Who's Afraid of Mr Wolfe? (20 page)

‘That’s not even funny, Jack,’ Ellie said, but Jack could see she was struggling not to laugh. He tried not to think about the beautiful effect that had on her cleavage.

He gave a businesslike cough. ‘Right, well, sorry to drag you away, but we’ve got to get back.’

‘Back? I’ve only just arrived.’

‘Sorry,’ Jack said unconvincingly.

‘Why do I have to go? I’ve been looking forward to this for ages. Why can’t I stay?’

Jack considered saying, ‘Because I don’t want you anywhere near Craig’s hands,’ but settled for, ‘Look, Ellie, you can come back later in the week or even next week. You must see that we don’t need Ian, Lesley and you all here now. Not on the first day. And with the clients here too it’s swamping the place.’

Ellie crossed her arms and Jack sensed the start of a fight and decided to play the ‘trouble back at the agency that only you can sort out’ card.

‘There’s a problem with the copy for that yoghurt ad.’

‘There is no copy for the yoghurt ad,’ Ellie protested.

‘That’s the problem. Client’s getting a bit anxious, thinks there should be.’

Despite her confused look, Jack saw that Ellie was wavering, and before she could really protest, he had manoeuvred her out of the building, only stopping to give his apologies to Pauline.

The atmosphere inside the car on the journey back was claustrophobic. Jack didn’t like what he’d done in the studio, another unprofessional act. Craig certainly wasn’t going to be sending him a Christmas card this year. And
that idiot idea about the yoghurt ad, how was he going to explain that when they got back?

Ellie was looking out of the window and Jack heard her mutter something about ‘mouldy milk in a pot’.

He decided to say nothing, but then got distracted by the way the seat belt cut between Ellie’s breasts. He turned his head back quickly to concentrate on the traffic, but seconds later his hand brushed against her leg when he changed gear. That jolt of desire was back, rushing up his arm and into his chest.

He saw Ellie squash herself into the corner of her seat and cross her legs.

This was stupid; he needed to calm down.

‘How are you getting on with Ian?’ he said, desperate to say anything.

He was rewarded with one of her groin-stabbing smiles and a slight thaw in the atmosphere. ‘He’s wonderful, Jack. I mean, tough and nobody’s fool, but I already feel I’ve learned more from him in the two weeks he’s been here than I ever did from … well … before. He’s so generous with his knowledge. He doesn’t make you think you have to apologise for thinking of mad ideas. He even encourages it. I really, really like him.’

‘Good,’ Jack said, and suddenly, completely, hated Ian.

He wanted to accidentally touch Ellie’s leg again. Even though his brain was telling him he must seem like a pervert, his baser instincts were egging him on to have
another go. He fought the urge, ransacking his mind for more small talk.

‘That’s a nice dress,’ he blurted out, and then wished he could have bitten right through his tongue. Too personal, too guaranteed to get him thinking how well she filled every little bit of it.

He could see from Ellie’s body language that she felt uncomfortable about his comment. She moved even further away from him, the furthest it was possible to go without actually climbing out of the car. She seemed to be chewing her thumb as well.

Jack opened his mouth again and hoped for the best. ‘You’ve obviously been treating yourself lately, lots of different clothes … I suppose you’d been waiting for that pay rise last week.’

‘No, I bought the clothes before then.’ Ellie clasped her hands in her lap. ‘I had to. Edith accidentally gave all my clothes to the charity shop.’

Jack gave his brain one more chance to redeem itself. ‘Well, at least it all went back where it came from,’ he heard himself say, and watched appalled as a hurt and ashamed look passed over Ellie’s face. He saw her hunker down even further in her seat.

Jack gave up after that and tried to concentrate on driving and breathing without annoying the hell out of her.

When they got back to the agency car park, he went
round to open the car door for her, but she had already climbed out. They stood facing each other and Ellie did an awkward little side shuffle to get round him. He sensed she was avoiding looking at him, and who could blame her?

By the time Jack had collected his briefcase and jacket, she was quite a way ahead.

Funny how that morning after he’d met her in Cavello’s she had walked at a snail’s pace. Now she was doing some kind of power walk. Jack covered the distance between them easily, but they walked into the agency without Ellie even acknowledging he was there. She had her head down and he couldn’t think of anything to say to her that didn’t involve asking her to come up to his office right now and let him peel her dress off.

He tried to appear impassive as he walked up to the reception desk, but his heart was thudding away in his chest. The thought of having to go and sit in his own office, knowing that Ellie was only a couple of floors away, was making him feel incensed, like it wasn’t fair. He had to grip tightly on to his briefcase to stop himself from doing something stupid.

He saw Rachel’s eyes flicker knowingly over him and then over Ellie. She might not be quite there yet, but it wouldn’t take her long to work out something was going on. He might as well have a damn great sign over his head saying, ‘I want to kill every man who looks at Ellie Somerset
and quite possibly her as well for making me feel like this.’

He checked on Rachel again. Perhaps when she did work out what was going on, she could tell him, because at this moment he didn’t know his arse from his elbow.

Rachel was twiddling with her hair and continuing to give him a searching stare. He pulled his face into a frown and turned on Ellie.

‘And it would be a nice change if every time I asked you to do something you didn’t come across like a truculent school kid,’ he said. Ellie looked at him as though he had kicked her. Ignoring the fresh set of inappropriate feelings that stirred up, he turned back to Rachel. ‘I told her she couldn’t sit and watch the filming today, that there were more important things to do here, and she’s sulked all the way back in the car.’ He reached out and picked up the stack of messages that were waiting for him on the desk, hoping Rachel didn’t notice the way his hand was not quite as steady as he would have liked.

‘Shame not everyone can have your sunny personality, eh, Rachel?’ he said, before winking at her and walking away.

That should put Rachel off for a while. All he had to do now was stay away from Ellie.

And fit a cold shower in his office.

‘So, what’s the big secret, then?’ Ellie said, settling herself down next to Lesley in the pub. ‘Why couldn’t you tell me whatever it is in the office?’

‘Well, I wanted you on your own.’ Lesley reached for her purse. ‘Can I get you a drink?’

‘I’d rather have the secret first.’

‘Nah, got to wait for Megan. What are you having?’

‘Red wine, a small one.’ Ellie caught Lesley’s disbelieving look. ‘No, really, I’m trying to cut back. I’ve been a bit out of control since Sam left.’

‘Cheers,’ Lesley said when she got back. ‘Here’s to us and our knickers.’

‘Cheers,’ echoed Ellie, and then saw Lesley’s face light up. Without turning round she knew that Megan must have arrived.

The two of them embraced tenderly and Ellie had to hide her own smile. She knew what Lesley’s little secret was going to be, had known days ago when Lesley had
taken to staring off into the distance and then doodling Megan’s first name next to her own surname. Any minute now she was going to tell her and Ellie was going to have to be a good actress and pretend to be very surprised.

‘OK,’ Lesley said when they were all settled back down.

‘OK,’ Megan said, clutching Lesley’s hand.

Lesley gave Megan a nervous smile that made her look like she was about to go in and see the dentist. Ellie was tempted to put them both out of their misery.

‘We wanted to tell you first, before anybody else,’ Lesley began. ‘I mean, we’ve invited some other people from the agency to the pub, but we wanted to talk to you on your own first.’

‘About what?’ Ellie said sweetly.

‘Well, Megan and I … me and Megan … we’re …’

‘You’re what?’

‘We’re …’ Lesley was looking desperately at Megan.

‘You’re getting a puppy? Moving to Neasden?’ Ellie didn’t know how long she could keep this up without laughing.

Megan shook her head. ‘No, Ellie, it’s much more—’

‘Life-changing,’ Lesley chipped in.

‘Oh, no, tell me you’re not getting matching tattoos.’

Suddenly Lesley’s expression changed. ‘You know, don’t you?’

‘Know what?’

‘That Megan and I are going to get married,’ Lesley said loudly. There was a pause while Lesley realised what had
just happened and then Ellie gave a huge shriek and was on her feet and grabbing them both into a hug.

‘Of course I know, you big romantic idiot – you’ve been humming the “Wedding March” for the last three days.’ They were all laughing and Megan started to cry and the men on the next table suggested they get a hotel room.

When they had quietened down a bit, Ellie went to the bar and came back with a bottle of champagne.

She gave them another hug each. ‘Oooh, I’m so happy for you both, so happy. But, Megan, what a challenge you’re taking on. You have no idea what you’re letting yourself in for.’

Megan gave the kind of smile that showed she did know and she didn’t care. Lesley poured the champagne.

‘You should have seen my mum, Ellie. You know what she’s like for crying at the best of times. Well, she was practically floating after we told her.’

‘Happy tears, though, weren’t they?’ Megan added quickly.

‘And what about your family?’ Ellie asked Megan. She saw their good mood fade.

‘Oh, not so good.’ Megan touched Lesley’s arm as if for reassurance. ‘In fact … awful.’

‘They’d only recently got used to the idea of Megan being what they call “one of those”,’ Lesley explained.

‘They’ll come round, though, Mam and Dad, before the
wedding. It’ll just take time.’ Megan’s accent made the whole speech sound even more morose.

‘I’m sure they will,’ Ellie said quickly before the happy atmosphere disappeared altogether. ‘Here, drink up and tell me what you’ve got in mind for the ceremony. Oh, and the honeymoon … It’s got to be Graceland or the Pencil Museum in the Lake District. Time’s going to fly, Megan.’

Lesley chucked a beermat at her and soon they were laughing again and the men on the next table joined in and then slowly people from the agency started to arrive. The little announcement was repeated over and over again and there were more hugs and more drinks bought and soon the noise was deafening and it looked like it was going to turn into one of those evenings where anything could happen and nobody knew quite where they would end up.

After her first glass of red wine and a glass of champagne, Ellie stopped drinking. She’d been honest with Lesley about wanting to cut back, but had skimmed over the real reason: Jack. Being even slightly tipsy around him was not a good idea. She needed to have all her wits about her.

More people piled into the pub, slamming the door back against the wall as they came in. Ellie tried not to acknowledge the disappointment she felt when Jack was not among them. She was out of her mind. He’d dragged her away
from filming, spoken complete insulting gibberish to her in the car and then torn her off a strip in front of Rachel. Yet here she was hoping he’d walk in and do it all again.

Every time she even thought about him these days it got the blood roaring around her body.

Pathetic, Ellie, part of the Heathcliff Fan Club.

The door opened again and she couldn’t help scowling when it was only Mike.

The noise level rose and Rachel swayed in wearing a kind of silver handkerchief thing that she said was a dress. The men on the next table immediately sat up a bit straighter. At one point they tried to persuade her to go on to a club with them, but she had no time for them. She grabbed Ellie by the arm and pulled a rolled-up copy of
Ad Infinitum
magazine out of her bag. The source of all knowledge about what was happening in the world of advertising, it ran a catty little gossip column that dished the dirt, only just staying vague enough to escape any libel action.

Rachel was always the first to get her hands on it, receiving an advance copy every week from one of its journalists who still had fond memories of a short but glorious fling he’d had with her a couple of years earlier.

‘Listen, listen,’ Rachel said, looking around to check she had their attention. She unfurled the magazine, found the page she was looking for and started to read: ‘“He’s one of ad land’s biggest, scariest lads, but are his days as
a lone wolf numbered? Not content with living up to his reputation for being a hatchet man and nearly scaring the pants off one of London’s most stylish creative directors, it now seems as though he might be settling down. His girlfriend, herself a well-known advertising figure, has been dropping heavy hints to friends that she can hear wedding bells. We fully expect the female population of ad land to be wearing even more black than usual when the happy date is announced.”’

Ellie felt as though somebody had kicked her in the heart.

Rachel was in full flow. ‘It’s obviously Jack, isn’t it? Lone wolf, hatchet man and that bit about scaring the pants off Gavin.’

‘My hero,’ Mike said, looking gutted, ‘about to get married.’

‘More women for you, then, Mike,’ Juliette said with a barely concealed snigger. ‘Perhaps he’ll pass you his little black book.’

Rachel looked immensely sad. ‘That sucks, doesn’t it, Ellie?’ she said.

Ellie settled for a non-committal shrug, knowing that she wouldn’t be able to keep her true feelings from seeping into her voice if she spoke.

The door opened again and her heart executed a little pattering drum roll. It was Alec from Finance.