Two's Company. Carole Mortimer
blue sundress that showed off the depth of her tan and made her hair appear blonder as it fell loosely to her shoulders. If Juliet was dressed for business, this other woman was dressed for a day in the sun!
Juliet straightened her shoulders as she approached the other woman, steeling her expression to look confident and self-assured. ‘Miss Gilbraith?’
The other woman turned with a warm smile at the query, standing up in one smooth, eye-catching movement; if this woman was only Liam’s personal assistant, Juliet would be very surprised!
‘Miss Berkley,’ she greeted warmly, the smile reaching the deep blue of her eyes. ‘And please call me Diana.’
Juliet, given the circumstances, had been prepared to dislike the other woman—her defences were already firmly in place—but now she found it was impossible to resist her warmth. ‘Juliet,’ she returned awkwardly. ‘Is Mr Carlyle not with you?’ Obviously he wasn’t, but how else was she to broach the subject of Liam’s whereabouts?
‘Let’s sit down, shall we?’ Diana suggested lightly, and waited until they were both seated before resuming the conversation. ‘Unfortunately Liam had to leave early this morning,’ she told Juliet regretfully. ‘But he asked me to make his apologies.’
She just bet he had! ‘Had to leave early this morning’ indeed. ‘When will he be back?’ she bit out tightly, doing her damnedest to hide her disappointment and knowing that she must be failing miserably; she had banked everything on this conversation with Liam, and now he wasn’t even here!
‘He didn’t say.’ Diana Gilbraith gave a vague shrug. ‘But then, Liam is like that,’ she added dismissively. ‘He’ll ring me when he needs me.’
Juliet could well imagine he would. Needed the other woman for what? she could have said, but somehow, despite the briefness of their acquaintance, she quite liked this woman sitting across from her, and felt, now that she had actually spoken to Diana, that she’d had no right to make the assumptions she had concerning her and her employer. Something about Diana Gilbraith said that they would be erroneous assumptions.
Of course, that could have something to do with the wedding-ring Diana wore on her left hand, Juliet acknowledged self-derisively. She had noticed the plain gold band, accompanied by a substantial solitaire diamond engagement ring, seconds ago.
But none of this helped Juliet; she needed to see Liam Carlyle, and he seemed to have disappeared off to goodness knew where, and even his personal assistant didn’t know when he would be back!
She gave a heavy sigh. ‘In that case there doesn’t appear to be a lot more to say.’ She grimaced, standing up. ‘Thank you for at least letting me know,’ she added politely; it was hardly Diana’s fault that her employer had done a disappearing act.
‘Oh, I don’t think you quite understand.’ Diana stopped her departure, giving a light, apologetic laugh. ‘Maybe I haven’t explained myself very well. Liam has gone to his villa in the hills; he would like you to join him there.’
Juliet stared down at the other woman, complete incomprehension in her expression, she was sure.
‘I obviously haven’t explained myself at all.’ The other woman shook her head self-deprecatingly. ‘You’ll have to forgive me, Juliet; Liam has given me a week’s holiday, starting today, and I’m quite excited at the prospect of going home to my family. But that’s no reason for me to be burbling in this way.’ She gave a rueful grimace. ‘Liam wants you to drive down to his villa and——’
‘Drive?’ Juliet repeated dazedly, dropping back into her chair, still stunned by the knowledge that Liam had a villa on the island. She was even more stunned by the fact that he expected her to drive there; she had never driven on the right-hand side of the road before!
Diana nodded. ‘There’s a hire-car waiting outside for you. I’m to give you directions, and a map, of course, so that you don’t get lost.’
Juliet was still having a problem taking all this in. Liam wanted her to drive to his villa somewhere on the island, and would talk business with her there? Why not here? Why did she have to go to his villa? Suddenly she knew exactly why: Liam Carlyle didn’t like being told what to do, and last night she had dictated the time and place they were to meet!
It appeared that she had no choice but to make that drive.
‘…and your account dealt with.’ Diana Gilbraith was talking to her smilingly.
Juliet gave a dazed shake of her head. ‘Sorry?’ She had been so lost in her own thoughts that she hadn’t heard a word the other woman had said.
‘It’s all right.’ Diana smiled at her again. ‘The island has that effect after a few days,’ she excused. ‘I always become very lethargic when we stay here. I was telling you that Liam has booked you out of the hotel and dealt with your account.’
Juliet blinked, stunned; she wasn’t keeping up with this conversation at all! ‘Why?’ she frowned. But she had a feeling she already knew!
‘You’ll be staying at his villa now, of course,’ Diana said dismissively, seeming to have no idea what effect this information was having on Juliet.
And it was having an effect! Liam had booked her out of the hotel, paid her account—an account which she had to admit she had been dreading receiving! —and now expected her to go and stay with him at his villa God knew where. And Liam, of course—but then, considering the autocratic way he was behaving, perhaps he thought he was God!
Or, more to the point, he knew he was the one with the power to dictate the terms and conditions of any further meetings between the two of them…
IF JULIET had been in the right frame of mind to enjoy it, the drive down the west coast of the island to Liam’s villa would have been very pleasant; the views were magnificent. But she needed extreme concentration to make the drive at all, unaccustomed as she was to driving on the right-hand side of the road, and her thoughts were far from troublefree too.
She felt like a puppet having its strings pulled— by Liam Carlyle. What could have been so important that he’d had to leave the hotel this morning before their meeting? Diana Gilbraith hadn’t seemed to have the answer to that one—or if she had she wasn’t telling. And the other woman had left too now, to go south and take a plane home to her family in England.
It was all very unexpected, and Juliet couldn’t say she was exactly pleased at the thought of going to Liam’s villa. She hadn’t even realised, during all her effort to see him, that he had a villa on the island.
The man was as elusive as a chameleon!
And she had to try and do business with him. Try being the operative word; Juliet had a feeling that it was going to be more difficult than she had ever imagined. And she didn’t at all like the feeling that she was being played with.
It seemed a long drive to Liam’s villa, although in actual miles it probably wasn’t that far. But she had no real idea of where she was going, and continually referred to the map Diana Gilbraith had given her, keeping a keen eye on the X that indicated where the actual villa was. It appeared to be just outside a village on the west coast of the island, and as she approached the village after lunch she kept an eye out for a sign that would indicate the villa, the name of which she couldn’t have pronounced if she had tried to ask anyone.
Damn Liam Carlyle! She felt totally out of her depth—in a place she didn’t know, a country whose language she couldn’t understand, let alone speak!
She had actually driven through the village before she realised that she must have missed the villa completely. She had been so fascinated by the terraced village perched on the side of the hill, and the orange and lemon trees growing beside the houses on those terraces, that she had driven out the other