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by the thought that the charming Leon Draker, the darling of
ambitious society mamas and the focus of the secret fantasies of their
nubile daughters, should actually be so arrogantly determined to
marry a timid nobody like herself. The knowledge had been
frightening and heady. And she had been so in love with him, too
besotted to question his motives.
But Fliss knew better now, she knew exactly why he had chosen her.
At twenty-two she was nobody's fool, and if he wanted to read
something into her relationship with Gerald, then let him!
Savagely, she slammed the car door shut and waited, fuming, while
he walked round and slid in beside her.
'Cat got your tongue? Or don't you like to think of your relationship
with your boss as being common knowledge?' The harsh line of his
profile was un- giving, and in the muted light from the dashboard she
saw a muscle jerk at the side of his mouth. In any other man she
would have put his obvious anger down to jealousy, but the idea of
Leon Draker being jealous of her relationship with Gerald was too
absurd even to think about.
Her soft, full lips set in an uncompromising line. He could think what
he liked. Everyone who mattered knew that she and Gerald not to
mention Netta when she had been alive had enjoyed a close, almost
parent and child relationship. Leon Draker had a twisted mind.
'I'm surprised you didn't move in with him,' he said nastily, as if stung
beyond endurance by her sulky silence.
She replied tartly, 'It was suggested, don't think it wasn't!' And not for
anything would she give him the satisfaction of knowing that it had
been Netta, dear Netta, who had suggested it several times because
she had worried about the girl who had taken the place of the
daughter she had never had. And, flicking him a sideways glance, she
saw his mouth tighten, giving his profile a look of ferocity that made
her shudder, despite the small triumph of needling him.
They had reached her street, and he drew up outside her door, keeping
the engine gently ticking over. So he wasn't going to force his way in
tonight, she thought, grateful for small mercies.
'I'll be back on Saturday,' he told her, his fingertips drumming silently
against the steering-wheel. 'That gives you four days to pack, and
hand in your notice.'
The words were absorbed with difficulty by her stunned brain, and
then she howled, 'I'm not leaving Harlie's!' The words were dragged
out on a wail of disbelief. 'You can't make me give up my job it's
archaic!' she added, with a great deal more confidence than she felt.
'No? If you don't resign, I'll fire you.' His face was unreadable as he
twisted round, lounging back in the angle of the door and window, his
eyes enigmatic in the austerity of his shadowed face. 'The lawyers
will have finished picking their way through the fine print by next
week. The deal can go through as soon as I'm satisfied you've kept
your side of the bargain.'
'I can't just walk out on Gerald.' She stared ahead, down the dark,
empty street, trying to sound as though she were making a statement
of fact. But she was on shaky ground, and she knew it. As soon as the
merger went through he would have effective control; he could hire
and fire at will.
Her blood ran cold. The only thing that had made her acceptance of
his hateful ultimatum remotely tolerable had been the thought of her
job at Harlie's and her tranquil flat. Leon Draker wouldn't show his
face in Marton Clee more than absolutely necessary. He wasn't a
small-town man. Thus, she had blithely reasoned, their resumed
marriage need only be a weekend thing. And now he was taking even
that consolation from her.
" What could I tell Gerald?' she persisted, resisting the impulse to tie
her fingers into knots. 'I can't walk out like that.'
'You managed it four years ago,' he commented unanswerably. 'The
job's no problem. I'll be bringing new people in sales manager,
finance controller, and so on. Tim Ormond will be out. He's merely a
passenger, too. As far as I can make out, Harlie gave him a job as a
favour to his father as he gave you your job for favours of an
entirely different kind.'
This was too much, too galling for words! Every muscle in her body
tightened until she felt she was about to explode. After years of
single-minded hard work he was stripping her of
everything independence, self-respect, self-confidence, everything!
His opinion that Gerald had promoted her to sales manager because
of her ability in bed made her feel terminally ill!
She was tempted to tell him that, far from resuming their marriage,
she wanted a divorce as soon as possible and she shot upright in
her seat, the angry words almost scalding her tongue when she
swallowed them with an anguished groan and subsided heavily
against the leather upholstery.
He hadn't been making idle threats when he'd said he would call the
merger off unless she did precisely as he wanted. And despite her
earlier, rather desperate optimism, she now knew that Harlie's needed
this merger if they were to survive.
'Harlie's, as it is, doesn't stand a chance.' Leon unknowingly echoed
her despairing thoughts. 'Gerald's no go-getter, and just lately he's lost
control. As for the rest of the board, they're still rooted in the
nineteenth century. If you want a job, try being a proper wife on for
size. There's no way I'm leaving you here to be with sugar-daddy.
You'll go where I can keep an eye on you, and as for Gerald just tell
him the truth. Tell him we've decided on a reconciliation.'
'Damn you!' Her hatred of him made her body tense, made the blood
slam through her veins, and her movements were jerky a$ she got out
of the car. He had an answer to everything, but it wasn't going to be
easy to tell Gerald the truth and not for the reasons Leon imagined!
Gradually, over the months of their getting to know each other, she
had confided in Gerald and Netta. They had heard the bare outlines of
her loveless, lonely childhood, and they had understood the basic
insecurity that had come out of those early years. And they tiad
helped her to understand that the fault had not been hers, that her
parents hadn't been indifferent to her because she was unlovable.
Bu|, although she had confided in them, she had never been able to
bring herself to tell them about her marriage. She had always felt
ashamed of that younger, gullible self. Telling Gerald now, after all
this time, would hurt him, make him believe she had never trusted
him and Netta enough to tell them the whole truth.
'Be ready to leave on Saturday.' Leon had wound down the window,
and his voice came clearly on the still night air. Fliss froze, her
shoulders rigid, her key held tightly between her fingers as he
followed that remark with, 'And don't think you can walk out on me
again as soon as the merger's gone through. I'll see you in hell before
you do that to me again.'
CHAPTER FOUR
'I DON'T believe this!' Gerald's heavy jawline sagged. 'You have been
married to Leon Draker for four years?'
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