His Very Personal Assistant. Carole Mortimer

      For Peter

      CONTENTS

      CHAPTER ONE

      CHAPTER TWO

      CHAPTER THREE

      CHAPTER FOUR

      CHAPTER FIVE

      CHAPTER SIX

      CHAPTER SEVEN

      CHAPTER EIGHT

      CHAPTER NINE

      CHAPTER TEN

      CHAPTER ELEVEN

      CHAPTER TWELVE

      CHAPTER THIRTEEN

      CHAPTER FOURTEEN

      CHAPTER FIFTEEN

      CHAPTER SIXTEEN

      COMING NEXT MONTH

      CHAPTER ONE

      ‘I WOULD like to strangle that woman with one of her diamond necklaces!’

      Kit looked up as her outer office door opened, inwardly wincing as it was thrown back with such force that it slammed against the wall. Inwardly, because outwardly she always remained the calm and efficient personal assistant that she was…

      She raised enquiring brows as her boss, Marcus Maitland, strode purposefully across the room to his own office, receiving a narrow-eyed glare for her efforts, his handsome face harsh and grimly set.

      ‘I don’t want to be disturbed,’ he bit out gratingly as he wrenched open his own office door. ‘By anyone,’ he added forcefully, slamming that door behind him with equal force.

      Kit breathed out slowly, turning to Lewis Grant, the lawyer for Maitland Enterprises, as he entered the room. ‘I take it the meeting with Angus Gerrard didn’t go as planned?’ she prompted softly.

      ‘Not exactly.’ Lewis grimaced as he sat on the edge of her desk to look across at the blankness of the door so recently closed in both their faces. He was tall and blond and in his early thirties.

      Marcus and Lewis had set out earlier for their meeting with Angus Gerrard believing the takeover of the other man’s newspaper empire was only a formality; a mere signing of the papers was to be performed. But, from Marcus’s comment when he’d come in, and his obvious fury, Kit had a feeling that it had been far from a formality!

      ‘Nothing that you did or didn’t do, I hope?’ Because she also knew, from six months of working as Marcus Maitland’s personal assistant, that he worked so hard himself he was not a man to accept incompetence or compromise in others.

      Not that she could blame him; as a multimillionaire, involved in numerous diversified companies and holdings, he had little time to spare for other people’s mistakes.

      ‘No—thank goodness!’ Lewis gave a rueful grin.

      ‘The lady he wants to strangle with her diamond necklace?’ Kit prompted knowingly.

      Lewis nodded. ‘Catherine Grainger.’

      Exactly whom Kit had thought Marcus was referring to. But had hoped that he wasn’t.

      She hadn’t known of it when she’d started working for Marcus Maitland, but there seemed to be some sort of long-running competitiveness between Maitland Enterprises and Grainger International. Catherine Grainger was the major shareholder and head of the latter. In the six months that Kit had worked for Marcus Maitland this was the third time the two of them seemed to have locked horns over a business acquisition.

      Kit grimaced. ‘What happened this time?’

      Lewis shrugged. ‘She outbid and outmanoeuvred us. Angus Gerrard signed a contract with her yesterday,’ he enlarged as Kit continued to look at him.

      ‘Oops!’ she breathed slowly.

      ‘Oops, indeed,’ Lewis acknowledged as he continued to stare at the door Marcus had closed so decisively behind him minutes ago. ‘You know, Marcus mentioned this is the third time this has happened in the last few months,’ he said slowly.

      Kit looked up at him enquiringly as his words echoed her own recent thoughts.

      ‘It’s probably nothing,’ Lewis dismissed briskly as he stood up. ‘There’s obviously no point in my hanging around here—’ he smiled wryly ‘—so I may as well get back to my own office—if only to shred these defunct contracts!’ He picked up his briefcase from beside Kit’s desk before leaving for his own office further down the carpeted corridor.

      Kit was still frowning as she watched him go. Surely it was all a coincidence that Marcus Maitland had lost yet another deal because Catherine Grainger had outmanoeuvred him…? To attribute the blame to anything else was surely to bring into question the integrity of everyone who worked closely with Marcus Maitland. Including herself.

      ‘Daydreaming, Miss McGuire?’ a female voice queried nastily. ‘Does that mean that Marcus isn’t back yet?’ Andrea Revel added as she strolled into Kit’s office completely unannounced, bringing the aroma of her heavy perfume with her.

      Kit kept her expression deliberately bland, knowing that it wouldn’t be her secretary, Laura’s, fault that this woman had managed to get in here without interference. The latest in what appeared to have been a long line of women in Marcus Maitland’s life, Andrea Revel seemed to think she was a law unto herself when it came to Marcus.

      The other woman was astoundingly beautiful, with her pale blonde hair, slanted green eyes and a figure that had all the men in her immediate vicinity turning to admire her, especially as she usually wore some stunning creation or another. As a fashion buyer for one of the most prestigious stores in the city, Andrea had no problem finding or buying such clothing.

      But Andrea also had to be one of the most unpleasant women Kit had ever met, and hard as nails with it. At least, away from Marcus Maitland she was. When in his presence, Andrea somehow contrived to look small, vulnerable, and completely feminine.

      However, Kit refused to rise to the bait about sitting around daydreaming while her boss was out of the office. ‘Actually, he’s back—’

      ‘Oh, good.’ Andrea smiled as she turned towards Marcus’s office, showing even white teeth behind the glossy red lipstick she wore, which matched her short, fitted dress.

      ‘But he doesn’t want to be disturbed,’ Kit added firmly as she stood up.

      Andrea gave her a dismissive glance. ‘He’ll want to see me,’ she said confidently, reaching for the door handle. ‘Go away,’ she bit out impatiently as Kit tried to move smoothly in front of her. ‘You take your duties as Marcus’s PA too seriously, as far as I’m concerned,’ she added scathingly. ‘In fact, I’ve told Marcus as much on several occasions.’

      Kit drew herself up to her full height of five feet ten inches and looked at Andrea down the length of her nose as she breathed deeply in an effort to stop a cutting reply from leaving her lips. Andrea might be gone from Marcus’s life in a matter of months—in fact, to Kit’s disapproval, the secretaries in the company were taking bets as to how long this particular relationship was going to last!—but in the meantime she had to attempt to be polite to her. Even if sometimes she did inwardly feel like wiping that superior smile off the other woman’s face!

      ‘It doesn’t seem to have affected my current employment,’ Kit finally returned in a pleasant voice—not quite succeeding in hiding her resentment, after all.

      Green eyes narrowed venomously. ‘Why, you—’

      ‘I’ll