The Baby Verdict

‘That’s despicable.’ She thought it, yes, but she was still amazed when it popped out of her mouth, almost as though any connection between thought and action had been severed. She knew that she ought to apologise. Whatever he said about first names and appreciating honesty and trying to make his employees feel comfortable, he still owned the company she worked for.

But she found it difficult not to voice her objections. She had spent too many years witnessing the price of her mother’s silence.

‘Why didn’t you just tell the poor woman that you were tired of her?’

‘The poor woman?’ All trace of charm had disappeared from his face and he glowered at her. ‘You have no idea what you’re talking about when you refer to Rachel as the poor woman, and I have no idea why I’m bothering to elaborate on any of this with you.’

‘Guilt?’ she suggested. ‘Guilt that I saw through your little manoeuvre? A basic sense of decency in realising that I need some kind of explanation? Even if I am only an employee? I wouldn’t suggest this normally, but you did say that you enjoyed the open forum.’

He shook his head and raked his fingers through his hair, then he shot her a frustrated, perplexed look from under his lashes. ‘So, I gather, do you,’ he commented, eyebrows raised, and she smiled serenely at him.

‘I’m not in the habit of being quite so outspoken—’

‘Not in the habit! God, I should think you send men running in the opposite direction as fast as their legs can take them the minute you confront them with your brand of open forum chit-chat!’

Jessica went bright red and stabbed a few of the vegetables on her plate with misdirected aggression.

‘This is ridiculous,’ she muttered, eating a mouthful of food that now tasted like sawdust. ‘All of this is beside the point. Whatever your reasons for getting me to your office, and whether I approve of them or not, the point of my being here is in my briefcase on the ground.’

‘Oh, no, you don’t,’ he told her darkly. ‘You generated this topic of conversation, and we’ll finish it.’

‘Like you said, you don’t owe me an explanation...’

‘But we’ll be working together and I don’t intend to spend my time being treated like some kind of inhuman monster.’

‘Does it matter, just so long as we get the job done?’

‘Yes, I rather think it does.’

Jessica didn’t say anything. She concentrated on her food and waited for him to speak.

‘And would you like to know why? Because I wouldn’t want you to think that I spend my time chasing women. We’ll be working together, and I can’t have you feeling threatened, now, can I?’ Which, she thought, neatly put her in her place.

‘I feel so much better for that. Thank you for setting my anxious mind at rest.’

‘Where do you get it from?’

‘Get what from?’

‘That special talent you have for biting sarcasm? I can’t see Robert dealing all that well with that viperlike tongue of yours.’

‘Robert,’ Jessica informed him stoutly, ‘is a sweetie.’ And I’m not normally prone to biting sarcasm, she thought to herself, but then again the rest of the human race don’t provoke me quite like you do.

‘Oh, good grief.’ He closed his knife and fork and signalled for another bottle of wine.

Had they consumed one already? She had barely noticed what she had been drinking, and, looking down, she realised that she had done justice to her plate of food, also without noticing.

‘And just to clear the air,’ he informed her, ‘I don’t walk around treating women like second-rate citizens.’

‘I’m sure you don’t.’

‘That’s right, so you can wipe that supercilious expression off your face.’

‘Look, there’s really no need...’

‘Rachel, just for the record, started off as a bit of fun, but I discovered that she wasn’t as content as I thought just to have a good time. Pretty soon, she...she...’

‘Wanted more?’ Jessica said helpfully.

‘Oh, you’re aware of the phenomenon, are you?’

‘Not personally.’

‘Well...’ he shrugged and adopted a hangdog expression ‘...what can a man do?’

The blue eyes scoured her face with boyish bewilderment.

‘Oh, please!’ Jessica told him awkwardly, recognising that this was the essence of true charm. Bruno Carr, arrogant and self-confident that he was, would never veer into the arena of cruelty, because he genuinely liked women. His natural instincts were to persuade, even when seduction played no part in a hidden agenda. The ability to flirt was as inherent with him as the ability to breathe. He did it without thinking, which was why he was so adept at it

‘Women.’ He raised both shoulders expressively. ‘Sometimes I don’t think I understand them at all.’

‘Really. Now I wonder why I find that so hard to believe.’

‘Rachel started talking about the importance of families, of having children, the benefits of settling down.’

‘Poor, misguided girl,’ Jessica said without a trace of sympathy in her voice for him. ‘And what a dreadful predicament for you, I’m sure. One minute, you have a willing, vivacious partner, the next minute she’s gazing into jeweller shops and dropping hints about permanence.’

‘I’m not the marrying sort,’ he said. ‘Some men are and some men aren’t.’

‘You mean it’s all in the genes?’

‘Whereas all women are. Eventually.’

‘Ah. I see.’ She nodded slowly. In a strange, masochistic way, and even though she still resented his high-handed behaviour and was appalled by his train of thought, she found that she was enjoying this conversation. She must be mad.

‘I mean,’ he said, ‘you come across as being the archetypal career woman, but, if you were to be brutally honest with yourself, wouldn’t you agree that when you see the odd pram being pushed you get a certain pang?’

‘What kind of pang?’

‘A pang of longing. Something to do with a biological clock, I gather.’ He poured another glass of wine for them both.

‘Well, not that I’ve ever recognised, but I suppose if your theory’s true then I must subconsciously have that pang lurking in there somewhere.’ How come the conversation was suddenly featuring her in the starring role? Her mind was feeling a little unreliable from the wine.

‘And you don’t?’

Jessica shook her head and frowned. ‘I thought we were talking about you,’ she said, thinking furiously.

‘We were, but then somehow we’ve ended up talking about you. I think it’s important to have some insight into the people who work with me.’