THE DREAM CHILD (4 page)

“Pah! Apparently only if your father’s the bloody boss! I’m not giving that man one iota of support. Besides, if even half of what Louise has been saying about him is true, he’s not going to want to hear anything I’ve got to say. He’ll want to do it
his
way. Just as well I have other irons in the fire, as the saying goes.”

“Well I wish you well, Amrita,” Sophie said truthfully. Being ambitions wasn’t a crime as far as she could see, but using your connections was, particularly if you didn’t have the experience to do the job. Should the latter be the case, the case officers were now in a mega-load of trouble. “I don’t think I like the sound of this guy any more than you do,” she said at last.

“Maybe you should start applying for other jobs too. You’ve been here a while.”

Longer than you realise, Sophie added mentally. Longer than most of you have even been here. She’d watched most of them leap-frog right over the top of her.

She left Amrita to finish moving, and headed to her own section. To her surprise Louise was already there.

“What happened? Did your bed catch fire?” Sophie asked as Louise glanced up at her.

“Hardi har har! No, the rain woke me up and I couldn’t get back to sleep. Probably a bit tense too, knowing what today is,” she replied.

“Yes, it’s everyone’s favourite day of the week, Monday, with sunny blue skies and tropical temperatures, somewhere in the world,” Sophie declared, as she dropped her soggy umbrella onto the floor and stashed her shoulder bag in the drawer.

“No, who’s his father?” Louise asked, her piggy little eyes widening. This woman loves intrigue, which made Sophie wonder why she’d left the Fraud Unit. It would have been right up her alley.

“Think of an ex-state director with the same surname,” Sophie suggested. She wasn’t going to make it easy for her.

Louise’s hands flew to her mouth. “You’re kidding me?”

“You’re slipping Louise,” Marie taunted. “Although why should that be such a big no no? My cousin works in this department, and I even know of two sisters who work in the same section.”

“But did your cousin help you get your job and every promotion thereafter? No wonder he got ahead so quick. I knew he couldn’t have done it off his own bat,” Louise said viciously.

“Why not?” Marie asked.

“Oh, you are so naïve,” Louise sniped.

“What’s all the noise about down here?” Jane cut in as she placed her bag down on her own desk. “I could hear you from half-way down the office.”

Nothing more was said as they settled down to begin work.

Sophie had been working on her data entry for about half an hour when she heard Marie remark; “Hey Louise, you never told me he was such a honey.”

“Who?” Louise asked, as Sophie also glanced up. Halfway down the office she saw Kevin and Amrita with a tall blonde man she could only see the back of.

“Who do you think? Your thorny man, Mr Rose.”

“If you like a cold, callous crook,” Louise snapped back.

“Did you tell him that to his face?” Marie had the gall to ask. Obviously her romantic weekend had gone to her head, because this was the first time she’d ever dared take Louise on.

Louise glared back at her. It made her look positively ugly, Sophie thought. She was certain Louise had been an attractive woman once, but her bad diet and bitterness had made her old before her time.

It was also obvious she hated Vic Rose with a passion.

Jane swung around to slant the three of them a dark look, compelling Louise and Marie to return their attention to their computer screens, but Sophie kept her gaze on the trio in the middle of the office, noticing that Amrita was actually smiling. But then she’d heard that Indians were good at covering up their feelings, showing only the face they wanted the world to see.

The blonde man still had his back to her, but she noticed he had nice broad shoulders and seemed to tower over the shorter Indian woman and the stocky, bald-headed Kevin Pope.

Then he turned around and all three of them began walking towards Sophie’s section as Kevin introduced various staff members to the newcomer along the way.

Sophie felt her stomach drop from a great height as she stared at Louise’s enemy and Amrita’s usurper, because he was also her blonde man of the night.

She knew beyond a doubt she’d never met Vic Rose before, so how she could have conjured up someone who looked just like him, had her cheeks burning and her heart beating erratically.

It just wasn’t possible!

It was insane!

But his face was the same; straight fair brows over intense blue eyes, a wide passionate mouth, and great bone structure. He even had the same layered hairstyle, longer at the back so it curled becomingly over his collar.

The only difference was that he was wearing a crisp white business shirt and tie. In her dreams, of course, he’d worn nothing at all.

As they came closer, Sophie ducked behind her monitor. She had to get her scrambled thoughts in order before she dared look up again, particularly as Kevin was now talking to Jane.

If Vic Rose ever got wind of what she’d been dreaming about him, Sophie was sure she’d be the laughing stock of the department. At that moment in time she so wanted to disappear into her computer screen it wasn’t funny.

“And this is the rest of the admin support team, Marie, Sophie and Louise, whom I gather you already know,” Kevin introduced them.

Sophie knew she was going to have to come out of hiding eventually, and slowly she peered around the edge of her monitor, but Vic didn’t even look at her, and totally ignored Louise. He probably thought them all beneath his management level radar. He kept his gaze levelled on Jane as she explained their role in the section.

Maybe he’d ousted Louise from the Fraud Unit because she’d been too busy ogling him to do any work. Sophie certainly couldn’t take her eyes off his striking profile as he stood there patiently listening to Jane. Even though she’d seen him totally naked, he looked just as dishy fully clothed, the perfect executive, and probably just as ruthless, if what Louise and Amrita said was true.

Jane stuck out her hand to welcome him, and he took it. As they shook, Vic glanced at Sophie.

Sophie ducked back behind her monitor. Phew, she breathed silently to herself, as he turned away again.

She hoped more than ever that she’d seen the last of those dreams, because if he really was as cold and callous as Louise believed, she definitely didn’t want any more sexy imaginary interludes with him.

And yet, as the morning wore on, she couldn’t help wondering how such a crazy anomaly could have come about. Since they’d never said a single word to one anther in her dreams, she supposed she’d probably never really know what it had all meant.

At around ten thirty, she got up to make herself a cup of coffee. Kevin, Amrita and Vic, she noticed were in the conference room.

By lunch time, he was at his desk, previously Amrita’s, probably settling in. Everyone in the admin team had to walk past it on their way out, so Sophie kept her head down and made it to the lifts without him even looking up.

As she headed to her favourite eatery she still felt uncomfortable and squeamish. She didn’t particularly feel like eating anything so she bought a plain cheese and salad sandwich and a drink, which she took back to the tea room with her.

She found Marie sitting at one of the tables, reading a romance book with a muscle bound gladiator on the cover. He was brandishing a massive broad sword, and a scantly clad damsel clung weakly to his other arm.

“I’d have thought now that you found the real thing you wouldn’t need to read those any more,” Sophie remarked as she sat down opposite her colleague.

Jim, one of the case officers, was a confirmed bachelor in his early fifties who still lived with his mother. He merely snorted in response, returning his attention to
The Financial Review
in front of him.

Just then the door swung open and Vic Rose strode in. He didn’t even glance around as he headed straight for the kitchen bench where he opened the microwave oven and stuck a container of food inside.

The dark-haired woman had dropped her gaze, now refusing to look at him, and Victor took a deep shuddering breath, gripping hold of the bench top. How the Hell could she possibly be
here
, when she was meant to be a figment of his imagination?

He must have imagined it, certain that when he turned around, an entirely different woman would be sitting there.

That had to be it. All those years on his own were taking their toll, telling him to do something about it, like get laid for goodness sake. Why else would he have dreamed her up in the first place?

The microwave pinged, which gave him a moment’s reprieve to do something with his hands. He grabbed hold of the container, and swore again.

Jim’s words had come painfully true. He’d overheated his lunch.

His first day was turning into a major disaster. Grabbing a convenient tea-towel to wrap around the container, Victor quickly left the room with it, not daring to meet anyone’s gaze again. He took it into the conference room, letting the door slam shut behind him.

The woman (was it Sophie or Marie) didn’t look like she had any idea what had been going through his mind, and Victor had to ensure it stayed that way. If she ever found out what kind of fantasies he’d been spinning around her, she was bound to call the cops, or more aptly, the men in white coats.

He shook his head again. None of it made any sense. He’d never seen her before in his life, although if he had, he certainly would have looked twice.

Even though she was wearing a plain work blouse buttoned all the way up to her neck, the way she filled it out reminded him all too clearly of the beautiful soft breasts he’d cupped tenderly in his hands. He felt his body stir at the mere memory of it.

Her sweet face was even more beautiful in real life, probably because she was wearing make-up, and her lovely flowing hair was held back by a pretty beaded clip that matched her necklace and earrings.

Oh get a grip man, since when have you had this kind of reaction to a woman, let alone a work colleague? Victor had kept everyone he worked with at an arm’s length, not wanting to run the risk of getting too close to someone and then having to pay the price he’d paid with Amanda.

He’d met her through work too. She’d been one of the secretaries at the school where he taught. Back then Victor had been quite happy to date just about any woman who showed an interest in him, as long as she wasn’t one of his students.

But something about Amanda had turned him into a one woman man. He still wasn’t sure what exactly drew him to her. She hadn’t been the most beautiful woman he’d ever dated, but she’d been so gentle, calm, and giving… or so he’d thought.

If there had been any sign that she would suddenly get cold feet, he’d never seen it. She’d remained the same loving woman right up until their wedding day.

Victor never knew he could feel such deep emotion for anyone, so when she broke his heart in such a public and humiliating way, he suffered just as deeply. After six long years, he doubted he could ever fall in love again.

How could he even look at Sophie again? Yes, he was sure her name was Sophie. He’d already ignored the admin team to the point of rudeness, on account of Louise.

Finding her here had been his first rude shock of the day. Knowing what she thought of the department, he would have thought she’d have resigned long ago. She must obviously need the money, or been unable to find anything else, the only reason he could think of why she was still here.

She’d been a major thorn in his side in the Fraud Unit, taking her time with every case, so that the other members of the team he was supervising were carrying her workload as well as their own.

At first he’d thought her thoroughness and attention to detail a good thing, and it would have stood her in good stead to become an investigator, but she hadn’t been hired for that role. Her job had been to take allegations of fraud, record them and prepare them for the investigators, but she wanted to make all further inquiries herself, taking on duties which weren’t hers to assume.

Being her supervisor, it was up to Victor to set her straight and to get her to do the job she was paid for, particularly when other staff began complaining that she’d been on a phone call for an hour, or dealing with one case for the entire day.