"I DON'T want any more trouble, Jude. Please. I'm very grateful to you for sticking up for me, but I'd rather you left now and let me talk to him alone. Don't worry, he won't hit me; he never has. That isn't why I'm leaving him, but I can't be totally frank with him while you're here. I'm not discussing my marriage in front of someone else, so I must ask you to leave, and thank you for everything you've tried to do for me."
Jude stared uncertainly at her, then nodded. "OK, if you say so, Sam, but I'll sit outside in my car until he's left, and if you need me just give me a yell and I'll come running."
Darius's mouth went crooked with rage. "You'll come running, will you? If you do, I'll be ready for you!" Jude gave him an angry stare, but turned on his heel and left.
For a moment after the front door had slammed shut, Darius and Samantha didn't move or speak. They stood there, staring at each other, and the way Darius looked at her made her blood run cold.
His narrowed, distasteful eyes moved over her slowly, from her flowing blonde hair to the casual intimacy of the caftan down to her stockinged feet. She had kicked off her shoes before lying down on the chaise-longue, and that perfectly innocent action now added to the evidence against her in Darius's eyes. But she decided she would not feel guilty for that. She has done nothing wrong. Jude was only here to help her and that's about the only truth in it.
"A pity I didn't arrive half an hour later," he drawled coldly, his gaze lifting to her face again. "I might have caught you in bed together, and you wouldn't have been able to lie your way out of that, would you? Although I can't see why you're bothering to lie, since you appear to have walked out on me anyway. Will I be hearing from your solicitor soon, or do you expect me to start divorce proceedings?" the contempt in his voice was apparent but she refused to be sidelined by that. She has a plan and she plans on following it through.
"I have left you," she admitted quietly. "I suppose you got this address from your personnel department."
"My secretary heard the gossip this afternoon when she got back from Wales." He caught the lift of Samantha's head and his lip curled.
"Yes, the gossip has started, but then, that was what you wanted, wasn't it? To cause scandal, make me look ridiculous in my own firm? You walk in there with my partner and get taken on as his secretary while I'm away, and my employees all start whispering and wondering if I know what's going on! When Janice rang I was knocked sideways but, thank heavens, I had the self-control not to give away how surprised I was! I held my tongue while she was talking, and pretended to know all about it. As soon as she'd hung up I tried to ring you at home, but of course you weren't there, were you? The answering machine has been answering calls for days, and I should have realised something was wrong from that." He frowned, his eyes lowered. "Well, I did, of course, but I thought you were sulking because I hadn't been able to get home for our wedding anniversary. I suppose that was what pushed you into leaving?"
"It was the final straw." Sam replied with her eyes turned to the ground unable to match the blaring glare he was giving her.
Darius looked at her, his mouth impatient. "I'm sorry, but I had no choice. I had to go to Wales!"
"I realised that. I'm not saying you were wrong to go, but I've had enough of the way I've had to live for the past few years. You're never home. Oh, and yes, you always have excellent reasons for having to break dates, change arrangements, but what it comes down to is that I live in the country and you live in London, and we never see each other."
His frown cut deep lines in his forehead, his grey eyes hard. "So you turned to Jude for company, is that what you're saying?" Sam looked up at him and couldn't believe his train of thoughts at all.
"I'm not having an affair with Jude! Will you leave him out of this?"
"How can I do that, for heaven's sake? I always knew he fancied you, right from the start, but it never occurred to me that I couldn't trust him with you. I'd have sworn Jude was too decent to make a play for you behind my back."
"Jude hasn't done anything of the kind! When you didn't show up last weekend, I decided I had to get away. I came to London because I wanted to be somewhere lively. I was depressed and fed up. The more I thought about it, the more I realised that our marriage hadn't been a real one for years. I was just part of your window dressing like Lambourne. I was there to look pretty when you had important clients to impress, but you only came home when you brought guests with you. The rest of the time I was left down in Sussex alone, and now that Paris's away at boarding school I'm completely alone, day after day. I arrange flowers and sit on committees and help at charity functions...but it's an empty life and I'm sick of it."
His face had changed as she spoke, his eyes narrowing. "This has all happened since Paris went off to boarding school? I know you didn't want her to go, and I can understand that you miss her. You should have said something, not brooded over it and cast me as the villain of the piece! I'll try to get home more often in future, and there's no reason why you shouldn't come up to London whenever you like; do some shopping, go to the theatre, or out to dinner. You're a free agent with Paris away. I think that's an excellent idea, and..."
"No," she interrupted flatly. "I don't want an occasional trip to London, and it's too late for you to promise me that you'll try to get home more often. You swore you'd be home for our twelfth wedding anniversary, but there was an explosion, and you had to break your promise."
"I thought you said you understood? I couldn't help that!"
"I know, but it would happen again. Next time it would be another crisis somewhere else, but whatever the reason it would mean that I was alone when you had promised to get home, and there would be nothing for me to do but accept it. Well, I've made up my mind. It isn't happening again. I want a life of my own, I want to live it in London, and I want a job as interesting and absorbing as yours!" she challenged.
Darius's lips curled back, his grey eyes glittered furiously. "Not in my firm! I won't have you working there!" he shouted at Samantha. And she knew that she had struck a nerve with him.
Samantha always knew that Darius liked being on top his game. Always liked controlling everything she does. So if he feels the challenge coming from her, he'd find it hard to take.
"Jude has given me a job with him, and I'm keeping it."
"Jude had no right to give you a job."
"He's your partner, he had every right."
"I run the company, not Jude."
"Do you?" she asked softly, arching her brows at him. "Could you do it without Jude?"
"Of course," Darius said curtly, then his stare hardened. "And what exactly do you mean by that?"
She smiled with mockery. "If Jude left, the firm would be in trouble, and you know it."
"Are you threatening to talk Jude into leaving?" Darius asked incredulously.
"I was merely making a point. You and Jude are both essential to the company, and Jude has every right to appoint his own staff."
"Not without consulting me!"
"Do you consult him before you make staff appointments?" Darius was getting very angry; his face was all bones, his skin dark red, his eyes points of steel.
"Are you trying to make me lose my temper? Because you're doing a fine job; just carry on like this and you'll be the one who's in trouble!"
"Don't threaten me, Darius," she said quietly, pleased with his reaction. She stared straight into his foreboding eyes and willed her eyes to stick waiting for his next reaction and seeing how much her actions are affecting the staunch finely built man in front of her. This satisfied her a lot, knowing that she could still get under Darius's skin just with the words that come out of her mouth. It felt like a plus for her.