Reluctant Date (7 page)

Claire’s
mother responded with a peal of laughter that was loud enough to attract the
attention of the diners at the next table. “If you truly believe that Daniel,
then she’s been leading you on.
 
Claire
won’t go anywhere.
 
When she was a child
she was very obstinate about trying anything new, and she’s the same now.
 
She used to have tantrums whenever we wanted
to move on.
 
She even asked if she could
be a boarder so she wouldn’t have to keep changing schools, but we told her not
to be so silly. We said it was much better to experience new things and make
new friends instead of living a life surrounded by rules and regulations. ”

Suddenly
Claire had had enough of being the target of her mother’s amusement even though
she knew everything she said was true. She
had
been a shy and difficult child.
 
She
had
hated moving on and having to make
new friends, but she’d done it and, if she was being totally honest with
herself, it had taught her some useful lessons.
 
For example she had learned to summon up a cool and confident air that
fooled all but the most discerning however churned up she might be inside. She
did it now.
 
Eyes flashing she turned to
her mother.

“That was
years ago, Mum.
 
I’m an adult now and it
would be nice if you sometimes gave me credit for it.
 
And, surprised as you might be to hear it, I
have
decided to take up Daniel’s job
offer. I’ll be going to Florida as soon as I’ve worked out my notice at the
library.”

After a
stunned silence her parents’ reaction was everything she could have wished for.
Her father sat and beamed at her and her mother swiftly jettisoned her slightly
disparaging air.
 
In its place was
genuine enthusiasm and interest, and soon they were all talking about Daniel’s
company and how Claire fitted into it. They even toasted her success with the
last of the red wine, and made plans to store her belongings while she was
away.
 

Claire
smiled and nodded and agreed with everything everybody said as she tried to
persuade herself that the fleeting look of triumph she had seen on Daniel’s
face when she had made her announcement had been a figment of her
imagination.
 
It had been gone in a
moment, replaced by a warm smile of approval and questions about timing and how
long it would be before she was free to travel.
 
It had been enough, though, for Claire to realize he had manipulated her
into doing exactly what he wanted.
 
So
much for her thinking he had given up on her. He’d just waited until he found a
way to make her agree, and her mother had handed him one on a plate.

She sighed
as he signalled for the bill. Why had she fallen for it? Why had she allowed
her pride to direct her tongue and agree to something she knew would break her
heart?
 
She bent down to pick up her wrap
but Daniel was there before her.
 
He
tucked it across her shoulders and handed her her purse.

“I’m glad
you’ve changed your mind,” was all he said, but his proximity, the warmth of
his body, the spicy tang of his aftershave as he stood close to her, made her
regret her impetuosity all over again.
 
How was she going to bear it?

Chapter Six

The same feeling of trepidation washed over her again when,
six weeks later, she pushed a laden luggage trolley out onto the arrivals
concourse and saw Daniel waiting for her.
 
All the way across the Atlantic she had told herself things would have
changed, that he would no longer have the power to send her pulse rate into
overdrive, that his attraction had been a thing of the moment, an aberration.
One look was all it took to blow her theory to smithereens.
 
She tightened her grip on the trolley and
pasted a smile on lips that were suddenly dry as she walked towards him.

“Claire!” his deep voice was full of welcome as he greeted
her.
 
“How was the flight?
  
Not too tiring I hope.”

“It was fine.
 
Thank
you for the ticket.
 
I wasn’t expecting
to travel Business Class.”

He waved away her thanks as he took charge of the trolley
and led the way to the exit.
 
Claire
followed, unable to stop feasting her eyes on the muscular planes of his back
under a cotton polo shirt, and the lazy stride of his long, denim-clad
legs.
 
What was she doing here, courting
heartbreak, when she could have stayed safely at home?
 
One letter telling Daniel that, on reflection,
she had decided to decline his offer was all it would have taken.
 
One letter, and a few days of regret, and it
would have been over, whereas now she had to see it through. Had to stay for
the six months she had promised.
 
Had to
honour the contract she had signed.

She sighed.
 
Thank
goodness she had at least insisted on a trial period, although, right at this
moment, with Daniel’s smile of welcome still burning into her brain, six months
seemed like an eternity.

The problem was she hadn’t been able to talk to anyone about
how she felt because everyone she knew had been so thrilled for her.
 
Her parents, because they thought that at
long last she was showing some of their adventurous spirit; her colleagues, who
were all envious of the sudden excitement that had invaded the library; and Jenny,
who was quite sure there was a lot more to Daniel’s job offer than Claire was
prepared to admit, and who hadn’t stopped quizzing her until she actually
boarded the plane and turned off her cell phone. And all of this collective
enthusiasm had boxed Claire into a corner, forcing her to bury her misgivings
and accept their congratulations and advice while she worked out her notice and
organized her departure.

Her new work colleagues hadn’t helped either because as soon
as Daniel had returned to Florida they had begun to make contact, acting as if
she were already part of the team, their cheerful enthusiasm scuppering any
lingering idea she might have had about backing out of the whole deal.
 

First it had been Scott, the Operations Manager.

“Was I glad when Daniel told me about you,” he said. Then he
offered to send her some reading material so she wouldn’t be a complete novice
when she arrived.

“You sound like exactly the person I need to help me keep my
head above water. Of course you’ll have to be prepared to work
twenty-four-seven and then some, but I don’t suppose Daniel mentioned that!”

Claire had laughed with him and then read everything he sent
her several times over.
 
And the very act
of getting involved had helped to contain her nervousness about changing her
job. By the time she had absorbed all the information that kept pinging into
her email inbox, she was beginning to look forward to working with Scott, and
her excitement about the prospect of doing something that would make a real
difference was beginning to overshadow her nervousness.

Then Beth had called her.

“On the books it says I’m Corporate Secretary,” she told
Claire by way of an introduction.
 
“But
in actual fact I’m just the general dogsbody around here.
 
I get all the jobs nobody else has time for,
like finding you somewhere to live!”

Claire, who was still trying, without much success, to come
to terms with everything that was happening to her, hadn’t given such
practicalities a thought.
 
Beth’s phone
call jolted her into a sudden realisation of how soon her life was about to
change.

“I…that’s very kind of you,” she said and then stopped,
unsure what was expected of her.

Beth chuckled at the other end of the phone line.
 
“I can tell from your voice you haven’t even
thought about it yet, have you?” she challenged. When Claire admitted she
hadn’t, she offered some options.

“I can book you into a hotel for a week or so while you have
a look around for yourself, or you can trust me to find something for you.”

“But surely finding me somewhere is an awful lot of work for
you?” Claire protested.
 

“It really isn’t.
 
Don’t forget the family business is all about holiday properties, so
we’re awash with apartments down here.
 
If it’s okay with you I’ll find something I would be prepared to live in
and stock it up with the basics.”

“That is so kind of you,” Claire found herself rapidly
warming to the woman on the other end of the telephone.
 
Her voice was so welcoming that she sounded
as if she might become a friend, someone who could help take her mind off
Daniel by introducing her to other people.

“Nonsense! I’ll enjoy it.
 
As soon as you return your signed copy of the contract I’ll start
looking.
 
I’ll also book you a plane
ticket as soon as you let me know the actual date you can travel.”

After that the rest of their conversation revolved around
the upheaval involved in moving continents, although Beth had also asked her a
few personal questions.

“It’s just so I can get some idea of what sort of place you
would like to live in,” she explained as she prepared to end the call.
 
“Daniel was next to useless when I asked him.
For all I know you could be a penthouse suite sort of girl! ”

Then they had laughed together as Claire assured her that
she most certainly was not, and a two-room apartment would be fine.
 
Beneath the banter, however, she had
experienced a fleeting sense of disappointment. Not only had Daniel not
telephoned her since returning to the States, he hadn’t even bothered to tell
Beth anything about her.
 
And he could
have done. After all he had learned plenty on that fateful weekend, the weekend
when he had out-maneuvered her, the weekend when her stupid pride had ignored
her heart.

Briefly she wondered if Beth knew how they had met, then she
shrugged the thought away.
 
Of course
not!
 
If her experience was anything to
go by, then Daniel Marchant was exceedingly tight lipped about all things
personal.
 
To Beth she would be just
another employee, someone he had come across on his travels who just happened
to have the qualifications needed in his organization.

* * *

Shaking off the memory of her conversation with Beth, Claire
lengthened her stride to match Daniel’s, determined to start behaving like a
grownup instead of a moonstruck teenager.

“Scott and Beth have been so helpful,” she told him as they
negotiated the car park.
 
“I can’t wait
to meet them.”

“The feeling appears to be mutual,” he said, glancing across
at her, his eyes full of rueful humour.
 
“So much so that Beth seems to have put the day-to-day work on hold
while she concentrates on organizing your apartment, and Scott has moved the
filing cabinet into the entrance hall and shifted everything around in the
office to make room for your desk.”

Claire’s face flushed with pleasure, even though she
protested she hadn’t meant to cause so much disruption.
 
It was good to know that, despite her
misgivings about working with Daniel, other people were looking out for her,
and looking forward to meeting her.

* * *

The journey to her new home took much longer than Claire had
anticipated, so when Daniel pulled into a rest area and suggested they stop for
something to eat she was only too happy to comply.

“I didn’t realize how hungry I was,” she told him as she
tucked into a plate of sizzling paprika chicken garnished with peppers and
onion.

He smiled at her.
 
“I
make the same journey too often not to know when it’s time to eat,” he said. “I
learned long ago the best way to deal with time change is to eat local time
from the moment the plane hits the runway.”

Claire laughed.
 
“I
seem to remember it’s how we first met.”

“So it was,” his smile grew wider as he recollected their
first meeting. “I was about to grab something to eat when Carl’s voicemail came
through telling me he had set up a date.
 
Irritated as I was at the time, it did at least mean that I ended up
finding you, so, on behalf of my company, thanks Carl!”

They both laughed as he clinked his ice-cold glass of water
against hers.

“What did you say to him when you got home?” Claire was
curious.

“Only that I’d prefer him to concentrate on his own life in
the future and keep out of mine.”

“He’ll still know it’s me though, won’t he?
 
After all he set up our so called date, so
he’s bound to recognize my name if we ever meet.”

Daniel shook his head.
 
“Don’t worry about it. You’ll certainly meet him. It’s not possible to
avoid anyone in a place as small as Dolphin Key, but I can guarantee he won’t
mention it.”

“You sound very sure of that.”

“Oh I am!”
 
Daniel
chuckled as he remembered his conversation with his brother. “Carl isn’t likely
to mess with me again for a long time, not if he knows what’s good for him.”