that’s cool. I hope they like your designs. Oh, before I forget, Maggie wants me to invite you round for dinner tomorrow, you can bring Daisy too if you want.’
‘Thank you, I’d love to. I’ll ask Daisy though I’ll doubt she will come. What time?’
‘About seven thirty is good. I’ll see you then.’
Daniel left and Henry looked at his watch. The nice dinner and evening he had planned with Penny was quickly disappearing. She had been out walking Bernard when he left so he had asked Daisy to start dinner and to pass on a message that he had been called into work but he would be back soon. He only hoped that this meeting didn’t take too long.
He raced up the stairs and walked into Audrey’s office, which led through to Clara’s office. Audrey was just getting on her coat and scarf to leave too.
She looked at him apologetically. ‘I’m sorry to call you in so late, but she insisted,’ Audrey whispered as she walked past him and out the door, leaving him alone.
He approached the door to Clara’s office. Clara was sitting behind her desk, a huge thing that took up almost the entire room. The whole room was covered in dark wood that matched the desk and modern art pictures that were slashes of brown and beige. There wasn’t a single slash of colour in the room, in stark contrast to Edward’s office, which was pale wood, lots of colourful photos of sunsets and beaches and even a little Christmas tree in the corner. There was nothing that indicated that it was Christmas in here.
Clara’s desk lacked any kind of work paraphernalia at all. It was devoid of all the papers that had littered Edward’s desk. It was hard to see what she did with her time all day. Maybe she spent a lot of it on the phone, but he would still expect to see some kind of notes from her telephone conversations. The computer was switched on and she was working on it but there didn’t look like there was anything work-related on there; in fact the screen was filled with lots of photos of expensive-looking dresses.
He knocked softly on the door and she looked up and flashed him a huge smile when she saw him.
‘Henry, do come in, shut the door behind you.’
He did as he was asked but, looking around, he could see they were alone, whereas Audrey had made it sound like there would be members of the design team there too. He took his coat off and left it over the sofa that was in the corner of the room, though he instantly regretted it when he turned to see her appreciative gaze raking over his body.
‘Are Edward or the designers joining us?’ Henry said, hesitantly.
‘Edward has already left for the evening,’ Clara said, coming round the desk towards him. ‘He asked me to arrange a meeting with you and one of the designers but, as the managing director in charge of the design team, I wanted to look through your designs first. We are very hands-on at the White Cliff Bay Furniture Company. Something I’m sure you will appreciate about working here.’
Henry cleared his throat, not at all comfortable with the way she was staring at him like she wanted to eat him.
‘Let’s see what you’ve got,’ Clara said, without taking her eyes off him.
He opened up his portfolio and pulled a few sheets from the folder, spreading them out on her desk as she stood just behind him.
‘I know you’ve just started doing a range in chairs but I thought about maybe expanding it. The chairs we sell are very functional and nice but I think we could make them into something more.’
She moved in next to him, her body pressed close to his, though her eyes were still on him and not the designs. He subtly moved away a few inches.
‘I’ve designed a chaise longue which is classic but with traces of more contemporary styles at the same time. The chaise longue is a most sought after piece with many women, it’s romantic and will make a great addition to any lounge furniture or even the bedroom.’
‘What would you do with it in the bedroom?’ Clara said, raking her fingers seductively over the curves of the chair, her eyes returning to him almost immediately.
‘Well, you would sit on it and read or…’ He trailed off as her fingers skated over his knuckles as he leaned over the desk.