Shattered Illusions

‘No?’

‘No.’ His jaw compressed. ‘The vehicle never leaves the garage, for God’s sake!’

‘Nevertheless—’

‘Nevertheless, it’s yours, is that it?’ Dominic countered angrily, straightening his spine against the jamb. ‘Well, okay. Forget the car. I’ll take her myself. I assume the Harley-Davidson is still mine?’

Catriona’s face crumpled. ‘That won’t be necessary,’ she said, and now Jaime was amazed to see what looked like tears sparkling at the corners of her vivid blue eyes. ‘If—if I don’t need it, of course she can use the Toyota. I was just being bitchy. I’m sorry. I’ve been half out of my mind since you took off.’

Dominic looked impatient now, and Jaime wondered why his stepmother’s mood swings should cause such acrimony between them. Catriona was like a child, she thought incredulously—perverse and malicious one minute, appealingly tearful the next. She acted as if her stepson’s good opinion was all that mattered to her, and Jaime knew a sudden sense of unease that had nothing to do with her own position in the household.

And, as if realising that she was an unwilling spectator to their confrontation, Dominic pulled a wry face. ‘Hey, I need a shower,’ he said, including both women in his sweeping gaze. Then, addressing himself to Catriona, he added, ‘We’ll finish this discussion later. Ask Sophie to send me up a couple of beers, will you?’

‘I’ve got some beer in my fridge!’ exclaimed Catriona at once, gesturing at the room behind her. ‘And I’m—dying to hear what you’ve been doing. Samuel said he thought you’d gone to the marina—’

‘Later,’ said Dominic, once again including Jaime in his response. ‘You don’t want me to catch another chill, do you? This air-conditioning’s fixing to freeze my—’ he grimaced ‘—toes!’

Short of causing another unpleasant scene, there was little more Catriona could say, and with a rueful nod in Jaime’s direction Dominic disappeared out of the door. Leaving a distinctly chilly atmosphere behind him, thought Jaime unhappily. An atmosphere that had nothing to do with the air-conditioning at all.

Alone with her employer, Jaime fixed her gaze on the computer screen that only moments before she had been grateful to avoid. But somehow she had the feeling that anything she said might precipitate an argument, and that, far from backing down, in this case the woman would enjoy the opportunity to make someone else look small.

‘Have you finished yet?’ she asked at last, and Jaime had no choice but to make eye contact with her.

‘I’ve finished typing your notes,’ she replied pleasantly. She touched the Dictaphone. ‘But I’m not sure how many letters are left on the tape.’

Catriona took a deep breath. ‘Do you find it interesting?’ she asked. ‘The manuscript, I mean.’ The previous day they had spent organising a working schedule, and this was the first opportunity Jaime had had to transcribe the handwritten pages. ‘My previous secretary used to give me her opinion.’ Her lips twisted. ‘Poor Kristin; she didn’t have a clue.’

Jaime swallowed. ‘I think it’s very interesting,’ she said, not falling into that trap. If Catriona was looking for a fight, she could look somewhere else. She had no intention of jeopardising her position by attempting to guess what her employer wanted to hear.

Catriona seemed to grow impatient, and brushed a scarlet nail across Jaime’s knuckles where they rested on the keys. ‘So tactful,’ she said. ‘So efficient, too.’ She paused, and the younger woman knew an almost overwhelming impulse to move away from her. ‘I hope you’re not going to prove too good to be true.’

Jaime caught her lower lip between her teeth, and bit down hard. The pain steadied her. ‘I hope not,’ she managed politely, resisting the urge to replace her headphones and end this conversation once and for all. ‘Would you like me to print the pages I’ve already typed?’

‘That won’t be necessary.’ Catriona’s tone hardened. ‘No, I suggest you print them and check them yourself before passing them on to me. I shall expect a faultless copy when you’ve finished. Let’s hope you have no more distractions, shall we?’

Jaime caught her breath, sensing they were coming to the crux of what Catriona really wanted to say. She wasn’t hanging about here just to annoy her secretary. She wanted to explain what had happened earlier—to justify her own behaviour, so that Jaime wouldn’t get the wrong idea.

‘Um—Mr Redding only stopped off in passing,’ she said, and then wished she hadn’t when Catriona impaled her with an accusatory gaze.

‘In passing?’ she echoed. ‘Do you know where Dominic has been?’

‘Of course not.’ Jaime now found herself in exactly the position she’d hoped to avoid. ‘I just meant—he was only here for a few minutes.’

‘I know exactly how long he was here,’ retorted Catriona coldly. ‘I know precisely the moment when you stopped typing and started flirting with him.’

Jaime gasped then. She couldn’t help it. ‘I—I wasn’t flirting with him,’ she protested, even though her scarlet cheeks probably proclaimed just the opposite. ‘He—he asked me if I could drive. That was all.’

‘Really?’ Catriona regarded her between narrowed lids. ‘Well, if you didn’t flirt with Dom, you must be the first woman he’s met who hasn’t done so,’ she declared contemptuously.

Jaime lifted her shoulders. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘Oh, don’t be sorry.’ Catriona was impatient now, as if regretting her earlier outburst. ‘But he is a dangerously attractive man, don’t you think? Or do your tastes lie in another direction?’

Jaime stared at her. ‘I beg your pardon?’

‘Well, you are—what was it you put in your application? —twenty-eight?’

‘Twenty-nine.’

‘You see—’ Catriona spread her hands ‘—and you’ve never been married. Surely I can be forgiven for being curious?’

Jaime wanted to knock the smug expression off Catriona’s face, but she knew better than to show her hand that way. Instead, she sat there like some stiffly postured dummy, letting Catriona walk all over her.

She doesn’t know me, she kept telling herself; she doesn’t know who I am. If she did, it would be different. To her, I’m just another female, who might, or might not, become a nuisance so far as Dominic is concerned. Catriona is just laying out the ground rules; making sure her new secretary doesn’t get the wrong idea.

‘It’s not important,’ she said now, managing to sound as if it really wasn’t. ‘You needn’t worry, Mrs Redding. Your stepson is in no danger from me.’

‘Miss Redding,’ said Catriona irritably. ‘It’s Miss Redding. Please don’t forget. And I never think of Dominic as my stepson. He’s a man, and I’m a woman.’ Her lips softened. ‘Do you understand?’

Jaime felt suddenly sick. She could feel the colour draining out of her face now, and she prayed Catriona wouldn’t notice it, too. Dear God, what was she saying? That she and Dominic Redding were lovers? Jaime couldn’t believe it. It wasn’t possible. She had to be twenty years older than he was, at least.

‘Have I shocked you?’

To her horror, Jaime realised that Catriona was actually enjoying this. Now that she’d betrayed her sordid little secret, she seemed to be hoping that Jaime wouldn’t let her down. Catriona wanted her to show some reaction, preferably admiration. After all, Dominic Redding was a very attractive man. Jaime was not unaware of that.

‘I—it’s nothing to do with me,’ she muttered, wishing the woman would just go away and leave her alone. She’d had enough of feeling like a mouse in the paws of a rather vicious she-cat. In all her feeble calculations, she’d never allowed for this.

‘But it is to do with you,’ Catriona persisted, though to Jaime’s relief she moved towards the open door of her study. ‘After all, you’re a member of the household now. I want you to understand why I was so upset earlier.’

In a pig’s eye!

For all the chaotic state of her emotions, Jaime still knew a lie when she heard one. Catriona didn’t care what she thought of her. She just wanted to warn her that if she had any ideas about Dominic she should forget them—or take the consequences.

Like Kristin? Which might explain Sophie’s attitude, as well.

Schooling her features to an impassive blandness, Jaime chose the least provocative path she knew. ‘Will you be wanting to examine these pages tonight, Miss Redding?’ she enquired politely. ‘I should think I could have them checked in about an hour.’

The implications of what she had learned that afternoon struck Jaime more strongly that evening.

After Samuel had delivered her supper tray, as usual, she carried it out onto the balcony, and seated herself in one of the cushioned rattan chairs. Yesterday morning, Catriona had informed her that although they might sometimes have breakfast or lunch together she would be expected to dine in her own quarters. It was nothing less than Jaime had anticipated. She’d read enough books to know how live-in employees were usually treated.

Tonight, however, she could not maintain the spirit of objectivity that had carried her through the two days since her arrival. Restlessness, and the undoubted shock she had received when Catriona had spoken of her relationship with Dominic, had left her in a state of raw ambivalence. She no longer knew whether what she was doing was entirely sensible; she didn’t even know if she wanted to stay.

It had all seemed so simple in London.

Her father’s death, and the discovery of the newspaper clippings, had shed a whole new light on her own identity, and, although in the beginning she’d never had any intention of doing anything about it, seeing Catriona’s advertisement as she had had given her this crazy idea of applying for the job.

After all, she’d thought, if she could arrange it, what did she have to lose? She had no family ties to worry about, and it wasn’t as if it was going to be a permanent arrangement. All she’d needed was a couple of weeks’ leave-of-absence, and with the long summer vacation in the offing that hadn’t been a problem.