Kitabı oku: «The Virgin Secretary's Impossible Boss»

Carole Mortimer was born in England, the youngest of three children. She began writing in 1978, and has now written over one hundred and forty books for Harlequin Mills & Boon^®. Carole has six sons—Matthew, Joshua, Timothy, Michael, David and Peter. She says, ‘I’m happily married to Peter senior; we’re best friends as well as lovers, which is probably the best recipe for a successful relationship.’

INTERNATIONAL BILLIONAIRES

Life is a game of power and pleasure.And these men play to win!

Let Modern™ Romance take you on a jet-set journey

to meet eight male wonders of the world. From rich tycoons to royal playboys—they’re red-hot and ruthless!

International Billionaires coming in 2009

The Prince’s Waitress Wife by Sarah Morgan, February.

At the Argentinean Billionaire’s Bidding by India Grey, March.

The French Tycoon’s Pregnant Mistress by Abby Green, April.

The Ruthless Billionaire’s Virgin by Susan Stephens, May.

The Italian Count’s Defiant Bride by Catherine George, June.

The Sheikh’s Love-Child by Kate Hewitt, July.

Blackmailed into the Greek Tycoon’s Bed by Carol Marinelli, August.

The Virgin Secretary’s Impossible Boss by Carole Mortimer, September.

8 volumes in all to collect!

Dear Reader

As the mother of six boys (I have two stepsons as well as four sons of my own), I have obviously been to a lot of rugby matches over the years. In fact just this morning my youngest son has gone off with his school on a four-day rugby tour.

I love watching the game of rugby. I’m one of those mothers who stand on the sidelines screaming encouragement—no doubt to my sons’ great embarrassment.

So it has been especially fun to write about a hero and heroine with a rugby theme underlying their love story, partly set in the beautiful country of Scotland.

I hope you enjoy reading Andi and Linus’s story!

Carole Mortimer

THE VIRGIN SECRETARY’S IMPOSSIBLE BOSS

BY

CAROLE MORTIMER

MILLS & BOON^® Pure reading pleasure™

www.millsandboon.co.uk

PROLOGUE

‘DO WE have a deal?’

Andi stared blankly across the drawing room at the man who had so recently stormed into her own life and her mother’s.

‘Come on, Andi,’ Linus Harrison prompted tersely as he paced impatiently. ‘It can’t be that difficult for you to realize that you have no real choice but to accept my offer.’

That was the problem. Andi knew she didn’t have a choice. And she didn’t like it one little bit.

Outwardly her expression and demeanour remained calm. Inwardly it was a different matter. What possible reason could this man have for offering her soon-to-be homeless mother somewhere to live in exchange for Andi taking on the job as his PA? A man like Linus Harrison—a man well-known for his ruthless business reputation, amongst other things—certainly couldn’t be making this offer out of the goodness of his heart. Andi wasn’t even sure that he had one of those! The hardness of those pale-green eyes set in a harshly sculptured face did nothing to contradict that belief.

Nothing about Linus Harrison, of Harrison Holdings plc, was in the least reassuring, Andi acknowledged as she felt an uncomfortable fluttering in the pit of her stomach just looking at him. He was well over six-feet tall, at least nine or ten inches taller than her own five-feet-four, with over-long, shaggy dark hair that he pushed impatiently from his brow whenever it tumbled forward. His face was as hard and chiselled as any sculpture. Those pale-green eyes. An arrogant slash of a nose above lips that looked as if they rarely smiled. A squarely carved jaw that more than hinted at his ruthless reputation. The tailored dark-grey suit only emphasized the width of his muscled shoulders and tapered waist above long, powerful legs. The whole package was imbued with a restless energy that was in itself overpowering.

Andi drew herself up to her full height of five feet six inches—in two-inch heels—none of her inner disquiet showing as she looked at Linus Harrison with calm brown eyes. ‘My name is Miss Buttonfield, or Andrea, if you prefer. Only my family and close friends are invited to use the familiarity of “Andi”.’ She raised challenging blonde brows.

Linus’s expression was mocking as his gaze swept over her admiringly. Andrea Buttonfield had class with a capital C!

She was nine years younger than his own thirty-five years. The top of her blonde head barely reached his chin. Her straight, shoulder-length hair was expertly styled, the fringe feathering lightly above huge eyes the colour of rich, dark chocolate. There were dark shadows beneath those beautiful eyes. Her cheeks were slightly hollow, her nose small and straight, and her mouth a perfect bow above a stubbornly pointed chin. Her cool, businesslike appearance was completed by a tailored black skirt and white silk blouse.

In the last three months this woman had been hit with one tragedy on top of another, and yet Linus could see only cool determination in those liquid brown eyes as she continued to look at him unblinkingly.

Linus gave a taunting inclination of his head. ‘In that case, I’ll settle for Andrea. For now,’ he drawled derisively. ‘I should warn you that I’m not a patient man, Andrea,’ he added harshly. ‘My offer is only open until five o’clock today.’

The slight widening of those brown eyes was her only outward response to his ultimatum.

He shrugged. ‘It’s the way I do business, Andrea.’

She shook her head. ‘I can’t possibly make such a life-changing decision in just a few hours.’

‘That will be your loss.’

A frown darkened her creamy brow. ‘Why the hurry?’

‘My present PA is leaving at the end of the month and I need a replacement before that happens.’ Linus moved to lower his long length into one of the goldbrocade armchairs that adorned the perfection of the spacious drawing-room.

As Linus already knew, every room in Tarrington Park was decorated and furnished in this same gracious, elegant style. It was a style that Linus wanted to keep when he took possession of Tarrington Park in several weeks’time and turned it into another of his luxury spahotels and conference centres. It was a style that Marjorie Buttonfield, Andi’s mother, had informed Linus was all her daughter’s own work.

Style—that was the word that applied to everything about Andrea Buttonfield. Not surprisingly. Andi had grown up on the Tarrington Park estate, the only child of Miles and Marjorie Buttonfield. Her childhood had been one of luxury and indulgence. Her private boarding-schools were the best in the country. Her English degree from Cambridge university was one of the highest attainable. Following university, Andrea had moved to live in London, becoming the PA of Gerald Wickham, head of Wickham International.

Yes, Andrea Buttonfield had style.

Linus’s own childhood and education was the complete opposite of Andi’s, and it was her style and class he had coveted from the moment he’d first met her eight weeks ago, when he’d come to look over Tarrington Park with the intention of buying it.

Andrea’s father had been killed in a car accident four weeks earlier, along with her fiancé, David Simmington-Browne. The following weeks had revealed that, not only was her father’s company bankrupt, but there were considerable debts too. Selling the family home had become the only solution to paying off those debts.

Linus had done his homework on Tarrington Park, Andrea and the recently widowed Marjorie Buttonfield. He knew selling the family home would leave the already grief-stricken Marjorie homeless and without any means of support other than the wage her daughter earnt as Wickham’s PA.

It was a chink in Andrea Buttonfield’s armour that Linus didn’t hesitate to use to his own advantage.

‘Think about it, Andrea.’ Linus smiled humourlessly. ‘As my PA, you’ll get an increase in wages. You and your mother get to move into the gate house, which as well as being rent-free has to be less traumatic for the both of you. You could continue to keep your horse at the stables here. As far as you’re concerned, it’s a winwin situation.’

Andi was already well aware of all the pluses of accepting Linus Harrison’s offer. It was the minuses that concerned her. She didn’t know Linus Harrison. She didn’t trust Linus Harrison. Most of all, she didn’t like Linus Harrison!

His well-earned reputation for ruthlessness in business didn’t give the impression that he ever did things impulsively, telling Andi that he must have given this offer a lot of thought before making it. ‘And what do you get out of it, Mr Harrison?’ she prompted shrewdly.

‘In Gerald Wickham’s opinion, the best PA in the western hemisphere!’ Those green eyes openly mocked her.

Andi’s own eyes widened incredulously. ‘You’ve already spoken to Gerald about me?’ That was how he knew that the money he was offering her was an increase…!

Linus Harrison shrugged wide shoulders. ‘I would hardly consider taking you on as my own PA without first talking to your previous employer.’

‘My current employer!’ Andi corrected with an impatient shake of her head as she glared at him. ‘You had absolutely no right to talk to Gerald.’

‘I had every right,’ Linus Harrison cut in coldly, those eyes hard. ‘I would no more consider employing someone because she looks the part than I would consider buying a car just because it has sleek lines!’

Her mouth thinned. ‘I’m not sure whether that was an insult or a compliment!’

‘It was a statement of fact,’ Linus rasped. ‘For all I knew, you could be lousy at your job and just sleeping with Gerald Wickham to keep it!’

It was a possibility that hadn’t found any favour in Linus’s eyes, and definitely detracted from that style and class Andrea Buttonfield possessed in spades. Admittedly, until three months ago Andrea had been engaged to Simmington-Browne. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t also sleeping with her boss. One meeting with Gerald Wickham had convinced Linus that the other man thought of Andrea in the way an indulgent uncle might a favourite niece, rather than an expensive mistress reserved for his physical pleasure.

Why that information should have mattered to Linus he had no idea. Admittedly, his own code of conduct concerning female employees dictated he not become personally involved with any of them, but he knew that a lot of men in his position didn’t feel the same way.

Andi didn’t know whether to be furious or just indignant at the familiarity of this man’s conversation. She decided that disdain probably suited the occasion better. ‘I presume Gerald satisfied your curiosity on that score?’

‘Totally,’ Linus Harrison confirmed.

Andi eyed him frustratedly. ‘I am more than happy with my present employment, Mr Harrison. My mother has been offered a cottage in the village to live in. And one of the local livery-stables has agreed to take my horse. So you see, Mr Harrison—’

‘As I said, I have no use for the gate house, so it would be rent-free. Your horse would also be stabled free of charge. Plus,’ he continued before Andi could interrupt, ‘do you really think that your mother’s already-delicate emotional health is up to moving into a cottage in the village where your family has long been considered the local gentry?’

Andi became very still. The car accident that had killed both Andi’s father and her fiancé had seemed an almost unbearable blow at the time; initially only the necessity to keep focused for her mother’s sake had held Andi’s own grief in check. The revelation only days later of the bankruptcy of her father’s company was a blow Andi certainly hadn’t been expecting.

Her mother hadn’t coped well; the loss of her husband of thirty years, quickly followed by the knowledge that she was shortly to lose her home as well, had left Marjorie balancing on a very precarious mental edge. One more blow and Andi knew her mother was likely to topple over into the precipice.

As it was, these last weeks had been a nightmare as Andi had tried to balance visits to her mother at the weekends and her demanding job in London as Gerald’s PA during the week. It was a strain that Andi knew was beginning to take its toll on her after three months, both emotionally and physically.

The truth of the matter was, her mother would be much happier if Andi moved back to live with her in Hampshire, especially if she was also allowed to stay in the gate house of Tarrington Park. Andi would feel happier knowing that her mother was comfortable. It was only the thought of becoming Linus Harrison’s PA that stopped Andi from jumping at the opportunity he was offering her.

That, and the fact that she simply didn’t like or trust him.

She felt distinctly uncomfortable in Linus Harrison’s presence. She already knew that this man didn’t just look like an iceberg but had the characteristic of one too.

Andi looked at him frostily. ‘I’m not sure I want to work for a man who uses another person’s weakness in order to get what he wants.’

He gave a mocking smile. ‘I don’t think it was part of the job description that you actually have to like me!’

‘Perhaps as well,’ Andi drawled derisively. ‘Could you tell me what that job description does entail?’

Linus gave a dismissive shrug. ‘Obviously, all the duties you have at the moment. Plus, once the work starts, we’ll be spending most of our time here for at least the next year working on the transformation of Tarrington Park into one of Harrison Holdings’ most prestigious hotels and conference centres. I’ll need to go up to my office in London occasionally, as well as giving a certain amount of time to visiting my other hotels. But for the main part I like to work on a handson basis, overseeing every detail of the building alterations myself.

‘Not that there should be too many of those, when this house already lends itself to what I have in mind. The décor is something I would like you to deal with. I usually hire a team in London, but you know this house better than anyone. Your input is going to be invaluable once it comes to furnishing and decorating the rooms in a style that complements its amenities. With your help, I hope, Andrea, Tarrington Park is going to become the most luxurious spa-hotel and conference centre in the country.’

Andi felt a fluttering of excitement as Linus Harrison outlined his plans for her childhood home. Of course she would have preferred that they didn’t have to sell Tarrington Park at all, that her mother could just be allowed to continue living here, but Andi knew after the last few months that that was impossible. With the sale of Tarrington Park they would be able to pay off her father’s debts, and, although Linus Harrison was possibly the last person Andi would ever have wanted to sell it to, his offer of employment meant she would at least be able to have a say in the alternations and the décor. Her mother would be able to remain on the estate too, albeit in the much smaller gate house rather than the manor-house itself.

Linus easily read the wavering resolve in Andi’s expression. ‘Admit it, Andrea—you’re tempted by the idea,’ he taunted.

Her eyes flashed darkly. ‘The idea maybe,’ she allowed waspishly. ‘The reality is a different matter. I’m really not sure I could work for you.’

His gaze narrowed. ‘Why the hell not? No, let me guess,’ he continued harshly. ‘Someone with your privileged background shudders at the mere idea of being employed by someone like me!’

She blinked. ‘Someone “like you”…?’

‘I’m sure you, like every other reader of tabloid newspapers, are aware of my background,’ Linus rasped knowingly.

The press had made much, over the years, of the fact that Linus had started out with nothing fifteen years ago but the sharpness of his brain and a determination to succeed. That, although he was a multi-millionaire now, he had started out as the only child of a single mother, brought up in the back streets of Glasgow, leaving school at the age of sixteen to work as a labourer on a building site.

Within four years he owned his own building company, buying run-down properties and turning them into hotels, each one more luxurious than the next. Until now, fifteen years later, Linus owned dozens of them all over the world.

Along the way he had lost his Glaswegian accent, learnt to wear Armani suits as if born to it, and had become as comfortable in the company of lords and ladies as he was with his own labourers.

Andrea Buttonfield looked confused by his accusatory tone. ‘Why should your background matter to me?’

Why indeed? Linus instantly berated himself for revealing even this much of a chink in his own armour. As far as Andrea Buttonfield was concerned, she had reason enough to dislike him simply because he was the upstart who intended to buy her family home and turn it into a profitable business-venture. For her, he could now see, the added knowledge that their backgrounds were so dissimilar simply didn’t come into the equation.

Some of the tension left his shoulders, although the restless anger remained. ‘I’ve decided I don’t want to wait for your decision after all, Andrea,’ Linus bit out impatiently. ‘What’s it to be? Take it or leave it.’

Andi wanted to leave it. Every instinct in her body told her to do exactly that. But just the thought of how her mother had changed these last three months—of the fragility of her emotional state, let alone her mental one—was enough to give Andi pause for thought.

Linus Harrison’s offer of employment would solve so many problems for her concerning her mother. Andi knew she would be a fool to turn down that offer just because being in the same room with Linus Harrison made her feel so uneasy.

She drew in a deeply controlled breath. ‘Okay; I accept your offer, Mr Harrison. But my contract says I have to give Gerald three months’ notice, not one,’ she added determinedly as she saw the brief triumph that blazed in those beautiful eyes.

Linus Harrison looked completely unperturbed. ‘I can live with that.’

Andi just hoped that she could live with the ramifications of her decision…

CHAPTER ONE

‘PACK your bags, Andi, we’re going to Scotland for a few days!’

Andi looked up, frowning, to where Linus stood in the doorway that separated their two offices on the top floor of Tarrington Park. She had already known he was here at his private apartments just down the hallway from their offices, having seen his car parked out on the forecourt when she’d arrived for work this morning. It was what he had said that caused her to react so sharply. ‘Scotland?’

‘Hmm.’ Linus strode further into the room to lean against the side of her desk. His dark hair was styled only slightly shorter than it had been a year ago; the pale green of his eyes was still as icily astute in the rugged handsomeness of his hard, chiselled features as he looked down at her. ‘Now that Tarrington Park has opened, I’m looking for another big project to work on. There’s a castle in Scotland I’m thinking of buying.’

Andi eyed him. ‘And you want me to go with you?’ He had never suggested taking her away on business with him before. He hadn’t suggested it now, either, Andi reminded herself derisively—Linus had told her they were going.

‘You are my PA,’ he reminded her.

Andi was well aware of what she was. Just as she was aware that during the last few months she had started to see Linus as more than just the demanding employer who would appear for a few chaotic days to check on progress at Tarrington Park, and then just as abruptly disappear back to his life and apartment in London.

Expecting Andi to accompany him to Scotland on business was a perfectly reasonable request for Linus to make of his PA. In fact, when Andi had worked for Gerald Wickham, she had gone away on business with him all the time. But Linus wasn’t Gerald…

Totally aware of Linus’s ruthless reputation when it came to women as well as business, Andi had been determined to keep him safely at arm’s length when she’d begun working for him a year ago. Not difficult to do when she still felt so emotionally numb following the deaths of David and her father.

But gradually—insidiously, it seemed—Andi had found herself looking forward to Linus’s whirlwind visits. She had become aware of the sexy seductiveness of Linus’s pale eyes; the wolfishness of his rare smile. She had come to appreciate the width of his shoulders and leanness of his muscled body as he strode forcefully through Tarrington Park issuing orders that he would expect to have carried out by his next visit.

Just as Andi was now totally and heatedly aware of his close proximity as he leant against the side of her desk.

Andi gave a self-disgusted grimace as she pulled her laptop towards her. ‘Which airport are we flying to?’ she prompted briskly, thankfully able to breathe a little easier as Linus stood up and moved away slightly.

‘I thought I might drive up in the Range Rover.’

‘Drive?’ Andi glanced out of the window at the bleakness of the winter sky. ‘Doesn’t it snow in Scotland in February?’

‘Stop being picky, Andi,’ Linus rasped dismissively. ‘Anyone would think you don’t want to go to Scotland with me.’

That was because she didn’t!

Just the thought of being alone in Scotland with Linus for several days, when she was now so physically aware of him, made her stomach-muscles clench and her pulse race.

He scowled down at her. ‘What is your problem, Andi? Do you have other plans for this weekend? A romantic tryst, perhaps?’ he added mockingly.

‘Of course not,’ she snapped.

Linus gave a taunting smile. ‘Of course not,’ he parroted derisively. ‘It’s been over a year since the saintly David Simmington-Browne died, so isn’t it time you started living again?’ Especially as her fiancé really hadn’t been that saintly, Linus acknowledged disgustedly. He had unfortunately found out far too many of the other man’s secrets in the last year. Secrets he knew Andi was totally unaware of…

His decision to make Andrea Buttonfield his on-site PA, and give her a free hand when it came to the interior of Tarrington Park, had been the best business move he’d ever made, Linus acknowledged ruefully. But the newly renovated hotel and conference centre had been open for a month now, managed very successfully by Michael Hall, and it was time to move on to something else. For both of them.

Andi had stiffened at Linus’s remark about David. ‘My private life is none of your concern.’ Her tone was frosty.

Linus gave a disgusted snort. ‘You don’t have a private life.’

‘Then it’s just as well you have enough of one for both of us, isn’t it?’ Andi gave him a scathing glance, knowing from the photographs that often appeared in the newspapers that Linus’s life in London involved evenings, if not nights, with the latest woman in his life. Women who rarely engaged his interest longer than a couple of months.

Linus raised mocking brows. ‘Jealous?’

Andi stiffened. ‘Certainly not!’ she gasped, even as she felt the heated colour enter her cheeks.

She wasn’t jealous of those women in Linus’s life. In fact, Andi found her own awareness of him totally confusing. David had been smoothly charming; suave and sophisticated. Linus possessed charm and sophistication when he chose to, but his attraction was raw. Sexual, sensuous, earthy…

She stood up abruptly. ‘What is there for me to feel jealous of?’ she scorned. ‘If those women are stupid enough to accept the little you want to give them, then that’s their problem. I can assure you that I have absolutely no interest in warming your bed!’ Andi regretted the words almost as soon as she had said them, realizing she might have said too much. Revealed too much.

Linus regarded Andi through narrowed lids, inwardly surprised by her vehemence. He only came to Tarrington Park every couple of months, but never during any of those visits had he seen the coolly distant Andi this rattled by anything; those gorgeous brown eyes were positively gleaming with her indignation, and bright spots of angry colour were on her usually pale cheeks.

His mouth hardened. ‘Maybe you should wait until you’re asked before saying no,’ he teased. ‘I was referring to your own lack of a love-life just now, Andi,’ he explained.

She blinked, her polite, businesslike mask falling back into place as she resumed her seat behind the desk. ‘I knew that,’ she dismissed sharply.

Linus continued to look at her for several long seconds, contemplating Andi’s completely defensive reaction.

Things had been a little tense between the two of them when they’d first begun working together, probably due to a certain amount of understandable resentment on Andi’s part at almost being bullied into working for him. But once Andi had accepted that Linus genuinely did want her complete input into the renovations to Tarrington Park—and that his long absences gave her a free rein when it came to the inner décor, the awkwardness between them had started to fade. Now, a year later, Linus totally appreciated that when it came to his business affairs Andi was quiet, efficient and everything that he could wish for in a PA.

Her reaction just now reminded him that she was also an extremely beautiful woman. The tailored suits and blouses she always wore could never hide the fact that she was shapely in all the right places, with long, sexy legs that went all the way up to her…

‘Linus?’

‘Sorry.’ He gave an impatient shake of his head as he brought his wandering thoughts back from considering just how sexily attractive his PA was. ‘We’ll start the drive up to Scotland tomorrow,’ he bit out abruptly as he straightened. ‘Besides viewing the castle near Edinburgh, there’s someone I need to visit.’

‘Edinburgh?’ Andi echoed. ‘Just a moment.’ She eyed him suspiciously. ‘Isn’t the Scottish rugby team playing against Wales over the weekend?’

‘I think that they are, yes,’ Linus confirmed lightly, his expression deliberately innocent.

‘You think that they are,’ Andi echoed knowingly.

She knew that Linus didn’t just like to play hard, but that his business success was due to the fact that he worked like a fiend too. But, no matter how wealthy he had become, or how busy he was, Linus had maintained his boyhood love for the game of rugby, and whenever possible he attended the games played by the Scottish team.

It was impossible to miss the fact that the Six Nations tournament was about to start this weekend, or that Scotland were due to play at home at Murrayfield, an area of Edinburgh, on Sunday. Too much of a coincidence in the circumstances.

‘You know that they are, Linus.’ Andi gave a derisive shake of her head. ‘In fact, I bet you have a ticket for the game.’ She raised mocking brows.

‘Actually, I have two tickets,’ he conceded dryly.

Andi’s eyes widened. ‘You’re expecting me to go to a rugby match with you too?’

He scowled. ‘Why not?’

For one thing, Andi had absolutely no interest in the game of rugby. For another, attending a rugby match with Linus certainly wasn’t in her job description.

Andi shrugged. ‘If you’re visiting friends and going to a rugby match I really don’t see why you need me with you in Scotland at all.’

Linus’s scowl darkened ominously. ‘This is the first time I’ve asked you to come away on business with me and you’re refusing?’

‘I didn’t say that.’ She shook her head slowly, aware of that dangerous glitter in Linus’s eyes.

‘That’s what it sounded like to me,’ he rasped tersely.

‘Then you must have misheard,’ Andi came back calmly.

Had he? Linus wondered, frowning. He and Andi had worked well together on the occasions he’d come to Tarrington Park, but on a personal level they had never got past the stage of his being allowed to call her ‘Andi’ , instead of the ‘Andrea’ she had initially insisted upon. A situation that Linus had thought suited them both, until Andi’s sharp response just now…

He frowned darkly. ‘Are you coming to Scotland with me or not?’

Andi gave a cool inclination of her head. ‘Of course I will accompany you, if that’s what you want.’

‘What I want from you, Andi, is your input on the castle near Edinburgh. You did a good job with Tarrington Park; I could use your help,’ he stated clearly. ‘Will Marjorie be okay left on her own for four days?’

‘She isn’t on her own any more since you employed Mrs Ferguson as our housekeeper,’ Andi reminded him waspishly.

Linus scowled impatiently. ‘Don’t tell me you’re still annoyed about that?’

Andi had been more than a little put out when, during one of his whirlwind visits to Tarrington Park six months ago, Linus had calmly informed her that he had hired a housekeeper for the gate house. Not that it didn’t make a lot of sense to have someone taking care of the house; Andi just didn’t like feeling any more in Linus’s debt than she already was.

Her mother’s health was much improved from a year ago. The scandal of bankruptcy that had been revealed following Miles’s death had died down eventually, allowing Marjorie to pull back from that emotional edge she had been teetering on—although her mother was still more delicate than Andi would have liked.

But her mother and Mrs Ferguson were of a similar age and got on very well together, meaning there was absolutely no need for Andi to be in the least concerned about leaving Marjorie for a few days. ‘I wasn’t annoyed,’ she assured Linus frostily. ‘I just wish you had consulted me before you did it, that’s all.’

‘If I had, you would only have said no; I decided not to put us both through that particular argument.’ He dismissed her with his usual arrogance. ‘I keep you pretty busy here, and the gate house is far too big for your mother to manage on her own.’