Torn By Desire. Natalie Fox

       CHAPTER TWO

      ‘KATE. So sorry to hear of your travel sickness. I trust you are feeling better this morning and are eager to get down to some work?’ Conrad Latham said formally as he entered the ground-floor office suite attached to the back of the sumptuous villa.

      Mind racing, Kate smiled at him hesitantly. Guy had marched her over here without a word, ushered her into a cool, spacious office efficiently equipped with computer consoles and Danish-style furniture—very modern and chic—and left her. Lorraine wasn’t around and Kate had stood nervously by the desk at the patio doors overlooking the gardens, just waiting.

      So Guy had offered travel sickness as an excuse for her absence at the dinner table last night and her lateness this morning. A lie, which made her wonder at the brothers’ relationship. Though they were equal partners it seemed Conrad had the whip hand. Nevertheless Kate was reluctantly grateful to Guy for covering for her, though a little uneasy at the method.

      ‘Yes, I’m feeling much better after a good night’s rest, thank you, and—’ She was just about to offer further thanks for the lovely accommodation he had put at her disposal when Guy and Lorraine stepped into the room, Guy as steely as usual and Lorraine looking surprisingly pale and disgruntled.

      The next few minutes of proposals for the work they were undertaking unfortunately flew over the top of Kate’s head as she watched Conrad stride around the room giving out orders. He really was a very impressive man, tall and elegantly dressed in a lightweight grey suit that seemed to highlight the smattering of silver at his temples.

      Whereas Guy was deeply tanned, Conrad was quite pale in comparison. Obviously the workaholic of the two. Kate could imagine Guy topping up that tan by the poolside at every opportunity while his brother wheeled and dealed in this air-conditioned office suite. It endeared him to her even more. She admired a successful man.

      ‘Kate will deal with the German contracts and the redevelopment marketing as she is so efficiently fluent—’

      Kate concentrated and glowed inside to think that Conrad thought so much of her, but when the rose mist of adoration cleared from her eyes she realised that it was Guy mouthing the words, not Conrad.

      ‘Lorraine, you are to work closely with Conrad as his personal assistant as you are no good to me on these foreign contracts. Kate is a linguist and of far more use to me-’

      Kate felt her stomach somersault in dismay. Lorraine gave her a look as frosty as the Eiger and Conrad simply nodded his acceptance.

      ‘We are restructuring the whole European marketing concept,’ Guy went on, addressing himself to Kate and Lorraine. ‘And I’m afraid the next few weeks are going to be hectic. I apologise for that in advance and my brother and I hope you will bear with us and—’

      ‘Come now, Guy.’ Conrad interrupted, giving Kate a look that set her heart pounding. ‘Don’t expect too much from these beautiful ladies. I’m sure they will benefit from some leisure time while they are with us.’

      There was a sudden silence as the brothers caught each other’s eye, Guy glowering as if the suggestion should never have been made and Conrad steelyeyed as if exerting some mental power over his younger brother. Guy was the first to concede with a slight shrug.

      ‘Feel free to use the pool and the grounds— strictly out of office hours, of course. This isn’t Club Med,’ Guy said rather stiffly.

      Lorraine let out a small laugh, which didn’t surprise Kate one bit. Lorraine would fall helpless at any little joke Guy might attempt. But Kate remained unaffected, seeing the remark for what it was meant to be—a warning, not a joke. It made her wonder what all that had been about this morning—Guy telling her she wasn’t suitably dressed, making out that Conrad was the tyrant and expecting high standards. At this moment in time the roles appeared to be reversed, Guy showing far more power and stridency than she had expected in front of his elder brother.

      ‘Kate, you’re looking rather pale. Perhaps a tour of the grounds would help you settle,’ Conrad suggested kindly.

      In utter astonishment Kate widened her deep brown eyes, truly surprised by the suggestion and the implication that he might accompany her. And the way he was looking at her, so invitingly, with smoky grey eyes, made Kate decide that she wasn’t mistaken. He did mean to accompany her. Her heart fluttered excitedly because on their dinner date his behaviour had been impeccable but now, well, he was sort of flirty, and in front of the others too.

      ‘Kate is perfectly well, Conrad, and there will be plenty of other opportunities to explore the gardens of Babylon, but for the moment work is more important,’ Guy stated cuttingly.

      Kate’s heart began to sink. There was an atmosphere here that made her feel extremely uncomfortable. Power play, and it seemed she was in the line of crossfire between the two brothers. She wished she weren’t here.

      Before she knew what was happening, Conrad had moved to Lorraine, taken her arm and guided her out of the office without a word from either of them. Kate was left alone with Guy and wishing she weren’t because this appeared to be his personal office. She cleared her throat.

      ‘Where do you want me to sit?’ she asked in a small voice.

      Guy said nothing, indicating a chair at the computer console and walked across the room to the desk by the window, glancing at his watch with a frown and picked up the phone. For a good ten minutes he carried on a conversation in Spanish to a colleague in Madrid, making an arrangement for a meeting in Barcelona and enquiring after the recipient’s family, all of which Kate understood, being fluent in Spanish as well. She stared at the dead screen of the computer, waiting for Guy to finish and give her some direction, feeling totally lost and unwanted.

      ‘I apologise for that,’ he suddenly said from behind her, so close that she flinched with nerves. ‘I had to catch him before he left. Now let’s get down to making you feel at home. Conrad was right—you are looking rather pale. I hope I haven’t made a mistake by selecting you for this assignment.’

      Kate turned her head to look at him, her heart reeling with disappointment, her lips slightly parted with surprise. He had chosen her? She didn’t understand. She had presumed Conrad…She licked her very dry lips.

      ‘I won’t disappoint you,’ she mumbled humbly, hating it all, hating him. One small glow inside helped, though, as she thought of the beautiful accommodation Conrad had secured for her. And another glow formed at the consideration he had shown with that suggestion of a tour of the ‘gardens of Babylon’—as Guy had so scathingly named the grounds. Conrad was a true gentleman, his brother a heathen. She wished with all her heart that she were in Lorraine’s