Free Law of Attraction by Patricia Keyson Page A

try. I’m not saying this to be polite, but I really need you.”

Chapter Seven
    Olive stretched her legs and rested them on the footstool she had in front of her armchair in the sitting room. “Well I never, he really needs you.”
    “Well, I suppose I am quite an efficient secretary,” Kay said, secretly pleased that Olive was teasing her.
    “Did you see the look in his eyes, those lovely bright blue eyes?”
    Kay laughed. “Do you think he’s handsome?”
    “Not like some of the film stars you see, but I think he’s very attractive. What about you?” Olive delved down the side of the armchair and produced a bag of sweets. She held them out to Kay who took one and popped it in her mouth.
    “I haven’t told anyone else this, but I think he’s gorgeous,” Kay said, her cheeks bulging.
    “Ooh, I haven’t had this much excitement in a long time. I think he’s got a soft spot for you. Why else would he turn up just to bring that key? It wasn’t necessary. It was just an excuse. He’ll be at work in the morning to let you in, won’t he?”
    “Mmm, I think he’s kind, that’s all. There’s no way he’d consider me as anything other than a friend. I’m sure he has plenty of admirers at the tennis club he goes to.”
    “I don’t know. I’ve seen the way he looks at you.”
    Kay had a warm feeling inside as she got ready for bed. Perhaps it was possible that Michael could think of her as someone other than a friend.
    * * *
    It was back to business the next day. Michael looked as though he’d been at the office for some time before Kay arrived. He’d thrown off his jacket, loosened his tie and undone the top buttons of his shirt. “I want to discuss a few things with you straight away, Kay. Come in to my room and sit down. I’ve been thinking a lot about our relationship.”
    Kay’s heart missed a beat.
    “I’ve decided that I must share everything with you completely. You’ve been my secretary for quite some time now and I think you need to know all I do about our employees and clients. I’m relying absolutely on your discretion.” Michael took a deep breath. “So, I’m going to start by telling you the whole story about Charlie.”
    Kay told herself not to be silly. What had she been expecting? Some declaration of undying love?
    “There have been discrepancies in the accounts over the past few months. At first the missing amounts were small and we put it down to accounting errors, but then the sums became larger so Dad and I decided I should keep a close eye on things. I went into the office in the evenings or weekends when there was no one around and went over the accounts with a fine tooth comb. What I found was that Charlie was fiddling them. I asked him to stay on after everyone else had gone home one day and challenged him about it.”
    “That must have been awful.”
    “It was. I don’t know what you thought of Charlie, but he was a very unpleasant character. When I confronted him he sneered and said it was no more than his due. He said a lot of other disagreeable things which I won’t bore you with. I fired him there and then and told him to collect his belongings from his desk. I should have gone with him as I think that is probably when he took the stationery from the cupboard. He’s quite clever so realising he wouldn’t get a reference from me, he thought he would type his own on our paper. That’s what I guess anyway. And of course he wrote that letter to Reacher and Good.”
    “Shouldn’t you tell Twigge and Moore?”
    “I’ll write a letter, but I doubt they’ll be interested. He will seem like a loyal employee. They won’t know the half of what he’s up to. I didn’t. I’ll definitely let them know I didn’t write his reference and also that I fired him for fiddling our accounts. You’ll have to make sure the letter is marked confidential. We’re going to have to be very careful about any further damage he might inflict on us, but with you here by my side