The Blind-date Proposal. Jessica Hart

      CHAPTER ONE

      ‘WHAT time do you call this?’

      Finn looked up, scowling, as Kate knocked on his door with some trepidation.

      She looked at her watch. ‘It’s…er…nearly quarter to ten.’

      ‘And you’re supposed to start at what time?’

      ‘Nine o’clock.’

      Kate was horribly aware of her pink face. She was hot and flustered, having run up the escalator from the tube and all the way to the office, where she had panted past the surprised receptionist to fall into the lift. Somewhere along the line she had laddered her tights, and a tentative glance in the mirror was enough to confirm that her hair, a mass of wild brown curls hard to control at best of times, was tangled and windblown.

      Not a good start to the day.

      She was at a distinct disadvantage compared to Finn, too. In his grey suit and his pristine shirt, her new boss had always seemed to Kate buttoned up in more ways than one. He had a severe face, steely grey eyes and strong dark brows which were usually pulled together in a frown and whenever he looked at Kate, like now, his mouth was clamped together in a disapproving line.

      ‘I know I’m late, and I’m really sorry,’ she said breathlessly and, oblivious to Finn’s discouraging expression, she launched into a long and convoluted explanation of how she had befriended an elderly lady confused by the underground system and intimidated by the rudeness of officials.

      ‘I couldn’t just leave her there,’ she finished at last, ‘so I took her to Paddington and showed her where to find her train.’

      ‘Paddington not being on your way here?’

      ‘Not exactly…’

      ‘One might even say that it was in completely the opposite direction,’ Finn went on in the same snide tone.

      ‘Not quite opposite,’ said Kate, mentally consulting her tube map.

      ‘So you got halfway here and then turned and headed off in a completely different direction, even though you must have known that there was no way you’d be able to get to work on time?’

      ‘I had to,’ Kate protested. ‘She was so upset. There was no reason for everyone to be so rude to her,’ she remembered indignantly. ‘Her English wasn’t that good, and she couldn’t be expected to know where she was going and how to get there. How would that ticket collector like it if he had to find his way around…oh, I don’t know…the Amazon, say…where he didn’t know the language and nobody could be bothered to help him?’

      Finn looked at her wearily. ‘You’re mistaking me for someone who cares,’ he said. ‘The only thing I care about right now is keeping this company going, and it’s not that easy with a PA who turns up whenever she feels like it! Alison makes a point of arriving ten minutes before nine every day,’ he added pointedly. ‘She’s always reliable.’

      Not so reliable that she didn’t break her leg on a skiing holiday, Kate thought, but didn’t say out loud. She was sick of hearing about Alison, Finn’s perfect PA who was discreet and efficient and immaculately dressed and who reputedly typed at the speed of light. She could probably read Finn’s mind too, Kate had decided sourly after he had shouted at her for not being able to find a file that he himself had dumped onto her desk. Alison’s desk, of course, was always tidy.

      The only marvel was that