He smiled. ‘Nothing’s happened. I just think we should get the Christmas tree back in here.’
‘Because?’
‘Because it’s nearly Christmas.’ He stepped into the lift.
‘It was nearly Christmas the other day when you had them take it down,’ Clara answered, following him.
‘Timing is everything,’ he replied, unable to keep the grin off his face.
Clara shook her head as the doors closed. ‘I saw the front page of the newspaper yesterday.’ She turned to look at him. ‘I called in to speak to you about it only to be told you were out of the office.’
‘Uh-huh.’
‘And when I called again, every hour on the hour, I got given the same message.’
He let out an exasperated sigh. ‘It was your day off. What the hell were you doing calling me? I told you, I expected you to?—’
‘Spend the whole day in bed, yes; the whole lobby heard you.’
‘And did you? In between phone calls?’ He moved himself into Clara’s personal space, ducking his head a little to catch her eye.
Clara smiled back at him, a coy expression on her face. ‘There may have been some marital harmony at some point during the day.’
He clapped his hands together and laughed. ‘Good.’
‘And where were you? Did you and Andrew Regis take the meeting to the country club or something?’
He felt his smile slide and he tightened his lips together, drawing in a breath. ‘Not exactly.’
‘Well, you should know he’s been on the phone already this morning,’ Clara said.
‘OK.’
‘Twice,’ Clara added. ‘And so has your mother.’
‘I see.’
‘Three times.’
He stood tall, ignoring the weight in his chest. Whatever his mother was up to with Andrew Regis, he wasn’t going to let it pull him out of this good place he was in right now.
‘Reconsidering the tree and the presents?’ Clara asked.
‘No.’ He shook his head. ‘The tree comes back, the presents arrive and when the mail is ready, I want you to come into my office and tell me the most romantic place in the city to take someone on a date.’
‘According to the newspaper, you grant women wishes.’ He watched the smirk play on her lips.
‘Don’t believe everything you read in the press, Clara.’ He winked. ‘And why don’t you have William call someone named Nick in packaging. He needs an assistant manager I’ve heard.’
He watched the smile arrive on Clara’s lips. Today he was unstoppable.
Dean Walker’s Apartment, Downtown Manhattan
‘No, Peter, I don’t really know,’ Dean paced around the kitchen, his mobile phone to his ear. ‘He turned up here last night, said there was a problem and I’ve been up all night trying to find this report on the internet.’
Hayley cringed as she sipped at her cup of tea. Angel kicked her ankle from her seat around the breakfast bar and glared.
‘You have to tell him,’ Angel said through tight lips.
