Free Wedding-Night Baby by Kim Lawrence

love?’ The idea of such intimacy with another man made her grimace in protest. She’d crammed her wild, reckless moments into one night, she decided shakily, not quite meeting the wide eyes of the girl in the mirror.
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    She kept brushing tears from her cheeks as she drove along dark, quiet roads. What would he feel when he awoke to find himself alone? Relief? Annoyance? Probably a mixture of the two, she decided, sniffing stoically. She had made sure she had settled the hotel bill even though it was going to mean a tight budget for the next month.

CHAPTER FIVE
    G EORGINA WAS BACK at the office on Tuesday. Glancing at her reflection in the glass-fronted office wall as she walked confidently past, she was pleased to see that no hint of the weekend’s events showed in her appearance.
    The tailored black suit was one of the several she wore to work; its mid-calf-length skirt was as modest and unchallenging as the cream silk shirt she wore buttoned up to the neck. Her hair was wound into a tight knot on the nape of her neck and a pair of round-framed spectacles was perched on her nose in preference to her contact lenses.
    After several unsuccessful job interviews she had opted for a change of image; how much this had contributed to her gaining her present job she wasn’t sure, but it helped keep most potential office Romeos at bay—that and a reputation for having an abrasive tongue guaranteed to deflate male egos at twenty paces.
    The one time in her life she had trusted a man he had let her down. Before the weekend she had been confident of her ability never to permit herself to be in that position again. She banished the disquiet that thoughts of the weekend gave her and placed an expression of firm determination on her troubled features. The girl in the pink suit belonged to another world; if she tried very hard she could almost believe she didn’t exist.
    â€˜The new boss is in.’ The competent secretary with whom she had originally had a spiky relationship looked
uncharacteristically excited. Georgina could easily understand the antagonism and suspicion the older woman had felt towards the young girl who had leap-frogged straight from a lowly clerical post to the heady heights of PA.
    Georgina had worked hard to prove her worth and had been frank about her need to learn from her colleague’s experience. Mary Webb had reserved her judgement but had been won over eventually by the sheer determination the young girl displayed. Unlike her predecessor Georgina never took credit for anything she hadn’t been responsible for. Their working relationship was now warmly friendly.
    â€˜What’s he like?’ Georgina asked, wondering just how out of depth this farmer was after one day at the helm. ‘Do you think he’s going to try and step into Oliver’s shoes?’
    Mary shrugged. ‘Shall we just say he’s electrified the workforce, my dear? And the sight of dignified executives all prepared to turn cartwheels to gain a Brownie point is unsettling, but I quite like it.’
    Georgina felt her slightly scornful smile slip. ‘You mean he’s not a naive farmer with straw behind his ears?’ That’ll teach me to make snap judgements, she thought, an ironical light illuminating her eyes. I should have had more faith in Oliver’s judgement, she chided herself.
    â€˜Let Miss Campion judge for herself. I’m ready for her now.’
    Mary struck the heel of her hand to her head and grimaced at the intercom on her desk. She mimed a desperate apology to her friend who had gone several shades paler than normal.
    Georgina shook her head understandingly and wished she hadn’t opened her mouth. First impressions were incredibly important and she’d just made the sort of impact she’d have preferred not to. She took a deep breath and
whispered, ‘Wish me luck,’ before knocking smartly on the door and entering with more confidence than