The two women had met a year ago, when Hilary came to the salon for a job, and within weeks of working together the two women had worked out their system—Hilary finished work at the salon at three-fifteen every weekday, so that she could go to the school to collect Lily and Daisy, and cared for Lily at her home until Joey finished at the salon for the day. It was a system that worked well for both women.
‘He’s rather gorgeous,’ Hilary murmured admiringly.
Joey had barely noticed David Banning’s good looks the evening before, but, yes, she supposed he was rather handsome. If you liked cold self-confidence that bordered on arrogance, that was. Joey didn’t—had been completely cured of that romantic image seven years ago when Daniel, also arrogantly confident, had walked out on them!
‘Perhaps,’ she answered noncommittally, moving around her desk to follow Hilary out into the salon, bracing herself for this second meeting with Daniel’s brother.
Her eyes widened with surprise as she saw the man waiting there. Not David Banning, after all, but the man from the previous evening who hadn’t been able to pay for his haircut!
He looked slightly less disreputable today, the shirt and denims looking relatively clean, at least.
‘You weren’t expecting me,’ he said slowly as he took in Joey’s surprised expression.
No, she hadn’t been, had been sure she’d been taken for a ride the evening before. But she was relieved to see that it was him rather than the man she had been expecting!
‘I told you I would be in this morning to pay for my haircut,’ he reminded her mockingly, handing her a ten-pound note.
Joey gave a shaky smile. ‘That’s very kind of you.’ She nodded, taking the money and putting it in the till.
The unexpected honesty had also gone some way to restoring her faith in human nature. Now, if she could just make David Banning go back to America without making any waves in her own or Lily’s lives…!
‘Keep the change,’ the man told her dismissively as she would have given him one pound fifty back. ‘We’ll call it interest paid, if you like,’ he added wryly.
‘The last I heard interest wasn’t as high as almost twenty per cent.’ Joey smiled wanly.
The man returned the smile. ‘Bad debts come slightly higher than normal—Hey, are you OK?’ He looked at her closely. ‘You look ill,’ he added, his brown eyes narrowing consideringly on the paleness of her face.
Joey was instantly on the defensive. She had spent a terrible evening after putting Lily to bed, worrying about David Banning’s visit here, and an even worse night as sleep evaded her, going over and over in her mind what Daniel’s brother could possibly want from her. Ultimately she had arrived at answers that were completely unacceptable to her.
She knew she looked awful, despite the make-up she had applied earlier in an effort to hide her sleepless night. But she couldn’t exactly say she appreciated this man commenting on the fact!
‘Of course I’m OK,’ she snapped irritably.
‘You don’t look it,’ the man persisted, making no effort to leave, despite the fact that he had now paid his ‘bad debt’.
Joey was aware of the fact that they were receiving curious looks. With the salon very busy at this time of the morning, staff and clients alike seemed more than a little interested in the conversation taking place between Joey and this ruggedly handsome man. And Hilary kept shooting them interested looks, even as she permed an elderly lady’s hair.
‘I really am fine, Mr—er—I’m fine,’ she repeated firmly as she realised she didn’t even know the man’s name.
‘Nick,’ he told her tersely. ‘And you aren’t fine,’ he refuted gently, taking a hold of her arm and turning her back in the direction of the tiny office she had just come from.
‘Really, Mr—Nick,’ she began indignantly. ‘You can’t just come in here and—’
‘And what?’ he prompted, releasing her once they were in the privacy of her office, the door firmly closed behind them. ‘Show a little concern for someone who, obviously tired from a day’s work last night, looks as if she had been run over by a steamroller?’
‘Thanks!’ Joey muttered drily, moving to sit behind the desk. She would feel better with a little distance between the two of them; her arm still tingled from where his fingers had held her!
‘Run over by a steamroller’. Was that really how she looked? Probably, she conceded—it was how she felt too!
‘Well?’ Nick faced her across the desk, arms folded stubbornly across the width of his chest.
Joey gave a dazed shake of her head. ‘I don’t even know you—’
‘What do you want to know?’ he rasped, dark eyes narrowed speculatively. ‘I’m thirty-five. Single. Financially independent—believe it or not,’ he added smiling wryly. ‘And I’m not leaving here until I find out what happened to the spiky, self-confident woman I met here last night!’
Joey stared up at him frustratedly, his sheer size making her very aware of just how small this office really was. ‘Nothing happened to me,’ she dismissed impatiently.
‘Liar,’ he murmured reprovingly.
She frowned. ‘I do not appreciate being called a liar,’ she snapped.
He shrugged unconcernedly. ‘Then stop being one,’ he advised lightly.
Joey drew in a sharp breath. ‘Don’t you have work to go to?’ she told him pointedly; after all, it was almost ten o’clock.
‘Eventually.’ He nodded. ‘I’m still waiting, Joey,’ he reminded her softly several minutes later, the silence between them stretched weightily.
She swallowed hard, totally overwhelmed by this man’s persistence. Ordinarily she would have just insisted he leave, but her sleepless night, her worry over David Banning’s presence in England, meant that her defences weren’t as firmly in place as they usually were. In fact, she felt quite tearful.
She didn’t just feel tearful, Joey realised as the tears began to fall hotly down her cheeks!
‘I thought so.’ Nick nodded, moving quickly round the desk to pull her up into his arms. ‘Poor baby,’ he murmured softly against her hair as he cradled her against the hard warmth of his chest.
‘I’m hardly that,’ she choked tearfully, devastated by her emotional breakdown. Maybe if Nick hadn’t been so kind to her… ‘This is ridiculous,’ she decided self-disgustedly, pushing away from him. ‘I’m ridiculous,’ she muttered, smoothing back the silkiness of her hair; it was preferable to meeting the concern in those dark brown eyes.
‘It’s nothing to feel ashamed of,’ Nick rebuked gently. ‘We all cry sometimes.’
Most people cried sometimes, Joey inwardly conceded. Although somehow she doubted that David Banning ever did; there was a hard steeliness about him that made him a more formidable force than his brother had ever been. Daniel had just ignored or laughed off anything he found unacceptable in his silver-spoon life. Things like having a daughter…
‘I’m not ashamed,’ she returned, back under control now. ‘But, as you can see, the salon is rather busy this morning—’
‘Have lunch with me?’ Nick cut in determinedly.
Joey almost laughed at the incongruity of the suggestion; lunch with a building labourer, and dinner with a powerful American banker. Could the two men be any more different? Although she knew which one she preferred!
‘Haven’t you missed enough work already for one day?’ she reasoned. ‘Even though you don’t work for Dominic Mason, I’m sure your boss can’t be this understanding!’