Tall, Dark... Collection

What was she going to do?

She knew from what he had said that Liam had no intention of disappearing from her life in the near future, obviously finding this more mature and self-confident Laura much more interesting than he had found the totally besotted Laura eight years ago.

Well, she had no intention of letting him anywhere near the life she had now. She would instruct Amy never to let him in the house again, would leave the same instructions with the reception at Shipley Publishing. The way her life was now, with very little other than Bobby and the office to occupy her time, that should at least make things a little more difficult for him to get to her again.

Although, knowing Liam as she did, she had a feeling he would find a way round that if he felt determined enough…

CHAPTER SEVEN

SHE spent a very restless night at the hospital with Bobby. The unfamiliar surroundings meant he didn’t sleep very well and, consequently, neither did she. Hospitals were amazingly noisy places, she decided, and with the nurse checking Bobby’s observations every two hours they weren’t exactly restful either!

The two of them were rather relieved the following morning when the consultant decided Bobby could go home, that his bruised head and knee could be better dealt with there.

In fact, Bobby went straight back to bed for a long sleep as soon as they reached the house, leaving Laura, with Amy to keep an eye on the sleeping Bobby, to check in at the office.

‘Oh, and a Janey Wilson from the National Daily has rung three times already this morning,’ Ruth informed her, once the immediate mail had been dealt with. ‘She wouldn’t say what it was about, but asked if you could call her back if you came in to the office today.’ She handed Laura a slip of paper with the reporter’s telephone number on before returning to her own adjoining office.

Laura looked down at the telephone number. She wasn’t familiar with the reporter, although the newspaper she worked for was known for its sensationalism. What on earth could Janey Wilson want to talk to her about?

‘I’m interested to know if you have any comment to make about the rumour that you’re going to publish the new, long-awaited Liam O’Reilly novel?’ The female reporter came straight to the point when Laura returned her calls.

Laura’s hands began to shake. Rumour? Started by whom?

‘Mrs Shipley?’ Janey Wilson prompted sharply at her continued silence.

She had been completely thrown by this woman’s opening question, and her stunned silence would not have helped the situation!

‘I have no idea where you came by such information, Miss Wilson,’ she finally came back smoothly, ‘but—’

‘My source is extremely reliable, I can assure you,’ the other woman put in determinedly.

How reliable? Who could it be? More to the point, what was Liam going to say, after his forceful comments concerning no publicity, about this breach of confidence?

‘I’m sure you believe that it is,’ Laura dismissed lightly. ‘But I have to inform you that we have no plans—immediate or otherwise—to publish a Liam O’Reilly novel. Always supposing he’s actually written one,’ she added brightly.

All the time her thoughts were racing! Liam was going to be absolutely furious if it became public knowledge that he had written a new novel. It didn’t take too much intelligence to know who he was going to blame for this security breach.

Ruth, as her secretary, knew that Liam had been to her office, but would have had no idea why. Which left only Perry and herself aware that the manuscript they had received almost a month ago was in reality a Liam O’Reilly novel.

Well, she knew for certain that she wasn’t this woman’s extremely reliable, source, which only left Perry. Could Perry have—? She knew he was ambitious, that he wanted this Liam O’Reilly novel badly, but there was no way Laura could believe her senior editor would have stooped to such a level to achieve it. Besides, making the novel public was likely to have the opposite effect; Liam would simply take his manuscript and disappear back to Ireland with it!

‘My source also tells me that you are actually going to be Mr O’Reilly’s editor.’ Janey Wilson softly interrupted her thoughts.

Laura drew in a sharp breath. ‘That is a very definite lie,’ she refuted.

‘Do I have your permission to quote you on both those comments?’ the reporter came back eagerly.

Did she? At the moment, not having had time to speak to Perry yet today, Laura had no idea whether or not they even still had Liam’s manuscript on the premises!

‘You have my permission to quote me as saying no comment to both those questions,’ Laura came back cagily. The newspaper this woman worked for might deal in sensationalism, but there was no way Laura was actually going to contribute to it!

‘Interesting,’ the reporter drawled thoughtfully, in a way that Laura definitely wasn’t happy with! But what else could she have said? She really didn’t have any idea whether or not they still had Liam’s manuscript.

“‘No comment” will do just fine,’ Janey Wilson told her politely. ‘And thanks for taking the time to return my calls.’ The reporter rang off.

If Laura had known what those calls were about—!

She slowly replaced her own receiver, wondering what she should do next. Much as she didn’t relish the idea, she knew she would have to warn Liam of the reporter’s interest. Because if Janey Wilson managed to track him down to the hotel, bombarding him with questions about his new novel, Laura had no doubt whose blood Liam would be after!

But before she committed herself to talking to Liam again she decided to check with Perry. The completely blank look on her senior editor’s face when she told him of the reporter’s interest was answer enough; Perry wasn’t Janey Wilson’s source either.

Laura frowned. ‘Do we still have the manuscript of Josie’s World?’

Perry gave a smile. ‘Well, O’Reilly hasn’t demanded it back yet, if that’s what you mean.’

That was exactly what she meant. Although after Liam’s statement yesterday—that he hadn’t given up on the idea of having her as his editor—amongst other things!—she had somehow thought Shipley Publishing would still be in possession of the manuscript.

Her mouth quirked without humour. ‘After that telephone call from Janey Wilson it can only be a matter of time, I’m afraid.’ She grimaced, standing up to leave. ‘I’m sorry, Perry. I know how much you wanted that manuscript.’

Even if she hadn’t.

And still didn’t.

But neither did she relish the idea of telling Liam of a reporter’s interest in the novel he was ambiguous about—to say the least!

However, as there was no one else who could tell him, she had little choice in the matter!

Not that that made her feel any better as she waited in the lounge of his hotel for Liam to come down from his suite and join her.

She’d had Paul drive her here on her way home. She’d arrived a few minutes ago, ordering a pot of coffee for two to steady her nerves before asking the receptionist to call Liam’s suite and tell him she was waiting downstairs to see him. She had no doubt that it would be far from a pleasant meeting.

If any meeting with Liam could be called pleasant nowadays!

‘Well, this is a surprise!’ Liam drawled as he appeared in front of her.

Laura hadn’t even bothered to look at the lift or the stairs as she waited for him this time; this man’s appearances were just mysterious!

She swallowed hard as she looked up at him. ‘Would you like to join me for coffee?’ She indicated the second cup on the tray.

Dark brows rose over those mocking blue eyes. ‘An even nicer surprise,’ Liam murmured as he sat down in the chair next to hers, not having bothered to put on a jacket, today wearing black denims and a black shirt.

Appropriate colours? Laura grimaced inwardly.

‘You remembered,’ he said appreciatively. ‘How I like my coffee,’ he explained at her questioning glance, taking the cup of coffee she had just poured for him.

Black, with no sugar. Not such a big thing for her to have remembered. And yet she was irritated with herself for having done so; she had tried so hard the last eight years to forget everything about him!

She shrugged. ‘I thought you could add your own cream and sugar if you wanted them.’