The Reluctant Duke (2 page)

It was only after the call had ended that Lexie had realised the possibilities that call had just opened up for her.

She was qualified for the job—just—and it was always quiet in the offices of Premier Personnel in January. Three days. Just three days, she had promised herself. Spent observing Lucan St Claire, the reputedly powerful and ruthless owner of the St Claire Corporation.

So far Lucan St Claire was proving to be everything Lexie had ever imagined he might be!

She straightened to her full height of five feet and three inches in her two-inch-high shoes. ‘I assure you that I am qualified to stand in here for three days, Mr St Claire.’

Those dark eyes viewed her coldly. ‘I don’t believe I questioned your qualifications…’

Lexie felt irritated colour warm her cheeks. ‘Nonetheless, the implication was there.’

‘Really? ‘ Lucan drawled as he moved to lean against
the side of his desk, bringing himself down onto a level with Lexie Hamilton’s indignant blue eyes, and enabling him to see the perfection of her creamy skin, and the small and determined chin beneath those highly sensual—sexual—lips…

Lips like that—so moist and full, so softly pouting—could drive a man wild when applied to a certain part of his anatomy—

Lucan abruptly moved away, dismayed at the inappropriate imaginings he was having about this less-than-polite young woman, and full of self-disgust at the hardening of that certain part of his own anatomy!

‘What’s the name of your agency?’ he bit out harshly.

‘Premier Personnel,’ Lexie Hamilton supplied with a frown. ‘But wouldn’t you like me to put through a call to Mr Barton first? He implied the matter was of some urgency—’

‘I believe I’m perfectly capable of prioritising my own workload, Lexie,’ Lucan rasped dismissively.

‘Of course.’ She nodded abruptly, a frown still between those deep blue eyes as she turned and hurried across the room, giving Lucan an unobstructed view of that long and riotous ebony-coloured hair. He could also view the provocative sway of her shapely bottom underneath the short black skirt and above slender and shapely legs.

Telling Lucan that this young woman was
just
as qualified to share his bed as she was to be his temporary, temporary PA!

‘Did Jemima change the colour of her hair?’

Lucan turned slowly to look at his brother Gideon, where he stood silhouetted in the doorway leading out to the hallway. The younger man was frowning across at the closed door between the two offices with the same perplexed expression Lucan was sure had been on his own
face fifteen minutes ago, when Lexie Hamilton had first made her entrance.

It gave Lucan some satisfaction to realise that Gideon had also got his PA’s name wrong. His ex-PA, Lucan corrected irritably.

It was unbelievable that Jen—Jessica should have just walked out on him without so much as giving notice. It was even more irritating that her temporary temporary replacement should be the beautiful and totally distracting Lexie Hamilton.

Lucan gave an impatient shake of his head as he moved back behind his desk and sat down. ‘Her name was Jessica.’ Apparently! ‘And that wasn’t her,’ he added stonily.

‘No?’ Gideon murmured with a frown as he strolled farther into the room. At thirty-four, two years Lucan’s junior, Gideon was tall and blond, with piercing dark eyes set in a strikingly handsome face. ‘I didn’t realise you were going to replace her.’

‘I wasn’t,’ Lucan bit out tightly, as he recalled the reasons Lexie had given him for Jessica Brown having walked out on him in that totally unprofessional way.

He somehow doubted that Lexie would ever allow her own presence to be overlooked in the same way—even for the three days she had said she intended working for him.

‘No?’ Gideon raised surprised brows. ‘Then who was
that?’

‘A temp,’ Lucan dismissed impatiently. A
temporary
temp!

‘Oh.’ Gideon nodded. ‘She looks vaguely familiar…’

Lucan’s interest sharpened. ‘In what way?’

‘I have no idea.’ His brother gave a self-derisive grimace. ‘It’s a sad state of affairs, Lucan, when all the beautiful women you meet start to look alike!’

As far as Lucan was concerned Lexie didn’t look or behave like any other woman he had ever met! Something he found intriguing in spite of himself.

‘What can I do for you, Gideon?’ He deliberately changed the subject, having no intention of discussing Lexie any further with his brother. Or of allowing Gideon to realise his instant and totally unprecedented physical response to her unusual gypsy-wild beauty.

Lucan always dated models and actresses—although ‘dated’ was perhaps a slight exaggeration! What he usually did was take models and actresses out to dinner, or, in the case of the latter, escort them to film premieres, and then invariably to his bed. Beautiful women, perfectly groomed and sophisticated women—women who didn’t expect any serious involvement with him and were just happy to be seen with the rich and powerful Lucan St Claire.

He had certainly never been in the least interested in becoming involved with one of his employees—as proved by the fact that he hadn’t even got the name of his last PA right—and it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to make Lexie Hamilton the exception to that rule, either!

Gideon raised surprised blond brows. ‘Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten that you asked me to come in at nine o’clock this morning, so that we could go over the contracts together before Andrew Proctor arrives at ten?’

As the legal representative for all the St Claire Corporation’s dealings, Gideon kept an office just down the hallway from this one, as well as having his own private offices in the city.

Lucan
had
forgotten Gideon was coming in this morning—a phenomenon completely unheard of until today; business had always come first, second and last with Lucan.

Gideon gave a speculative smile. ‘Miss Whatever-her-name-is should sit in on the meeting—Proctor will be so
distracted by the way she looks he won’t have any idea what he’s signing!’

‘Her name is Lexie Hamilton,’ Lucan supplied harshly. ‘And I would prefer Andrew Proctor to know
exactly
what he’s signing. I also don’t think it appropriate for you to make such personal remarks about an employee, Gideon,’ he added darkly.

‘I didn’t arrive soon enough to actually see her face, but any man with red blood still flowing in his veins couldn’t help but notice that pert little bottom! ‘ his brother assured him dryly.

A frown creased Lucan’s brow as he realised he wasn’t altogether sure he felt comfortable discussing his outspoken but definitely sexy temporary temp in these terms—even with Gideon. ‘Perhaps she might prove too much of a distraction?’

His brother raised mocking brows. ‘Too much of a distraction.?’

Once again Lucan stood up restlessly. ‘Not to me personally, of course,’ he bit out tersely.

‘No?’

Lucan felt his irritation deepen. ‘No!’

‘Then there’s no problem with her sitting in on the meeting later this morning, is there? ‘ Gideon dismissed practically.

No problem at all—except that Lucan already
knew
Lexie was likely to prove as much of a distraction to him as she was to anyone else!

‘I had a call from John Barton this morning, concerning some damage to Mulberry Hall that needs looking at.’ Lucan firmly changed the subject. ‘I don’t suppose you feel like going back to Gloucestershire for a few days…?’

‘I don’t suppose I do,’ his brother came back firmly.

Exactly what Lucan had thought Gideon might say…
Lexie was fully aware of Lucan St Claire’s presence as he came through from the adjoining office fifteen minutes later, to stand looking down at her broodingly from the other side of her desk. She was so aware of him that she deliberately ignored him as she kept typing into her laptop, until she had finished writing an email to Brenda, in the office at Premier Personnel, after the other woman had emailed Lexie to tell her she had successfully managed to reassure Lucan St Claire that Lexie Hamilton was indeed a temp sent from their agency.

Lexie had panicked slightly when Lucan St Claire had told her he intended telephoning Premier Personnel himself. She’d hurried back into the adjoining office to quickly put a call through to Brenda, her assistant in her parents’ absence, to explain, and also arrange to meet Brenda for coffee after work this evening, so that she could explain the situation more fully.

Although Lexie wasn’t one hundred per cent certain she could completely explain this situation to
herself,
let alone a third party.

It had been pure impulse—along with a lot of curiosity!—that had prompted her into coming here in the first place. An impulse and a curiosity she already regretted.

She hadn’t expected to like the powerful Lucan St Claire, and she didn’t. She had already decided after their brief conversation earlier that his reputation for being cold and arrogant was well justified. But there was no denying that he was strikingly handsome, too.

His colouring—that dark hair and those piercing jetblack eyes, his sculptured features—reminded Lexie so much of his father, Alexander.

She looked up at him blandly. ‘Is there a problem with the intercom, Mr St Claire…?’

Lucan’s mouth thinned at her obvious sarcasm. ‘I accept that we got off to something of a bad start earlier, Miss Hamilton, but let’s get one thing clear, shall we?’ He looked down at her coldly. ‘Namely, for the moment,
I
am the employer and
you
are the employee!’

Dark brows rose over those deep, and perhaps deliberately innocent, blue eyes. ‘I am?’

‘For the moment, yes,’ he repeated harshly—warningly.

Lexie shrugged. ‘Can I take it from that remark that Premier Personnel have confirmed that my replacement will arrive in three days’ time?’

‘You can,’ Lucan confirmed tightly. ‘It would appear that we are stuck with each other until then.’

She smiled slightly. ‘My sentiments exactly.’

Lucan scowled darkly. ‘Tell me, Lexie, is this tendency you have to be less than respectful to your employers also the reason that you find it easier to work for an agency rather than attempting to find a permanent position?’

Two bright spots of angry colour had appeared in the delicate cream of her cheeks. ‘I don’t believe my reasons to be any of your concern, Mr St Claire!’

He shrugged broad and muscled shoulders beneath his tailored jacket. ‘I was curious. Nothing more,’ he dismissed coolly.

As Lexie had long been curious about all of the St Claire family…

‘I assure you, Mr St Claire, there is nothing about my personal life that would be of the least interest to you.’ She looked up at him challengingly.

He raised dark brows. ‘You sound very certain of that.’

‘I am,’ she came back evenly.

What would this man do or say, Lexie wondered, if he
were to learn that her grandmother was none other than Sian Thomas—the widow that his own father, Alexander St Claire, had fallen in love with over twenty-five years ago? The same woman all the St Claire family had treated with such contempt for those same many years… If he were to realise that Lexie’s own full name, Alexandra, had been chosen in honour of ‘Grandpa Alex’, as she had called
this
man’s father for the first sixteen of her twenty-four years…!

L
EXIE
had been in complete ignorance for most of her childhood as to exactly who her Grandpa Alex was—apart from being her step-grandfather, of course—but once she’d reached her teens her mother had quietly and calmly sat her down and explained the situation to her.

It was then that Lexie had learned that Alexander St Claire was actually the Duke of Stourbridge, and had been virtually disowned by his three sons after his divorce from their mother, Molly St Claire.

Lexie had instantly decided that all three of the St Claire brothers had treated their father abominably—simply because he had fallen in love with her gentle and beautiful grandmother. A woman none of the brothers had even attempted to meet, let alone get to know. If they had then they might have realised how far removed Sian was from being the
femme fatale
they so obviously believed her to be. They would also have seen how much she had loved their father. How much their father had loved her in return.

As it was, despite the fact that their father was now her Grandpa Alex, Lexie hadn’t so much as set eyes on any of the three St Claire brothers until Alexander had died eight years ago, when they had dutifully arranged and attended their father’s funeral at the village church in Stourbridge.

Lexie had attended the funeral, too, out of sheer bloody-mindedness,
after it had been made clear that her grandmother’s presence would
not
be welcomed there by the St Claire family.

Out of sheer stubbornness she had decided to represent her own family that day, standing at the back of the church to mourn her Grandpa Alex. Unacknowledged and thankfully unnoticed by any of the St Claire family.

The coldly remote Lucan St Claire had been easily recognisable from the photographs Lexie had deliberately looked out for over the last few years in the business pages of newspapers and magazines. She had also known the youngest St Claire brother, the rakishly handsome actor Jordan Sinclair, which had to make the austerely attractive blond-haired man standing beside him his twin brother Gideon.

But Lexie’s grandmother—the woman Alexander St Claire had loved and shared the last seventeen years of his life with—had been absent from his funeral.

For that alone Lexie would never forgive
any
of the St Claire family. The head of that family, especially. Lucan St Claire. The man who, upon his father’s death, had become the fifteenth Duke of Stourbridge.

Not that Lucan St Claire ever used the title. No doubt as some further insult to the father he had all but disowned twenty-five years ago.

Lexie’s eyes snapped her resentment now, as she looked up at Lucan St Claire. ‘Can I help you with something else, Mr St Claire…?’

Lucan didn’t believe himself to be a vain man. He recognized that he was cold, occasionally ruthless and that other than with his close family he was almost always chillingly remote. He was also aware that it was as much his considerable wealth and power that attracted all those
models and actresses to him as any personal attraction he might or might not have.