Falling for the Lawyer - By Anna Clifton Page 0,62
And just to top it off Sophie tells me she has some aristocratic pedigree going back to the Tudors and flies her own plane. She’s so overawing I feel as if I should curtsy in front of her.”
JP covered his mouth with his hand to conceal a smile. He didn’t want Alex to think he was mocking her when as far as he was concerned Caroline simply wasn’t in her league.
“Don’t underestimate yourself, Alex. Anyway, forget Caroline. I want to run through where we are now. For a start, you and I are going to maintain a strictly professional relationship at all times,” he began, breathing in the scent of lavender from her hair. “And you’re going to stick with me until any day now I simply won’t turn up in my office because I’m on a plane back to London. At that point you’ll resolve to press on with the rest of your life—without me.”
Alex nodded and his heart moved north into his throat. How could he feel like he did about her and she feel nothing? It just couldn’t be possible, could it?
“It’s a bit clinical but I think that’s pretty much it,” she replied eventually but her voice was hoarse.
“It’s completely clinical! And that’s all you want?”
Alex was staring up at him now. He couldn’t help roaming her face like searchlights in the dark, willing her to take a leap of faith and utter the words he ached to hear.
And of course Alex did want more. She knew that having him in her life as just her boss would never, ever be enough. She would be tortured every single minute by his untouchable presence. For JP was the manifestation of a promise she’d carried around in her heart forever. The emptiness he would create if he carried on with his life without her would be unfathomable.
“Al, please,” he murmured, his voice heavy with need. “Tell me now if that’s all you want from me.”
In that instant there was a short, sharp knock at the door and without hesitation Caroline Cartwright emerged from behind it.
“Oh, there you are,” she announced in her silky, slightly bored voice. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere, JP.” Her clear grey eyes surveyed the scene with cool distance. But Blind Freddy could have guessed Alex and JP were not discussing the latest dictation system or the delays in the office mailroom deliveries.
“I was right here all the time.”
“There’s a partners’ meeting on now,” she advised, looking Alex up and down with disdain as though noticing her for the first time.
Unable to bear the blood pounding in her ears as the tension rose between the three of them, Alex moved out from her position between JP and the window. Straightening herself she looked at him and asked in a strong, steady voice, “Would you like me to respond to Mark Jackson for you?”
He shook his head. “No, leave him to me. I’ll ring him when I get back.”
Alex nodded and walked towards the door, not bothering to make eye contact with Caroline.
“Oh, Alex,” Caroline purred suddenly as Alex moved around her to leave JP’s office.
She looked across at Caroline, startled at being addressed by her.
“Yes, Caroline,” she heard herself reply in a clear, collected voice, surprising herself with her own composure.
“I’ve got some mail to go out and Vera’s terribly busy. Be a pet and take it down to the mailroom for me, will you?”
Alex didn’t reply. She could only gape at Caroline who was holding her gaze with a fixed, unflinching expression.
Alex had no problem helping other lawyers in the office and did it regularly. But Caroline’s request was different. It was a demonstration of authority from management to an employee, for demonstration’s sake. And Alex had no doubt it was done in response to the intimate scene she’d just walked in on.
Alex stood fixed to her spot, overwhelmed by the notion that she was immersed in one of those watershed moments in life where dignity was up for grabs. Caroline continued to hold her gaze with unwavering serenity.
Steeling her spine Alex opened her mouth to refuse in a manner that was so offensively rude it would undoubtedly bring about the immediate end of her employment at Griffen Murphy. But before she could utter a syllable JP’s strident response had reached her ears, “Alex has more important things to do than run your errands, Caroline. Find someone else.”
Alex swung around to take JP in as he stood where she’d left him, his arms