THE DREAM CHILD (6 page)

“I’m fine,” she retorted and started to walk away.

“Don’t you want to know where you will be sitting?” he called after her.

She turned and he motioned to Amrita’s old desk, two back from his. For a moment she’d feared he might have placed her next to him, but anywhere she could still see him was too close for her liking.

The way he kept smiling at her reminded her all too much of her dreams, which she’d almost managed to quash during her three weeks away.

Now they were back, swimming in the forefront of her mind, reminding her that she’d never share that kind of intimacy with him in real life. Not that she wanted to, she reminded herself. No matter how good he looked, and how pleasant he could be, he was her boss, and one
never
got involved with the boss. She was also pretty certain he wouldn’t be interested in her anyway. Men who looked like him would undoubtedly prefer tall, leggy blondes in their twenties, women like Marie.

Marie and Louise were already there when Sophie arrived at her desk. Both women looked up on seeing her. Marie smiled and said hello, but Louise merely returned her attention to whatever she found so fascinating on her computer screen. Oh oh, Sophie thought, my temporary promotion has already put someone’s nose out of joint. Probably because, as Jane had said, Louise now had more work to do.

“Any news since I’ve been away?” Sophie asked as she sat down in her chair. She wasn’t moving anywhere until she’d spoken to Jane.

“Not much other than we’ve been very busy,” Marie replied. “Jane hasn’t found a replacement for you yet, but hopefully someone will be starting next week.”

“That’s if I go,” Sophie replied.

“You’d be mad not to. Take the opportunity. Besides, the scenery is definitely better over there, if you know what I mean,” She winked at Sophie. “Tall, blonde and handsome.”

“What happened to tall, dark
and
Greek? Or is it off already?”

“No, we’re still dating, but I can still look, can’t I?”

“Yes, look but don’t touch,” Sophie warned.

“Anyway, Jane won’t be in today, so you might as well take you stuff over there and settle in. He’s got a desk organised and everything.”

Sophie soon found concentrating on what Geoff was saying kept the queasiness at bay, but by lunch time, she really was quite nauseous, so when Geoff announced that he was starving, she told him to go right ahead. The last thing Sophie felt like doing was eating anything.

After he’d left, Sophie was sitting at her desk, trying to read up on some of the relevant legislation, when a shadow fell over her. She glanced up to see Vic leaning on the table, his hands placed palm down on either side of the pile of applications she and Geoff had been working on. He was wearing his black leather hit-man coat again, looking too damn sexy to resist.

“I thought I heard Geoff say it was lunch time,” he said.

“I’m not hungry,” she replied, glancing back down. She really was having trouble coping with the sight of his sexy pose, legs planted wide, tugging his trousers tight around his strong thighs. Her pulse thundered in her ears, and her insides quivered from physical attraction. God, she hoped it wasn’t showing on her face.

“Then at least come for a walk,” he suggested. “Maybe a bit of sunshine might inspire you to eat something.”

Did he mean for her to join him, or was he merely encouraging her to go outside?

Sophie got up and reached for her coat. She was about to shrug it on, when to her surprise, he helped her with it, lightly patting both her shoulders when she had it on. It sent an all too pleasant shiver scurrying down her spine.

“Thanks,” she murmured stepping away from him.

He merely smiled at her, that charming sexy smile which did crazy things to her system.

They headed for the lifts and stepped into one. It was empty and remained so all the way to the ground floor. Even though she refused to glance in his direction, Sophie was acutely aware of his tall, masculine presence beside her for the entire descent. He really did exude a charismatic personal aura, she thought, as she inhaled the leathery aroma of his coat.

“Since you’ve been working here longer than I have, where do you suggest we go for lunch?” he asked as they headed outside into the midday sun.

Sophie was surprised to find how warm and welcoming it felt against her face. She suddenly realised that she was hungry, despite the uncomfortable queasiness. Maybe the virus was finally wearing off, she thought hopefully.

She headed for the quaint little coffee shop down the road she sometimes frequented with Marie. The poor girl was probably working right through her lunch break, while Louise, no doubt went for her one hour walk window-shopping, and then spent the next half hour eating her lunch while reading her emails.

As soon as they were shown to their seats in the café, Sophie regretted her decision. She’d forgotten how cosy the little corner nook could be, particularly with someone the size of Vic sitting beside her on the curved two-seater lounge.

“Well this is very nice and private,” he remarked. “I’ll have to remember this place.”

“So you can bring your girlfriends here,” she shot back, picking up the menu lying on the table between them, and immediately stuck her head behind it. What on earth had possessed her to say that?

“I don’t have a girlfriend,” he replied, taking hold of the top of the menu to drag it down so he could glance at her over it. “Yet,” he added for good measure.

Sophie refused to meet his gaze. “The winter soups are always very nice here,” she said, deciding anything more substantial would probably make her throw up.

She handed him the menu, and felt his knee brush against hers. She immediately drew away, wishing his legs weren’t quite so long.

Yes, this had been a really bad idea, she thought as he smiled at her again. He knew exactly the effect he was having on her, and planned on capitalising on it.

Just as well he had no idea what she’d been dreaming about three weeks ago, or she’d be in really big trouble right about now. He’d probably want her to repeat the experience in real life.

And why should that be so terrible? she asked herself.

Because he’s the Boss.

He’s also way too handsome, and probably only interested in sating his lust with no intention of taking you seriously afterwards. That’s why, she answered herself sternly.

The waitress returned. Sophie ordered the soup of the day, and Vic, obviously being a big eater, decided on the seafood pasta, along with a cappuccino. Sophie couldn’t help noticing how the young woman lingered at Vic’s side, making small talk even after she’d taken their orders.

“So how’s the training going?” he asked once the waitress had finally departed.

Sophie was glad they were back on neutral territory. “Good. Geoff seems to think I should be able to work on them by myself by tomorrow, although I told him I might take the driver’s seat this afternoon, so to speak.”

His gaze fell to the netted necklace she was wearing, and to her surprise, he reached out to touch it, his fingers grazing against her skin as he took hold of the beads.

“Did you make this?” he asked. His touch made her achingly aware of how wonderful his big strong hands had felt trailing across her skin in her dreams, and she longed to take hold of his fingers and slide them lower, but instead she pulled back, compelling him to let go of the necklace.

“Yes, I’ve made lots of jewellery… I… ran a craft shop for quite a few years and held classes there for my customers.” She hated the tremor in her voice, and hoped he wouldn’t notice or comment on it.

“Really! Why did you give it up?”

She wasn’t particularly happy with that question either. “I needed more stable employment,” she answered shortly. No way was she sharing her most horrendous years with him.

“Actually, I reckon she’d be interested in learning jewellery making. If I asked her, do you suppose you could give her a lesson or two?”

“I don’t know,” she hedged. “It’s been a while since I’ve taught anyone.”

“Do you want me to mention it to her? She might even have a couple of friends who’d be interested. You could run a jewellery party, or whatever it is they’re called, unless of course you don’t have the beads anymore.”

“I have a whole room full of beads, but it’s not big enough to run a class in.”

“Mum and Dad’s place is plenty big enough. She’d be happy to host it. Want me to run it by her?”

“I don’t know,” Sophie murmured. Part of her wanted to jump at the opportunity, but another part didn’t want to go anywhere near him or his family.

“That’s how long it’s been since I stood in front of a classroom of teenagers, and I still want to go back to it one day, even though I know it’ll probably mean going back to uni for refresher training.”

“A sudden and very unexpected case of stage fright. I haven’t been able to stand up in front of a group of people of more than a dozen ever since. Not a great affliction to suffer from when a History or English class comprises of at least thirty teenagers.”

“You’re kidding! How the heck did that come about?”

“I might tell you about it one day. Here come our orders.”

As Sophie began to eat she wondered about his strange admission. Had he meant it to come out like that? It made him seem more humble, less of the arrogant know-it-all Louise had made him out to be.

It also surprised her to find that some food lining her stomach did help quell the nausea.

They didn’t say much more as they concentrated on their respective meals, and Victor wondered what she’d make of his admission. He hadn’t meant to throw that into the ring. He was normally so careful with his words, something one had to learn when dealing with teenagers, because they took everything so literally.

He knew he had to tread carefully around her. She was incredibly tight-lipped, and terribly self-defeatist. Someone had really stomped her confidence into the dust. She wasn’t anything like the siren of his dreams, and he longed more than anything to find her again.

She must have had some self-assurance once. To run a successful business in a place like Artarmon would take some doing. It seemed such a shame to let her talents go to waste processing claims when she was clever enough to create such exquisite pieces of jewellery. He also knew as soon as his mother saw them, she’d want to start creating her own.

The following morning Sophie woke feeling even worse than the day before, wondering why she was having a relapse of her illness, but after nibbling on a biscuit, she felt a bit better, and finished getting ready for work.

She couldn’t let the team down this early in the piece, particularly as she’d worked through a couple of cases on her own the previous afternoon. It really wasn’t that hard, making her question why it attracted a higher salary than preparing the cases, which to her was more exhausting on account of all the data entry involved. She also felt like she was at last using her brain, although she suspected this too would get tedious after a while.