‘I have no idea,’ Juliet replied dismissively. ‘Liam doesn’t keep me informed of his movements.’
‘He never did.’ Janet shook her head affectionately. ‘He always was the more independent of the two boys.’
Boys? Juliet again found it difficult to imagine Liam as a boy.
Janet laughed at her expression. ‘I can never think of him as anything else!’ she smiled. ‘He was a mischievous little devil.’ Her face clouded slightly. ‘Until Simon was born, that is.’
Juliet stiffened slightly at the mention of her dead fiancé; she had never discussed Simon with Janet. In fact, she hadn’t really spoken of him since his death. Whether that was a good or bad thing she wasn’t sure; she just knew that she found it too painful to talk about him.
But she was interested in this conversation in spite of herself. ‘What effect did that have on Liam?’ She frowned. As she did not have any siblings of her own, or any other family either, it was unknown territory for her.
Janet shrugged. ‘Well, his mother died, for one thing, so that didn’t help the situation. And Mr William doted on the baby, which didn’t help either, so—’
‘Liam and Simon didn’t get on,’ Juliet guessed.
‘I wouldn’t say that as children they didn’t get on,’ Janet said slowly. ‘After all, Liam was five when Simon was born—already at school, with his own group of friends. It was only as they grew up that the resentment became more obvious.’ She shook her head sadly. ‘By the time they were both teenagers it was like open warfare!’
So Liam has been resentful of his younger brother. She had guessed from his attitude towards Simon that there had been no love lost between the two brothers, and Janet had just confirmed it.
‘It was very difficult for Mr William.’ Janet gave a heavy sigh. ‘He loved both his sons—’
‘That’s debatable, Janet!’ cut in a harshly angry voice, and both women turned to find that Liam had entered the house without either of them being aware of it.
Janet immediately looked flustered at being caught discussing him in that way, and Juliet had to admit that she wasn’t too happy about it herself. She was sure that Liam’s remarks last night about not discussing him, or his private affairs, with Diana also applied to Janet!
He strode forcefully into the entrance hall, closing the door behind him with firm finality. ‘We’ll have coffee in my father’s study, Janet,’ he told the housekeeper icily, his eyes glittering like twin blue lakes—fathomless lakes with a threat in their depths! ‘The study, Juliet,’ he told her coldly as he marched past, not even pausing to see if she intended following him.
He just knew that she would! Not that she wanted to, but she accepted that she probably did owe him an apology for being caught out talking about him with Janet. But it hadn’t been intentional; it had just been a natural progression in the conversation.
Janet made a pained expression. ‘Oh, dear,’ she sighed, looking guiltily after Liam.
‘Don’t worry about it,’ Juliet said softly, squeezing her arm reassuringly. ‘We weren’t doing anything wrong.’ Although she doubted whether Liam saw it that way!
Janet shook her head regretfully. ‘I know that look,’ she said, grimacing. ‘His father had one just—’ She broke off awkwardly. ‘Liam always was as stubborn as a mule,’ she sighed. ‘And he isn’t going to like it that we were talking about him.’
‘It will be fine,’ Juliet assured her with more confidence than she actually felt; Liam was furious, and her delay in joining him wouldn’t be improving his mood. ‘You go and get the coffee and I’ll speak to him.’ She gave the older woman a comforting smile.
Janet didn’t look any more convinced about Liam’s mood than Juliet felt, but she went off to get the requested coffee anyway.
Juliet took a deep breath and followed Liam to the study. She almost faltered as she entered the room, finding him sitting behind the desk in William’s chair, his face set in a cold, angry mask; obviously this was not going to be a pleasant conversation. Not that she had particularly expected it to be, but facing Liam across the desk like this she felt like a naughty schoolgirl who had been called in by the headmaster to be chastised for some misdemeanour!
He sat forward to rest his elbows on the desktop, lacing the fingers of each hand together in front of his face, his eyes icily assessing as he looked at her. And looked at her. And looked at her.
The silence stretched on and on, until Juliet felt as if her nerve might snap. ‘For goodness’ sake, Liam,’ she finally bit out tautly, that feeling of being a naughty little girl still with her. ‘Janet was just——’
‘I’m not interested in what Janet was doing,’ he cut in harshly. ‘I believe I made my feelings plain to you yesterday evening!’
She swallowed hard. ‘Janet just wondered if you were going to be in for dinner,’ she continued determinedly. ‘And one thing led to another.’ She shrugged dismissively.
His mouth twisted. ‘I’m sure it did. Well, in future—’ his face hardened ‘—I would prefer it if one thing didn’t lead to another!’
‘Fine,’ she snapped, tired of these mood swings. ‘I’ll endeavour not to let your name pass my lips again!’
He sat back, looking at her through narrowed eyes. ‘Really?’ he drawled.
Juliet suddenly didn’t like the way he was looking at her; she felt uncomfortable under that appraising gaze. ‘Really!’ she returned—somewhat defensively, she felt.
Liam stood up slowly, moving stealthily around the desk and standing dangerously close to her. ‘Never?’ he challenged softly.
There was heated colour in her cheeks now, and she wanted to move. Instead, she stood her ground with great effort. Inwardly she just wanted to get away from him! What was it about this man that had this effect on her?
She met his gaze unflinchingly. ‘Look, Li— Liam,’ she completed firmly. ‘It would obviously be better if you and I stayed away from each other as much as possible——’
‘Why?’ he cut in softly. ‘Some of the times we’ve been… close I’ve enjoyed very much.’ His gaze moved appraisingly across her face and body.
Her cheeks were burning now, and she had to force herself not to move away. ‘You know very well what I’m talking about, Liam,’ she rapped out. ‘You’re here on business; there’s no need for us to put up a pretence of getting on!’
He shrugged unconcernedly. ‘But on one level we do “get on", Juliet,’ he drawled huskily. ‘In fact, I’m amazed at just how well…’
She knew to which ‘level’ he referred; it would be impossible not to know! And she wasn’t amazed by it at all—stunned would be a better way of putting it!
She might not have moved away, but there was definitely a barrier going up around her! ‘You won’t be here for much longer, Liam, so—’
‘Are you telling me or asking me?’ His voice was dangerously soft now.
Her eyes flashed her irritation with this verbal game he was playing. ‘Carlyle Properties is a very small fish in your large pond, Liam,’ she snapped impatiently. ‘Once you’ve seen what you need to you’ll be going off to deal with your other businesses. Until that time, as I’ve already said, perhaps it would be better if we avoided each other as much as possible.’
‘Is that what you did with your last business partner?’ he taunted challengingly. ‘Strange; I thought you had rather a different arrangement with my father.’
She drew in a sharp breath at his deliberately insulting tone. ‘I wasn’t your father’s business partner,’ she reminded him tautly.