Dark Encounter

  Dark Encounter

  By

  Susanna Firth

  Contents

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  DARK ENCOUNTER

  'For the salary you're offering I'd work for the devil himself,' Kate Sherwood had told Nicholas Blake when she took the job as his secretary. She had left her previous job because she had made the mistake of falling in love with her boss, Jeremy Edwards, with unhappy results. Her words to Nicholas turned out to be rash ones—because she soon found herself in deep waters—in love with her new boss and with no prospect of ever having her feelings returned. And then Jeremy turned up again to complicate things still further…

  ISBN 1-84262-167-X pbk

  First published in Great Britain in 1979

  by Mills & Boon Limited

  Copyright © Susanna Firth 1979

  Cover illustration © Ben Turner by arrangement with P.W.A. International Ltd.

  Published in Large Print 2002 by arrangement with Susanna Firth

  CHAPTER ONE

  'I really don't think there's anything else I can tell you about the job, Helen.' Kate gave the girl by her side what she hoped was an encouraging smile. 'But you've probably got lots of questions to ask?'

  'Not about the office layout or the work, Miss Sherwood. You've really explained it all very thoroughly, thanks. What I would like to know more about is—'

  'Yes?' Kate prompted as the other girl hesitated.

  'Mr Edwards. What's he like? Did you find him easy to work for?'

  Kate tried desperately to find a noncommittal answer. What would Helen, fresh from secretarial college and overwhelmed at her luck in landing such a good job, think, if Kate told her, 'Mr Edwards is fine to work for, but don't make a fool of yourself by falling in love with him the way I did.'

  'Mr Edwards is a very considerate employer,' she said stiffly at last. 'I don't think you'll find you have any problems in dealing with him.'

  'I saw the pictures of his wedding in one of the newspapers,' Helen ventured. 'He's very good-looking. I bet he's broken a few hearts in his time.'

  Including mine, Kate thought bitterly. She ignored the comment. She no doubt seemed unfriendly by her refusal to discuss the matter, but she was past caring what people thought of her at the moment. Time enough for Jeremy's new secretary to get to know him when his present secretary had left the scene.

  After she had shown Helen to the door Kate wandered back to her desk and began to clear the drawers of her personal belongings. Would a sensible person be acting the way she was behaving now, throwing up a good job and running off in an attempt to hide her bruised feelings? But Kate had had her fill of being sensible. 'Little Miss Prudence' Jeremy had nicknamed her, when she had queried some of his riskier business ventures. Jeremy, who had nevertheless coupled with his recklessness a financial acumen which had carried him safely through many a sticky situation. Jeremy, the man she had hoped to marry.

  Kate had worked as personal secretary to Jeremy Edwards for two years. With him she had shared the setbacks as well as the triumphs as, with ruthless determination, he had guided his inheritance, the family engineering firm, from near bankruptcy to the profitable position it now occupied. Looking back, Kate realised that it had been quite inevitable that she should love him. His blond good looks combined with his will to succeed and his personal charm of manner to attract every woman he encountered. Yet, incredibly, he had chosen Kate.

  It had begun one evening, when, as a reward for the hours of overtime Kate had worked to retype an urgent contract, Jeremy had taken her out to dinner. It was a pleasant meal, for, although Jeremy spent most of it outlining his plans for boosting foreign exports, it seemed that for the first time he was noticing her as a person rather than as an efficient machine which ran his office smoothly, fended off awkward telephone calls and supplied him with endless cups of black coffee.

  'You're sweet to bother with all my problems, Kate,' he told her with a smile. 'You spend all the hours of the day looking after me and my affairs and now you've let me bore you all evening with my plans for the business. Why didn't you tell me to shut up?' Kate laughed. 'I'm not most girls,' she said calmly. 'I don't find it boring to listen to your ideas for the development of the firm. Besides, I couldn't stay detached from my work, I enjoy it too much.'

  'Your friends must think you've got a real slave-driver for a boss, the way you nearly live at the office. I'll make it my New Year's resolution not to work you so hard.'

  Kate laughed at the idea of him managing without her efforts. She knew that her flatmate, Jane, thought she was mad to stay late at the office practically every night. Jane was a strict nine-to-five girl, leaving her office every day with a sigh of relief and rejoicing in a hectic social life which took her out most evenings and week-ends. Although she was aware of Kate's devotion to Jeremy, Jane made it clear that she considered it a waste of time.

  'You ought to be out enjoying yourself, not slaving over a typewriter for a man who barely notices you,' she told Kate firmly. 'Show him there are more important things in life than the interests of Edwards Engineering. Can't you see that he just takes you for granted? He's using you, playing on your loyalty to him and the firm to squeeze more work out of you. I'll bet he never pays you overtime for all the extra work you put in on his behalf.'

  'Jeremy's not like that,' Kate defended him angrily. 'You don't know him.'

  'I've met his type a thousand times before,' Jane said. 'You've not a hope in heaven of attracting his attention, so why not give up now before you get hurt?'

  But, sound though the advice might have been, Kate ignored it. What had started out as merely a pleasant working relationship had become more important to her and now filled her life completely. She was the only person to whom Jeremy confided his hopes and fears for the future. Was she wrong to hope that some day he might see her as something more than just his ever reliable secretary?

  As the months passed it seemed that Kate's patience was rewarded. Jeremy took her out regularly, often to the theatre, occasionally to a concert or to the ballet. At week-ends, office crises permitting, they drove out of London in Jeremy's car, exploring country villages and eating at quiet inns away from the bustle and noise of the city. She knew that Jeremy enjoyed the time they spent together. 'You're so relaxing, Kate,' he said happily once. 'The one person in the world that I can always rely on completely to look after me. I don't know where I'd be without you.'

  Yet, when he finally asked her to marry him, Kate was taken completely by surprise. They had worked late at the office and, as usual, he had driven her home. As the car had drawn up outside the block of flats where Kate lived she had turned to thank him. It had been a shock—albeit a pleasant one—when Jeremy had taken her in his arms and kissed her passionately. 'It won't always be nothing but work in our lives, Kate,' he vowed to her. 'Some day there'll be time for other things, time for us to enjoy ourselves. Will you take a chance on marrying me?'

  Not the most romantic of proposals of marriage, Kate thought to herself when later, much later, Jeremy had driven away and she let herself into the flat. As usual Jane was out with one of her many friends and Kate sat alone marvelling at the knowledge that Jeremy loved her and wanted to marry her.

  When she returned Jane was stunned by the news and refused to believe it at first. 'Goodness, he's going to some lengths to keep a good secretary!' was her amazed reaction. Then, seeing Kate's crestfallen face, she had made a joke of her surprise and offered her congratulations. 'I hope you'll be
very happy. When's the engagement party, then?'

  Kate explained that nothing was to be said for the moment. Jeremy was about to embark on negotiations for a merger with another firm and his time for the next weeks would be completely taken up with it. They were postponing the news until there was time for a breathing space. Then they would choose a ring together.

  'Well, if anyone's fitted to be a businessman's wife, it's you,' Jane commented. 'I can't think of anyone else I know that would happily postpone announcing their engagement because of a business deal. I hope Jeremy realises what a treasure he's getting.'

  The next few weeks were a nightmare of activity for everyone at Edwards Engineering. The proposed merger with a big electrical group, Markham International, occupied all Jeremy's time. Business advisers and accountants took up more and more of his office hours and Kate saw him only briefly as he rattled off answers to vital correspondence and disappeared into the boardroom again almost immediately. Those who were well up in office gossip lost no opportunity of letting her know that the negotiations that Jeremy was conducting involved not only Sir Geoffrey Markham, but also his beautiful daughter Felicity. Kate ignored the rumours and believed Jeremy when he made excuses for not seeing her outside the office.

  'Another cocktail party with the Mark-hams,' he would explain to her cheerfully. 'I don't want to go, darling. You know I'd rather be with you. I'm sorry that it's so vital for me to meet all these business associates of Sir Geoffrey, but you of all people should understand how important it is for me to keep old man Markham happy at this stage in the deal.'

  Had it also been important for the merger, Kate wondered, to marry 'old man' Mark-ham's daughter in a brief register office ceremony only a month after Jeremy had promised all his love for her? Kate winced at the recollection. He had not even attempted to explain or apologise. He had merely left her a briefly worded note, indicating that he and Felicity would be away on their honey-moon and that he would be returning to the office in a fortnight's time. It had been impersonal, an office communication between a boss and his very efficient secretary with no indication of what they had ever meant to each other.

  Kate reeled under the shock, but somehow carried on with her work that morning. Jeremy was returning in a fortnight, but she certainly didn't intend to be waiting for him, smiling her forgiveness, when he arrived. A week's notice was all that her contract required and she handed in her resignation to one of Jeremy's co-directors the same afternoon.

  Surprisingly, beyond asking if she would be willing to interview and select a suitable replacement for herself, he raised no objections or tried to make her change her mind. Perhaps, Kate surmised, he realised that she had been in love with Jeremy. It was a classic case, she supposed, that of the young secretary falling for her attractive employer. What nobody had known was that Jeremy had professed to return that love. 'Pressure of work' had prevented him from buying her a ring. 'I'm frantically busy now the deal's completed. We'll choose a ring together when the pressure's off,' he told her, and she had been happy to wait, what a naive fool she had been! Business expediency would always come before all else with Jeremy and she did not doubt whatever Felicity Markham's attractions, her greatest asset for Jeremy was her father's electrical company.

  Perhaps she should have stayed on at the office, Kate wondered, as she stowed her belongings in her bag, took a last glance round the office to check that she had left nothing behind and set off for her flat. Perhaps instead of leaving she should have confronted Jeremy on his return. And said—what? What was done couldn't be undone and Kate was not the sort of girl to try to break up a marriage, even if the opportunity came her way. As she told Jane, admitting defeat, 'I'd have no chance against the beautiful Felicity.'

  'Well, they say gentlemen prefer blondes,' her friend replied, glancing at the newspaper photographs of the happy couple. 'She looks a bit like a china doll with that round, pale face and those baby curls. Brought out the protective instinct in him, I suppose. He can look after her and her father's firm at the same time.' She saw the look of misery on Kate's face and tossed the paper aside, making an effort to distract her. 'What are you going to do, Kate? Jobs don't grow on trees nowadays, you know, and it may be a while before you find something else.'

  'I know frenzied activity is the usual recommendation when you're unlucky in love,' Kate answered in an attempt to sound flippant, 'but I've had enough of office life at the moment. Even the thought of trudging round looking for another job depresses me.'

  'Take a holiday,' Jane suggested. 'You never did get away in the summer when you meant to have a break. Your precious Jeremy wouldn't let you go, if you remember?'

  Kate sprang automatically to his defence. 'We were frantically busy in July and Jeremy thought it would be better if I postponed my holiday—'

  'And like a fool you agreed with him!' Jane said tartly. 'There's nothing to stop you having a holiday now. A break to get away from it all, although,' she peered dismally out at the rain trickling down the windows of the flat, 'November's not really the month for a holiday, is it? You could go abroad, I suppose, if you liked? Somewhere warm and sunny would be nice at this time of year, even if you are on your own. It's a pity I can't wangle any more holiday out of my boss or I'd offer to join you.'

  'I think I'd be pretty poor company at the moment, Jane, but thanks all the same.' Kate pondered the problem. 'I'd prefer to stay in England. For one thing I don't know how long my savings will have to last me before I find another job, and trips abroad are expensive just at the moment.'

  'You could always go home. Your parents are always glad to see you,' said Jane. 'You were saying not long ago that they complained that they hardly saw anything of you these days.'

  'Yes, I could go home. But I'd be faced with all sorts of questions about why I left Edwards Engineering. They'd understand, of course, but they'd sympathise and try to comfort me, and I couldn't face going over it all again, Jane. I want to go somewhere where I can sort myself out and try to get over it all. Where nobody knows about what happened and—' Kate broke off as a sudden thought struck her. 'Of course—Aunt Meg! I should have thought of her before.'

  'You've never mentioned your aunt to me. Where does she live?' Jane asked.

  'She's not really my aunt, just an old friend of my mother. She and her husband were neighbours of ours at one time. They were always dreaming about a cottage in the country. They managed to buy a place in one of those tiny Cotswold villages that all the tourists flock to in the summer. In fact, they retired there. Uncle Walter died not long after the move and I think Aunt Meg's found it a bit too quiet for her. In the summer she takes in visitors, as much for the company as the money they bring in, I imagine, but I gather it's very different in the winter months with no one new to talk to for weeks on end sometimes. At least that's the picture we get from the letters she sends to my mother. I haven't had time to go down there and see her, although she's always said I'd be very welcome any time I cared to go and stay.'

  'But, Kate, what on earth will you find to do in a Cotswold village in the middle of winter?' Jane protested.

  'The break will do me good. Lots of fresh air and exercise is probably exactly what I need at the moment. I'll write to Aunt Meg tonight.'

  'Fresh air and exercise! You'll be dead from boredom within a week!'

  And Aunt Meg, although pleased at the prospect of seeing Kate for an extended stay, made it clear that she felt much the same way. 'Life here in Westford may seem rather quiet after the bright lights,' her letter ran. 'We have to make our own amusements out here in what you would probably regard as the back of beyond. However, I shall be delighted to see you again.'

  She expressed no surprise at Kate's sudden desire to take a holiday in the country in the middle of November and merely enclosed directions for reaching the village. Kate waved the letter at her friend, feeling almost cheerful for the first time since the news of Jeremy's defection.

  'Everything settled?'

  'Yes.
I can stay with Aunt Meg for as long as I like. She says she'll be glad of the company. Business really tails off in the autumn and is non-existent in the winter. Apparently it's the time when she recharges her batteries ready for next year's onslaught, or so she says.'

  Jane was still dubious as she sat on the end of Kate's bed that evening and watched her friend pack for her holiday. Even at the last minute she was ready to talk Kate out of the idea. 'It's no use talking any more about it, Jane,' Kate said firmly. 'My mind's made up.'

  'Hibernating in the country isn't my idea of fun. Still, if it makes you any happier and gets Jeremy Edwards out of your system, I suppose I ought to be all for it.' Jane grinned at Kate. 'You never know your luck. You might meet some absolutely marvellous man in the middle of nowhere and fall madly in love with him. They say the surest way to forget one man is to fall for another.'

  Kate closed the lid of her suitcase with a bang and snapped the locks shut. 'There's no danger of that happening. I may be a fool, but I'm not stupid enough to make the same mistake twice.' She laughed bitterly. 'Thanks to Jeremy I've learnt my lesson. In future I'm steering clear of men, marvellous or otherwise.'

  Despite the grey skies and chill in the air Kate felt almost lighthearted as she set off next day for Westford. The battered Mini she drove had both amused and irritated Jeremy, who was always telling her to trade it in for something better.

  'It's perfectly all right,' she told him laughingly. 'Stop worrying. It gets me from A to B, which is all that's necessary. I've no claim to be stylish.'

  'When we're married,' Jeremy threatened, 'it's going on the scrap heap and you'll get something classier or I'll know the reason why. Can't have the boss's wife driving around in a load of rubbish like this. It's practically an antique.'

  There wouldn't be any more arguments about that, Kate thought, as a heavy drive of sleet across the windscreen recalled her wandering attention to the task in hand. Since lunchtime, when she had stopped the car outside Abingdon to eat a few sandwiches and pour herself a cup of coffee from the flask she had brought with her, she had noticed gathering storm clouds ahead of her and had passed on hurriedly, regretting her decision to avoid major roads and take her time over the journey, while enjoying the countryside. She should have realised that the lanes which attracted so many tourists in the summer months presented a very bleak picture at this time of year.