Free Wedding-Night Baby by Kim Lawrence Page B

behind her breastbone; the tightness made it hard to breathe. ‘Under the circumstances, Mr Stewart, I’m sure you’ll accept my resignation.’ The firm, steady voice seemed to be coming from a long way off.
    A faint spasm moved the sensual line of his lips. The despicable rat was really enjoying the joke! ‘At a future date, Georgina, I shall be delighted, but I never mix business with pleasure. Your contract requires that you give six weeks’ notice and if you walk out prior to that date I shall sue you. I shall also see to it that you don’t get a comparable job. Possibly no job at all,’ he mused thoughtfully; his eyes, unlike his voice, were neither languid nor casual.
    These dire and casually voiced threats made very little impression on the panic that surged through her; the urge to run was sending heart-racing adrenaline flooding through her veins. ‘I can’t work with you.’ Walking through fire seemed a much more appealing prospect!
    â€˜Certainly not,’ he observed coolly. ‘But you do and shall work for me.’ He watched the flush mount her cheeks as this barb penetrated. ‘Several of the firm’s major contracts—the lifeblood, so to speak—were Oliver’s personal pets. There appears to be no physical evidence concerning the ongoing campaigns—no notes, no computer files.’
    His eyes bored into her as though the entire responsibility for this situation rested on her shoulders. Indignation made her straighten those slender attributes.
    â€˜The customers’ confidence and loyalty appear to be dissolving rapidly,’ he continued drily. ‘When I can’t produce a senior executive capable of allaying their fears I can’t
really blame them. When making the sort of financial commitment they are, they’re entitled to expect something tangible.’
    â€˜You might be able to sit at Oliver’s desk but I can’t be held responsible if you can’t fill his shoes,’ she replied, managing a faint, derogatory smirk. This was a nightmare and any moment now she was going to wake up!
    No man was ever going to use her...not after Alex’s betrayal. Had she ever felt that confident? Callum Stewart had manipulated her in the most coldly callous way imaginable. Her eyes glimmered with loathing as she vowed he’d never realise just how deeply he’d punctured her emotional defences. The loathing that seethed like poison in her veins was equally divided between herself and him.
    All her smug confidence, accumulated over years of retaining her virtue, had been demolished by short-term exposure to this demon. Even the humiliation of finding out Alex’s shortcomings didn’t rate compared with the humiliation she felt now.
    Callum lowered his lean frame into the chair behind the impressive desk—a desk that might have made some men look insignificant—but it was to him that eyes were drawn, not the furniture.
    â€˜Oliver and I were not well acquainted; he was my mother’s brother and she has never felt inclined to be tied down by emotional attachment. Call it a family trait,’ he observed, with an edge to his voice that she couldn’t interpret. ‘You and she have a good deal in common,’ he remarked, his nostrils flaring with obvious distaste. ‘And I don’t go in for displays of false sentiment. I’m glad to hear you were very fond of him,’ he drawled sarcastically. ‘As he obviously was of you. Straight from a clerical job to indispensable right hand to the man himself. Quite a quantum leap...’
    She got to her feet, head held high. ‘I don’t have to
listen to any more nasty innuendoes from you. I earned my salary.’
    â€˜You don’t need to sell yourself to me, Georgina; I’ve already discovered your talents.’
    Her high colour faded dramatically, leaving her paper-white. ‘I didn’t sleep my way to my position,