The Reluctant Duke (3 page)

That aside, Lexie Hamilton’s initial attitude of dismissal, followed by this disdain, were not things Lucan had ever encountered in any other woman.

Intriguingly so…

‘Are you always this disrespectful?’ he rasped harshly.

She shrugged. ‘My parents brought me up to believe that respect has to be earned, not just given,’ she came back challengingly.

Lucan growled something unintelligible under his breath. ‘I want you to sit in on my ten o’clock meeting and take notes.’

‘Well, that
is
what you are paying me for,’ she came back sarcastically.

Lucan’s patience—what little he possessed—was fast running out where this particular woman was concerned. ‘If you continue with your present attitude you will leave me with no choice but to call your agency back and explain exactly how ill-suited I believe you to be for this or any other position,’ he warned her coldly.

Lexie grudgingly acknowledged that she might be allowing her inner resentment towards this man to get the better of her. After all, he
was
Lucan St Claire, world-renowned businessman, and a man who was rich as Croesus and even more powerful. The last thing Lexie wanted was for her parents to return from their cruise and discover the hard-earned reputation of Premier Personnel, which they had so painstakingly built up over the last twenty years, was in tatters after only a matter of days under Lexie’s management!

‘Shouldn’t you at least give me a few hours to prove my efficiency before doing that? ‘ she came back lightly.

Even when this woman was saying all the right words
she still somehow managed to sound challenging, Lucan recognised with a frown. Almost as if she had been predisposed to dislike him.

Simply because of the unfeeling way she believed he had behaved towards Jessica Brown?

Or was her dislike for another reason entirely?

Considering that Lexie Hamilton hadn’t even known Lucan’s ex-PA, the former didn’t sound like an acceptable explanation for her attitude. So maybe it was something else?

Or perhaps it wasn’t personal at all, and she really was just this prickly and outspoken with everyone?

If he could tolerate this woman in such close proximity to him for the next three days he was probably going to find that out.

And he still had to decide what he was going to do about John Barton’s call concerning the damage to Mulberry Hall.

‘Is there something wrong, Mr St Claire?’ Lexie prompted lightly a couple of hours later, once Gideon St Claire had left the office to accompany Andrew Proctor and his legal representative down in the lift.

‘What could possibly be wrong? ‘ Lucan bit out tautly as he stood up impatiently, a nerve pulsing in his tightly clenched jaw. He moved around the desk, the darkness of his gaze narrowed on her icily.

Lexie gave a shake of her head. ‘I had assumed you might offer to take Mr Proctor out to lunch once the contracts had been signed—’

‘I believe Proctor would much rather have had lunch with
you
than with me.’

‘Me?’ Lexie repeated incredulously.

‘Don’t play the innocent with me, Lexie; you know
exactly what effect you had on Andrew Proctor,’ he growled scathingly.

She frowned. ‘I believe I laughed at several of Mr Proctor’s jokes—’

‘Laughed inappropriately at
all
of his jokes,’ Lucan corrected disgustedly, fresh anger boiling up inside him just at the thought of the meeting that had just taken place in his office.

Andrew Proctor was a handsome man in his late forties, owner of an extensive transport business that Lucan wished to acquire for the St Claire Corporation. There had been several meetings between Gideon and Proctor’s own legal adviser already, to negotiate the details of the sale, and Lucan had fully expected the meeting this morning—the signing of the contracts—to go off without a hitch.

Obviously he hadn’t taken Lexie’s presence into account when he’d made that assumption!

Andrew Proctor had taken one glance at Lucan’s PA and the whole tenor of the meeting had changed. The man had begun to flirt with her instead of paying attention to the final discussion of the contract that had been drawn up for their signatures.

The fact that Gideon had seemed equally interested in her certainly hadn’t improved the situation.

Lucan’s mouth tightened. ‘You all but got into bed with the man, damn it!’

Lexie’s eyes widened indignantly. ‘Believe me, Mr St Claire, when I get into bed with a man I
don’t
do it in front of an audience!’

Lucan drew in a sharp breath at the graphic vision that remark instantly induced.

Her complexion was pure ivory, and Lucan had no doubt that the slenderness of her body would be just as palely translucent. Her skin would be soft and smooth to
the touch. Her uptilted breasts would be tipped by rose or red-coloured nipples. The silky triangle of hair between her legs would be the same dark—

Good God!

Had he totally lost his mind? Christmas in Scotland, followed by the wedding at Mulberry Hall and now this call from Barton in Gloucestershire—all that had been unsettling, certainly, but surely not enough to addle Lucan’s brain so much he was having these erotic thoughts about her?

Addled his brain?

It was another part of his anatomy entirely that responded to Lexie’s exotic beauty.

‘I have no interest in learning what you do or do not require when you go to bed with a man,’ he bit out grimly—and not altogether truthfully. ‘I am merely endeavouring to point out that your overtly friendly behaviour towards Andrew Proctor made a complete fiasco of what was supposed to be a business meeting.’

Lexie was uncomfortably aware that Lucan’s criticism was partly merited. She had obviously been expected to just fade quietly into the background of the meeting, rather than allow Andrew Proctor to draw her into conversation. And she knew she would have done exactly that if not for the fact that she had seen exactly how annoyed Lucan had looked every time Andrew Proctor spoke to her.

She gave a self-conscious grimace now. ‘I apologise if you found anything about my behaviour this morning less than professional.’

Lucan looked taken aback.
‘What
did you just say…?’

Lexie shot him a frowning glance from beneath dark lashes. ‘I believe I apologised,’ she repeated impatiently.

Exactly what Lucan had thought she had done! Totally
unexpectedly. So much so that he wasn’t quite sure what to do or say next, damn it.

Indecision wasn’t something he could normally be accused of, either.

What was wrong with him this morning?

From a professional angle Lucan knew he should call this woman’s agency and demand that she be replaced immediately, or he would have no choice but to contact another agency.

What he personally wanted to do was another matter entirely.

He relaxed slightly. ‘It’s almost one o’clock. I suggest the two of us go and get some lunch—’

‘Together? ‘ Lexie stared at him uncomprehendingly.

‘Yes—together,’ Lucan drawled mockingly. ‘Perhaps we can come to some sort of truce while we eat?’

To say Lexie was stunned by the suggestion would be an understatement. Unless Lucan meant it as an ultimatum rather than a suggestion? An implication that the two of them either come to that truce or he would immediately go ahead with his threat to have her replaced, and in doing so damage the reputation of Premier Personnel?

Personally, Lexie would be more than happy to go. She had already done what she’d come here to do, and that was to meet Lucan St Claire and have all her preconceived ideas of him confirmed. As well as some unpreconceived ones—namely, he was dangerously attractive.

Unfortunately, the repercussions for Premier Personnel if that were to happen were less acceptable.

Something Lexie should definitely have thought about before acting so impulsively in coming anywhere near a single member of the St Claire family!

Although, Lexie acknowledged grudgingly, she hadn’t
found the blond and handsome Gideon St Claire quite so disagreeable as Lucan.

Gideon was supposed to share the same reputation for coldness and arrogance as his haughty older brother, and as such Lexie had fully expected him to ignore her altogether during this morning’s meeting. Instead, Gideon had been effortlessly charming to her, and the warm interest in his gaze unmistakable…

‘Does it usually take you this long to respond to an invitation to lunch? ‘ Lucan rasped impatiently.

‘No, of course not,’ Lexie snapped resentfully, her cheeks heating at the taunting mockery she could see in those coal-black eyes. ‘But it was hardly an invitation, was it?’ she dismissed scathingly. ‘’More like, it’s lunchtime, so let’s eat!’

Lucan frowned his irritation; did this woman have to argue about everything? ‘I see nothing wrong with that statement,’ he bit out impatiently. ‘It
is
lunchtime, and we both have to eat.’

‘But not necessarily together,’ she came back decisively.

Lucan’s eyes narrowed to dark and dangerous slits. ‘Tell me—is this dislike personal, or do you treat all your employers with the same contempt?’

Lexie stiffened warily. It was one thing for her to treat Lucan St Claire with the disdain she felt he deserved—quite another for him to become overly curious as to
why
she treated him that way. For him to ever suspect, realise, exactly who she was…

Lexie shook her head. ‘It isn’t personal, Mr St Claire—’

‘Lucan.’

She blinked up at him. ‘I beg your pardon…?’

‘I invited you to call me Lucan, Lexie,’ he drawled ruefully.
‘Don’t tell me you have a problem with that, too?’ He frowned again as she continued to stare up at him.

Of
course
Lexie had a problem with that! The last thing she wanted—positively the last thing—was to be on a firstname basis with any of the arrogant St Claire family! ‘I would prefer to keep our relationship on a completely business footing,’ she said stiffly.

‘And calling each other by our first names isn’t doing that?’ he prompted.

‘You know it isn’t.’ She frowned. ‘Any more than my having lunch with you is,’ she added coolly.

Lucan scowled his impatience. ‘I fail to see why not.’

Lexie eyed him frustratedly. ‘That could be because you’re being deliberately obtuse—’ She broke off abruptly as he gave a wry chuckle.

A phenomenon that completely changed the austerity of those grimly handsome features, giving warmth to those dark, dark eyes, a softening to the hard rigidity of his cheek and jawline, and revealing an endearing cleft in his left cheek.

All things that Lexie did not want to be aware of where this particular man was concerned.

She gave him a reproving look. ‘I fail to see what’s so funny.’

He gave a rueful shake of his head. ‘It seems that even when you try to be polite you can’t help but be rude.’

She bristled. ‘And you find that amusing?’

‘Not really.’ He gave a slow shake of his head. ‘I’ve just never met anyone quite like you before,’ he said.

Lexie wasn’t sure she was altogether comfortable with the softening of his tone. Or the speculation she could see in the warmth of those dark eyes as he looked at her. It was too male an assessment. The assessment of a handsome man looking at a woman he found attractive…

No way!

Absolutely no way!

Lucan St Claire and his two brothers had all but disowned their own father after he and their mother were divorced. Had totally rejected so much as even meeting the woman their father had loved and spent the rest of his life with.

Lexie accepted that their parents’ divorce must have been tough on three young boys such as Lucan and his two brothers would have been twenty-five years ago. But they
had
been only boys, and as such couldn’t possibly have been aware of all the details of the situation.

Any more than Lexie, who hadn’t even been born at the time, could really know…

No, she wasn’t even going there.

The whole of the St Claire family had treated Grandpa Alex and her grandmother abominably as far as she was concerned. As such, they were all beneath contempt. It was better for Lexie if she continued to think that way.

Except, as she had realised this morning, Lucan St Claire was lethally and heart-poundingly handsome.

Lucan had seen some of the emotions flickering across Lexie’s expressive, beautiful face. Seen them, but not understood them. Which wasn’t so unusual; so far there was very little about this woman that he
did
understand.

Except that for some inexplicable reason he was attracted to her.

Her outward beauty was undeniable, but it was the things Lucan didn’t know about her, the things he didn’t yet understand, that intrigued him.

And that, if Lucan were completely honest with himself, was also the reason he had been so annoyed at Andrew Proctor’s flirting with her earlier.

He straightened abruptly. ‘I take it from your earlier remarks that you would prefer to give lunch a miss?’

She frowned. ‘Not completely, no…’

‘Just lunch with
me?
‘ Lucan guessed easily.

Her mouth tightened. ‘Yes.’

It was all Lucan could do to stop himself from laughing again. No woman had ever before given him the blunt put-downs that Lexie did so effortlessly!

Put-downs he found more arousing than annoying when they were coming from between Lexie’s full and sensually erotic lips…

He gave a terse nod of his head. ‘I had thought you might appreciate having lunch before we leave. But we can eat later if that’s what you would prefer.’

‘Before we leave for where?’ Lexie said slowly, suspiciously, not liking the gleam of satisfaction she could clearly see in the depths of Lucan’s dark eyes.

Eyes that now met hers with mocking innocence. ‘Did I forget to mention we’re leaving town for a couple of days?’

Lexie very much doubted that this man ever forgot anything—after sitting in on this morning’s meeting, witnessing the precision of his business acumen as he rattled off reams of facts and figures without consulting a single sheet of paper in Andrew Proctor’s file, Lexie no longer believed he had forgotten his previous PA’s name, either. A more logical explanation for that oversight was that the woman had simply been of such insignificance to him that he simply hadn’t troubled himself to learn it.