Deceptive Love (6 page)

"Take your glasses off, Miss Dalton." The order was fiat and expected obedience.

Keri's startled eyes flashed to the hard face that watched her so intently, her own face unguarded momentarily and as shocked as if he'd ordered her to strip naked. Then her own defenses reasserted themselves and she sur
veyed
him coolly.

"Why?" She questioned both his motives and his authority bluntly.

His face darkened. He wasn't used to being questioned. He lifted his hand swiftly, and before Keri had a chance to jerk her head away, he pulled the glasses off her nose. He held them up and looked through the lenses, his mouth curling in a smile that held little amusement. He tossed them contemptuously onto the table between them, and they slid to a stop against the salt shaker. Keri's hand twitched as though to grab them, but with an effort of will she refrained from doing so. She looked at Dain with a perfectly composed face, lips thinned and prim.

"Stop looking like an outraged old-maid schoolteacher, Miss Dalton," Dain advised her with asperity. "Those spectacles you've been cowering behind are nothing but pure glass. You don't need them at all."

"No, I don't," Keri admitted serenely. "I have perfect vision." Now she took another bite of her salad, chewed it reflectively, swallowed, and began to eat steadily with outward composure.

"You're certainly a cool one," Dain
said with unwilling admiration.

Keri could have told him that inwardly she was quaking like an aspen leaf in a high wind, but she managed to continue eating steadily. Each bite scraped down a throat that threatened to close tightly from tension, but no sign of her inward agitation appeared on her smooth face.

Dain let it rest as they were served with the main course, but as soon as the servant had departed to the kitchen regions, he returned to the attack. "Why the charade, Miss Dalton? You could be an attractive woman, but you choose to masquerade as a fusty old maid."

With a sigh of resignation Keri finished the bit of quiche she had been eating and put down her fork. "I prefer to keep my business and private lives separate, Mr. Randolph. I found that impossible when I appear at work in my normal guise." She continued with a defensive tone. "I am sorry if that sounds conceited or vain, but believe me, it is merely the statement of a painfully learned fact." She picked up her fork and resumed her meal.

"Tha
t’
s why the varied employment history?" he questioned perceptively.

"That's why."

Dain made no direct comment for a long moment, seeming to reflect on her words, and then he attacked directly. "I am giving a reception for the gentlemen of the conference tomorrow night. You will be there to act as my hostess and you will, by then, have shed this pose and be dressed in your normal style."

"And if I refuse?" Keri's green eyes glittered furiously.

Dain's face took on frighteningly ruthless lines and he spoke with menacing softness, "You will not refuse, Miss Dalton. You will carry out the duties required of you as one of my confidential secretaries, as I direct you."

Keri was defeated and they both knew it. The choice was most clearly laid out before her. If she wished to keep her job, she would do so on Dain Randolph's terms, no
other way. Somehow he knew her for what she was, and once he had pierced her masquerade, it was useless to her.

"Very well, sir," she admitted herself bested. "Shall I handle the arrangements for the reception?"

"No, Miss Barth has them well in hand. She will brief you on them tomorrow morning." He smiled slightly to himself. "She has also been informed that you are to act as hostess because of your linguistic abilities."

Keri's lips twitched irrepressibly and for a brief instant a current of humor ran between them. Miss Barth was not going to be pleased by Keri's transformation from ugly duckling to svelte swan and they both knew it. Keri's amusement was short-lived, however, for she knew all too well what problems coping with a jealous co-worker could present, and she was sadly familiar with the Miss Barths of the world. She had no desire to engage in a struggle for power, but Miss Barth was going to see it as a direct threat when Keri unexpectedly and dramatically blossomed into a tiger lily. Keri sighed wistfully. Life had been so pleasant for the three months as Mr. Simonds's secretary. Now those months resembled the eye of a hurricane, and the winds of conflict and destructive force were rising once again around her. Schyler had been a tempest in a teapot. Dain Randolph was like a devastating typhoon.

She refused dessert, picked up her glasses, and replaced them firmly upon her nose. Dain scowled horribly, but Keri looked right back at him with calm determination. Tomorrow night would be soon enough for her transformation and she had no intention of going back to that conference room different from how she had left it, especially after a luncheon a deux with her boss. Prim she came in, prim she would go back out!

"Is
this
your apartment?" she questioned him, looking for a subject to fill the time while he ate the fruit he had chosen as a finish to his meal. She didn't for a minute think it was, because the whole apartment had the slightly sterile air of a first-class hotel, but she had no desire to sit in intimate silence with him. So she made aimless conversation. She wasn't exactly
nervous
, but she was a long way from being at ease in his presence.

From the sardonic gleam in his eyes she knew he was fully aware of her disquiet, but he played the game by his own particular rules and answered her civilly enough. "In a manner of speaking, it is. This building belongs to RanCo and we keep this apartment for the convenience of visiting dignitaries and for the times when entertaining on a smaller scale is desirable."

There was not the slightest hint of an innuendo in his tone, but Keri knew he was laughing silently. He was totally at ease as he lounged in his chair, finishing his succulent peach.
Well, why shouldn't he be,
she thought crossly.
He's certainly had everything his way, and
I
'm
feeling a perfect fool.

Somehow she endured the rest of the tete-a-tete and the afternoon that followed. By firmly cramming the speculations and what-do-I-do-nows down below the level of conscious worry, she managed to maintain her morning level of efficiency, but the effort left her feeling drained and limp by the time the conference concluded.

Fortunately Dain was engrossed in paper work during the drive back to her apartment and she was left in peace, ostensibly to review and plan the transcription of her notes. She began to extract a precis of the salient points of discussion plus position statements for each of the participants in the conference. Dain had not requested it, but it was standard practice as far as Keri was concerned.

She was determined she'd also have the verbatim transcription ready to lay on his desk first thing tomorrow. She knew he expected her to spend the morning on the transcription, but it was a point of honor to have it ready at his hand when he sat down, even if it meant she was up half the night.

She'd show
him she was an executive secre
tary, not just a pretty face! Keri took a composed departure from Dain in front of her building, smiling warmly at the
c
hauffeur as he helped her from the car, and causing him to take another look at the plain Miss Dalton. That smile really
had
something! Dain caught the fringe of the smile
as it rayed over the chauffeur
and his
mouth
quirked in sardonic amusement.

No smiles for me, eh, girl? Well, we'll see about that, won't we?

It didn't take half the night to complete the transcription, but Keri was glad to rip the last sheet of paper out of her portable electric typewriter. She stacked the sheaf of papers neatly and debated whether to pour herself a final cup of coffee. A glance at the clock decided her, and she emptied the rest of the liquid in the percolator down the sink drain. She had a feeling that she was going to need a good night's sleep!

She'd made a sketchy meal when she got home, but had been too eager to get started on the evening's work to do more than open a few cans and improvise with dabs of leftovers. Now, with the impetus gone, her stomach announced its presence with a gentle reminder. Placating it with a bologna and cheese sandwich, she finished proofreading her evening's output, and well satisfied, went to bed to sleep the undisturbed sleep of the just.

The next morning, moved by a perhaps foolhardy desire to impress upon Dain Randolph that he couldn't dictate totally to her, and the equal desire to avoid conflict for as long as possible with the possessive Miss Barth, Keri decided to delay her emergence from chrysalis until the evening reception. She chose a mud-brown tailored suit, teamed it with just the wrong shade of yellow blouse, and scraped her hair back into a bun for the last time.

Defiantly she splashed on Charme, jammed her glasses on her nose, and almost sneered at her mirror.
"Nos morituri te salutamus,"
she said aloud to her unresponsive image and left the apartment.

She was deliberately early and slipped into Dain's office well before he was due to arrive. She laid the completed pile of transcriptions, plus her other additions, squarely in the middle of his desk. Since neither Miss Barth nor Mrs. Covey had made an appearance, Keri decided to fortify herself with a cup of the surprisingly excellent coffee dispensed by the small canteen on the executive floor,

She was leaning casually against the counter, chatting to the young girl who ran the canteen, when the widening eyes and faltering words of her companion alerted her. Her head swiveled slowly, looking over her left shoulder. Dain Randolph loomed behind her and with a slightly sinking heart Keri straightened.

"Good morning, Mr. Randolph," she said politely and waited.

"Come to my office, Miss Dalton," he ordered peremptorily and strode off down the corridor.

Keri stood looking after him for a moment, wondering if her spurt of defiance was going to be such a good idea after all His obvious fury was quelling. The young girl gave her a sympathetic smile as she accepted Keri's cup
,
but to Keri it held strong elements of pity, and she could feel the girl's gaze following her progress clown the corridor. More juice for the grapevine, she thought wryly.

Before she went into Dain's office, she dashed into her own and snatched up a dictation pad and a pencil. With them and what she devoutly hoped was an impervious, deadpan expression, she opened the door and went in. He was standing behind his desk, still wearing the same forbidding expression with which he had surveyed her at the canteen.

He went right to the attack. "I expect obedience from my secretaries, Miss Dai ton," he rasped.

She didn't pretend to misunderstand him. "I shall be suitably dressed for the reception this evening, Mr. Randolph," she assured him stiffly, not giving an inch.

Something black and dangerous flared deep in the back of his eyes and she covertly watched a small muscle jump along the hard bone of his jaw line. She met his eyes steadily, but only she knew the effort it cost her. Suddenly she knew that this man could be utterly ruthless. The Van Metres might have been descended from a pirate, but this man would be his modern-day counterpart. There was a natural air of command and inflexibility of purpose emanating from him in an aura so tangible she could almost see rather than sense it.

He had meant, had expected, to see her dressed normally at the office this morning and her failure to do so had, for some reason, disproportionately angered him. She wouldn't have thought him an unreasoning autocrat, but unless she were to think that her failure to appear in her normal guise had disappointed him, that he was eager to see what she really looked like, she could only conclude that he expected every order to be immediately carried out.

With the inspiration born of desperation she gestured at the papers she had left on his desk earlier. His eyes dropped to follow her motion, but before she could say something, a most welcome interruption occurred. Miss Barth, glancing through the doorway, noticed that Keri was in seemingly intimate conversation with Mr. Randolph and some instinctive, territorial reaction brought her bustling in with the morning mail.

Keri relaxed in relief. Dain glared at the unfortunate Miss Barth, who stuttered in dismayed explanation. "I
...
I thought you'd like your morning mail, Mr. Randolph. M-may I bring you a cup of coffee?"

Seizing the chance with both hands, Keri murmured, "I'll get to my own work, Mr. Randolph," and exited with graceful haste.

The rest of the day was strained. A resentful Miss Barth gave Keri a briefing on the reception arrangements and Keri caught the other woman studying her closely several times with a suspicious intensity. Keri did nothing but look blandly back at her every time their eyes met, but she knew, with a sinking heart, that when she came to work j on Monday, Miss Barth was not going to be pleased. She might already have suspicions, but the reality of Keri's natural appearance was not going to come as a pleasant surprise to her co-worker. Keri was refusing to think just what it was going to be to Mr. Dain Randolph.

Mrs. Covey seemed oblivious to the cross- and under-1 currents that swirled within the office suite. She typed and filed with all of her usual phlegm, but she accepted Keri's overture for lunch with flattering alacrity; Keri didn't deceive herself that it was solely for the pleasure of her company. Mrs. Covey might not be in competition for Mr. Randolph's attentions, but she had all the normal curiosities of her sex and she had tried more than once to genteelly pump Keri. Keri had equally genteelly remained unpumpable.

Unfortunately, the old order changeth and Keri wasn't going to be able to remain aloof if she planned to continue working at RanCo much longer. She was going to have to tap the office grapevine for information and Mrs. Covey was sure to prove a convenient as well as fruitful source.

They chose a small nearby restaurant because Keri felt the need to escape totally from the environs of RanCo for even so short a time as the lunch break. Miss Barth had smugly informed her fellow secretaries that she and Mr. Randolph would be sharing a working lunch. Keri silently wished her the best of luck with what the other secretary obviously saw as a heaven-sent opportunity.

While Keri was pouring oil and vinegar over her chefs salad, and wondering how to find out what she wanted to know with as much subtlety as was possible in the circumstances, Mrs. Covey obligingly saved her the trouble. She flew to the subject of Dain Randolph like a homing pigeon to its favorite roost.

"Isn't Mr. Randolph an interesting man?" she enthused.

"Mmm, yes, he is," Keri agreed warily, and speared a lettuce leaf.

Agreement seemed to be the only spur Mrs. Covey needed because the river of her confidences reached flood proportions immediately. Keri was rapidly brought up-to- date on the fact that Mrs. Covey had worked for Dain's father until sudden ill health had forced his involuntary surrender of the reins to Dain when that young man was barely out of college, where evidently few academic and social honors had escaped him.