Beyond All Reason
9 to 5 CONFIDENTIAL MEMO:TO: Ross Anderson, head of the company FROM: Abigail Palmer, personal assistant Dear Ross, You're been my boss for two years now, and you've never realized that I'm secretly in love with you! And it will stay my secret, because I'd never actually dare send this memo to you… .I'm the perfect secretary: efficient, ambitious, organized. You rely on me for everything - except romance! You've never noticed that behind my neat suits and calm manner I'm a real woman - not just your secretary!I know this infatuation is beyond all reason. But I can't help wondering if we'll ever get together in the bedroom, as well as the boardroom! Yours, Abigail
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Table of Contents
“You’re attracted to me. Aren’t you?”
Ross trailed his finger along her spine and Abigail’s body went rigid with tension. “I have more sense than to be attracted to you!”
“What has sense got to do with it?” An odd look flickered in the depths of his eyes.
“Everything,” she stated calmly. But her spine still tingled from his touch, and she realized with horror that Ross knew precisely what effect he had on her…
CATHY WILLIAMS is Trinidadian and was brought up on the twin islands of Trinidad and Tobago. She was awarded a scholarship to study in Britain, and went to Exeter University in 1975 to continue her studies in the great loves of her life: languages and literature. It was there that Cathy met her husband, Richard. Since they married Cathy has lived in England, originally in the Thames Valley but now in the Midlands. Cathy and Richard have two small daughters.
AS SOON as Abigail walked into her office, she knew that it was going to be a bad day.
She had had hardly any sleep at all the night before, had slept through her alarm clock and had had to rush about her small flat trying to dress and eat breakfast at the same time, and then, on top of all that, she had missed her bus to work and had had to engage in full-scale battle with three million other commuters on the Underground. Of course, she was late, and the note on her desk, with its bold, black writing telling her to ‘See Me’, didn’t fill her with a sense of eager anticipation. She looked at her boss’s door with a sigh, took a deep breath and knocked.
‘Yes!’
Abigail pushed open the door and stepped in.
Ross Anderson was sitting behind his desk. He looked up as she entered and stared at her, frowning.
‘Where have you been?’ he demanded. ‘I told you to come in at eight and it’s now——’ he looked at his watch as if he wanted to remind himself of the time which, she thought, was a joke because she could guarantee that he knew precisely how late she was, and simply wanted to ram the point home in that endearing way of his ‘—half-past nine.’ He sat back in his swivel chair and clasped his hands behind his head in an attitude of, Well, I’m waiting and be quick about it.
Abigail looked at him evenly. After one and a half years, Ross Anderson still had the power to make her feel uncomfortable. Those lean, dark, predatory good looks might charm the rest of the female sex into coy, blushing smiles and fluttering eyelashes, but she had always stoutly refused to let them do anything for her. She had had enough of good looks to last her a lifetime.
She answered him now in her usual calm, unhurried voice, ‘I’m sorry, I had a late night.’
‘You had a late night?’ He sounded incredulous, as if she had uttered some startling, incredible revelation of epic proportions. His black eyes skimmed over her with the insulting thoroughness which had not been on display for a very long time, not since she had informed him coldly that if he couldn’t respect her then he could look elsewhere for a personal assistant. She had just started working for him and had still been licking wounds and rebuilding defences, and had most certainly not been in the market for a flirtatious boss with more than his fair share of charm. In fact, if only he had known it, that glimpse of sexy charm so apparent when he had interviewed her had all but sent her skittering away in search of another job.
‘Doing what?’ he asked.
‘That’s none of your business. What did you want to see me about? I typed those letters you wanted and left them on your desk, and I’ve rearranged your meeting with Mr Grafton for next Wednesday.’
‘It damn well is my business,’ he retorted, ignoring most of what she had said, ‘when your late nights intrude on your working time.’
He stood up and walked around to the front of his desk, and then perched on the edge of it. Standing, he towered over her and she had to resist the temptation to walk right out of the room and back into the relative sanctuary of her own little office.
‘I don’t make a habit of arriving late,’ she defended.
‘Where were you last night?’
She lowered her eyes and said with reluctance, ‘I went out for dinner with a friend.’
‘Well, well, well. No need to act as though you’re confessing under torture. That only arouses curiosity. What friend?’
The amused curiosity in his voice made her head snap up in sudden irritation.
‘I don’t believe you know him, so there would be no point in telling you his name.’
‘Him? His name? A man?’ He smiled and that infuriated her even more.
As far as Ross Anderson was concerned, she was an open book. Unexciting Abigail Palmer with her shoulder-length brown hair, always neatly combed back, and her calm grey eyes. True he had once tried to use that easy charm of his on her, but she had firmly stamped on that, and he had shrugged with raised eyebrows. It wouldn’t have bothered him. Charm, as far as he was concerned, oiled the wheels of daily existence, but if she refused to play that game then she doubted that he really cared, just so long as she produced the level of dedication to her work that he wanted. Which was one hundred and ten per cent.
