Page 78 of Bad Luck Bride

“We’ll be careful.”

“Also, you two will have to find a way to get along and work together. And if he gives you an order, you’ll have to follow it. No crying to me.”

Kay drew herself up. “I would never do such a thing.”

Delia clapped her hands together, obviously delighted. “Then you’ll take the job? Please say yes. Otherwise I will have to stop procrastinating and begin the tedious task of finding someone else.”

Kay didn’t hesitate. “I’ll take it.”

“Excellent.” Delia turned in her chair, bent down, and began rooting around beneath her desk. After a moment, she straightened again, a massive stack of folders in her arms. She plunked them down on top of the others cluttering her desk with a thud. “When can you start?”

15

Devlin’s meeting with Delia had gone well, better than he’d thought it would. He had chosen to take her almost fully into his confidence, explaining that in light of Wilson and Pamela’s unexpected elopement, he had proposed to Kay. He did not reveal what had precipitated Pam’s elopement, but he took full responsibility for the fact that during the past fourteen years, none of the things that had hurt Kay would ever have happened if not for him. He wanted, he explained, to right the wrong done to her.

He also confessed that despite his efforts to get on with his own life, his love for Kay had never truly been extinguished, and though Kay had refused his proposal, he was not taking that answer as final. He needed to win her over, he explained, and for that, he admitted freely, he needed help, especially since she wasn’t even speaking to him at the moment. All he wanted was a chance to court her properly, but how, he’d asked, could he even begin, if she refused to speak to him?

Delia had listened, and at the end of his little speech, she had agreed to do what she could to help broker a truce. But Kay had arrived before they could get down to specifics, and he’d beenforced to make his exit, leaving him rather in limbo, until a few days later when a note from her arrived in the morning post.

Remember what I said the other day about opportunities? I may have one for you. Come to my office this afternoon at three o’clock. After that, it’s up to you.

—Delia

PS—given your quest, you may want to consider moving to this side of town. It’ll be easier.

“How intriguing,” he murmured. He couldn’t imagine what Delia had in mind, or how moving to the other side of London would help him, but he’d happily do whatever was necessary. Promptly at three o’clock, he was walking through the doors of the Mayfair Hotel.

When he arrived at Delia’s office, he stopped in surprise at the sight of a woman in the antechamber. She was putting file folders in a cabinet, and her back was to him, but there was no mistaking the rich, bright color of her hair. “Kay?”

She turned, and to his complete amazement, she actually laughed. “You look as if you’ve been struck by a lorry.”

“That’s rather how I feel,” he confessed. “What are you doing here?”

She nodded to the stack of manila folders in the crook of her arm. “Delia has hired me to be her secretary.”

“Secretary?” As he said the word, Devlin began to get a vague inkling of what Delia had in mind. “Well, you certainly look thepart,” he added, glancing down over Kay’s plain white blouse, necktie, and blue serge skirt. “But I didn’t realize you knew anything about secretarial work.”

Her freckled nose wrinkled up ruefully. “I don’t, but I’ve signed on for a course in typing and shorthand so I can learn. In the meantime, it’s trial and error, I’m afraid. You don’t object, I hope?”

“Object?” he echoed in surprise. “Not at all. Why would I?”

“Well…” She paused and bit her lip. “I did refuse your proposal.”

“And you feared I’d be spiteful?” He shook his head, remembering the first time she’d come to confront him in his rooms at the Savoy and her assumption that he’d started the rumors about their elopement for revenge, and he grimaced. “You really do tend to think the worst of me, don’t you?”

“No, no, it isn’t that. I realize,” she added as he raised a skeptical eyebrow, “that I have tended to believe the worst about you in the past, but now—” She broke off, lifting her free hand to tug self-consciously at a loose tendril of hair at her neck. “Now, I don’t know quite what to think, Devlin, honestly. Every time I think I have you pegged, you do something wholly unexpected, and it forces me to think again.”

He grinned, his hopes rising a bit. “That’s part of my charm.”

She didn’t smile back. “To answer your question,” she said earnestly, “I thought you might object to me working here because of the project Delia wants us to collaborate on.”

At that surprising bit of news, Devlin’s theory of just what opportunities Delia had been referring to seemed confirmed, and his hopes shot up another notch, but with an effort, he kept his face impassive. “Will we be collaborating on a project?” he asked.

“Well, yes. Didn’t Delia tell you anything?”

“Very little,” he replied truthfully. “But,” he added, feeling his way carefully, “I assume it’s why she’s asked me to come. So that she could give me the details.”

“That was her intention, but when she set the appointment with you, she forgot she already had one for the same time. Merrick’s Employment Agency.”

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