“Let’s start again. Imagine you’re in love with me,” Mary ordered him.

Tyler blew out an irritable breath, but turned obediently back to study her.

She looked different tonight, he realized, looking at her properly for the first time. Her hair was a soft cloud around her face. She was wearing a floaty sort of skirt, and a top with a plunging neckline that emphasized her generous cleavage. Beneath it she wore a lacy camisole, the discreet glimpse of which hinted deliciously at hidden delights, and made Tyler’s head spin suddenly with images of sexy lingerie and silk stockings.

He swallowed. “All right,” he said. “I’m imagining.”

The odd thing was that the more he looked at her, the more he could imagine it. Not the whole being in love thing, obviously, but it wasn’t that difficult to imagine wanting to kiss her, wanting to discover if those lips were as sweet as they looked, wanting to unwrap that top and see what that lace was concealing.

“What am I supposed to say?” Tyler asked

“Make me believe that you love me,” she said.

Jessica Hart

Vibrant, fresh and cosmopolitan, Jessica Hart creates stories bursting with emotional warmth and sparkling romance!

Jessica Hart won the prestigious RITA® Award for Best Traditional Romance 2005!

You’ll love her sparkling stories—they are the essence of feel-good romance!

Barefoot Bride #3939

Business Arrangement Bride
Jessica Hart

www.millsandboon.co.uk

MILLS & BOON

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Jessica Hart was born in West Africa, and has suffered from itchy feet ever since, traveling and working around the world in a wide variety of interesting but very lowly jobs, all of which have provided inspiration to draw from when it comes to the settings and plots of her stories. Now she lives a rather more settled existence in York, where she has been able to pursue her interest in history, although she still yearns sometimes for wider horizons. If you’d like to know more about Jessica, visit her Web site, www.jessicahart.co.uk

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ONE

WHERE had he seen her before?

Tyler watched the woman across the room as she smiled and shook hands with a group of men in suits. He had noticed her as soon as she arrived, and it had been bugging him ever since that he couldn’t work out why she seemed so elusively familiar.

It wasn’t as if she was the kind of woman who would normally catch his eye. Apart from that luminous smile, there was nothing remarkable about her at all. She had nondescript features and messy brown hair, and she was squeezed into a suit that was much too small for her. Stylish and beautiful she definitely wasn’t.

And yet…there was something about her. Tyler couldn’t put his finger on it and it was making him cross. He was a man who liked to know exactly what he was dealing with, and he was irritated by the fact that his gaze kept snagging on this very ordinary-looking woman who was taking not the slightest notice of him.

He had been watching her for nearly an hour as she circulated easily around the crowded room. She obviously had the ability to relate to people that he so conspicuously lacked, according to Julia, anyway.

‘You’re a lovely person, Ty,’ his best friend’s wife had told him with her usual candour, ‘but honestly, you’ve got the social skills of a rhinoceros!’

Tyler scowled at the memory.

Unaware that his glower had caused several of the people around him to flinch visibly, he took a morose sip of champagne and surveyed the crowded foyer of his new building. He hated occasions like this. He couldn’t be bothered with all the social chit-chat that woman seemed to be able to do so well, but his PR director had insisted that a reception to mark the opening of his controversial new headquarters would be politic. So now he was stuck here in a roomful of civic dignitaries and businesspeople, all of whom seemed to be hovering, hoping for a chance to ingratiate themselves, to lobby for his support for their pet schemes or to suggest mutually beneficial business opportunities. They all wanted to talk to him.

All except her.

She hadn’t so much as glanced his way all evening.

Some councillor was boring on about the city’s local transport plan, and Tyler let his gaze wander over the room once more, wondering how long it would be before he could decently leave. Why had he agreed to such a tedious PR exercise anyway?

Suddenly he realised that he couldn’t see the woman any more, and he felt oddly jolted to have lost her. Frowning, he searched the crowd with hard eyes. Had she gone? Surely she would have—

Ah, there she was! She had found a quiet corner by herself and was easing off her high-heeled shoes. Tyler saw her grimace. Her feet were obviously killing her. If she had any sense she would go soon, and he would never find out who she was. The thought was oddly unsettling.

He could ask someone, he supposed, but the group around him were still droning on about Park and Ride schemes.

Or he could go over and ask her himself.

‘Excuse me,’ he said brusquely—who said he didn’t have social skills?—and, leaving the rest of them in mid bus lane, as it were, he headed across the room towards her.

In her quiet corner near the lifts, Mary was surreptitiously wriggling the toes on her left foot and wishing she had the nerve to take off her right shoe as well.

The shoes had seemed a good idea when she’d put them on too. The news that Tyler Watts, the North’s very own bad boy made good, was moving the headquarters of his phenomenally successful property company out of London and back to York had riveted the business community, while his construction of a cutting edge building on the river front had divided opinion across the city. It had outraged conservationists and delighted others who claimed it as stunning proof that the city could not only hold on to its historical heritage but also stake a claim as being at the fore-front of architectural design in the twenty-first century.

Either way, the champagne reception to celebrate its opening was certain to be the networking opportunity of the year, and Mary was determined to make the most of it. She wouldn’t be the only one lobbying for a contract with Watts Holdings, and she might make some useful contacts even if she didn’t get the big one.

So she had chosen her outfit carefully. This was her first public outing as a professional woman since Bea’s birth, and she wanted to look elegant and…well, professional. A smart suit and stylish shoes would create the perfect impression. Mary knew; she had read all the magazines.

Sadly, the magazines didn’t tell you what to do when you realised, five minutes before you were due to go out, that you were a good two sizes larger than you had been the last time you put on your best suit. Nor did they remind you what agony it was standing around on high heels, and that was before you tried walking on what some bone-headed architect had decided was cutting edge flooring, apparently forgetting that a glassy sheen was more appropriate to an ice rink than an office building.

Mary sighed and switched shoes, giving her right foot a break. As so often in her life, she reflected glumly, there was a huge gap between imagination and reality. She had pictured herself charming the assembled employers of York, so impressing them with her professionalism that they were queuing up to get her to solve their recruitment problems, but it hadn’t worked out like that. Oh, everyone had been very pleasant, but they had all wanted to talk about Tyler Watts, not business, and while no one had been rude enough to point out that her jacket was straining across her ample bust, no one had offered her any work either, and she had been burningly aware that professional was the last thing she had looked.

All she had got out of the evening was pinched toes and a sore back.

Mary took a slug of champagne, put down her glass and squeezed her poor foot back into its shoe. She would make one last effort to meet the Human Resources director of Watts Holdings, she decided, and then she would give up.

It was at that point that she detected a ripple of interest around her and looked up from her shoe to see none other than Tyler Watts bulldozing his way across the room, groups parting and stepping back sycophantically to make way for him.

Not that he noticed or acknowledged them, Mary noted sourly. That was typical of him. In her brief meetings with him in the past he had struck her as the most arrogant and ruthless person she had ever met and she was in no hurry to renew her acquaintance with him. She might want a contract with Watts Holdings, but she had no desire to deal with the man at the top, thank you very much.

Extraordinarily, he seemed to be heading straight towards her. Mary glanced around her, in case there was someone interesting standing behind her shoulder, but she was momentarily isolated.

If she didn’t do something about it sharpish, he would be on top of her and there would be no avoiding him.

Picking up her glass from the table beside her, Mary turned to slink behind the group on her left, but she was too hasty and hadn’t reckoned on the slippery floor. The next thing she knew, one of her wretched heels was skidding out from beneath her and she pitched forwards.

There were indrawn breaths around her as everyone anticipated an almighty crash, but she never hit the floor. A hard hand caught her under her elbow, swivelling her up and round until she was upright once more. More or less upright, anyway. One of Mary’s arms was still flailing madly as she tried to regain her balance, and the polished floor wasn’t helping at all.

Mortified, she managed to stand on two feet once more. ‘Thank you so—’ she began breathlessly, and then the words died on her lips as she looked up and found herself staring into Tyler Watts’s glacial blue eyes.

Her first thought was that he must have moved at the speed of light to reach her in time, her second was that he was incredibly strong. She was not exactly a lightweight, but he had caught her and hauled her upright with a single hand.

It was only then that she noticed the stain on the front of his shirt. Somehow, in all her skidding and flailing, she must have knocked the glass in his hand.

‘I’m so sorry,’ she said nervously.

She didn’t want to be nervous, but there was something about Tyler Watts that made you feel edgy. You had to admit, the man had presence, and it wasn’t anything to do with looks, although the dark, beetling brows and grim lines of his face were intimidating enough on their own. He exuded a restless, driven energy that reverberated around him and left people half thrilled, half mesmerised by a mixture of awe and apprehension when he was around.

Not a man you would choose to knock drink all over.

Good move, Mary, she thought with an inward sigh. She had thought her aching feet were the low point of the evening, but apparently not.

Tyler’s fingers were still gripping her arm just above the elbow, but as Mary’s eyes dropped to them he released her.

‘Are you all right?’ he asked brusquely.

‘Yes, I’m fine. Thank you.’ She managed a nervous laugh and resisted the urge to rub her skin where he had held her. Her whole arm was tingling and throbbing from his grip and it was making her feel a bit odd.

‘This floor is lethal in heels,’ she tried to explain in case he thought she’d been over-indulging in the free champagne. ‘But that’s trendy designers for you,’ she said, conscious that she was babbling but too rattled by his nearness to think sensibly. ‘What clot thought a floor like this would be a good idea?’

‘That would be a clot like me,’ said Tyler Watts with a sardonic look.

If a black hole had yawned at Mary’s feet at that moment, she would gladly have jumped into it and disappeared. How could she have said anything so stupid? Criticising the design of the building that marked the culmination of a spectacularly successful career to a man whose business she desperately needed was not a good move.

‘You’ve obviously never tried walking on it in high heels!’ she said, deciding that her only option was to make a joke of it, but Tyler was unamused.

‘The other women seem to be managing to stay upright,’ he pointed out. ‘Perhaps it’s your shoes that are the problem, not my floor?’

They both looked down. The shoes were Mary’s favourites—or had been until they had started hurting so vilely—and she had chosen them deliberately because they reminded her of her days in London when she had been slim—well, slimmer—and sharp and successful. They were black with white polka dots, so you could get away with wearing them with a suit, but the peep toes and floppy bow were fun when you didn’t want to be too serious.

Maybe the heels were a bit high, Mary conceded to herself, but what kind of office floor was designed without stilettos in mind?

Tyler looked down at the shoes, noticing in passing that she had surprisingly nice legs, and shook his head at their impracticality.

‘I suggest you wear something more sensible next time.’

Mary opened her mouth to say that being sensible was good advice coming from a man who had chosen a floor like an ice rink, but she managed to stop herself in time. She was supposed to be drumming up business, not alienating potential clients.

‘I’ll do that,’ she said instead, and if there was a suspicion of gritted teeth about her smile, she didn’t think Tyler Watts would notice.

She hadn’t really wanted to talk to him but, since he was there, she had better make the most of the opportunity. Somehow she had to convince him that she was a competent businesswoman and not just a tactless idiot in silly shoes. If he were to be impressed enough to recommend her to his Human Resources director, her problems would be over.

Her most pressing ones, anyway.

Summoning a bright professional smile, Mary held out her hand. ‘I’m Mary Thomas,’ she said.

The name didn’t ring a bell with Tyler, but then it wasn’t a particularly memorable one. In fact, there was nothing particularly memorable about her now that he had a chance to study her more closely. She had beautiful skin and intelligent grey eyes, but her round face was quirky rather than pretty, with eyebrows that didn’t quite match and features that all seemed to tilt upwards, giving her a humorous look.

None of which explained why she seemed so familiar.

Irritated by his inability to place her, Tyler took her hand and shook it. ‘Tyler Watts,’ he introduced himself briefly.

‘I know,’ said Mary, acutely aware of the feel of his fingers closing around hers and pulling her hand away rather sharply.

‘You do?’

‘Everybody knows who you are,’ she told him, nodding around the crowded lobby. ‘You’re famous in York. Everyone here wants to talk to you and do business with the new expanded Watts Holdings.’

‘Including you?’ he asked.

‘Including me,’ Mary agreed. ‘Except that I was hoping to meet Steven Halliday rather than you.’

The dark brows snapped together. ‘What’s wrong with me?’ he demanded.

‘There’s nothing wrong with you,’ said Mary hastily, more intimidated than she wanted to admit by his frown. ‘I just thought it would be more appropriate to talk to Mr Halliday. I understand he’s your Director of Human Resources?’

More appropriate and a lot easier. Mary didn’t know what Steven Halliday was like, but he had to be a whole lot better to deal with than the glowering Tyler Watts, who famously gave his staff a mere thirty seconds to make their point. She would really rather talk to someone with a bit more patience, not to mention a few listening skills.

To someone who wouldn’t insist on looming over her with that ferocious frown and those unnervingly pale, polar-blue eyes that seemed to bore into you. It was hard to keep your cool when faced with that mixture of arrogance, impatience and sheer force of personality.

‘He is,’ Tyler admitted grudgingly. ‘What do you want to talk to him about?’

‘I’m in recruitment.’

This was the perfect time to produce one of those cards she had had printed at such expense. Mary had been dishing them out all evening, though, and she just hoped that she had some left.

Digging around at the bottom of her bag—really, she must organise it—her fingers closed around a card just as the pressure of her hand snapped the fragile chain and the whole thing lurched downwards, spilling most of the contents over the floor, where they skidded merrily over the glossy surface.

Mary closed her eyes. Excellent. Fall over, knock drink over him, insult his design taste and tip her handbag all over the floor…Could she look any more of a fool, and in front of the man with the power to make or break her precious agency, too?

Pink with embarrassment and irritation with herself, she stooped to gather up keys and lipstick and business cards—there were plenty left, it appeared—plus a sundry collection of pens, safety pins, tissues, scraps of paper with scribbled lists, a couple of floppy disks, an emery board and a plastic baby spoon.

A biscuit left in an opened packet ended up at the tip of Tyler’s perfectly polished shoe and Mary scrabbled to retrieve it. That explained all the crumbs in the bottom of her bag anyway. It must have been there for ages, and the wonder was that she hadn’t eaten it.

Tyler bent and picked up a spare nappy, which he handed to Mary with an expressionless face.

‘Thank you,’ she muttered, shoving it into the bag along with the rest of the stuff and straightening.

She was amazed that he was still there, and couldn’t think why he hadn’t walked off in disgust long ago. Why had he come over in the first place, in fact? she thought with a trace of resentment. She had been perfectly all right, minding her own business and not doing anything stupid, and then he had turned up and transformed her into a blithering idiot.

But Tyler showed no sign of walking off. He just stood there, looking daunting, and waited for her to explain what she was doing there.

Tyler was, in fact, bitterly regretting having come over to talk to her. He had moved instinctively to catch her when she’d fallen, not realising how heavy she would be, and he was lucky she hadn’t taken him down with her. As it was, she had managed to knock the champagne he’d had in his free hand all over him. Always fastidious, Tyler was very conscious of the stain on his shirt and, as for his tie, it was probably ruined, he thought crossly.

Not content with that, she had criticised his floor, and he didn’t take kindly to criticism from anyone, let alone someone who wore ridiculously inappropriate shoes and evidently possessed a handbag as messy as the rest of her. Everyone had turned to look as the contents scattered over the floor, and they had probably noticed him there too with a nappy—a nappy, of all things!—in his hand and a spreading stain on his shirt, and no doubt looking a fool.

If there was one thing Tyler hated, it was feeling ridiculous.

Actually, there were lots of things that he hated, but looking stupid had to be way up there at the top of his list.

He wished he had never been sucked into Mary Thomas’s chaotic orbit, but now that he was here he couldn’t think of a way to leave. If they’d been in a meeting, he could just have told her that her thirty seconds were up but, as it was, she was looking pink and flustered and he didn’t feel able to turn on his heel and walk off, no matter how much he might want to.

‘What sort of recruitment?’ he asked after a moment, deciding to pretend that the whole bag incident had never happened.

Mary only just stopped herself from sighing in time. She had been willing him to make an excuse and leave, at which point she could have slunk off home and enjoyed her humiliation in comfort.

This was a fantastic opportunity for her. Half the room would give their eye teeth to be in her position, with Tyler Watts’s apparently undivided attention. She should be making her pitch and sounding gung-ho, but it was hard when your feet were aching, your toes pinched, your jacket was gaping and you had just humiliated yourself three times in as many minutes in front of the man you had to try and impress, and when you would really much rather be stretched out on the sofa in front of the television with a cup of cocoa.

But lying on the sofa wouldn’t get her agency off the ground. It wouldn’t get her a home of her own, or make a new life for Bea.

Lying on the sofa wasn’t an option.

Mary took a deep breath and, mentally squaring her shoulders, handed Tyler a business card and launched into her carefully prepared spiel.

‘I understand you’re expanding your operation in the north now that you’re making York your headquarters, so if you need people with accountancy, clerical, computer or secretarial skills, I hope you’ll think of my agency. I can find you the best,’ she told him with what she hoped was a confident smile.

‘I don’t deal with junior staffing decisions,’ said Tyler, frowning down at her card.

‘I’m aware of that, which is why I was hoping to meet Steven Halliday here.’ Mary kept her voice even and hoped that she didn’t sound as desperate as she felt. ‘I have worked for Watts Holdings in the past myself, so I understand the company ethos and how it operates,’ she went on. ‘That’s a huge advantage when it comes to finding suitable staff, as I’m sure you are aware.’

But Tyler wasn’t listening. ‘You’ve worked for me?’ he said, a very faint light beginning to glimmer.

‘It’s nearly ten years ago now, so you won’t remember me,’ said Mary, a little unnerved by the way the pale, polar-blue eyes were suddenly alert as they rested on her face. ‘I worked in Human Resources here in York. Guy Mann was director then.’

‘Ah…!’ Tyler let out a hiss of satisfaction. He had it now.

Mary Thomas…Of course.

‘I do remember you,’ he said slowly. ‘You were the one who spilt coffee all over the conference table at some meeting.’

Of course, he would remember that. Mary bit her lip and averted her eyes from the stain on his shirt. ‘I’m not usually that clumsy,’ she said.

‘And you stood up to me over that guy…What was his name?’ Tyler clicked his fingers impatiently as if trying to conjure the name out of thin air.

‘Paul Dobson,’ Mary supplied, since there was no point in pretending she didn’t know.

‘Dobson…yes. You told me I was wrong.’ He eyed her with new interest. Very few people dared to tell him he was wrong about anything.

It was all coming back. He could remember the shocked silence around the table as Mary Thomas had spoken out, the scorn in her voice, how taken aback they had all been, as if some gentle kitten had suddenly puffed up to twice its size and lashed out without warning.

‘I hope I put it a bit more diplomatically than that,’ said Mary, her heart sinking. He would never give her work if he associated her with trouble.

‘There was no diplomacy about it,’ said Tyler. ‘You told me flat out that I was wrong and should be ashamed of myself.’

He had been furious at the time, Mary remembered, marvelling now that she had ever had the nerve, but when she risked a glance at him she was sure she detected a gleam of something that might even have been amusement in the chilly blue eyes. It had a startling effect, lightening the grimness of his features and making him seem suddenly much more approachable.

‘You told me I was a bleeding heart,’ she countered, emboldened.

‘So you were,’ he agreed. ‘But a bleeding heart who got her own way, I seem to remember.’

Mary nodded. ‘You were fair,’ she acknowledged.

That was one thing you could say about Tyler Watts. He might be rude and impatient, and the most difficult and demanding of employers most of the time, but he was straight and he didn’t ignore or manipulate facts that didn’t suit him. Irritated he might have been, but he had listened to what she had had to say about Paul Dobson. The upshot had been a special inquiry, and Tyler had been prepared to reconsider his decision when he knew more.

Well, that explained why she had seemed so familiar, anyway. Tyler felt better. He didn’t like being puzzled or uncertain. Having solved the mystery, he could move on, but he was remembering something the HR director had once told him: ‘Mary Thomas may be young, but she’s got an instinctive understanding of human relationships.’

And, if that were still so, maybe Mary Thomas could be of some use to him after all.

‘Why did you leave Watts Holdings?’ he asked her.

Mary, trying to relaunch into her sales pitch, was thrown by the abrupt question. ‘I wanted to work in London,’ she said, puzzled by his interest. ‘I grew up in York and I was really lucky to get a job with you after I graduated, but after three years I was ready to spread my wings.’

‘You could have got a job with us in London.’

He sounded almost peeved that she hadn’t. She hadn’t realised that joining Watts Holdings was supposed to be a lifetime commitment. Mind you, there had been some fanatically loyal members of staff who probably thought of it that way. There tended to be a very high turnover amongst the rest, though, most of whom were terrified of Tyler Watts. Mary had only managed to survive three years by not being important enough to have much to do with him.

Still, better not tell Tyler that. She had been tactless enough for one evening.

‘I wanted to broaden my experience,’ she said instead.

‘Hmm.’ Tyler’s hard eyes studied her with such intentness that Mary began to feel uncomfortable. ‘And now you’re back in York?’ he said.

‘Yes. I’ve been back a few months now,’ she told him, relieved that he seemed to be getting back to the business in hand, which was about winning some work.

‘I’ve recently set up a recruitment agency,’ she went on, ready to launch back into her spiel and wishing that her feet didn’t hurt so much. ‘I offer a complete headhunting service for junior staff. Companies tend to spend a lot of money recruiting senior members of staff and skimp on employees at lower grades, but it’s a false economy in my view.

‘A financial investment in finding exactly the right person, however lowly the job, pays dividends,’ she said. ‘If all your staff, from janitors to chief executives, are doing the job they’re best suited to, your entire company will function more efficiently.’

Tyler was unimpressed. ‘Sounds expensive,’ he commented.

‘It’s more expensive than accepting anyone who happens to have the skills to do the job,’ Mary agreed. ‘But less expensive than realising you’ve appointed someone who doesn’t fit into the team or who doesn’t work effectively with their colleagues.’

She was beginning to perk up a bit now. Tyler’s expression might be unresponsive, but at least he was listening. ‘Before I look for the right person for you, I need to understand the company culture, and that means working very closely with your human resources department. It’s important to know exactly what the job entails and what sort of personality would fit most comfortably into the existing team.

‘I see my job less as matching skills and requirements, and more about forging successful human relationships,’ she finished grandly. She always liked that bit.

Relationships, the dreaded R word! Tyler was sick of hearing about them. He had recently spent a weekend with his best friend and his wife, and Julia had spent her whole time banging on about ‘relationships’ and making free with her advice.

‘For someone so clever at business, you’re extraordinarily stupid when it comes to women,’ she had told him bluntly. ‘You’ve got no idea how to have a relationship.’

Tyler had been outraged. ‘Of course I do! I’ve had loads of girlfriends.’

‘Yes, and how many of them have lasted more than a few weeks? Those are encounters, Ty, not relationships!’

Tyler was fond of Julia in his own way, but her comments had caught him on the raw, especially after that reunion he had gone to with Mike where all his peers seemed to be measuring their success suddenly in terms of wives and children rather than share value or racehorses or fast cars.

‘That’s what being really successful is nowadays,’ Mike had said, amused by Tyler’s bafflement. ‘You’re going to have to get yourself a wife and family, Tyler, if you want to be the man who really does have it all!’

‘And you won’t be that until you learn how to have a relationship,’ Julia added. ‘If you want to be the best, Ty, you’re going to have to get yourself a relationship coach.’

It was all rubbish, of course, but her words had rankled with Tyler. He liked being the best—needed to be the best, even—and he wasn’t prepared to accept that there was anything he didn’t do well, even something as unimportant as relationships. He didn’t do failure, in any shape or form.

Now here was Mary Thomas going on about relationships too.

‘What is it with all this relationship stuff nowadays?’ he demanded truculently. ‘Why is it no one can just do the job they’re paid to do any more? Why do they all have to spend their time forging relationships?’

‘Because unless they do form relationships, they won’t work effectively,’ said Mary, who was wishing Tyler Watts would stop talking and let her get out of these shoes. ‘You know, it’s not a big deal,’ she told him when he made no effort either to move on or to hide his scepticism. ‘It’s not about hugging each other or sitting around chanting. It’s just about understanding that different people have different approaches, different needs, different expectations. It’s about being aware of other people, of what they do and how they do it.’

She attempted a smile, although they tended to be rather wasted on Tyler from what she could remember. ‘Like any other relationship, in fact.’

To her surprise, an arrested expression sprang into the cold blue eyes that were boring in to her. ‘Do you think you can teach that?’

‘Teach what?’

‘All that stuff you were just talking about…you know, understanding, being aware of people…’ Tyler waved a dismissive hand, clearly unable to remember any other alien concepts.

‘Of course,’ said Mary, surprised.

This was one area she really did know about, thanks to Alan. He had been running a coaching course when she’d met him, and she had been bowled over by his psychological insights and grasp of the complexities of human relationships.

Of course, it hadn’t helped when their own relationship had fallen apart, but that was experts for you.

‘I’ve run a number of courses on workplace relationships in the past,’ she went on, thinking there would be no harm in bigging herself up a little. ‘It’s an interesting area, and it’s amazing what a difference tackling problems like this can make to a company’s productivity.’

‘Do you do other kinds of coaching?’ Tyler asked.

‘Yes.’ Mary was really getting into her stride now. ‘I can help people identify their goals at a personal level and work out a strategy to achieve them.’

Now she was talking his language. Tyler looked at her with approval. He might not have a clue about relationships, but he understood goals and strategies all right.

‘In that case, I might have a job for you,’ he said.

Mary was taken by surprise. ‘I thought you weren’t involved with staff recruitment?’

‘This isn’t about staffing,’ he said. ‘It’s about me.’

‘Oh?’ said Mary, puzzled but polite.

‘Yes.’ Characteristically, Tyler went straight to the point. ‘I want to get married.’

CHAPTER TWO

MARY laughed. ‘Well, this is very sudden!’ she said, entering into the spirit of the joke and pretending confusion. She pressed a hand to her throat as if to contain her palpitations. ‘I don’t know what to say. I had no idea you felt that way about me.’

‘What?’ Tyler stared at her.

‘Still, it’s a good offer,’ she said, putting her head on one side as if giving it serious consideration. ‘I’m thirty-five, and a girl my age can’t be picking and choosing. I’m up for it if you are!’

Looking down into her face, Tyler realised with a mixture of incredulity and outrage that she was laughing at him. The grey eyes were alight and a smile was tugging at the corner of her wide mouth.

‘I’m serious,’ he said, glowering.

The smile was wiped off Mary’s face and it was her turn to stare. ‘I thought you were joking!’

‘Do I look like the joking type?’

‘Well, no, now you come to mention it, but…No, come on.’ She laughed uncertainly. ‘You are joking!’

‘I can assure you,’ said Tyler grimly, ‘that I am not in a humorous mood.’

‘But…you don’t want to marry me, surely?’

His expression changed ludicrously. ‘Good God, no!’ he said, appalled at the misunderstanding. ‘I don’t want to marry you.’

Charming, thought Mary acidly. She knew that she wasn’t beautiful and, OK, she was a bit overweight at the moment, but she wasn’t that bad, and Tyler was no George Clooney, when it came down to it. He had no call to look as if he would rather pick up slugs than touch her.

‘Well, you know,’ she said, leaning forward confidentially, her smile a-glitter with defiance, ‘that’s what the princess in the fairy tale always says to the frog, and you know what happens to them!’

Tyler’s fierce brows were drawn together in a ferocious scowl, and if Mary hadn’t been so cross with him by this stage she would have been quailing in her heels. As it was, when he demanded, ‘Do you want a job or not?’ she only looked straight back at him.

‘I’m not at all clear what this job of yours involves,’ she said. ‘Or, to put it another way, I haven’t a clue what you’re talking about!’

A passing waiter, seeing that they were without glasses, approached with a tray, only to falter as Tyler waved him away irritably, but as the man made to retreat Mary gave him her best smile.

‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘I’d love one.’

Ignoring Tyler’s glare, she helped herself to a glass of champagne. She didn’t care what he thought anymore. It was late, she was tired, her feet hurt and she was fed up with Tyler Watts looming over her. She didn’t know what he wanted, but it didn’t sound like it was anything to do with recruitment, and that meant he was wasting her time.

‘I think you’d better go back to the beginning,’ she told him coolly and took a sip of champagne.

Tyler drew a deep breath and counted to ten. If he was the kind of man who was prepared to admit that he had made a mistake, he would have to accept that he might have made a big one in approaching Mary Thomas.

When the idea had first struck him, she had seemed ideal. She had been talking about coaching and he needed a coach. More to the point, he didn’t want to spend time finding a suitable coach, and here was one, right in front of him and anxious for work, it seemed.

Her ordinariness had been appealing too, if he was honest. While accepting in principle the idea of a relationship coach—it was just one step in his strategy, after all—Tyler hadn’t been looking forward to the prospect of discussing his private affairs with anyone too smart or sophisticated. He had every intention of remaining in control of the whole process, and Mary Thomas had looked suitably meek and deferential. All he wanted was for her to offer him a few pointers and then fade into the background.

But the closer he looked, the less ordinary she seemed. Take away that ill-fitting suit and those ridiculous shoes, and you would be left with a lush figure and an impression of warmth that made an intriguing contrast with the direct grey gaze and the slight edge to her voice. Mary Thomas, he had realised already, was not going to do meek or deferential.

It was annoying, Tyler admitted. He had decided that she was the person he needed, and once he had made up his mind he liked to go straight for what he wanted. His ability to focus on a goal and his refusal to be diverted had been the secret of his business success and he wasn’t going to change a winning strategy now. He didn’t have time for doubt or hesitation. He needed to get Mary Thomas on side, and get the job done.

‘All right,’ he said. ‘I’ll start again. I want a wife.’

There was a pause while Mary tried to work out what was going on. He sounded utterly clear and utterly serious but she couldn’t see how this could be anything other than a very elaborate joke at her expense. People just didn’t say things like ‘I need a wife’.

Although, perhaps, people like Tyler Watts did.

‘I think you’ve misunderstood what I do,’ she said after a moment. ‘I’m not a dating agency. I can find you a secretary or a computer operator, but not a wife.’

And then she offered a smile, just in case he turned out to be joking after all.

Tyler looked down at the empty glass in his hand, made an irritated gesture and put it down. He was getting frustrated. Mary Thomas didn’t seem to be taking this seriously at all.

‘I don’t want you to find me a wife,’ he said in a taut voice. ‘I’m just trying to explain. Getting married is my goal. I just need a bit of coaching to get there.’

‘Coaching?’ said Mary, trying to look willing but still confused about where she came into all this.

‘Yes, you know…relationship coaching.’

Tyler couldn’t quite hide his distaste of the term, although Mary wasn’t sure whether it was relationship or coaching that was the problem for him. There was a very slight tinge of colour along his cheekbones and he looked faintly uncomfortable.

Mary’s interest sharpened. The Tyler Wattses of this world would normally only discuss emotions if they were listed on the stock exchange, so it must be costing him a lot to even mention the word relationship, let alone with the implication that he needed some help on that front. Men like Tyler Watts didn’t do asking for help any more than they did talking about their feelings. Things must be pretty bad.

She had only ever thought of Tyler as an employer, but of course he was a man too. And not an unattractive one, Mary had to admit. He projected such a forceful personality that it was hard to get past that and look at him properly, but if that cold blue stare didn’t have you trapped like a rabbit stuck in headlights, it was possible to see that he had a face that was dark and strong rather than handsome.

The fierce brows, jutting nose and forceful jaw were familiar, of course, but she had never noticed his mouth before, she realised. It was rather a nice mouth too, now she came to look at it. They might be set in a stern line right now, but his lips looked cool and firm, and it would be interesting to see what they would be like if he smiled.

Or feel like if he kissed.

Sucking in an involuntary breath at the thought, Mary caught herself up sharply and stamped down firmly on the little tingle that was shivering its way down her spine.

What was she thinking of? This was Tyler Watts, of all people. He was a hard man, and she didn’t envy the woman he was planning on marrying. It would be like cuddling up to a lump of granite.

On the other hand, she would know what it was like to kiss him.

Enough. Mary pulled her wayward thoughts sternly to order.

‘Relationship coaching isn’t really my field,’ she said carefully. ‘If you’re having problems with your fiancée, there are plenty of organisations that offer counselling and will be able to help you. I could put you in touch with them, if you like.’

‘I don’t need counselling,’ said Tyler, outraged at the very idea. This was all proving much more difficult to explain than he had anticipated. ‘I haven’t got any problems. I haven’t!’ he insisted crossly when Mary just looked at him.

‘What does your fiancée think?’ she asked.

‘I haven’t got a fiancée, that’s the point,’ he snapped, goaded by the needle in her voice.

‘But you said you wanted to get married,’ said Mary, puzzled.

‘I do.’

‘Then who do you want to marry?’

‘Anyone—anyone except you,’ he added hastily.

‘Anyone?’

‘Well, not anyone,’ Tyler amended. ‘Obviously I’d want my wife to be beautiful and intelligent and sophisticated, but the point is, I don’t have anyone particular in mind yet.’

Incredible. He actually meant it, thought Mary. It was an oddly old-fashioned attitude for a man who had built this extraordinary twenty-first century building, but there wasn’t so much as a glimmer of laughter in his voice, and she could only conclude that he was serious. Anyone would think he was some stiff-necked earl planning a marriage of convenience in a Regency romance.

‘I’m sorry, but I still don’t see where I come in,’ she told him, looking around for somewhere to put her empty glass.

Tyler raked a hand through his hair in frustration. ‘Look, finding a woman isn’t a problem,’ he said with unconscious arrogance.

Mary would have loved to have contradicted him, but she was afraid it was all too true. Tyler was in his early forties and had built his company up from nothing to be listed in the top hundred in the country. He was extremely wealthy, undoubtedly intelligent, apparently straight and even attractive if you liked the ruthless, hard-bitten type—and let’s face it, lots of women did, even when the toughness wasn’t accompanied by loads of dosh.

No, Mary could see that acquiring a girlfriend wouldn’t be too difficult for Tyler.

‘Then what is the problem?’

‘Keeping her,’ he said. ‘I want to get married, but my relationships aren’t lasting long enough to get engaged.’

‘Maybe you just haven’t met the right woman yet,’ Mary suggested mildly, but he dismissed that idea.

‘It’s not that. No, there’ve been several suitable women, but I’m doing something wrong. That’s where you come in.’

‘I don’t see how,’ said Mary frankly.

‘You said that you ran coaching courses where you helped people identify and achieve their goals.’

‘Well, yes, but in a work context,’ she said. ‘I help people with their careers, not their love lives.’

Tyler brushed the distinction aside. ‘It’s the same process, surely? I’ve identified my goal—to get married. I need you to help me with my strategy.’

‘Relationships aren’t like business plans,’ said Mary. ‘You can’t have a strategy for emotions!’

‘Everything’s a strategy,’ said Tyler. He dug his hands into his pockets and hunched his shoulders. ‘I’m obviously getting something wrong,’ he conceded. ‘You work out what that is and tell me what I should be doing instead. I apply what I’ve learnt to my next relationship, the relationship works, I get married and achieve my goal. That’s strategy.’

Mary sighed. ‘I can tell you now what you’re getting wrong,’ she said. ‘Your attitude.’

‘What’s wrong with my attitude?’

‘Relationships just don’t work like that. I can understand wanting to get married, but first of all you need to fall in love and that’s not something you can plan for. You can’t predict when you’re going to meet the right person. It’s not like interviewing for a job, you know. Falling in love isn’t about mugging up a few notes, drawing up a list of criteria and finding someone who more or less fits your requirements!’

That was exactly what Tyler had planned to do. ‘I think you’re over-romanticising,’ he said stiffly. ‘The goal here is to get married. It’s not about falling in love.’

‘But if you want to get married, that’s exactly what it should be about,’ said Mary, appalled.

‘You don’t really believe that love is the only reason people get married, do you?’ he asked, raising his brows superciliously, and Mary lifted her chin.

‘Yes, as a matter of fact, I do!’

‘You’re a romantic.’ He didn’t make it sound like a compliment. ‘My own view of the world is a little more practical…perhaps realistic would be a better word,’ he added after a moment’s consideration.

‘I’m prepared to accept that some people do indeed get married because they’re in love, whatever that means,’ he went on, putting sneery quotation marks around the words, ‘but you’re a fool if you think it’s the only reason, or the only good reason. There are plenty of equally valid reasons to marry.’

‘Like what?’ she demanded, profoundly unconvinced.

‘Like security…stability…comfort…fear of loneliness…financial incentives…status…convenience…’

‘Oh, please!’ Mary rolled her eyes. ‘Marriages of convenience went out centuries ago!’

‘I disagree,’ said Tyler. ‘I think the idea of settling into a routine where you don’t have to think about making the effort to go out and impress someone new is very appealing for a lot of people. Knowing that there’s someone else to do the cooking and cleaning, or change the plug, or pick up the dry-cleaning, is a lot more convenient than having to think about everything for yourself. I imagine there are a lot more happy marriages based on comfort and convenience than on bodice-ripping passion.’

Mary opened her mouth to disagree, then thought about her mother’s second marriage. Her mother had been open about the fact that she was settling for comfort this time round, and she had been very happy with Bill. Until Bill had decided that comfort wasn’t enough, of course, but that was another story.

‘Perhaps,’ she allowed, ‘but I don’t see you as someone who’s short of comfort and security and all that stuff. You certainly don’t have any financial incentive to get married! So why get married unless you are in love?’

‘Because I’ve decided that’s what I want to do,’ said Tyler curtly. He didn’t have to explain himself to Mary Thomas. ‘You’re not concerned with the goal, only with how to achieve it.’

Mary shook her head. ‘I’m not concerned with any of it,’ she corrected him. ‘I’m sorry, but I can’t help you. You’re not talking about the kind of goals and strategies I want to be associated with.’

His brows drew together in the familiar frown at the flatness of her rejection. ‘I thought you were looking for work?’

‘Not that kind of work,’ she said. ‘Recruitment opportunities, yes.’

‘And if I tell Steven Halliday I don’t want your agency considered if any recruitment contracts come up?’

Mary’s eyes narrowed dangerously. ‘That’s blackmail!’ she said, and he shrugged.

‘That’s business. I want something from you, you want something for me. Why should I give you what you want if I don’t get what I want in return?’

‘That’s not business,’ said Mary, her voice shaking with fury. ‘I’m offering you an excellent service. If you choose to use that service, you pay me for what I do. That’s business.’

Tyler merely looked contemptuous. ‘That’s not the deal that’s on offer here.’

‘Then you can keep your deal! I may be desperate for work, but I’m not that desperate!’

‘Sure? The recruitment contract will be a lucrative one.’

‘I’m sure,’ said Mary distinctly. She took a firmer grip of her bag and got ready to leave. ‘You know, I’m not surprised that you have problems forming relationships if your first response to rejection is bullying and blackmail,’ she told him, too angry by now to care about alienating him, his company or the entire business community if it came to that.

‘What makes you think that I’d want to be involved in your pathetic strategies?’ she went on in a scathing tone. ‘I can think of better goals to work towards than seeing some poor woman trapped in a loveless marriage with someone so emotionally stunted! Frankly, the whole idea is offensive.’

A muscle was jumping furiously in Tyler’s jaw and there was a dangerously white look around his mouth. It was some satisfaction to know that he was as angry as she was.

‘I may be emotionally stunted, but I don’t need any lessons from you about business,’ he retorted. ‘I’ve got an extremely successful company,’ he said, pointing a finger at his chest, and then at her for emphasis. ‘You’ve got a piddling recruitment agency with no clients. Which of us do you think understands business better?’

He shook his head. ‘I would moderate your ambitions, if I were you, Ms Thomas. You’ll never get your agency off the ground if you’re going to get all emotional and upset about every opportunity that comes your way.’

‘I’ll take my chance,’ said Mary with a withering look. ‘You’re not the only employer in York, and if I’m going to be in business I’d rather deal with people who don’t resort to blackmail as a negotiating technique!’

She turned to leave, wishing the floor didn’t prevent her stalking off in her heels. ‘Now, if you’ll excuse me,’ she said, ‘I’ve wasted enough time tonight. My feet are killing me and I’m going home.’

‘How’s she been?’ Mary tiptoed over to the cot and rested a protective hand on her baby daughter’s small body, reassuring herself that she was still warm and breathing. She knew it was foolish, but she had to do it every time she went out, had to see Bea and touch her to reassure herself that she was all right.

She had asked her mother if she would ever get over the terror at the awesome responsibility of having this tiny, perfect, miraculous baby to look after, and her mother had laughed. ‘Of course you will,’ she had said. ‘When you die.’

‘She’s been fine,’ Virginia Travers said quietly from the doorway. ‘Not a peep out of her.’

Reluctantly, Mary left her sleeping daughter and hobbled downstairs, collapsing on to the sofa at last with a gusty sigh. ‘Thanks for looking after her, Mum,’ she said as she rubbed her poor feet.

‘It was no trouble,’ Virginia said, as she always did, which always made Mary feel even guiltier. ‘How did the reception go?’

Mary made a face. ‘Not good,’ she admitted. Disastrous might have been a more accurate reply, but she wanted to sound positive for her mother, who had enough to worry about at the moment.

Absently, she rubbed her arm where Tyler had grabbed her to stop her falling. It felt as if his fingers were imprinted on her flesh and it was almost a surprise to see that there were no marks there at all.

‘It was a waste of time, really,’ she told her mother.

‘Oh, dear.’ Virginia’s face fell. ‘It sounded such a good opportunity to make contacts too. There’s no chance of a contract with Watts Holdings?’

Mary thought about Tyler’s expression as she’d walked off. ‘Er, no,’ she said. ‘I don’t think that’s at all likely.’

‘Mary, what are you going to do?’

Her mother sounded really worried and Mary felt guilty about having blown her one chance to make an impression on Tyler Watts. At least, she had probably made an impression, but it wasn’t the right one.

‘Don’t worry, Mum, something will come up,’ she said, forcing herself to sound positive. ‘There are still one or two companies I haven’t approached yet, and I’ve placed a few temporary staff.’

All of whose contracts were up at the end of the next week.

Deciding to keep that little fact to herself, Mary found a smile of reassurance that she hoped would fool her mother, but when she looked closer she saw that Virginia was plucking nervously at the arm of the chair and avoiding her eye.

Mary straightened, suddenly alert. ‘Mum?’

‘Bill rang this evening,’ Virginia told her a little tremulously. ‘He wants to come home.’

‘Oh, Mum…’ Mary went over to sit on the arm of the chair and put her arm around her mother’s shoulders.

Virginia had been distraught when Bill had suddenly announced that he was leaving earlier that year. His decision had coincided with Mary’s unexpected pregnancy, and coming back to York to have the baby had seemed the obvious solution.

Mary had needed somewhere to live and Virginia had needed the company, and in many ways it had worked as planned. Thirty-five was really too old to be living with your mother, and the house was too small for the three of them, but they had been rubbing along all right. Mary had even begun to think that her mother might be ready to move on. She had served Bill with divorce papers only the week before.

‘What did you say?’ she asked Virginia gently.

‘I said I’d meet him tomorrow and we’d talk about it.’

Mary heard the wobble in her mother’s voice and hugged her tight. ‘You want him back, don’t you?’ she said, and Virginia’s eyes filled with tears as she nodded.

‘I know I ought to hate him after he hurt me like that, but I just miss him so much,’ she confessed.

‘Well, you need to talk about what happened, but you’re still married,’ Mary pointed out. ‘If you decide you want him back and he wants to come back, there’s no reason you shouldn’t just get on with being married again.’

‘He can’t come back yet,’ said Virginia, still a bit tearfully. ‘There isn’t any room for him now.’

‘Bea and I will move out. It’s time we were doing that anyway, and you certainly can’t sort things out with us around.’

‘But you can’t afford your own place,’ her mother objected.

‘I’ll work something out,’ said Mary confidently, giving her mother’s shoulders a final squeeze and getting to her feet. ‘Don’t worry about us, Mum. You concentrate on sorting out things with Bill and I’ll find somewhere to live.’

But where? Mary asked herself wearily as she started the long climb up the stairs to her office the next morning.

She liked her attic office in the city centre. Dating from the seventeenth century, the building had higgledy-piggledy rooms, sloping floors and dangerously low beams. It was charming but there were times, like now, when she had Bea on her hip and two bags to carry, that she wished for a few more modern amenities. Like a lift, for instance.

Plodding upwards, Mary made it to the first landing and hoisted Bea higher on to her hip as she pondered her accommodation problem. Her mother was happy for the first time in months, and if she and Bill had some space and some time on their own, Mary was sure that they could work things out.

If only Alan would release her money from the house, there wouldn’t be a problem. As it was, Mary was beginning to wonder if she would ever get her money back. She had put the savings that she had into renting this office and getting the agency off the ground, but the only way that she had been able to afford that was living with her mother. She couldn’t borrow while Alan was being so obstructive, and her income from the agency was sketchy, to say the least.

She had thought it was such a good idea to set up her own business when she moved back to York. It had seemed her best hope of generating an income while still giving her the flexibility to look after Bea herself, but perhaps she would have to think about applying for a job after all.

That wouldn’t solve her immediate problems, though. It would take too long for her mother and Bill and, anyway, she would have to find a job that earned enough to cover childcare costs. What she needed right now was some money to put down as a deposit on a flat and cover the first few months rent until she had some proper income from the agency but, short of robbing a bank, Mary couldn’t think where she was going to get it.

Her thoughts were still circling worriedly as she puffed up the last flight of steps and rounded the landing to stop dead when she saw who was waiting outside her office door.

‘Oh,’ she said. ‘It’s you.’

Her heart had lurched violently at the sight of him, leaving her breathless and a little shaken. Tyler Watts was the last person she had expected to see this morning.

He looked as grim as ever and his massive presence was overwhelming on the cramped landing. Mary was suddenly very conscious of the fact that her skirt was creased, her hair unwashed and she hadn’t even had time to put on any lipstick.

She had overslept after a broken night and had fallen into yesterday’s clothes as she hurried to get Bea ready for the day. Normally her mother would look after her, but Virginia was preoccupied with her coming meeting with Bill. Bea wasn’t sleeping well at the moment and Mary would have been exhausted even if she hadn’t had her own worries to keep her awake long after she had got the baby back to sleep.

She had spent half the night replaying that conversation with Tyler and wishing that she hadn’t lost her temper. His attempt at blackmail had been outrageous, of course, but it wasn’t as if he had been trying to force her into white slavery, was it? All he wanted was a bit of coaching.

Would a few tips on how to make a relationship work have been so hard to do? Mary asked herself. It was only what she would discuss over a bottle of wine with her girlfriends, after all. They were all relationship experts now. And, in return, she could have had an introduction to Steven Halliday and a chance at a contract that would save her agency.

But no, she had had to get all righteous and uppity because he unnerved her. The way he was unnerving her now.

‘What are you doing here?’ she demanded rudely.

Tyler was looking from her to Bea. ‘You’ve got a baby.’

‘My, he’s a quick one.’ Bea got very heavy after three flights of stairs and Mary shifted her to her other hip. ‘We can’t fool him, can we, Bea?’

‘Is she yours?’

‘She is, and before you ask, no, her father’s not around.’

Mary pulled her bag round and fished one-handedly for the key. Having already accused him of being a bully, a blackmailer and being emotionally stunted, it seemed a bit late to try sucking up to him, and she was too tired and fed up with her whole situation to make an effort any more.

‘What do you want?’

‘To see you,’ he said and then looked at his watch. It was half past nine. ‘Do you always start work this late?’ he asked disapprovingly. In Tyler’s world, everyone was at their desks at eight o’clock on the dot, and he was probably at his even earlier.

‘No, not always,’ said Mary, still searching for the key. ‘It’s been one of those mornings.’

Where was that key? She sucked in her breath with frustration. Of course, she hadn’t had time to transfer the contents to a different bag so she was still carrying the one that had broken so inopportunely last night, and the muddle at the bottom was even worse than usual. She had managed to knot the broken strap together, but it hardly made for a professional image.

Still, it was too late for that.

This was hopeless, thought Mary, rummaging fruitlessly. She glanced at Tyler, still waiting for her to open the door. Her unwelcoming greeting didn’t seem to have put him off, but then she guessed he was a man who didn’t go until he had said what he was going to say.

‘Look, would you mind holding her a moment?’ she said, handing Bea over to him before he had a chance to answer. ‘I’ll just find my key.’

Appalled, Tyler found himself holding the baby, his arms extended stiffly so that she dangled from his hands. He stared at her nervously and the baby stared back with round eyes that were exactly the same grey as her mother’s.

‘Ah…here it is.’ Mary produced the key from the depths of her bag and inserted it in the lock. She opened the door on to a room that was surprisingly light as the autumn sunshine poured through the two windows set into the sloping roof, and she waved a hand with a trace of sarcasm. ‘Come into my luxury penthouse,’ she said.

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