her head with self-doubt about whether she’d done the right thing or not.
Allowing her lips to curve with pleasure at the thought of being able to explore her new surroundings at her leisure on her day off, she hurriedly washed and dressed. Throwing on jeans, trainers and an old sweatshirt of Noah’s that she had commandeered a long time ago, she headed off to the kitchen to collect Hamish for his walk.
The rest of the house was as silent as a church as she carefully undid the sturdy locks on the front door and stepped outside. It was a rare morning, as her dad would have said, and a fine mist clung like a draped silken cobweb over the mountain peaks that edged above the tall firs in the distance. For a disturbing moment Georgia knew a pang of longing so great that she stood stock still, with Hamish gazing expectantly up at her, her hazel eyes awash with tears.
‘You’d love it here, Dad,’ she whispered softly beneath her breath. ‘The air is so sweet you can almost taste it.’ Resolutely scrubbing away the moisture on her cheeks, she raised her chin and walked from the great house with a spring in her step. As she feasted her hungry gaze on a landscape that would stir emotion in even the stoniest of hearts, she thought how she could easily live here and never set foot in another city or town again.
Overjoyed at being outdoors, and released off his lead, Hamish bounded across the springy emerald grass and headed off towards the magnificent sentinel of trees that stood guard in front of the mountains up ahead. And as Georgia followed behind him, at a more leisurely rate, the tensions she’d experienced on her first evening at Glenteign faded away…
Back in the house an hour later, she declined the cooked breakfast that apparently Keir was enjoying in the smaller dining room, to share a pot of tea and a plate of hot buttered toast and marmalade with Moira Guthrie, in the expansive country kitchen.
As the two women sat companionably together at the family-sized pine table, the owner of Glenteign walked in.
‘Georgia…I’d like a word, if I may?’
She started to rise to her feet, caught off guard by his sudden appearance and almost too aware of the innate sense of authority he brought into the room with his presence. With his lean, yet muscular build, everything he wore looked tailor-made for him…not to mention expensive. Even away from this amazing house and its vast grounds there would be an air of exclusivity about Keir Strachan that would always make him stand out from the crowd.
Suddenly Georgia’s appetite disappeared, and she tucked a wayward chestnut curl behind her ear with less grace than she would have liked. ‘Yes, of course.’
‘When you’ve finished your breakfast will do. I’ll be in my study. Moira will show you where it is.’
He’d gone again before she’d even voiced a reply. Sitting back down in her chair, Georgia inadvertently released a sigh.
‘A word about the young Laird, my dear,’ Moira said, resting her elbows on the table. ‘He may come across as rather brusque at times, but he has a lot of responsibility on his shoulders. Not only is he Laird here, but he also has a business to think of. No matter what you might think he does have kindness in him, so don’t judge him too quickly—will you, lassie?’
Georgia was still dwelling on what the housekeeper had told her when she stood outside Keir’s study door a short while later. To her surprise he answered her knock almost straight away, and ushered her inside. Experiencing a deep jolt at the definitely masculine ambience of the imposing room she found herself in, Georgia couldn’t help feeling she was somehow intruding.
Keir turned his deep blue gaze towards her.
‘I trust you slept well? I know it’s not always the case the first few nights in a strange house, but I’m sure you’ll quickly get used to things.’
Surprisingly, Georgia had slept well. No doubt the long day’s drive to get to Glenteign and her trepidation about what things would be like when she got there had contributed to her near exhaustion when her head had finally hit the pillow.
‘Yes, I slept very well, thank you.’
‘And your room is to your liking?’
‘It’s lovely.’
‘Moira takes care of all that sort of thing…always has. She’s been housekeeper here since my father’s time, so if you need anything at all or want to know where anything is she’s the person to ask.’
Seeing the question in her clear hazel eyes and sure he hadn’t misread it, Keir held Georgia’s glance with a wry twist of his lips.
‘Unfortunately there’s no Lady Glenteign to help exert that essential feminine influence that makes a house a home. So apart from my bedroom and this study—a room that I view strictly as my own domain—you’ll no doubt see evidence of those important female touches everywhere else in the house courtesy of my housekeeper.’
Vaguely discomfited by the fact that he’d practically read her mind, Georgia moved her glance to the opened casement window opposite Keir’s desk and back again. ‘You mentioned last night at dinner that your brother had died? I just wanted to say how sorry I was to hear that. It must be devastating to lose someone so close in your family.’
‘We weren’t as close as we might have been, but, yes…it was quite awful to lose him.’
Seeing the sympathy on her concerned face, Keir felt strangely at odds admitting something so personal to a woman he’d only just met—like trying on a suit that didn’t fit—and was frankly surprised that he’d allowed himself to be so uncharacteristically candid. But sometimes the pain of losing Robbie and remembering the bleak reality of their childhood was so crushing that he thought he might go mad if he didn’t ever speak his feelings out loud. Yet he knew in reality that he couldn’t afford to show even a hint of such weakness to anybody. In his illustrious family it just wasn’t done.
‘Was he married? Did he have a family of his own?’ Georgia ventured.
‘The answer is no, to both of those questions. Thank you for your condolences, but I really do need to get on.’
‘Right.’
He saw her own guard come up, and immediately regretted it.
‘So? Presumably you wanted to talk to me about work?’
She crossed her arms over her chest in the too-large navy blue sweatshirt she wore, with its recognisable sports motif, and Keir realised that it had probably belonged to her brother at some point. The realisation immediately reminded him of how close the two of them must be, and he knew again a faint yet disturbing pang of envy.
Because Robbie was dead, and he would now never have the chance to be close to him even if he wished it, and because he’d been forced to return to Glenteign when he’d rather be a million miles away, Keir’s pain spilled over into sudden irritation.
‘I know it’s Sunday, but we’re going to have to make a start on things today. Everything’s got far too behind to be left until tomorrow, so the sooner we start to tackle the backlog, the better. If you had any plans to look round the gardens or drive into the village, then I’m afraid you’re going to be disappointed.’
‘I didn’t make any plans to go anywhere, and I’m perfectly aware that I came here to work. It’s no problem for me to work on a Sunday…I’ve done it many times.’
‘Good. Then might I suggest that you change into something a little more appropriate for work, and come back here in…’ he gave a perfunctory glance at his watch ‘…say twenty minutes?’
‘I’m only dressed like this because I took Hamish for a walk!’
‘The shirt is your brother’s, I take it?’
‘Is that a problem?’
For a moment Keir saw mutiny in her surprised glance, and as his gaze descended from those flashing hazel eyes of hers to her softly bare mouth an unexpected jolt of sexual heat zig-zagged hotly through his insides. The sensation staggered him, arising unbidden as it did—and in what could hardly be deemed a ‘provocative’ situation.
‘I don’t have time to stand here bandying words with you, Ms Cameron…Just go and do as I say, will you?’
CHAPTER THREE
THE SLIGHTLY COOLER evening air that breezed in through the open casement windows arrested Georgia’s attention with the ravishing floral scent it brought with it. Seated at the absent Valerie’s desk, immersed in typing yet another long and involved letter regarding estate business, she briefly closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. The hypnotic perfume of roses in full bloom was almost soporific, and undeniably sensual as well. Lifting her arms, she stretched like a contented cat, her breasts pushing against the Indian cotton of her blouse, and the ache in her back from sitting too long eased.
‘When you’ve finished that letter we may as well call it a day.’
Her eyes flew open again at the sound of Keir’s rich, cultured tones. They’d worked alongside each other mainly in silence save for a couple of telephone calls he’d had to make, with Keir and herself only speaking when it was absolutely essential. Having been quite content with this arrangement, Georgia had to reacquaint herself with the sound of his arresting voice.
A brief surge of disturbing heat flowed through her in response, and she quickly dropped her arms and turned her head to look at him.
Having observed her unknowingly seductive stretch, and seen the points of her breasts strain the material of the soft white blouse she wore, Keir reeled from the thunderbolt of desire that shot through his insides at the sight. In fact, he’d plainly detected a husky inflection in his voice that had been the direct result of that moment of unexpected sexual excitement.
‘Are you sure? I don’t mind working on for another hour or so, if you need me to,’ she replied.
He was sorely tempted to agree. If only to hope that he might glimpse such an unwittingly sensual little manoeuvre again…Good God, he had been working too hard! Suddenly impatient with himself, Keir got to his feet and swept the pile of correspondence he’d been diligently sifting through deliberately aside.
‘Enough is enough,’ he said gruffly, raking his fingers through his straight dark hair. ‘Besides…dinner is at seven on a Sunday, and no doubt you’ll want to take Hamish for a walk before you go and get ready.’
‘He’s not the only one who could do with a stretch of the legs.’ Georgia smiled. ‘I feel as if I’ve been welded to this chair, I’ve sat in it so long!’
‘Finding the going too tough already? This is only the tip of the iceberg. The week ahead will be even harder.’
His mocking words completely demolished her smile.
‘It’s not too tough at all! I’m used to a fairly punishing pace, and I can handle it so please don’t worry on that score.’
‘I’m glad to hear it. Tomorrow morning we’ve got a hundred and one things to get through, not least catching up with the rest of this wretched correspondence! It seems to have grown into a veritable mountain since Valerie’s accident. I also need you to liaise with Moira and the kitchen staff about a couple of dinners that I’m giving at the house which are coming up. After that I need you to familiarise yourself with the local post office in Lochheel, because I’ll need you to take the post there at the end of each day, and after that…’ He paused, to make sure she was keeping up with this itinerary. ‘In the evening I’ll need you to come with me to Dundee, where I’m attending a classical concert. It’s a charity benefit, organised by a friend of mine, and as I have an invitation for two I thought you might as well come and enjoy the evening with me. Did you bring anything suitable to wear to a black-tie event?’
He was asking her to sit through an entire concert with him? Listening to some blissful classical music would not be in the least bit arduous, but spending the evening with a man who seemed not to even know the meaning of the word ‘relax’ definitely would! Even though they had worked together in relative peace, she had still easily sensed the tension in him. Every time he’d moved, even a little bit, he’d practically made her jump! And, reflecting quickly on the contents of the suitcase she had brought, Georgia knew straight away that she didn’t possess the kind of sophisticated outfit that he was no doubt hoping she possessed to wear to this event.
‘No…I’m afraid I don’t,’ she told him. ‘I didn’t expect that I’d need—’
‘In that case I’ll have to talk to Moira. There are a couple of vintage dresses that have been in the family for years. I’m sure there must be one in your size. I’ll ask Moira to show you, and you can try them on.’ His relentlessly blue eyes narrowing impatiently, Keir frowned. ‘If they’re not suitable then we’ll just have to add shopping to our itinerary and get you something.’
Georgia’s spine stiffened in protest. She didn’t want to spend money on an expensive evening dress she might never wear again just so that Keir Strachan wouldn’t be embarrassed by her lack of suitable attire on just one occasion!
‘Perhaps I could just sit and wait for you outside the concert hall?’ she suggested, thinking how that would be infinitely preferable to enduring a shopping trip she couldn’t afford with a man who put her so on edge she would be apt to buy the first unsuitable dress she set eyes on because he distracted her so!
‘Out of the question! Don’t you enjoy dressing up on occasion? Most women I know don’t find it such a great hardship.’
Surprised to find amusement lurking in his compelling eyes, Georgia did not smile back. ‘I’m afraid I manage on quite a tight budget that doesn’t run to buying lots of expensive clothes. I have a brother, a house and a dog to look after, as well as myself, and that takes quite a bit of financial juggling I can tell you!’
He was frowning again as she finished speaking, and Georgia’s heart was thumping too hard inside her chest at having confessed her situation so candidly. But one thing she didn’t want to do—even to save face—was pretend. In her book it was always best to tell the truth…no matter what. Her parents had drummed that fact into both her and Noah from almost as soon as they could talk.
‘I agree that London can be an expensive place to live,’ Keir commented. ‘But isn’t Noah’s gardening business paying its way yet?’
‘Glenteign was his first really decent commission. Every spare penny we’ve both earned has gone back into the business. It’s early days yet, but Noah is such a brilliant designer I’m sure it won’t be long before people are flocking to his door to get him to come and design their gardens!’
‘Judging from what I’ve personally experienced of his abilities, I’m sure you’re right.’
‘Well…I’ll just finish this letter, then I’ll go and walk Hamish.’
‘Georgia?’
‘Yes?’
‘I’m sure Moira will come up with something to save the day.’
Feeling heat rush into her cheeks at the unexpected kindness in his voice, Georgia turned her attention back to her typing.
Watching her slender fingers fly across the keyboard at a rate that was definitely impressive, Keir silently acknowledged that so far everything that Noah had said about his sister’s secretarial skills was true. She’d coped with everything he had thrown at her today, and she hadn’t flapped…not once. He regretted it if he’d embarrassed her about a dress for the benefit concert, but he’d appreciated her candour. Not many people would have had the guts to tell him the truth about their finances—and without any sense of feeling hard done by either, just simply stating facts.
‘Good. That’s settled, then.’
Going to the door, he stood there for at least half a minute, staring at the way her long chestnut hair curled so provocatively at the ends and remembering the way her flimsy cotton blouse had outlined her very arresting figure as she’d stretched. By the time Keir turned away to leave the room he found himself to be in a state of highly aroused tension, and the only sensible thing to do to alleviate it was to put some distance between his new secretary and himself as quickly as possible…
‘And where are you off to this fine morning, my dear?’
Keir’s friendly housekeeper waylaid Glenteign’s newest employee as she was about to get into her car the next morning. The day was seasonably warm and bright, and Georgia was wearing a dark lime cotton sweater with white tapered linen trousers, very conscious since his remark about Noah’s shirt not to appear too casual for her employer’s liking.
Pushing her sunglasses onto the top of her head, she smiled, already feeling very much at home with the older woman.
‘I’m off to Lochheel. I need to go to the post office for the Chief. He was going to take me himself, but he’s got several phone calls to make this morning and can’t spare the time.’
The truth of it was—because he’d definitely got out of the wrong side of the bed this morning, judging by his extremely tetchy mood—Georgia was glad to be going on her own. It would also give her a chance to enjoy some of the spectacular countryside without having to make stilted conversation with her new boss.
‘That’s usually the way of it…’ Moira sighed. ‘The man just always has so much to do! Considering he’s scarcely been Laird here for two minutes, it’s an absolute credit to his skill and dedication that he’s already achieved so much!’
Georgia frowned, thinking. ‘So his brother was Laird here before him? Is that right?’
‘Until he was killed in that terrible car accident in America…yes, he was. Nobody thought that Keir would ever come back here again…even for a visit! But Robbie’s death changed everything for him.’ The kind brown eyes of the other woman crinkled with concern around the edges for a moment, as if she’d inadvertently revealed more than she should have. ‘Look at me, standing here chatting away when I need to get on! Enjoy your drive to Lochheel, lassie. No doubt I’ll see you again later.’
For a few moments, as the housekeeper bustled away to get on with her own busy tasks, Georgia stood stock still on the gravel drive beside her car, her mind captured by what Moira had said about nobody thinking that Keir would ever come back to Glenteign and how his brother’s death had changed everything for him. Was that why he had warned her during their first dinner together that she should not be so quick to make ‘careless judgements’?
Having clearly assumed that he must love living at Glenteign, Georgia was now getting the distinct impression that he didn’t, and that there were good reasons why he didn’t…But how tragic—to live in such an amazing place, with all the advantages that most people could only fantasise about, and yet secretly wish you were somewhere else.
Sometimes the ironies of life just got to her—they really did. There was Georgia, living in a small cramped house in Hounslow, directly beneath the flight path of the planes out of Heathrow, struggling to keep her head above water, dreaming of the peace and quiet of a place like this and wishing that money wasn’t such an issue. And there was Keir, living with the complete antithesis of her own situation and yet apparently deeply unhappy. How was anybody supposed to make sense of it all?
Shaking herself out of her reverie, she got into the car, briefly studied the map she’d left on the seat, then gunned the engine and drove off. Although she would take great pleasure in enjoying the scenery as she drove, she would find Lochheel and locate the post office as quickly as she could—then get back to Glenteign to at least try and alleviate some of the burden of work that was clearly getting her new boss down…
They’d scarcely taken a moment to even glance at the cups of tea Moira had brought them at varying intervals that afternoon, they’d both worked so hard. Now, as Georgia sat in front of the elegant Victorian mirror on her dressing table and applied a deep plum lipstick, she told herself she was feeling far less tense at the idea of accompanying Keir to the classical concert than she had been earlier.
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Maggie Cox
The virgin– Georgia Cameron has led a sheltered life. She raised her younger brother alone, sacrificing everything for his welfare. The boss– Keir Strachan is the most handsome man she's ever seen–and as her boss, he's forbidden fruit. And their baby!But Georgia cannot resist Keir's sensual seduction. To him the affair is only temporary, until Georgia discovers she's pregnant!
The Millionaire Boss’s Baby
Maggie Cox
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
To Evelyn, John and Stephen with all my love
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER ONE
IT HAD been a long, seemingly endless journey—the most ambitious drive Georgia had undertaken in ages. Her saving grace was that she adored driving and prided herself at being quite good at it. With her Labrador Hamish in the back behind her she had the best companion she could wish for, next to her brother Noah. Now, well into the summer evening, she drove silently, with the radio off, her gaze lapping up the extraordinarily beautiful landscape of the Scottish Glens, tiredness banished by what had to be one of the most heavenly sights on earth.
Everywhere she looked she was treated to the most incredible beauty—sunlit lochs, mountain peaks and shimmering green fields. Even Hamish seemed to perk up as he looked out of the window, as if silently contemplating the large open spaces in which to romp and run free with eager relish. It was a far cry from the overcrowded London suburb where Georgia lived.
Already she sensed the accumulated knots and kinks of tension in her back start to unravel a little.
They had made quite a few stops during the long journey, for food and drink, but they had still made very good time. Now, Georgia knew, by the map opened on the seat beside her, as well as her new boss’s very precise e-mail directions, that there was not too much further to go before they reached Glenteign—the large country estate of which he was Laird.
‘No wonder Noah loved working here!’ she declared out loud, and Hamish wagged his tail enthusiastically as if to agree.
Her brother had assured her that she would grow to love Glenteign too. He’d recently spent six months there, in his capacity as a freelance garden designer hired to help work on the formal gardens. It was a place where a person could really breathe, he’d told her, his passion for nature and beauty spilling over into his voice. And in his opinion Georgia wouldn’t regret leaving London behind for a while, with its continual gridlocked traffic and polluted air. Working as the Laird’s temporary secretary, while his permanent secretary recovered from a bad fall, she would have some breathing space from the grinding commute into the City every day. She would find out what a different way of life it was up here—a much more relaxed, ‘sane’ way of life.
She had accepted the job because she wanted so much to believe him, but Georgia still had some reservations about her decision. What would it be like working for a man who had probably never had to worry about where the next meal was coming from in his life? A man who, because of his status, epitomised the old feudal system of ‘Lord of the Manor’ while those around him were mere serfs?
She didn’t exactly have a problem with the concept of inherited wealth—she begrudged nobody their comfortable circumstances—it was just that she was so weary sometimes of her own struggle to keep the wolf from the door, and the idea that somebody could just be born into such good fortune and not have to do anything to earn it was apt to rub salt into the wound. Still, no doubt the wealthy Laird of Glenteign had his own problems…they just didn’t come in the same shape as Georgia’s. But—problems or no—surely he couldn’t fail to take solace in so much wonderful scenery?
When her reliable but old Renault finally drew into the grounds of Glenteign, Georgia switched off the engine, leaned her elbow on the window’s ledge and considered her surroundings with a flare of wonderment in the pit of her stomach.
The house immediately proclaimed its historic past—its impressive edifice of Pictish stone, with its turrets reaching towards the presently cloudless azure sky, reminding Georgia of an ancient impenetrable fortress that had survived every onslaught both nature and man could throw at it and still there it stood, proud and inviolable, with an almost defiant grace. Turning her head, Georgia viewed the lushness of emerald lawns rolling out into the distance like an expansive glittering carpet, and over to the right a high stone wall that perhaps led to the formal gardens that her brother had been working on for the past half-year.
She couldn’t deny she was eager to see them—not just because of the work Noah had done there, but because he’d told her they were incredibly beautiful. Moving her gaze further afield, a grove of tall firs captured her attention, stretching endlessly beyond the exquisite perfection of the immaculate lawns. There was just so much land! It didn’t seem feasible that one person could own all of this. She began to realise what a prestigious opportunity this was for Noah, coming to work here. And now, because of the success he had achieved, he was working at another large estate in the Highlands—a commission he had secured on the Laird’s recommendation because he had been so impressed with what he’d done at Glenteign.
She felt a flicker of love and pride. Every sacrifice she’d made to help Noah get his business off the ground had been worth it…
‘You found us, then?’
Abruptly lured away from her reverie, Georgia found her glance commanded by a pair of eyes that were so faultlessly, intensely blue that for a moment no speech was possible on her part. The rest of the features in the masculine face before here were not exactly difficult to look at either. It was as if they might have been sculpted—the planes and angles so strongly delineated that they were surely the loving work of an artist’s reverent hand? But Georgia wasn’t the only one who was transfixed…The man’s unflinching perusal of her own face came as a shock.
She wasn’t used to being regarded with such uncommon directness and everything inside her clenched hard in sudden self-consciousness. But before she could find her voice, he was opening the driver’s door and standing aside for her to step out onto the gravel.
‘Yes…hello.’ She held out her hand, then awkwardly withdrew it almost as soon as her skin came into contact with his. Such an acceptably polite gesture shouldn’t feel as if it was bordering on intimacy but somehow it did. As he considered her further, his gaze no less direct, Georgia silently bemoaned her travel-worn appearance. After several hours’ travelling her clothes must resemble unironed laundry, she was sure. The cream linen shift dress she wore, with its scooped neckline, had been cool and fresh when she’d donned it early this morning, but it definitely didn’t look like that now.
‘Did you have a good journey?’
Beneath the polite questioning Georgia thought she detected a slight strain—as though he neither welcomed nor enjoyed this kind of inconsequential chit-chat. Her heart sank a little.
‘Yes, I did. The directions you gave me were spot-on.’
‘Good.’
‘I presume you must be the Laird?’
‘Yes, I am…And you are Georgia…Noah’s sister.’
It was a statement of fact, not requiring a reply.
‘How do I address you?’ she asked, her voice determinedly bright.
‘The correct title is “Chief,” but I would be quite happy for you to call me Keir—the same as I told your brother. Talking of which…I have to say I can hardly see a resemblance between the two of you.’
‘People usually say that.’
‘Then I’m sorry to be so predictable.’
He was still a little perturbed by the handshake they’d shared—although the contact had been less than brief, Keir had been genuinely taken aback by the warm electrical ‘buzz’ that had flowed straight through him. It had been a very arresting wake-up call, and now he sensed his attention magnetised by Georgia Cameron’s lovely face. He was surprised that she was so different in colouring from her tall, blond, blue-eyed brother, and perhaps more pleased than he should be by the contrast. Anybody with a penchant for beauty would admire such dazzling green-gold eyes, but in a face as animated and compelling as hers, with its high, elegant cheekbones and wide, generous mouth, it was hard not to elevate them as perhaps the most beautiful he’d ever seen…
But Keir could hardly attest to welcoming such distracting assets. It was her professional skills he was interested in, not her looks. He had employed her because her brother had assured him that if he was looking for a first-class secretary, he should look no further than his very capable sister. He’d said she was temping with an agency in the City, and her current job would be coming to an end soon, so she could start at Glenteign practically straight away.
Way behind with the administration of running such a large estate, after reluctantly inheriting the mantle of Laird from his brother Robert, who’d been killed in an accident abroad, Keir was in urgent need of some first class secretarial and organisational skills. Doubly so since his own secretary Valerie had unfortunately tumbled down the stairs and broken her leg. Only the next few days would tell if Noah Cameron had exaggerated his sister’s capabilities or not…
‘I expect you’d like to go straight to your room and freshen up?’
‘There’s something that I really need to do first if you don’t mind?’
‘What’s that?’
‘I need to take Hamish for a bit of a walk. The poor creature’s been cooped up for too long in my small car, and to tell you the truth I feel the same. We won’t be ages…is that all right?’
‘That’s fine. I should have thought of it myself.’
Keir moved to the passenger door behind the driver’s seat of Georgia’s dusty little car, pulled it open and invited Hamish to jump out. The Labrador was ridiculously grateful, leaping up at him excitedly and wagging his tail at a rate of knots.
‘Oh, my gosh—he’s taken to you straight away! He doesn’t do that with everybody…he must sense that you’re friendly.’
Georgia’s smile was genuinely delighted.
Being the unexpected recipient of such a fulsome expression of joy, Keir stared—caught between wanting to arouse more of the same rather beguiling delight and needing to assert some formality between them pretty quickly. The truth was he suddenly found himself having serious reservations about the wisdom of employing this rather disarming woman to work for him…even though the post was only temporary.
He decided to try and keep her gestures of friendliness at bay as much as possible. Theirs was a strictly business relationship, and if she didn’t come up to scratch then Keir would have no compunction in telling her she was no longer needed. And he wouldn’t cut her any slack just because her brother had impressed him either. James Strachan certainly wouldn’t have. A less compassionate and sentimental man would have been hard to find anywhere! And, even though his father had shown evidence of relenting his rather austere manner towards the end of his life, the die had been cast. His efforts to try and forge with his younger son an emotional bond that had never existed before had come too late, Keir acknowledged with some bitterness. It had certainly come too late for his brother Robbie…
‘I wouldn’t read too much into it,’ Keir said, deliberately pushing his hands into the pockets of his light coloured chinos, as if signalling that he wouldn’t be paying the animal any undue attention while he was there. He had agreed to her request to bring the dog with her, and that should be enough. ‘He’s just grateful to be let out. You can walk anywhere, but I’d be glad if you kept the dog away from the flowerbeds. Is your stuff in the boot? All the staff in the house are busy, so I’ll take it upstairs to your room. It’s on the second floor. I’ll leave the door open so that you know which one it is. Dinner is at eight, and I like people to be prompt. Enjoy your walk.’
Her smile gone, Georgia frowned and murmured, ‘Thanks.’ And if the withdrawal of that smile made Keir feel as if he’d deliberately deprived himself of something extraordinary, then he told himself he deserved it. Watching her collect Hamish’s lead from her handbag beside the driver’s seat and walk away, he opened the car boot and lifted out her luggage to carry it into the house.
Freshly showered after her walk round the grounds with Hamish, Georgia sat on the bed in her room and examined the employment contract Keir had left for her to sign. He didn’t waste much time, did he? What did he think she was going to do? Run away after driving since the early hours of the morning to get here?
Even though she might have briefly entertained the thought, after the distinctly frosty way he’d shut down on her following her remark about Hamish liking him, Georgia was not about to give him the satisfaction. She would show Keir Strachan, Laird of Glenteign, that she was a reliable, efficient and skilled worker—and most of all that she kept her word when a promise was made.
Signing her name with a deliberate flourish, she laid the paperwork aside, then shook her damp hair free from the towel she’d wrapped it in. Pushing her fingers through the dark slippery strands, she let her gaze wander over her new surroundings. The room was the height of elegance, with plenty of loving feminine touches everywhere—from the rose-pink velvet curtains, with their matching gathered tiebacks and deep swags, to the rather grand mahogany dressing table with its gleaming surfaces, ornate lace doilies and sparkling oval-shaped mirror. The drowsy scent of late summer pervaded the air, and there was a breathtaking bouquet of white roses in a pink vase arranged on top of a polished satinwood chiffonier that made Georgia’s heart skip with pleasure.
She wondered who had been responsible for such a delightful touch. Noah had told her that Keir wasn’t married, so it must be some other female…Georgia felt vaguely annoyed that she was even speculating about it at all. She should be concentrating on getting ready to present herself to her new boss; that was what she should be doing!
Jumping up, she went to fetch her hairdryer from her almost empty suitcase. Realising that it was almost ten to eight, an unwelcome twist of anxiety knotted her stomach at the recollection that her new employer expected people to be ‘prompt’ for dinner. Trying to quell the feeling of rebellion that the thought surprisingly inspired, she turned her mind instead to the prospect of meeting the other staff who worked in the house.
Noah had told her how fond he’d grown of Keir’s housekeeper, Moira Guthrie, while he’d worked there, and if the woman was as friendly as he had described then perhaps she needn’t be as daunted as she was feeling at present at the idea of living in such a grand, impressive residence. Not to mention acting as secretary to a man who appeared to welcome gestures of friendliness with about as much enthusiasm as finding a viper in his bed!
Unlike her bedroom, the dining room had plenty of masculine touches in evidence—from the array of shining swords placed strategically round the walls to the several portraits of presumably past lairds who overlooked the proceedings with a definitely superior air. Breathtakingly impressive, the room was decorated in true baronial splendour. In fact, as she’d followed the very amiable Moira Guthrie inside, Georgia had half expected a fanfare to sound.
She bit down on her lip to suppress a smile. Under its high-raftered ceilings and candle sconces on the walls, and seated at the long refectory table with its burnished silverware and elegant cream dinner service, it was easy to imagine herself transported to a much more elegant and mannered era. All this finery was a far cry from Georgia and Noah’s ridiculously small dining room at home, with its well-used pine table bought at a local second-hand store, and the four matching chairs that were in urgent need of refurbishment…
Glancing briefly down at her simple pink cotton dress, worn with the heart-shaped rose quartz pendant that her mother had left her, Georgia couldn’t help musing that her employer might expect much more elegant attire in her dressing for dinner in his imposing house. Oh, well…Noah hadn’t seemed to worry about such things, and nor should she. Neither of them had ever been able to afford elegant clothes even if they’d desired them. Most of the time they had been too busy just trying to survive.
Bereft of both parents since Noah was fourteen, Georgia, just five years his senior, had taken over her brother’s care from that too young age, and worrying about finances had dominated her life for more years than she cared to remember. Even to the point of sacrificing any opportunity for a loving relationship, according to her concerned friends. But there was no real sacrifice in Georgia’s mind. She would do it all again tomorrow if she had to. Still, she couldn’t deny that the valuable commission to help work on the gardens at Glenteign had literally arrived in the nick of time.
Georgia had sunk every spare penny she’d had after paying the bills and running their home into Noah’s fledgling gardening business. With her blessing, he was intending to reinvest as much of the cash he’d received from that commission into making the business even more viable…In a couple of years’ time maybe they would both be able to relax a little where money was concerned, instead of working practically every hour God sent.
‘Don’t worry, my dear…we won’t be so formal every night,’ Moira assured Georgia, having seen the doubt flicker across her face. ‘We do like to do things properly at the weekends, but during the week we’re very informal. There’s a smaller dining room, just down the hall from the kitchen, and we usually eat in there. Now, if you’ll excuse me for a second, I’m just off to see where Chief Strachan is. I expect he’s busy finishing off some work and has forgotten the time. God knows the poor man’s been up to his eyes in it since he came back here! And what with poor Valerie breaking her leg, you haven’t arrived a moment too soon, lassie, and that’s a fact!’
Georgia breathed a sigh of relief when the other woman exited the room. She couldn’t deny she welcomed a few moments by herself, to reflect on where she’d landed. Considering the job in hand, there was no doubt in her mind about her secretarial abilities passing muster—but, having finally met her new boss, she did have some concerns as to whether they would get along. Lord knew, it could be frankly exhausting working for someone without a sense of humour, and quite honestly Georgia had been hoping for a breakthrough in that department. People in London these days seemed so uptight, with most of them consumed by long working hours and making career goals their God, that it made working as a temporary secretary for such driven individuals sometimes frankly hellish.
Sighing, she got up from her chair to examine the paintings that bedecked the walls. Turning up her nose at the stern male portraits to rest her gaze instead on the more genial scenes of pastoral serenity that were so invitingly displayed alongside them, she felt a little of the anxiety she was holding in her body ease from her shoulders.
‘My apologies for keeping you waiting.’
She turned at the sound of that richly attractive and commanding voice, her gaze diverted by the sight of Keir walking straight to the head of the table in a brisk manner, straightening the cuffs on his open-necked white shirt, as though about to head up a board meeting instead of sitting down to dinner. Surprisingly, he was wearing denim jeans, and the faint aura of some classic male cologne lingered in the air as he moved.
Catching the briefly intense flare of the searching azure glance that immediately came her way, Georgia felt her stomach react as if she’d just plummeted several thousand feet without a parachute. Noah should have warned her that the Laird was so…so compelling! But perhaps it was understandable that younger brothers left out such important details when describing another man to their sisters!
Feeling ridiculously annoyed that she should be so thrown off-centre by her employer’s good-looks, when she wasn’t remotely an easily impressed girl at all, Georgia lightly shrugged her shoulders.
‘Not at all. I was just enjoying looking at your beautiful paintings. The portraits are a little too severe for my taste, if you don’t mind my saying…but the country scenes are lovely.’
‘You like art?’
‘Of course.’
The surprise on her face held the unspoken question. Doesn’t everybody? and Keir found himself inordinately pleased by her vehemence.
‘There are many paintings in the house—some by some very famous Scottish artists indeed. Perhaps when we’re not so busy there might be an opportunity for me to show them to you? Now, please…sit down. There’s only the three of us this evening as some of the staff are off duty, so there’s no need to stand on ceremony. Moira, why don’t you tell Lucy that she can serve the soup?’
As the older woman turned hurriedly away again, Georgia felt her cheeks burn with indignation beneath Keir’s disconcerting scrutiny. She arranged herself in her chair. Didn’t he know it was rude to stare? She swallowed hard, irritated with herself that she should let herself be so affected by the way he looked at her. She’d worked for attractive bosses in the past…of course she had. But none had bothered her sufficiently that she couldn’t think a single straight thought without feeling flustered!
Reaching for her perfectly folded napkin, Georgia shook it out and laid it in her lap. ‘This is such an incredible house, and the grounds—from what I’ve seen so far—are quite breathtaking! You must love living in such a beautiful place,’ she commented conversationally.
Her blood ran cold as ice water at the look in his eyes. ‘That is your assumption, is it?’
‘I only meant that—’
‘Don’t be so quick to make careless judgements, Miss Cameron,’ he advised broodingly. ‘Have you not heard the adage “never judge a book by its cover”?’
CHAPTER TWO
‘WHAT DO YOU MEAN?’
She found herself trapped by his glance for an almost excruciatingly long moment, and Georgia wondered what she’d said that was so wrong. There wasn’t just irritation in his chastising glare. She was sensitive enough to detect some deep unhappiness there too, and for some reason her stomach turned hollow. There was such strength of will and vitality in Keir’s strong, handsome face, and the idea that such an indomitable visage might be hiding some profound hurt behind it disturbed her more than she considered natural for somebody she’d only just met, and she didn’t know why…
‘It doesn’t matter. Have you heard from Noah recently? No doubt you know he’s coming for a visit next weekend?’
The swift change of subject caused her smooth brows to draw momentarily together. ‘Yes, I know. He rang me yesterday. We speak on the phone every couple of days.’
‘And has he told you how he’s getting along?’
Even as he asked the question Keir knew it wasn’t Noah’s welfare that was uppermost in his mind. He admired the younger man, of course—his professionalism, ability to work hard and deliver on a promise were commendable. But right then Keir was actually dwelling on the obviously close relationship he enjoyed with his disarming sister. To speak on the phone so often when they were away from each other was hardly something he could have imagined doing with his own brother.
He and Robbie had drifted apart many years ago—with Robbie preparing to take on the mantle of Laird after their father, with all that that entailed, and Keir leaving Glenteign just as soon as he could, to pursue his determination to go into business for himself and put his less than joyful childhood memories firmly behind him. Talking to his brother on a regular basis would only have reminded him of that dark period in his life, and Keir definitely didn’t want reminders. The fact that he was back at Glenteign now, after all these years, and had inherited the role of Laird of the estate himself when he’d never wanted anything remotely to do with it again, was a twist of fate he hadn’t foreseen. He was still learning to live with it…
‘He seems happy enough…settling in and immersing himself in the job that has to be done.’ The edges of her mouth lifting in a tentative smile, Georgia laid her hands one on top of the other in her lap, as if considering her words very carefully.
Sensing that his cutting remark had made her nervous, Keir told himself he should have been more guarded. Usually he was. After all, shielding his true feelings from others had become second nature to him since childhood.
‘It was very good of you to recommend him to your friends in the Highlands,’ Georgia continued. ‘He’s grown to love Scotland, and I know he would have found it a wrench to leave. Also, I don’t think I thanked you for offering me this job of filling in for your own secretary. It’s good to get out of London for a while. How is she, by the way? Your secretary, I mean?’
‘Recovering slowly. It was a bad break, unfortunately, with some complications. She may have to have another operation to put it right.’
‘I’m sorry to hear that.’
‘That’s why I needed someone who could step in and competently take over where Valerie left off. I’ve only been back at Glenteign for nine months myself, and what with organising the work on the gardens and getting them up to scratch again after the death of my brother…Well, there’s a lot of work involved in running an estate like this and it doesn’t get done by itself. Come and sit down, Moira…Is Lucy bringing the soup?’
‘She’ll be along directly.’
Georgia felt relief that the other woman had reappeared. Even though she’d been shocked and sympathetic to hear that Keir had so recently lost his brother, and she longed to learn more, she was also wary of saying the wrong thing again. Hunger was also gnawing at her. Fast food at a motorway service station was no substitute for good home-cooked food, and that was a fact! She was honestly looking forward to her meal.
Sitting opposite Georgia at the beautifully laid table, Moira let her friendly brown eyes focus kindly on her.
‘I just wanted to tell you, lassie, that Hamish has had the food you left for him, and is now curled up by the range in the kitchen. He was looking quite content when I left him, so there’s no need for you to worry. I’m sure he’s going to settle in just fine!’
‘Thank you. It was very good of you to see to him like that. I’m sure he’s loving every bit of all the extra attention he’s been receiving!’
‘He’s a wee lamb, that’s what he is! It’s lovely for us to have a dog about the place again…isn’t it, Chief Strachan?’
‘If you say so…’ Refusing to be drawn, Keir glanced impatiently at the doorway just as the soup arrived, carried on a large solid silver tray by a very pretty auburn-haired girl who couldn’t have been much older than seventeen.
When she would have served Keir first at the head of the table—as no doubt she usually did—surprisingly he directed her down to Georgia instead.
A brief smile touched the corners of a mouth that seemed somehow reluctant to utilise that gesture too often, and his gaze was wry. ‘No doubt you’re only too ready for your meal after your long drive, Georgia, and we won’t keep you waiting any longer to fulfil your great need!’
Although pleased by his apparent thoughtfulness, Georgia was slightly embarrassed too. Perhaps he’d seen her relieved glance at the bowls of steaming soup on the tray Lucy carried and secretly thought it unseemly somehow that a woman should so unwittingly display her hunger? She was inhabiting a whole new world of manners and formality that she wasn’t used to, and she would probably have to learn to be a little less impulsive and less apt to reveal her feelings.
‘Well, it smells absolutely delicious! Carrot and coriander, if I’m not mistaken?’
‘That’s right lassie. So…do you like to cook yourself?’ Moira asked politely.
Daring a swift glance at Keir from beneath her curling chestnut lashes, Georgia picked up her spoon, waiting for both he and Moira to do the same before she started eating. ‘I’ve always tried to prepare fresh food for me and Noah when he’s at home, and, yes, I do enjoy a bit of cooking…But it’s not always possible when we’re both busy working and invariably get in quite late. I usually try and do something nice at the weekends, though…like a roast on a Sunday, with a home cooked pudding to follow. Apple crumble is Noah’s favourite.’
‘There’s not many young women of your age who know a lot about cooking in my experience,’ Keir commented thoughtfully. ‘Apart from your brother, do you often cook for other people?’
In the flickering candlelight, his blue eyes glowed like the glint of fireflies, and for a moment Georgia felt as if they were the only two people in the room. ‘No, not really. Like I said…’ Her cheeks throbbed and burned beneath his unflinching cynosure. ‘I’m usually busy working…both outside and in the home.’
‘Are you telling me that you don’t have a social life?’
Where was this leading? Georgia wondered, a sense of panic flowing through her bloodstream. All she wanted to do was enjoy her soup and assuage her hunger—not answer too awkward questions that made her feel vaguely as if she was being interrogated.
‘I see my friends, and we do the usual things—like going to the cinema or eating out…So, yes—I do have a social life.’
The fact that she hadn’t done any of the above for quite some time now, because she’d been too busy working hard, worrying about finances and fretting about Noah’s welfare, was Georgia’s private business and not the kind of thing she would remotely want to discuss with people she’d just met…however curious.
Keir saw the slightly agitated rise and fall of her chest in the unremarkable pink dress and didn’t know why he was suddenly fishing for details about her private life. He was only aware of a disturbing tension deep inside him whenever his glance happened to settle on her beautiful face, which it seemed to be doing at a rather compelling rate. He should have quizzed Noah more about his sister. He should have somehow learned that she had the ability to mesmerise with her eyes, her smile, her voice…he should have learned that she blushed easily when discomfited or embarrassed, and that her smooth, silky skin glowed like satin in the flickering candlelight…If Keir had known these things before he’d gone ahead and hired her—then he might never have agreed to her coming to Glenteign at all. Georgia Cameron was too much of a disturbing distraction. Especially when there was so much that had to be done.
As much as he didn’t want to be back in the family home, now that Robbie was gone he had a responsibility to carry on in his stead. Besides that, there was also the livelihood of the staff to think of, as well as the local people in the surrounding villages who had lived and worked on this land since time immemorial and had certain expectations of their Laird.
Glenteign had been in Keir’s family for generations, and now there was no one left but him—and a distant ailing uncle in Cape Town, who was hardly interested or even desirous of coming back to Scotland after spending the majority of his life tending vineyards in South Africa. Keir had to be focused and committed to the task in hand if he was going to win the respect of people who looked up to him, and he needed to inspire the help and support that was necessary to help him do that. No…it wouldn’t help his case one bit to become too friendly with the bewitching Ms Cameron…
‘Let’s eat, shall we? Or the soup will get cold.’
Directing a final rueful glance Georgia’s way, Keir deliberately diverted his attention to his meal…
Rising early the next morning, Georgia pushed the memory of last night’s slightly strained atmosphere at dinner determinedly out of her head. Today was a new day, she told herself, and she and her new boss needed time to get to know each other’s ways before they both relaxed their guards a little around each other and felt more comfortable.
Although she didn’t think it was likely that someone with the responsibility of such a large country estate and the weight all that must place on his shoulders would ever really relax their guard around anyone.
Nevertheless, Georgia was even more determined this morning to make things work. She’d been given a great opportunity to get out of London for a while and live in the countryside, which had always been a longed-for dream, as well as earning the best salary she’d made in ages, and she wasn’t going to waste even a second filling her head with self-doubt about whether she’d done the right thing or not.
Allowing her lips to curve with pleasure at the thought of being able to explore her new surroundings at her leisure on her day off, she hurriedly washed and dressed. Throwing on jeans, trainers and an old sweatshirt of Noah’s that she had commandeered a long time ago, she headed off to the kitchen to collect Hamish for his walk.
The rest of the house was as silent as a church as she carefully undid the sturdy locks on the front door and stepped outside. It was a rare morning, as her dad would have said, and a fine mist clung like a draped silken cobweb over the mountain peaks that edged above the tall firs in the distance. For a disturbing moment Georgia knew a pang of longing so great that she stood stock still, with Hamish gazing expectantly up at her, her hazel eyes awash with tears.
‘You’d love it here, Dad,’ she whispered softly beneath her breath. ‘The air is so sweet you can almost taste it.’ Resolutely scrubbing away the moisture on her cheeks, she raised her chin and walked from the great house with a spring in her step. As she feasted her hungry gaze on a landscape that would stir emotion in even the stoniest of hearts, she thought how she could easily live here and never set foot in another city or town again.
Overjoyed at being outdoors, and released off his lead, Hamish bounded across the springy emerald grass and headed off towards the magnificent sentinel of trees that stood guard in front of the mountains up ahead. And as Georgia followed behind him, at a more leisurely rate, the tensions she’d experienced on her first evening at Glenteign faded away…
Back in the house an hour later, she declined the cooked breakfast that apparently Keir was enjoying in the smaller dining room, to share a pot of tea and a plate of hot buttered toast and marmalade with Moira Guthrie, in the expansive country kitchen.
As the two women sat companionably together at the family-sized pine table, the owner of Glenteign walked in.
‘Georgia…I’d like a word, if I may?’
She started to rise to her feet, caught off guard by his sudden appearance and almost too aware of the innate sense of authority he brought into the room with his presence. With his lean, yet muscular build, everything he wore looked tailor-made for him…not to mention expensive. Even away from this amazing house and its vast grounds there would be an air of exclusivity about Keir Strachan that would always make him stand out from the crowd.
Suddenly Georgia’s appetite disappeared, and she tucked a wayward chestnut curl behind her ear with less grace than she would have liked. ‘Yes, of course.’
‘When you’ve finished your breakfast will do. I’ll be in my study. Moira will show you where it is.’
He’d gone again before she’d even voiced a reply. Sitting back down in her chair, Georgia inadvertently released a sigh.
‘A word about the young Laird, my dear,’ Moira said, resting her elbows on the table. ‘He may come across as rather brusque at times, but he has a lot of responsibility on his shoulders. Not only is he Laird here, but he also has a business to think of. No matter what you might think he does have kindness in him, so don’t judge him too quickly—will you, lassie?’
Georgia was still dwelling on what the housekeeper had told her when she stood outside Keir’s study door a short while later. To her surprise he answered her knock almost straight away, and ushered her inside. Experiencing a deep jolt at the definitely masculine ambience of the imposing room she found herself in, Georgia couldn’t help feeling she was somehow intruding.
Keir turned his deep blue gaze towards her.
‘I trust you slept well? I know it’s not always the case the first few nights in a strange house, but I’m sure you’ll quickly get used to things.’
Surprisingly, Georgia had slept well. No doubt the long day’s drive to get to Glenteign and her trepidation about what things would be like when she got there had contributed to her near exhaustion when her head had finally hit the pillow.
‘Yes, I slept very well, thank you.’
‘And your room is to your liking?’
‘It’s lovely.’
‘Moira takes care of all that sort of thing…always has. She’s been housekeeper here since my father’s time, so if you need anything at all or want to know where anything is she’s the person to ask.’
Seeing the question in her clear hazel eyes and sure he hadn’t misread it, Keir held Georgia’s glance with a wry twist of his lips.
‘Unfortunately there’s no Lady Glenteign to help exert that essential feminine influence that makes a house a home. So apart from my bedroom and this study—a room that I view strictly as my own domain—you’ll no doubt see evidence of those important female touches everywhere else in the house courtesy of my housekeeper.’
Vaguely discomfited by the fact that he’d practically read her mind, Georgia moved her glance to the opened casement window opposite Keir’s desk and back again. ‘You mentioned last night at dinner that your brother had died? I just wanted to say how sorry I was to hear that. It must be devastating to lose someone so close in your family.’
‘We weren’t as close as we might have been, but, yes…it was quite awful to lose him.’
Seeing the sympathy on her concerned face, Keir felt strangely at odds admitting something so personal to a woman he’d only just met—like trying on a suit that didn’t fit—and was frankly surprised that he’d allowed himself to be so uncharacteristically candid. But sometimes the pain of losing Robbie and remembering the bleak reality of their childhood was so crushing that he thought he might go mad if he didn’t ever speak his feelings out loud. Yet he knew in reality that he couldn’t afford to show even a hint of such weakness to anybody. In his illustrious family it just wasn’t done.
‘Was he married? Did he have a family of his own?’ Georgia ventured.
‘The answer is no, to both of those questions. Thank you for your condolences, but I really do need to get on.’
‘Right.’
He saw her own guard come up, and immediately regretted it.
‘So? Presumably you wanted to talk to me about work?’
She crossed her arms over her chest in the too-large navy blue sweatshirt she wore, with its recognisable sports motif, and Keir realised that it had probably belonged to her brother at some point. The realisation immediately reminded him of how close the two of them must be, and he knew again a faint yet disturbing pang of envy.
Because Robbie was dead, and he would now never have the chance to be close to him even if he wished it, and because he’d been forced to return to Glenteign when he’d rather be a million miles away, Keir’s pain spilled over into sudden irritation.
‘I know it’s Sunday, but we’re going to have to make a start on things today. Everything’s got far too behind to be left until tomorrow, so the sooner we start to tackle the backlog, the better. If you had any plans to look round the gardens or drive into the village, then I’m afraid you’re going to be disappointed.’
‘I didn’t make any plans to go anywhere, and I’m perfectly aware that I came here to work. It’s no problem for me to work on a Sunday…I’ve done it many times.’
‘Good. Then might I suggest that you change into something a little more appropriate for work, and come back here in…’ he gave a perfunctory glance at his watch ‘…say twenty minutes?’
‘I’m only dressed like this because I took Hamish for a walk!’
‘The shirt is your brother’s, I take it?’
‘Is that a problem?’
For a moment Keir saw mutiny in her surprised glance, and as his gaze descended from those flashing hazel eyes of hers to her softly bare mouth an unexpected jolt of sexual heat zig-zagged hotly through his insides. The sensation staggered him, arising unbidden as it did—and in what could hardly be deemed a ‘provocative’ situation.
‘I don’t have time to stand here bandying words with you, Ms Cameron…Just go and do as I say, will you?’
CHAPTER THREE
THE SLIGHTLY COOLER evening air that breezed in through the open casement windows arrested Georgia’s attention with the ravishing floral scent it brought with it. Seated at the absent Valerie’s desk, immersed in typing yet another long and involved letter regarding estate business, she briefly closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. The hypnotic perfume of roses in full bloom was almost soporific, and undeniably sensual as well. Lifting her arms, she stretched like a contented cat, her breasts pushing against the Indian cotton of her blouse, and the ache in her back from sitting too long eased.
‘When you’ve finished that letter we may as well call it a day.’
Her eyes flew open again at the sound of Keir’s rich, cultured tones. They’d worked alongside each other mainly in silence save for a couple of telephone calls he’d had to make, with Keir and herself only speaking when it was absolutely essential. Having been quite content with this arrangement, Georgia had to reacquaint herself with the sound of his arresting voice.
A brief surge of disturbing heat flowed through her in response, and she quickly dropped her arms and turned her head to look at him.
Having observed her unknowingly seductive stretch, and seen the points of her breasts strain the material of the soft white blouse she wore, Keir reeled from the thunderbolt of desire that shot through his insides at the sight. In fact, he’d plainly detected a husky inflection in his voice that had been the direct result of that moment of unexpected sexual excitement.
‘Are you sure? I don’t mind working on for another hour or so, if you need me to,’ she replied.
He was sorely tempted to agree. If only to hope that he might glimpse such an unwittingly sensual little manoeuvre again…Good God, he had been working too hard! Suddenly impatient with himself, Keir got to his feet and swept the pile of correspondence he’d been diligently sifting through deliberately aside.
‘Enough is enough,’ he said gruffly, raking his fingers through his straight dark hair. ‘Besides…dinner is at seven on a Sunday, and no doubt you’ll want to take Hamish for a walk before you go and get ready.’
‘He’s not the only one who could do with a stretch of the legs.’ Georgia smiled. ‘I feel as if I’ve been welded to this chair, I’ve sat in it so long!’
‘Finding the going too tough already? This is only the tip of the iceberg. The week ahead will be even harder.’
His mocking words completely demolished her smile.
‘It’s not too tough at all! I’m used to a fairly punishing pace, and I can handle it so please don’t worry on that score.’
‘I’m glad to hear it. Tomorrow morning we’ve got a hundred and one things to get through, not least catching up with the rest of this wretched correspondence! It seems to have grown into a veritable mountain since Valerie’s accident. I also need you to liaise with Moira and the kitchen staff about a couple of dinners that I’m giving at the house which are coming up. After that I need you to familiarise yourself with the local post office in Lochheel, because I’ll need you to take the post there at the end of each day, and after that…’ He paused, to make sure she was keeping up with this itinerary. ‘In the evening I’ll need you to come with me to Dundee, where I’m attending a classical concert. It’s a charity benefit, organised by a friend of mine, and as I have an invitation for two I thought you might as well come and enjoy the evening with me. Did you bring anything suitable to wear to a black-tie event?’
He was asking her to sit through an entire concert with him? Listening to some blissful classical music would not be in the least bit arduous, but spending the evening with a man who seemed not to even know the meaning of the word ‘relax’ definitely would! Even though they had worked together in relative peace, she had still easily sensed the tension in him. Every time he’d moved, even a little bit, he’d practically made her jump! And, reflecting quickly on the contents of the suitcase she had brought, Georgia knew straight away that she didn’t possess the kind of sophisticated outfit that he was no doubt hoping she possessed to wear to this event.
‘No…I’m afraid I don’t,’ she told him. ‘I didn’t expect that I’d need—’
‘In that case I’ll have to talk to Moira. There are a couple of vintage dresses that have been in the family for years. I’m sure there must be one in your size. I’ll ask Moira to show you, and you can try them on.’ His relentlessly blue eyes narrowing impatiently, Keir frowned. ‘If they’re not suitable then we’ll just have to add shopping to our itinerary and get you something.’
Georgia’s spine stiffened in protest. She didn’t want to spend money on an expensive evening dress she might never wear again just so that Keir Strachan wouldn’t be embarrassed by her lack of suitable attire on just one occasion!
‘Perhaps I could just sit and wait for you outside the concert hall?’ she suggested, thinking how that would be infinitely preferable to enduring a shopping trip she couldn’t afford with a man who put her so on edge she would be apt to buy the first unsuitable dress she set eyes on because he distracted her so!
‘Out of the question! Don’t you enjoy dressing up on occasion? Most women I know don’t find it such a great hardship.’
Surprised to find amusement lurking in his compelling eyes, Georgia did not smile back. ‘I’m afraid I manage on quite a tight budget that doesn’t run to buying lots of expensive clothes. I have a brother, a house and a dog to look after, as well as myself, and that takes quite a bit of financial juggling I can tell you!’
He was frowning again as she finished speaking, and Georgia’s heart was thumping too hard inside her chest at having confessed her situation so candidly. But one thing she didn’t want to do—even to save face—was pretend. In her book it was always best to tell the truth…no matter what. Her parents had drummed that fact into both her and Noah from almost as soon as they could talk.
‘I agree that London can be an expensive place to live,’ Keir commented. ‘But isn’t Noah’s gardening business paying its way yet?’
‘Glenteign was his first really decent commission. Every spare penny we’ve both earned has gone back into the business. It’s early days yet, but Noah is such a brilliant designer I’m sure it won’t be long before people are flocking to his door to get him to come and design their gardens!’
‘Judging from what I’ve personally experienced of his abilities, I’m sure you’re right.’
‘Well…I’ll just finish this letter, then I’ll go and walk Hamish.’
‘Georgia?’
‘Yes?’
‘I’m sure Moira will come up with something to save the day.’
Feeling heat rush into her cheeks at the unexpected kindness in his voice, Georgia turned her attention back to her typing.
Watching her slender fingers fly across the keyboard at a rate that was definitely impressive, Keir silently acknowledged that so far everything that Noah had said about his sister’s secretarial skills was true. She’d coped with everything he had thrown at her today, and she hadn’t flapped…not once. He regretted it if he’d embarrassed her about a dress for the benefit concert, but he’d appreciated her candour. Not many people would have had the guts to tell him the truth about their finances—and without any sense of feeling hard done by either, just simply stating facts.
‘Good. That’s settled, then.’
Going to the door, he stood there for at least half a minute, staring at the way her long chestnut hair curled so provocatively at the ends and remembering the way her flimsy cotton blouse had outlined her very arresting figure as she’d stretched. By the time Keir turned away to leave the room he found himself to be in a state of highly aroused tension, and the only sensible thing to do to alleviate it was to put some distance between his new secretary and himself as quickly as possible…
‘And where are you off to this fine morning, my dear?’
Keir’s friendly housekeeper waylaid Glenteign’s newest employee as she was about to get into her car the next morning. The day was seasonably warm and bright, and Georgia was wearing a dark lime cotton sweater with white tapered linen trousers, very conscious since his remark about Noah’s shirt not to appear too casual for her employer’s liking.
Pushing her sunglasses onto the top of her head, she smiled, already feeling very much at home with the older woman.
‘I’m off to Lochheel. I need to go to the post office for the Chief. He was going to take me himself, but he’s got several phone calls to make this morning and can’t spare the time.’
The truth of it was—because he’d definitely got out of the wrong side of the bed this morning, judging by his extremely tetchy mood—Georgia was glad to be going on her own. It would also give her a chance to enjoy some of the spectacular countryside without having to make stilted conversation with her new boss.
‘That’s usually the way of it…’ Moira sighed. ‘The man just always has so much to do! Considering he’s scarcely been Laird here for two minutes, it’s an absolute credit to his skill and dedication that he’s already achieved so much!’
Georgia frowned, thinking. ‘So his brother was Laird here before him? Is that right?’
‘Until he was killed in that terrible car accident in America…yes, he was. Nobody thought that Keir would ever come back here again…even for a visit! But Robbie’s death changed everything for him.’ The kind brown eyes of the other woman crinkled with concern around the edges for a moment, as if she’d inadvertently revealed more than she should have. ‘Look at me, standing here chatting away when I need to get on! Enjoy your drive to Lochheel, lassie. No doubt I’ll see you again later.’
For a few moments, as the housekeeper bustled away to get on with her own busy tasks, Georgia stood stock still on the gravel drive beside her car, her mind captured by what Moira had said about nobody thinking that Keir would ever come back to Glenteign and how his brother’s death had changed everything for him. Was that why he had warned her during their first dinner together that she should not be so quick to make ‘careless judgements’?
Having clearly assumed that he must love living at Glenteign, Georgia was now getting the distinct impression that he didn’t, and that there were good reasons why he didn’t…But how tragic—to live in such an amazing place, with all the advantages that most people could only fantasise about, and yet secretly wish you were somewhere else.
Sometimes the ironies of life just got to her—they really did. There was Georgia, living in a small cramped house in Hounslow, directly beneath the flight path of the planes out of Heathrow, struggling to keep her head above water, dreaming of the peace and quiet of a place like this and wishing that money wasn’t such an issue. And there was Keir, living with the complete antithesis of her own situation and yet apparently deeply unhappy. How was anybody supposed to make sense of it all?
Shaking herself out of her reverie, she got into the car, briefly studied the map she’d left on the seat, then gunned the engine and drove off. Although she would take great pleasure in enjoying the scenery as she drove, she would find Lochheel and locate the post office as quickly as she could—then get back to Glenteign to at least try and alleviate some of the burden of work that was clearly getting her new boss down…
They’d scarcely taken a moment to even glance at the cups of tea Moira had brought them at varying intervals that afternoon, they’d both worked so hard. Now, as Georgia sat in front of the elegant Victorian mirror on her dressing table and applied a deep plum lipstick, she told herself she was feeling far less tense at the idea of accompanying Keir to the classical concert than she had been earlier.
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Maggie Cox
Тип: электронная книга
Жанр: Современная зарубежная литература
Язык: на английском языке
Издательство: HarperCollins
Дата публикации: 16.04.2024
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О книге: The virgin– Georgia Cameron has led a sheltered life. She raised her younger brother alone, sacrificing everything for his welfare. The boss– Keir Strachan is the most handsome man she′s ever seen–and as her boss, he′s forbidden fruit. And their baby!But Georgia cannot resist Keir′s sensual seduction. To him the affair is only temporary, until Georgia discovers she′s pregnant!