Читать книгу: «The Reluctant Duke»

‘Don’t!’ Lexie gasped, stepping back as she saw Lucan’s intent in the raw hunger of his dark gaze.

‘This is so not a good idea, Lucan!’ She put her hands up to stop him as he followed her, those hands becoming crushed between them as Lucan leaned his body into hers so that they were now touching from breast to thigh.

‘It feels like a very good idea to me,’ Lucan assured her softly as his arms moved either side of her, so that his hands could grip the worktop behind her, effectively trapping her between his arms as the heat of his body fitted against her much softer curves. ‘Doesn’t it feel like a good idea to you, Lexie?’ he prompted huskily.

THE SCANDALOUS ST CLAIRES Three arrogant aristocrats—ready to marry!

Don’t miss any of Carole Mortimer’s

fabulous trilogy:

January—

JORDAN ST CLAIRE:

DARK AND DANGEROUS

February—

LUCAN ST CLAIRE

March—

GIDEON ST CLAIRE

And read where it all began—

with The Notorious St Claires, in Regency England!

Only in Mills & Boon^® Historical Romance, out this month LADY ARABELLA’S SCANDALOUS MARRIAGE

About the Author

CAROLE MORTIMER was born in England, the youngest of three children. She began writing in 1978, and has now written over one hundred and fifty books for Harlequin Mills & Boon. Carole has six sons: Matthew, Joshua, Timothy, Michael, David and Peter. She says, ‘I’m happily married to Peter senior; we’re best friends as well as lovers, which is probably the best recipe for a successful relationship. We live in a lovely part of England.’

THE RELUCTANT

DUKE

CAROLE MORTIMER

www.millsandboon.co.uk

MILLS & BOON

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To Pete

CHAPTER ONE

‘HAPPY New Year, Mr St Claire!’

Lucan—the Mr St Claire referred to—stood frowning in front of the huge picture window in his executive office on the tenth floor of the St Claire Corporation building.

It was still early on this cold and frosty January morning, only eight-thirty, but Lucan had been at his desk working since six o’clock, in order to deal with some of the work needing his attention following the long Christmas and New Year break.

At least he had told himself he needed to come in early in order to deal with the work needing his attention. The truth was he had been only too glad to get back to normality after he and his two younger brothers had spent a traditional Christmas at his mother’s home in Edinburgh, before all of them had decamped briefly—but not briefly enough for Lucan!—to Mulberry Hall, the family estate in Gloucestershire, to attend his youngest brother’s wedding there on New Year’s Eve.

Lucan had understood Jordan and Stephanie’s reasons for wanting the wedding to be held there—it was where the two of them had met, after all—but as soon as he’d been able to do so politely, Lucan had made his excuses and gone to Klosters, skiing for three days.

He turned now, that frown still creasing his brow as he looked at the young woman who had just stepped in from the office that adjoined his. The office belonging to his PA. Except the woman standing in the doorway wasn’t his PA. Wasn’t anyone Lucan had ever set eyes on before, in fact!

She was probably aged in her mid-twenties, very slender and a couple of inches over five feet tall. The black business suit and the snowy white blouse she wore beneath it took absolutely nothing away from the gypsy-wild effect of her long ebony hair as it cascaded riotously over her shoulders and down her back. Equally black brows were raised over eyes of a deep sparkling blue, surrounded by thick sooty lashes, and a small straight nose above sinfully and sensually full lips.

Lips that immediately—surprisingly!—stirred Lucan’s body into arousal as his thoughts shifted smoothly to bedrooms, and hot and nakedly entwined bodies. Surprisingly because it was widely acknowledged that successful businessman Lucan St Claire was as ruthless emotionally in the brief relationships he had with women as he was in the boardroom.

Lucan didn’t feel in the least ruthless as he stared at this dark and untamed beauty!

He scowled darkly. ‘Who the hell are you?’

Lexie might almost have felt sorry for Lucan St Claire’s expression of scowling bewilderment if it hadn’t been for the fact that he had so obviously brought this present situation completely upon himself.

If he weren’t so coldly self-absorbed, so arrogantly unable to relate to the people who worked for and with him, then perhaps his PA wouldn’t have decided to walk out on him on Christmas Eve, without even bothering to tell him she was going.

Perhaps.

Lexie had a suspicion that Jessica Brown’s interest in Lucan St Claire hadn’t all been business-related, and that his lack of interest in return—or inability to feel any—had been the reason the other woman had finally left so abruptly…

Lexie walked over to stand in front of the imposing oak desk, aware of the ease of power that surrounded Lucan St Claire as he towered on the other side of that desk. Aware of how comfortably he wore the charcoal-grey tailored suit, and the pale grey silk shirt with a darker grey tie knotted meticulously at his throat.

This man wasn’t only tall and impeccably dressed, but aristocratically handsome, too, Lexie allowed grudgingly. Although, in her opinion the dark, almost black, hair could have been worn a little longer than it was, and those powerful good looks—enigmatic black eyes, haughtily long nose, chiselled lips above a square-cut and determined chin—were stamped with a haughty arrogance she didn’t find in the least appealing.

Not that there had ever been any likelihood of Lexie finding anything appealing about a single member of the St Claire family! Her mouth twisted derisively.

‘My name is Lexie Hamilton, Mr St Claire. I’m your temporary temporary PA,’ she said as he still scowled.

Those dark eyes narrowed chillingly. ‘It’s news to me that I’m in need of a temporary PA, let alone a temporary temporary one…’

Lexie’s derision deepened. ‘Your ex-PA called my agency on Christmas Eve to arrange for a temporary replacement until you are in a position to arrange for a permanent one. Unfortunately, the lady most qualified for the position isn’t available for another three days.’

Lucan St Claire looked totally baffled by this explanation—as well he might.

Lexie had decided before coming here that even the curiosity she had always felt concerning the St Claire family should have its time limit. Three days would be quite long enough for her to confirm every bad thing she had ever thought or heard of them.

As it turned out, she had overestimated—three minutes in this cold and haughty man’s company was quite long enough for her to know he believed himself to be arrogantly superior!

His scowl deepened. ‘Exactly why and when did Jennifer make these arrangements?’

Now it was Lexie’s turn to frown. ‘I thought your PA’s name was Jessica…?’

‘Jennifer—Jessica,’ Lucan St Claire dismissed irritably. ‘Her name is of little relevance if, as you say, she has now left my employment.’

Lexie gave a rueful smile. ‘Perhaps if you had taken the trouble to remember her name she wouldn’t have felt the need to leave so abruptly…?’

Lucan’s eyes narrowed to steely slits. ‘When I want your opinion, Miss Hamilton, then you can be assured I will ask for it!’

‘I was merely pointing out—’

‘Something that I believe, as a temporary temporary employee, is absolutely none of your business?’ Lucan rasped harshly.

‘Probably not,’ she conceded with a rueful grimace.

An attitude completely lacking in genuine apology, Lucan recognised with a dark frown. ‘Why would Jen—Jessica,’ he corrected irritably, ‘leave in that unprofessional way?’

Lexie Hamilton gave a shrug. ‘I believe she mentioned to someone at the agency that the final insult came when you didn’t even bother to send her so much as a Christmas card—let alone buy her a present.’

‘She received a Christmas bonus in her pay cheque last month—the same as all my other employees.’

‘A personal Christmas present,’ Lexie Hamilton drawled pointedly.

‘Why on earth would I do that? ‘ Lucan was genuinely astounded by the accusation.

‘I believe it’s customary for one’s immediate boss to—never mind,’ the raven-haired beauty dismissed, as she obviously saw his impatience. ‘I had no idea you were already in your office—I took a call just now that I believe is in need of your immediate attention. I wrote the details down for you.’ She handed him a slip of paper.

Lucan glanced down at the neatly written message before crushing it in his hand.

John Barton, the caretaker of Mulberry Hall, was reporting some damage to the west gallery of the house, following the rapid thaw over the last two days. Damage that John believed was in need of Lucan’s personal attention.

As the eldest of the three St Claire brothers, Lucan had inherited the Mulberry Hall estate on the death of their father eight years ago. But it was an estate he had rarely visited following his parents’ separation and acrimonious divorce twenty-five years ago, and a place he certainly had no inclination to return to again so soon after his last visit.

The first eleven of Lucan’s thirty-six years had been spent happily living at Mulberry Hall with both his parents. The three brothers had been in complete ignorance of their father’s affair with a widow who lived in one of the cottages on the estate with her grown-up daughter. Or of the unhappiness that affair had caused their mother. An unhappiness that had imploded twenty-five years ago and resulted in Molly moving back to Scotland and taking her three sons with her.

Lucan had forced himself to return to Mulberry Hall for Jordan and Stephanie’s wedding, almost a week ago, as no doubt had his brother Gideon, and their mother; to be asked to go back there again so soon was unacceptable.

Barton had said the damage was in the west gallery…

That was the long picture gallery, where the portrait of Lucan’s father, Alexander St Claire, the previous Duke of Stourbridge, now hung in majestic state.

A portrait which revealed that Lucan, of all the three St Claire brothers, most resembled their dark-haired, dark-eyed and adulterous father!

‘Mr Barton sounded as if he considered the matter urgent,’ Lexie Hamilton told him now, and she looked pointedly at the message she had written out so neatly, which Lucan had crushed in his hand.

‘I believe that is for me to decide, don’t you? ‘ His voice was silky soft.

‘It’s probably too late for me to do anything about your ten o’clock appointment.’ She completely ignored his setdown. ‘But I could probably cancel the rest of your appointments for the next couple of days if you were thinking of—’

‘Believe me, Miss Hamilton, you really don’t want to know what I’m thinking right now,’ Lucan assured her harshly. ‘My priority at the moment is to speak to the person in charge at your agency.’

‘Why?’

Lucan raised his brows. ‘I’m not accustomed to having my actions questioned.’

Lexie easily picked up on the unspoken words—least of all by a temporary, temporary employee. But the person in charge at the agency at the moment happened to be Lexie herself, since her parents, the owners of Premier Personnel, had embarked on a three-week cruise the day after Christmas, in celebration of their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary.

Her parents weren’t even aware of the call that had come into the agency from Lucan St Claire’s PA on Christmas Eve.

Lexie had told herself at the time that she hadn’t told them because she didn’t want to put any sort of cloud over her parents’ excitement by so much as mentioning the St Claire family.

She had told herself that was the reason…

Initially Lexie had been so stunned by the identity of the caller that she had just taken down the details, before woodenly assuring Jessica Brown that she was not to worry, that Premier Personnel would take care of the problem.

It was only after the call had ended that Lexie had realised the possibilities that call had just opened up for her.

She was qualified for the job—just—and it was always quiet in the offices of Premier Personnel in January. Three days. Just three days, she had promised herself. Spent observing Lucan St Claire, the reputedly powerful and ruthless owner of the St Claire Corporation.

So far Lucan St Claire was proving to be everything Lexie had ever imagined he might be!

She straightened to her full height of five feet and three inches in her two-inch-high shoes. ‘I assure you that I am qualified to stand in here for three days, Mr St Claire.’

Those dark eyes viewed her coldly. ‘I don’t believe I questioned your qualifications…’

Lexie felt irritated colour warm her cheeks. ‘Nonetheless, the implication was there.’

‘Really? ‘ Lucan drawled as he moved to lean against the side of his desk, bringing himself down onto a level with Lexie Hamilton’s indignant blue eyes, and enabling him to see the perfection of her creamy skin, and the small and determined chin beneath those highly sensual—sexual—lips…

Lips like that—so moist and full, so softly pouting—could drive a man wild when applied to a certain part of his anatomy—

Lucan abruptly moved away, dismayed at the inappropriate imaginings he was having about this less-than-polite young woman, and full of self-disgust at the hardening of that certain part of his own anatomy!

‘What’s the name of your agency?’ he bit out harshly.

‘Premier Personnel,’ Lexie Hamilton supplied with a frown. ‘But wouldn’t you like me to put through a call to Mr Barton first? He implied the matter was of some urgency—’

‘I believe I’m perfectly capable of prioritising my own workload, Lexie,’ Lucan rasped dismissively.

‘Of course.’ She nodded abruptly, a frown still between those deep blue eyes as she turned and hurried across the room, giving Lucan an unobstructed view of that long and riotous ebony-coloured hair. He could also view the provocative sway of her shapely bottom underneath the short black skirt and above slender and shapely legs.

Telling Lucan that this young woman was just as qualified to share his bed as she was to be his temporary, temporary PA!

‘Did Jemima change the colour of her hair?’

Lucan turned slowly to look at his brother Gideon, where he stood silhouetted in the doorway leading out to the hallway. The younger man was frowning across at the closed door between the two offices with the same perplexed expression Lucan was sure had been on his own face fifteen minutes ago, when Lexie Hamilton had first made her entrance.

It gave Lucan some satisfaction to realise that Gideon had also got his PA’s name wrong. His ex-PA, Lucan corrected irritably.

It was unbelievable that Jen—Jessica should have just walked out on him without so much as giving notice. It was even more irritating that her temporary temporary replacement should be the beautiful and totally distracting Lexie Hamilton.

Lucan gave an impatient shake of his head as he moved back behind his desk and sat down. ‘Her name was Jessica.’ Apparently! ‘And that wasn’t her,’ he added stonily.

‘No?’ Gideon murmured with a frown as he strolled farther into the room. At thirty-four, two years Lucan’s junior, Gideon was tall and blond, with piercing dark eyes set in a strikingly handsome face. ‘I didn’t realise you were going to replace her.’

‘I wasn’t,’ Lucan bit out tightly, as he recalled the reasons Lexie had given him for Jessica Brown having walked out on him in that totally unprofessional way.

He somehow doubted that Lexie would ever allow her own presence to be overlooked in the same way—even for the three days she had said she intended working for him.

‘No?’ Gideon raised surprised brows. ‘Then who was that?’

‘A temp,’ Lucan dismissed impatiently. A temporary temp!

‘Oh.’ Gideon nodded. ‘She looks vaguely familiar…’

Lucan’s interest sharpened. ‘In what way?’

‘I have no idea.’ His brother gave a self-derisive grimace. ‘It’s a sad state of affairs, Lucan, when all the beautiful women you meet start to look alike!’

As far as Lucan was concerned Lexie didn’t look or behave like any other woman he had ever met! Something he found intriguing in spite of himself.

‘What can I do for you, Gideon?’ He deliberately changed the subject, having no intention of discussing Lexie any further with his brother. Or of allowing Gideon to realise his instant and totally unprecedented physical response to her unusual gypsy-wild beauty.

Lucan always dated models and actresses—although ‘dated’ was perhaps a slight exaggeration! What he usually did was take models and actresses out to dinner, or, in the case of the latter, escort them to film premieres, and then invariably to his bed. Beautiful women, perfectly groomed and sophisticated women—women who didn’t expect any serious involvement with him and were just happy to be seen with the rich and powerful Lucan St Claire.

He had certainly never been in the least interested in becoming involved with one of his employees—as proved by the fact that he hadn’t even got the name of his last PA right—and it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to make Lexie Hamilton the exception to that rule, either!

Gideon raised surprised blond brows. ‘Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten that you asked me to come in at nine o’clock this morning, so that we could go over the contracts together before Andrew Proctor arrives at ten?’

As the legal representative for all the St Claire Corporation’s dealings, Gideon kept an office just down the hallway from this one, as well as having his own private offices in the city.

Lucan had forgotten Gideon was coming in this morning—a phenomenon completely unheard of until today; business had always come first, second and last with Lucan.

Gideon gave a speculative smile. ‘Miss Whatever-her-name-is should sit in on the meeting—Proctor will be so distracted by the way she looks he won’t have any idea what he’s signing!’

‘Her name is Lexie Hamilton,’ Lucan supplied harshly. ‘And I would prefer Andrew Proctor to know exactly what he’s signing. I also don’t think it appropriate for you to make such personal remarks about an employee, Gideon,’ he added darkly.

‘I didn’t arrive soon enough to actually see her face, but any man with red blood still flowing in his veins couldn’t help but notice that pert little bottom! ‘ his brother assured him dryly.

A frown creased Lucan’s brow as he realised he wasn’t altogether sure he felt comfortable discussing his outspoken but definitely sexy temporary temp in these terms—even with Gideon. ‘Perhaps she might prove too much of a distraction?’

His brother raised mocking brows. ‘Too much of a distraction.?’

Once again Lucan stood up restlessly. ‘Not to me personally, of course,’ he bit out tersely.

‘No?’

Lucan felt his irritation deepen. ‘No!’

‘Then there’s no problem with her sitting in on the meeting later this morning, is there? ‘ Gideon dismissed practically.

No problem at all—except that Lucan already knew Lexie was likely to prove as much of a distraction to him as she was to anyone else!

‘I had a call from John Barton this morning, concerning some damage to Mulberry Hall that needs looking at.’ Lucan firmly changed the subject. ‘I don’t suppose you feel like going back to Gloucestershire for a few days…?’

‘I don’t suppose I do,’ his brother came back firmly.

Exactly what Lucan had thought Gideon might say… Lexie was fully aware of Lucan St Claire’s presence as he came through from the adjoining office fifteen minutes later, to stand looking down at her broodingly from the other side of her desk. She was so aware of him that she deliberately ignored him as she kept typing into her laptop, until she had finished writing an email to Brenda, in the office at Premier Personnel, after the other woman had emailed Lexie to tell her she had successfully managed to reassure Lucan St Claire that Lexie Hamilton was indeed a temp sent from their agency.

Lexie had panicked slightly when Lucan St Claire had told her he intended telephoning Premier Personnel himself. She’d hurried back into the adjoining office to quickly put a call through to Brenda, her assistant in her parents’ absence, to explain, and also arrange to meet Brenda for coffee after work this evening, so that she could explain the situation more fully.

Although Lexie wasn’t one hundred per cent certain she could completely explain this situation to herself, let alone a third party.

It had been pure impulse—along with a lot of curiosity!—that had prompted her into coming here in the first place. An impulse and a curiosity she already regretted.

She hadn’t expected to like the powerful Lucan St Claire, and she didn’t. She had already decided after their brief conversation earlier that his reputation for being cold and arrogant was well justified. But there was no denying that he was strikingly handsome, too.

His colouring—that dark hair and those piercing jetblack eyes, his sculptured features—reminded Lexie so much of his father, Alexander.

She looked up at him blandly. ‘Is there a problem with the intercom, Mr St Claire…?’

Lucan’s mouth thinned at her obvious sarcasm. ‘I accept that we got off to something of a bad start earlier, Miss Hamilton, but let’s get one thing clear, shall we?’ He looked down at her coldly. ‘Namely, for the moment, I am the employer and you are the employee!’

Dark brows rose over those deep, and perhaps deliberately innocent, blue eyes. ‘I am?’

‘For the moment, yes,’ he repeated harshly—warningly.

Lexie shrugged. ‘Can I take it from that remark that Premier Personnel have confirmed that my replacement will arrive in three days’ time?’

‘You can,’ Lucan confirmed tightly. ‘It would appear that we are stuck with each other until then.’

She smiled slightly. ‘My sentiments exactly.’

Lucan scowled darkly. ‘Tell me, Lexie, is this tendency you have to be less than respectful to your employers also the reason that you find it easier to work for an agency rather than attempting to find a permanent position?’

Two bright spots of angry colour had appeared in the delicate cream of her cheeks. ‘I don’t believe my reasons to be any of your concern, Mr St Claire!’

He shrugged broad and muscled shoulders beneath his tailored jacket. ‘I was curious. Nothing more,’ he dismissed coolly.

As Lexie had long been curious about all of the St Claire family…

‘I assure you, Mr St Claire, there is nothing about my personal life that would be of the least interest to you.’ She looked up at him challengingly.

He raised dark brows. ‘You sound very certain of that.’

‘I am,’ she came back evenly.

What would this man do or say, Lexie wondered, if he were to learn that her grandmother was none other than Sian Thomas—the widow that his own father, Alexander St Claire, had fallen in love with over twenty-five years ago? The same woman all the St Claire family had treated with such contempt for those same many years… If he were to realise that Lexie’s own full name, Alexandra, had been chosen in honour of ‘Grandpa Alex’, as she had called this man’s father for the first sixteen of her twenty-four years…!

CHAPTER TWO

LEXIE had been in complete ignorance for most of her childhood as to exactly who her Grandpa Alex was—apart from being her step-grandfather, of course—but once she’d reached her teens her mother had quietly and calmly sat her down and explained the situation to her.

It was then that Lexie had learned that Alexander St Claire was actually the Duke of Stourbridge, and had been virtually disowned by his three sons after his divorce from their mother, Molly St Claire.

Lexie had instantly decided that all three of the St Claire brothers had treated their father abominably—simply because he had fallen in love with her gentle and beautiful grandmother. A woman none of the brothers had even attempted to meet, let alone get to know. If they had then they might have realised how far removed Sian was from being the femme fatale they so obviously believed her to be. They would also have seen how much she had loved their father. How much their father had loved her in return.

As it was, despite the fact that their father was now her Grandpa Alex, Lexie hadn’t so much as set eyes on any of the three St Claire brothers until Alexander had died eight years ago, when they had dutifully arranged and attended their father’s funeral at the village church in Stourbridge.

Lexie had attended the funeral, too, out of sheer bloody-mindedness, after it had been made clear that her grandmother’s presence would not be welcomed there by the St Claire family.

Out of sheer stubbornness she had decided to represent her own family that day, standing at the back of the church to mourn her Grandpa Alex. Unacknowledged and thankfully unnoticed by any of the St Claire family.

The coldly remote Lucan St Claire had been easily recognisable from the photographs Lexie had deliberately looked out for over the last few years in the business pages of newspapers and magazines. She had also known the youngest St Claire brother, the rakishly handsome actor Jordan Sinclair, which had to make the austerely attractive blond-haired man standing beside him his twin brother Gideon.

But Lexie’s grandmother—the woman Alexander St Claire had loved and shared the last seventeen years of his life with—had been absent from his funeral.

For that alone Lexie would never forgive any of the St Claire family. The head of that family, especially. Lucan St Claire. The man who, upon his father’s death, had become the fifteenth Duke of Stourbridge.

Not that Lucan St Claire ever used the title. No doubt as some further insult to the father he had all but disowned twenty-five years ago.

Lexie’s eyes snapped her resentment now, as she looked up at Lucan St Claire. ‘Can I help you with something else, Mr St Claire…?’

Lucan didn’t believe himself to be a vain man. He recognized that he was cold, occasionally ruthless and that other than with his close family he was almost always chillingly remote. He was also aware that it was as much his considerable wealth and power that attracted all those models and actresses to him as any personal attraction he might or might not have.

That aside, Lexie Hamilton’s initial attitude of dismissal, followed by this disdain, were not things Lucan had ever encountered in any other woman.

Intriguingly so…

‘Are you always this disrespectful?’ he rasped harshly.

She shrugged. ‘My parents brought me up to believe that respect has to be earned, not just given,’ she came back challengingly.

Lucan growled something unintelligible under his breath. ‘I want you to sit in on my ten o’clock meeting and take notes.’

‘Well, that is what you are paying me for,’ she came back sarcastically.

Lucan’s patience—what little he possessed—was fast running out where this particular woman was concerned. ‘If you continue with your present attitude you will leave me with no choice but to call your agency back and explain exactly how ill-suited I believe you to be for this or any other position,’ he warned her coldly.

Lexie grudgingly acknowledged that she might be allowing her inner resentment towards this man to get the better of her. After all, he was Lucan St Claire, world-renowned businessman, and a man who was rich as Croesus and even more powerful. The last thing Lexie wanted was for her parents to return from their cruise and discover the hard-earned reputation of Premier Personnel, which they had so painstakingly built up over the last twenty years, was in tatters after only a matter of days under Lexie’s management!

‘Shouldn’t you at least give me a few hours to prove my efficiency before doing that? ‘ she came back lightly.

Even when this woman was saying all the right words she still somehow managed to sound challenging, Lucan recognised with a frown. Almost as if she had been predisposed to dislike him.

Simply because of the unfeeling way she believed he had behaved towards Jessica Brown?

Or was her dislike for another reason entirely?

Considering that Lexie Hamilton hadn’t even known Lucan’s ex-PA, the former didn’t sound like an acceptable explanation for her attitude. So maybe it was something else?

Or perhaps it wasn’t personal at all, and she really was just this prickly and outspoken with everyone?

If he could tolerate this woman in such close proximity to him for the next three days he was probably going to find that out.

And he still had to decide what he was going to do about John Barton’s call concerning the damage to Mulberry Hall.

‘Is there something wrong, Mr St Claire?’ Lexie prompted lightly a couple of hours later, once Gideon St Claire had left the office to accompany Andrew Proctor and his legal representative down in the lift.

‘What could possibly be wrong? ‘ Lucan bit out tautly as he stood up impatiently, a nerve pulsing in his tightly clenched jaw. He moved around the desk, the darkness of his gaze narrowed on her icily.

Lexie gave a shake of her head. ‘I had assumed you might offer to take Mr Proctor out to lunch once the contracts had been signed—’

‘I believe Proctor would much rather have had lunch with you than with me.’

‘Me?’ Lexie repeated incredulously.

‘Don’t play the innocent with me, Lexie; you know exactly what effect you had on Andrew Proctor,’ he growled scathingly.

She frowned. ‘I believe I laughed at several of Mr Proctor’s jokes—’

‘Laughed inappropriately at all of his jokes,’ Lucan corrected disgustedly, fresh anger boiling up inside him just at the thought of the meeting that had just taken place in his office.

Andrew Proctor was a handsome man in his late forties, owner of an extensive transport business that Lucan wished to acquire for the St Claire Corporation. There had been several meetings between Gideon and Proctor’s own legal adviser already, to negotiate the details of the sale, and Lucan had fully expected the meeting this morning—the signing of the contracts—to go off without a hitch.

Obviously he hadn’t taken Lexie’s presence into account when he’d made that assumption!

Andrew Proctor had taken one glance at Lucan’s PA and the whole tenor of the meeting had changed. The man had begun to flirt with her instead of paying attention to the final discussion of the contract that had been drawn up for their signatures.

The fact that Gideon had seemed equally interested in her certainly hadn’t improved the situation.

Lucan’s mouth tightened. ‘You all but got into bed with the man, damn it!’

Lexie’s eyes widened indignantly. ‘Believe me, Mr St Claire, when I get into bed with a man I don’t do it in front of an audience!’

Lucan drew in a sharp breath at the graphic vision that remark instantly induced.

Her complexion was pure ivory, and Lucan had no doubt that the slenderness of her body would be just as palely translucent. Her skin would be soft and smooth to the touch. Her uptilted breasts would be tipped by rose or red-coloured nipples. The silky triangle of hair between her legs would be the same dark—

Good God!

Had he totally lost his mind? Christmas in Scotland, followed by the wedding at Mulberry Hall and now this call from Barton in Gloucestershire—all that had been unsettling, certainly, but surely not enough to addle Lucan’s brain so much he was having these erotic thoughts about her?

Addled his brain?

It was another part of his anatomy entirely that responded to Lexie’s exotic beauty.

‘I have no interest in learning what you do or do not require when you go to bed with a man,’ he bit out grimly—and not altogether truthfully. ‘I am merely endeavouring to point out that your overtly friendly behaviour towards Andrew Proctor made a complete fiasco of what was supposed to be a business meeting.’

Lexie was uncomfortably aware that Lucan’s criticism was partly merited. She had obviously been expected to just fade quietly into the background of the meeting, rather than allow Andrew Proctor to draw her into conversation. And she knew she would have done exactly that if not for the fact that she had seen exactly how annoyed Lucan had looked every time Andrew Proctor spoke to her.

She gave a self-conscious grimace now. ‘I apologise if you found anything about my behaviour this morning less than professional.’

Lucan looked taken aback. ‘What did you just say…?’

Lexie shot him a frowning glance from beneath dark lashes. ‘I believe I apologised,’ she repeated impatiently.

Exactly what Lucan had thought she had done! Totally unexpectedly. So much so that he wasn’t quite sure what to do or say next, damn it.

Indecision wasn’t something he could normally be accused of, either.

What was wrong with him this morning?

From a professional angle Lucan knew he should call this woman’s agency and demand that she be replaced immediately, or he would have no choice but to contact another agency.

What he personally wanted to do was another matter entirely.

He relaxed slightly. ‘It’s almost one o’clock. I suggest the two of us go and get some lunch—’

‘Together? ‘ Lexie stared at him uncomprehendingly.

‘Yes—together,’ Lucan drawled mockingly. ‘Perhaps we can come to some sort of truce while we eat?’

To say Lexie was stunned by the suggestion would be an understatement. Unless Lucan meant it as an ultimatum rather than a suggestion? An implication that the two of them either come to that truce or he would immediately go ahead with his threat to have her replaced, and in doing so damage the reputation of Premier Personnel?

Personally, Lexie would be more than happy to go. She had already done what she’d come here to do, and that was to meet Lucan St Claire and have all her preconceived ideas of him confirmed. As well as some unpreconceived ones—namely, he was dangerously attractive.

Unfortunately, the repercussions for Premier Personnel if that were to happen were less acceptable.

Something Lexie should definitely have thought about before acting so impulsively in coming anywhere near a single member of the St Claire family!

Although, Lexie acknowledged grudgingly, she hadn’t found the blond and handsome Gideon St Claire quite so disagreeable as Lucan.

Gideon was supposed to share the same reputation for coldness and arrogance as his haughty older brother, and as such Lexie had fully expected him to ignore her altogether during this morning’s meeting. Instead, Gideon had been effortlessly charming to her, and the warm interest in his gaze unmistakable…

‘Does it usually take you this long to respond to an invitation to lunch? ‘ Lucan rasped impatiently.

‘No, of course not,’ Lexie snapped resentfully, her cheeks heating at the taunting mockery she could see in those coal-black eyes. ‘But it was hardly an invitation, was it?’ she dismissed scathingly. ‘’More like, it’s lunchtime, so let’s eat!’

Lucan frowned his irritation; did this woman have to argue about everything? ‘I see nothing wrong with that statement,’ he bit out impatiently. ‘It is lunchtime, and we both have to eat.’

‘But not necessarily together,’ she came back decisively.

Lucan’s eyes narrowed to dark and dangerous slits. ‘Tell me—is this dislike personal, or do you treat all your employers with the same contempt?’

Lexie stiffened warily. It was one thing for her to treat Lucan St Claire with the disdain she felt he deserved—quite another for him to become overly curious as to why she treated him that way. For him to ever suspect, realise, exactly who she was…

Lexie shook her head. ‘It isn’t personal, Mr St Claire—’

‘Lucan.’

She blinked up at him. ‘I beg your pardon…?’

‘I invited you to call me Lucan, Lexie,’ he drawled ruefully. ‘Don’t tell me you have a problem with that, too?’ He frowned again as she continued to stare up at him.

Of course Lexie had a problem with that! The last thing she wanted—positively the last thing—was to be on a firstname basis with any of the arrogant St Claire family! ‘I would prefer to keep our relationship on a completely business footing,’ she said stiffly.

‘And calling each other by our first names isn’t doing that?’ he prompted.

‘You know it isn’t.’ She frowned. ‘Any more than my having lunch with you is,’ she added coolly.

Lucan scowled his impatience. ‘I fail to see why not.’

Lexie eyed him frustratedly. ‘That could be because you’re being deliberately obtuse—’ She broke off abruptly as he gave a wry chuckle.

A phenomenon that completely changed the austerity of those grimly handsome features, giving warmth to those dark, dark eyes, a softening to the hard rigidity of his cheek and jawline, and revealing an endearing cleft in his left cheek.

All things that Lexie did not want to be aware of where this particular man was concerned.

She gave him a reproving look. ‘I fail to see what’s so funny.’

He gave a rueful shake of his head. ‘It seems that even when you try to be polite you can’t help but be rude.’

She bristled. ‘And you find that amusing?’

‘Not really.’ He gave a slow shake of his head. ‘I’ve just never met anyone quite like you before,’ he said.

Lexie wasn’t sure she was altogether comfortable with the softening of his tone. Or the speculation she could see in the warmth of those dark eyes as he looked at her. It was too male an assessment. The assessment of a handsome man looking at a woman he found attractive…

No way!

Absolutely no way!

Lucan St Claire and his two brothers had all but disowned their own father after he and their mother were divorced. Had totally rejected so much as even meeting the woman their father had loved and spent the rest of his life with.

Lexie accepted that their parents’ divorce must have been tough on three young boys such as Lucan and his two brothers would have been twenty-five years ago. But they had been only boys, and as such couldn’t possibly have been aware of all the details of the situation.

Any more than Lexie, who hadn’t even been born at the time, could really know…

No, she wasn’t even going there.

The whole of the St Claire family had treated Grandpa Alex and her grandmother abominably as far as she was concerned. As such, they were all beneath contempt. It was better for Lexie if she continued to think that way.

Except, as she had realised this morning, Lucan St Claire was lethally and heart-poundingly handsome.

Lucan had seen some of the emotions flickering across Lexie’s expressive, beautiful face. Seen them, but not understood them. Which wasn’t so unusual; so far there was very little about this woman that he did understand.

Except that for some inexplicable reason he was attracted to her.

Her outward beauty was undeniable, but it was the things Lucan didn’t know about her, the things he didn’t yet understand, that intrigued him.

And that, if Lucan were completely honest with himself, was also the reason he had been so annoyed at Andrew Proctor’s flirting with her earlier.

He straightened abruptly. ‘I take it from your earlier remarks that you would prefer to give lunch a miss?’

She frowned. ‘Not completely, no…’

‘Just lunch with me? ‘ Lucan guessed easily.

Her mouth tightened. ‘Yes.’

It was all Lucan could do to stop himself from laughing again. No woman had ever before given him the blunt put-downs that Lexie did so effortlessly!

Put-downs he found more arousing than annoying when they were coming from between Lexie’s full and sensually erotic lips…

He gave a terse nod of his head. ‘I had thought you might appreciate having lunch before we leave. But we can eat later if that’s what you would prefer.’

‘Before we leave for where?’ Lexie said slowly, suspiciously, not liking the gleam of satisfaction she could clearly see in the depths of Lucan’s dark eyes.

Eyes that now met hers with mocking innocence. ‘Did I forget to mention we’re leaving town for a couple of days?’

Lexie very much doubted that this man ever forgot anything—after sitting in on this morning’s meeting, witnessing the precision of his business acumen as he rattled off reams of facts and figures without consulting a single sheet of paper in Andrew Proctor’s file, Lexie no longer believed he had forgotten his previous PA’s name, either. A more logical explanation for that oversight was that the woman had simply been of such insignificance to him that he simply hadn’t troubled himself to learn it.

He didn’t seem to be having the same trouble where she was concerned.

‘Yes…’ Lexie confirmed warily.

He nodded tersely. ‘I finally managed to return Barton’s call earlier. After careful consideration I’ve decided that I should go to Gloucestershire to deal with the problem personally after all.’

Lexie’s heart gave a sickening lurch. ‘And this affects me how?’

Those dark eyes glittered down at her with mocking satisfaction. ‘I would have thought that was obvious, Lexie.’

‘Humour me, Mr St Claire,’ she bit out between gritted teeth.

He shrugged those broad shoulders beneath his tailored jacket. ‘For the next three days you work for me. I need to go to Gloucestershire for the next couple of days at least, to assess the damage to the house there and to organise repairs. Obviously I expect my temporary temporary PA—namely you—to accompany me.’

Lexie felt the colour drain from her cheeks as she stared up at him in stunned disbelief.

Lucan wanted her to accompany him to Gloucestershire? To Mulberry Hall? The St Claire ducal estate in the village of Stourbridge?

The same village where Lexie’s grandmother still lived…

CHAPTER THREE

LUCAN couldn’t help but see the way Lexie reacted as he outlined his plans for spending the next couple of days in Gloucestershire; her eyes had become dark and haunted, her cheeks deathly pale.

Obviously Lucan had a personal aversion to going anywhere near the family estate—which was the reason he had decided to take this intriguing woman with him—but he saw no reason why she should feel the same way. Unless, of course, she had personal commitments that kept her in town—maybe a boyfriend or a live-in lover?

‘Do you have a problem with that? ‘ he rasped harshly.

Did Lexie have a problem with that?

She couldn’t even begin to list the problems she had with going anywhere near the village of Stourbridge in the company of this particular man. With Lucan St Claire. The head of the despised St Claire family.

Lexie had been visiting the village of Stourbridge for years, of course, on frequent visits to her grandmother and Grandpa Alex. As a child she had gone there with her parents, and latterly on her own. Stourbridge was a delightful village, full of charming thatched cottages, and Lexie always enjoyed spending time there with her grandmother.

Which was the pertinent point, of course.

To go anywhere near Stourbridge, the village where Lexie had been known by many of the locals from the time she was a baby, with Lucan St Claire of all people, was simply asking for trouble.

Oh, what a tangled web…

And that web had just become more tangled than Lexie could ever have imagined when she had allowed curiosity to get the better of her!

Her throat moved convulsively as she swallowed hard, and her gaze avoided meeting that probing dark one as instead she looked somewhere over Lucan’s left shoulder. ‘I can’t simply up and leave London at a moment’s notice…’

‘I’ve already checked with your agency, and part of your contract of employment states that you agree to accompany your employer in the course of his/her business,’ Lucan informed her coldly.

Having worked at the agency alongside her parents for the last three years, Lexie knew exactly what the Premier Personnel contract said concerning their expectations of employees. As the daughter of the owners of the company it was also a contract she hadn’t signed—a fact Lexie obviously couldn’t share with him.

Her mouth firmed. ‘Your reasons for going to Gloucestershire appear to be personal rather than business-related.’

‘Correct me if I’m wrong—’ his icily taunting tone implied that he already knew he wasn’t ‘—but I believe the initials PA stand for Personal Assistant…?’

‘Yes. But—’

‘In which case, as you are my PA, I fully expect you to accompany me to Gloucestershire.’

‘I disagree—’

‘And do you believe that your opinion on the subject is of any relevance to me?’ he cut in brutally.

Lexie looked at Lucan searchingly, easily noting the hard glitter of those dark eyes, the pulse pounding in his rigidly clenched jaw, the thin, uncompromising line of his mouth. ‘No,’ she finally acknowledged heavily. ‘But surely this visit could wait until my replacement takes over on Thursday?’ she added brightly.

‘I have no intention of altering my plans to suit you, Lexie,’ he bit out coldly. ‘If it makes you feel any better, I shall be taking a briefcase full of work with me.’

‘Oh…’ She gave a pained grimace.

That ruthless mouth twisted into a humourless smile as he nodded haughtily. ‘I’ll expect you back here in an hour, then, with your case duly packed.’

Lexie could feel the panic rising inside her. She couldn’t go to the St Claire estate in Gloucestershire with this man. She simply couldn’t!

Her grandmother’s cottage was only half a mile away from Mulberry Hall, the majestic mansion that was the St Claire ducal home. Lexie had played in the woods there when she was a child, had taken long walks in the grounds with her grandmother and Grandpa Alex, had often used the indoor swimming pool that had been built onto the back of Mulberry Hall.

Admittedly Lexie had never stayed at Mulberry Hall itself, her grandmother having always refused to live there with Alexander even after his divorce, but Lexie knew she would only have to make one slip, one remark that revealed she had been inside the house or on the estate before, for Lucan to demand an explanation. An explanation she had no intention of giving him.

This wasn’t just a tangled web, it was a steel trap, waiting to snap shut behind her.

Lexie gave a firm shake of her head. ‘I really would prefer not to accompany you to Gloucestershire—’

‘In that case,’ he interrupted grimly, ‘I have no doubt that Premier Personnel will have no choice but to dispense with your services altogether. For their own sake.’

‘Are you threatening me, Mr St Claire?’ Lexie snapped, easily able to guess what that meant. This man had the power and influence to totally ruin Premier Personnel’s reputation in the business world with only a few cutting words.

Something Lexie should definitely have thought of earlier.

‘I haven’t even begun to threaten you yet, Lexie,’ he assured her succinctly.

There was no mistaking the hard implacability of that coal-black gaze—an indication that Lucan was determined to have his own way. What Lexie didn’t understand was why. Why was he was so set on her accompanying him to Gloucestershire when she so obviously didn’t want to go?

Unless that was the very reason Lucan was being so insistent?

This man was hard, cold, ruthless. A man used to people doing exactly as he wanted them to. Who insisted on it. By arguing with him Lexie had no doubt she was just making Lucan all the more determined to bend her to his indomitable will.

And Lexie, fool that she was, had placed herself—and Premier Personnel—in a position where she could do nothing to stop him.

Her eyes glittered her dislike as she glared up at him. ‘An hour, I believe you said?’

Lucan felt absolutely no satisfaction in having forced Lexie to his will. Just as he had absolutely no idea what thoughts had been going through that beautiful head while Lexie deliberated as to whether or not she was going to do as he asked. But whatever those thoughts had been they didn’t appear to have been particularly pleasant ones.

He couldn’t read this woman at all—which was unusual in itself; most women of his acquaintance seemed intent on either sharing his bed or attempting to get him to the altar. Usually with an avaricious eye on the fortune and power he had amassed these last ten years.

Lexie Hamilton made it obvious she was unimpressed with both him and his obvious wealth, and behaved towards him accordingly. Namely, she treated him with an offhand disdain that—contrary to what she’d obviously hoped—had only succeeded in increasing his interest in her.

Enough so that he welcomed the distraction of her presence, unwilling or otherwise, during this forced second visit to Mulberry Hall in as many weeks.

‘An hour,’ he confirmed abruptly.

She nodded. ‘Would you like me to find out the times of the trains?’

‘I intend driving up,’ Lucan dismissed. ‘Normally we would have flown up in the company-owned helicopter, but it’s being serviced at the moment.’

The St Claires really were a breed apart, Lexie decided slightly dazedly. Super-rich. Super-powerful.

How on earth her gentle and unassuming grandmother had ever dared to fall in love with the head of that rich and powerful family was a wonder in itself!

‘Silly me.’ Lexie grimaced.

He nodded. ‘You should pack warm clothing—’

‘I believe I’m intelligent enough to have worked that out for myself,’ she snapped in her irritation.

‘I don’t think I’ve ever given you reason to think I believe you lacking in intelligence, Lexie,’ he assured her huskily.

‘So far,’ she challenged.

‘Ever,’ Lucan corrected gruffly.

Lexie looked at him uncertainly, slightly unnerved by the throaty huskiness of his tone, and even more so by what she could see in those dark eyes as Lucan steadily returned her gaze.

Dear Lord, she was going away with this man for two days. Would be in his company for the same amount of time. Constantly in his disturbing company…!

‘I’ll be back within the hour,’ she confirmed.

But first Lexie had to go to the office of Premier Personnel and explain the situation to Brenda.

Attempt to explain something Lexie couldn’t fully explain to herself!

‘Put your seat belt on,’ Lucan advised as he turned on the ignition of his black Range Rover.

Lexie had looked disturbingly attractive when she’d returned to the offices of the St Claire Corporation an hour or so ago, carrying a thick calf-length woollen coat and an overnight bag, and dressed in a blue sweater the same colour as her eyes, with denims that fitted snugly over that shapely bottom and slender legs before being tucked into calf-high boots. The long length of that gloriously wild black hair was secured in a loose plait down her spine, revealing that she wore small pearls in the lobes of her ears. An oval gold locket was also visible against the blue of her sweater.

Closed in the confines of the Range Rover with her, Lucan was also aware of the subtleness of the perfume she wore, along with a softer, even more subtle smell that was provocatively feminine. In fact the small and very womanly bundle beside him was—as Lucan had hoped she would be—a distraction from the fact that their destination was Mulberry Hall.

Although Lucan knew that no one, and nothing, would ever make him feel completely relaxed about returning to the house he had lived in until he was eleven years old.

Lucan knew from attending Jordan’s wedding almost a week ago that the house had changed little since he’d last spent any time there. There was no reason for it to have done. The furnishings and draperies were antiques, the floors downstairs mainly marble, the paintings on the walls originals, as were the ornamental statues, and the impressive chandeliers that hung from the high ceilings were of very old Venetian glass.

No, there was no doubting that Mulberry Hall was a beautiful house. A gracious house. A house fit for a duke. The Duke of Stourbridge. A title Lucan currently held.

Something else he had avoided thinking about for the last eight years.

As the eldest child of a broken marriage Lucan had found it all too easy to blame Mulberry Hall and the demands of holding the title of Duke of Stourbridge, as much as his father’s and Sian Thomas’s affair, for wrecking his parents’ marriage and creating a schism in his own young life and that of his brothers. Lucan wanted to avoid all of those things. Mulberry Hall. His father. The title of Duke. Most of all, Sian Thomas—the woman Alexander had loved enough to sacrifice his whole family for.

Initially, after the divorce was over and emotions had calmed somewhat, Alexander had tried to encourage his three sons to meet and get to know Sian Thomas. An encouragement that had fallen on stony ground as they’d all refused to go anywhere near the woman they held responsible for their parents’ separation and divorce.

Damn it, Lucan wouldn’t be going near the place again now if John Barton, the caretaker, hadn’t made it so obvious that he thought Lucan should see the damage to the house for himself.