First Love, Last Love (10 page)

‘Connie?’ Laurence frowned, looking at Lauri. ‘But I thought …’

Lauri forced a rather strained smile, sure that Alex had made that remark about Connie Mears as a deliberate ploy to hurt her. ‘Alex and I are only friends, Mr Daniels,’ not even that now! ‘I already have a boy-friend.’

‘You do?

‘Oh yes,’ she nodded, smiling brightly.

‘I didn’t realise that.’

‘There was no reason why you should. Goodbye, Mr Daniels—Alex.’ She almost ran into the house, anxious to escape from the kind query she could see in the older man’s face.

She had hardly had time to close the front door before Jane came rushing out into the hallway, a strangely ruffled Jane who looked more than slightly agitated.

‘Where have you been?’ she demanded without preamble.

‘Where have I been—?’ Lauri frowned. ‘Where do you think I’ve been?’

‘Well, you haven’t been at work, I know that,’ Jane said impatiently.

‘How do you know that?’ Lauri delayed.

‘What does it matter how I know!’

‘Well, I—’

‘Carly told me. She wanted to know if you were ill. She said something about you not seeming yourself this morning. When you didn’t go back after lunch she became concerned and called me. Naturally I telephoned here, and when I got no answer I decided to come home and check that you hadn’t collapsed or something. Mr Blair wasn’t in this afternoon, so at least I didn’t have to explain to him that my niece had done a disappearing act and I had to go and look for her.’

Lauri took off her jacket, turning to hang it up to give herself time to collect her thoughts. ‘I didn’t think my taking the afternoon off would cause such a fuss,’ she said lightly. ‘I suppose that’s what comes of working in the same place as the rest of my family.’

Jane’s brown eyes widened. ‘Are you telling me that you just took the afternoon off?’

‘Well—’

‘You just decided not to go back?’ Jane demanded that she answer.

‘It wasn’t quite like that—’

‘I’d be interested to hear what it was like! It was because Steve and I already worked at Blair’s that you found it so easy to get this job. And now you’ve abused that connection by taking time off on a
whim
!’ her voice rose angrily. ‘You aren’t still at school, you know, you can’t just take time off when you feel like it.’

‘I realise that.’

‘I’m glad to hear it. You’re still in your month’s trial, so I hope you can find a reasonable excuse to give Carly.’

‘I’ll think of something,’ Lauri evaded.

‘Then I hope it’s something good,’ Jane snapped, ‘because she’s been as worried as I have.’

Lauri bowed her head. ‘I’m sorry.’ It wasn’t often that her aunt lost her temper, but when she did it was something to take notice of.

‘Don’t say sorry to me,’ Jane dismissed. ‘It’s Carly you should be apologising to. Needless to say I’m very disappointed in you.’

‘Does Steve know about this too?’ After his suspicions of yesterday he just might put two and two together and come up with the right answer!

‘No,’ luckily Jane didn’t hear her sigh of relief. ‘And I’m not going to tell him,’ Jane further put her mind at rest. ‘I don’t see why both of us should be upset by your thoughtlessness. You could have been lying dead in a ditch for all we knew,’ she added angrily.

‘I’ve said I’m sorry,’ Lauri looked at her pleadingly. ‘It won’t happen again.’

‘It had better not,’ Jane warned. ‘Carly seemed to be under the impression you were having dental treatment and that perhaps you weren’t feeling well after it.
This time off hasn’t happened before, has it?’ she asked suspiciously.

‘No,’ Lauri shook her head vigorously. After all, she had only been a little bit late back yesterday.

‘Then make sure it doesn’t.’

‘I will.’

It seemed that her arguments weren’t over for the day; Daryl was in a terrible mood when he arrived to take her out later that evening.

‘Where were you at lunchtime?’ he demanded angrily, pushing past her to enter the house.

Lauri sighed, knowing she was in for another time of questioning. And all because of a man who seemed to have calmly dismissed her from his life. She wished she could do the same to him. Alex had changed in his attitude towards her some time during the afternoon, and telling her he was meeting Connie Mears had been a deliberate attempt to hurt her.

And it had hurt her, more than she cared to admit. She had thought herself to be merely attracted to him, a mindless attraction that would die as quickly as it had flamed into life. But the thought of him with another woman made her burn with jealousy.

If only she knew what she had done to make him suddenly change towards her. If she could pinpoint when it had happened—She frowned; it had happened as soon as they had met Laurence Daniels at the airport, until then everything had been as normal between them. She knew Laurence Daniels had held her hand too long, that he had kept staring at her, but surely Alex’s attitude couldn’t be due to
jealousy
of his brother-in-law? It didn’t seem possible that Alex could imagine meeting Laurence Daniels had meant anything to her, pleasant as he might have seemed, and yet she could think of no other explanation.

‘Lauri!’ Daryl cut into her thoughts impatiently.
‘You aren’t even listening to me!’ he accused.

She bit her lip. ‘Sorry, I—I was miles away.’

‘That’s obvious,’ he scowled.

‘Daryl—’

‘Were you also miles away at lunchtime too when you should have been meeting me?’ he cut in forcefully.

She quite literally had been, although she couldn’t tell him that! ‘I—I wasn’t feeling well,’ she lied. ‘I left early.’

‘So I gathered when I went to your office to see you. The only trouble is,’ he added slowly, ‘there’s a rumour going around that you left with Alexander Blair.’

Lauri paled, her eyes huge green lakes of despair. ‘Who told you that?’ she croaked breathlessly.

‘Does it matter?’ he shrugged. ‘Surely all that matters is whether or not it’s true.’

She forced a careless laugh. ‘Of course it isn’t,’ she dismissed tautly. ‘How on earth do rumours like that start?’

Daryl’s eyes were narrowed as they searched her features. ‘They usually start with a grain of truth.’

‘Do they?’ her voice was slightly shrill. ‘Oh well, I can’t—Oh, I know, maybe Mr Davies saw me talking to Mr Blair before lunch and assumed we were together. Yes, that must be it,’ she announced almost triumphantly.

Some of Daryl’s anger began to fade and he eyed her uncertainly. ‘Do you think that’s it?’

‘It must be, mustn’t it?’ she reasoned. ‘I can’t think of any other way such a story could have started. Mr Blair was just asking me if I’d seen Jane, that was all.’

Still Daryl frowned. ‘Bob Davies has never seemed the gossipy type to me.’

‘No? Well, I—I don’t suppose he is. But his wife
could be. She does work in Accounts too. Maybe he mentioned it to her and then she mentioned it to someone else, so that by the time it reached you they had me going out with the man. You know how quickly these things become distorted.’

‘I suppose so,’ he agreed slowly.

Lauri laughed. ‘You don’t honestly think I had lunch with Alexander Blair, do you?’

‘I—No,’ he gave a sheepish grin.

She heaved an inward sigh of relief. All she needed now was for Steve to challenge her and she could have a complete set. But luckily her uncle hadn’t been in the office at all today, and he hadn’t got in from his rounds until after Jane had left the house, although she might not escape questioning from him when he had been in to work and been acquainted with the gossip about his niece.

How
had
that story got around, and so quickly too! It might have happened the way she had described to Daryl, although it was more likely that someone had seen Alex kissing her in his parked car, after all the Blair building did overlook that car park. So all her efforts to keep their meetings a secret had been a waste of time. And it could all have been for nothing anyway. The way Alex had behaved when they parted earlier she didn’t think there would be any meetings to be kept secret in future.

‘Shall we stop discussing boring old Alex Blair and go out?’ she gave Daryl her most endearing smile.

‘You’re feeling better, then?’ The scowl hadn’t left him.

‘Better—? Oh yes, yes, I feel fine now. Are we going out?’

He sighed. ‘I suppose so.’

But he wasn’t very good company, and she couldn’t really blame him. She hadn’t been fair to him the last
few days, so she deserved his moody behaviour. She had no excuse for the way she had been behaving, except perhaps that she found Alex Blair so overwhelming. But that wasn’t really a good excuse and she ought to be thoroughly ashamed of herself. Looked at coldly it would seem as if she had gone after a better prospect, although she herself knew she had simply been rushed off her feet by an Alex who wouldn’t be denied.

The girls in her office suddenly went silent when she got in the next morning, and if they had heard the same gossip Daryl had it wasn’t surprising. What made it worse was that she hadn’t been with the company very long, wasn’t particularly friendly with any of the other girls in the typing pool, and so she found it all the more awkward to behave as if everything was as normal.

By the time coffee-break came around she was beginning to feel really uncomfortable, wishing she could just walk out and never come back. But she had always been a fighter, and she wouldn’t be seen to run away from anything.

She didn’t bother to go to the canteen with the others, opting to stay behind and finish off some of the work she had been constantly making mistakes in all morning. Besides, she was grateful for the breather from curious looks and unasked questions.

‘Are they giving you a hard time?’

She looked up to find Carly standing in front of her desk. She shrugged. ‘They’re curious, that’s all.’

‘Aren’t we all?’ Carly grinned.

She had accepted Lauri’s excuse that just talking about going to the dentist had made her feel ill, although she had told her to call in the next time.

Lauri couldn’t look at her now. ‘You’ve heard the rumours?’

She nodded. ‘Like everyone else.’

‘Not everyone,’ Lauri denied. ‘My aunt and uncle haven’t heard them yet, although it can only be a matter of time.’

But it seemed her luck was in, or it could just have been that people were just too polite to actually speak to Jane and Steve about their niece. Whatever the reason they seemed to know nothing about the fact that she had been rumoured to be dating their employer.

And she had heard nothing from Alex. By Friday afternoon she was tired of waiting to know if their date for tomorrow was on or off, so, tired of waiting, she decided to call him and find out for herself. This time she chose to use one of the public telephones in the building, waiting until their afternoon break before leaving the girls, who were still a little strained with her, although the sensation surrounding her seemed to be fading, probably due to her own air of innocence about the matter.

Jane answered the telephone, and once again Lauri adopted the sexy voice as she asked for Alex. By the long wait she had she knew that at least Alex was in his office. Besides, if he hadn’t been Jane would have said so at the onset.

‘Miss—er—Lauren?’ Jane came back on the telephone.

‘Yes?’ she asked in that breathless voice.

‘I’m afraid Mr Blair is unable to talk to you at the moment. He’s in an important meeting,’ she added.

So she had her answer! Alex didn’t even want to speak to her. ‘Thank you,’ she said huskily.

‘Perhaps you could call back later?’

Lauri could almost hear the sympathy in her aunt’s voice, and she cringed in reaction. Jane had never mentioned having to give Alex Blair’s girl-friends the
brush-off, but it was natural to assume this wasn’t the first time it had happened. Well, she had her pride, and she had no intention of telephoning Alex only to be put off again.

‘No, that’s perfectly all right,’ she said lightly. ‘Thank you.’

‘Oh, but—Lauren? I—Mr Blair—’

Lauri slowly put down the receiver. Poor Jane, how embarrassing for her to have to do Alex’s dirty work for him. Still, at least she knew where she stood now. She could begin to forget she had ever known Alexander Blair as anything other than an employer.

Her date with Daryl was a success that evening, managing to get back on the friendly level they had always been, and making their final goodbye the next day all the sadder. She went with him to the airport, finding it hard to think she would never see him again. They had had fun together the last few weeks, even if she had stupidly got sidetracked by Alex Blair’s charm.

‘Are you going out tonight?’ Steve put the newspaper down after taking down the football results, sighing as he realised that once again he hadn’t won on his coupon.

‘Are you?’ she returned.

He grinned. ‘I asked first.’

Lauri shrugged. ‘I have nowhere to go.’

‘Upset about Daryl leaving?’ he asked gently.

‘A bit,’ she nodded.

‘Feel like coming out with me tonight?’

‘With you?’ Her eyes widened.

Steve laughed at her expression. ‘Don’t look so surprised. I realise I’m your uncle, and therefore considered unsuitable for spending an evening out with, but there’s no law against it. Honestly!’

‘I know that,’ she smiled. ‘I just didn’t expect—’
She sighed. ‘I don’t really think I’m in the mood.’ Not when she should have been going out with Alex! ‘Although I do appreciate the offer,’ she added gently.

‘Sure?’

‘Mm. But thanks.’

He shrugged. ‘Okay. But you aren’t going to pine away for him, are you?’

Lauri laughed. ‘Haven’t you heard, we don’t do that sort of thing any more? But I do thank you for offering. It was a nice thought, Steve.’

He stood up. ‘I’ll be leaving about seven-thirty if you should change your mind.’

She nodded. ‘Okay.’

But she knew she wouldn’t be going. Parting from Daryl had been upsetting, yes, but knowing she should have been with Alex tonight was what made everything so depressing.

‘You’re looking nice,’ she told Jane as she came into the room at eight o’clock, Steve having already left.