Baby In The Boardroom

CHAPTER ONE

‘I NEED you, Beth.’

It took several seconds for the deep voice at the other end of the telephone to penetrate into Beth Sinclair’s sleep-befuddled brain.

‘What?’ she mumbled, throwing back the duvet cover and swinging her legs out of the bed. She glanced blearily at the alarm clock on her bedside table and yelped in disbelief. ‘James Fenner, do you know what time it is?’ she demanded. ‘Half past two in the morning...’

‘I’m well aware of the time,’ he answered tersely. ‘But it’s urgent.’

‘Urgent?’ she muttered incredulously, sweeping a lock of silky brown hair over her shoulder with her free hand. ‘I don’t care how urgent it is, it’ll have to wait until morning.’ She’d never supposed that working as PA for the workaholic chairman of Stanton Enterprises was going to be easy, had accepted that it wouldn’t be a nine-to-five job, but this was bordering on lunacy.

‘I’ve done my ten-hour stint today and nothing in the world is going to drag me back to the office at this ungodly hour of the—’

‘I’m not at the office,’ he cut through with barely veiled impatience. ‘I’m at my flat...’

‘I don’t care where you are...’

‘And it’s a personal matter.’

‘Personal?’ Beth echoed sceptically. Was this just an intriguing carrot with which to snare her? A carrot that would miraculously turn into a pile of papers and a computer screen when she arrived at his flat? It was impossible to imagine her self-sufficient, coolly competent employer with any type of personal problem that he couldn’t deal with himself. Or with the assistance of one of those carbon-copy blondes with six-foot-long legs who wafted into the office to whisk him off for long lunches. Presumably he could differentiate between the lookalikes, but she’d certainly had difficulty at times. The only distinguishing feature about Julia Summers—the current woman in his life—was that she seemed to have lasted rather longer than her predecessors.

‘The taxi will be there in about ten minutes,’ the deep voice growled in her ear. ‘And bring an overnight case.’

Beth surveyed the receiver in her hand with thoughtful, thick-lashed hazel eyes. ‘I haven’t said I’ll come yet,’ she said serenely. ‘I’ll have to think it over.’

‘Think it over in the goddamn taxi!’

There was a short, abrupt silence as if, Beth decided, the dark-haired man on the end of the line didn’t quite trust himself to continue. After all, he was requesting a favour, and had to monitor his language accordingly. Something, she thought wryly, he didn’t always manage to do at the office.

‘The taxi will be there in about five minutes now,’ he finally grated.

‘Arrogant, conceited, selfish swine,’ Beth mumbled under her breath, already reaching out for the voluminous cream sweater draped over her bedroom chair.

‘What was that?’

‘I just said I’ll be ready in no time,’ she said cheerfully, and raised her eyebrows as, with a muttered, incoherent grunt, the line went dead.

She must be certifiable, Beth thought incredulously some twenty minutes later as she sat in the back of the taxi, her small overnight case balanced on her jean-clad knees. What on earth was she doing, haring across London at this hour? She should have disconnected the telephone the moment she’d heard James Fenner’s voice. He hadn’t even asked her to come; he’d simply issued an imperious summons, the pre-ordered taxi indicating that it had never occurred to him that she wouldn’t obey it. She was so weak, she berated herself mournfully, gazing out into the dark city streets. Even the Christmas illuminations had been switched off.

‘Here you are.’ The taxi driver drew up in front of the prestigious block of luxury flats.

‘Thank you,’ Beth murmured, wondering as she scrambled out whether it was her own sudden self-consciousness that made her imagine the speculative look in the driver’s eye. She dug her purse out of her coat pocket.

‘It’s on Mr Fenner’s account.’

Well, that was something, Beth thought grudgingly. Although she had fully intended submitting an expense claim for the fare anyway.

‘I’ll watch until you’re safely in,’ the taxi driver said reassuringly, as if misconstruing her slight hesitancy as she glanced up at the imposing building.

She smiled back. It wasn’t the deserted streets that she found unnerving, it was the man waiting for her on the third floor, she thought wryly.

He must have been watching out for the taxi because he responded immediately when she pressed the buzzer, releasing the outside door which closed smoothly behind her as she entered the building.

Pausing for a second in the plushly carpeted foyer to get her bearings, she made her way to the lift. In the eighteen months she’d worked for James Fenner she’d only ever been to his flat once, to bring him some papers to sign when he’d had flu. On that occasion, though, she’d not got further than the hall—her entry to the sick bay had been barred by a chic, blonde ministering angel.

Stepping out of the lift, Beth crossed the corridor and stared at the door facing her. She suddenly felt quite ridiculously nervous. Dealing with James Fenner at work was one thing, but seeing him in the informality of his home at this hour of the morning was something altogether different.

She shook herself irritably. She wasn’t some teenager with a crush on the boss. She was twenty-three years old, and any romantic notions she might have once harboured about James Fenner had been ruthlessly buried a long time ago.

Taking a deep breath, she knocked briskly on the door.

It swung open almost instantly.

‘Do you have to make such a goddamn noise?’ James Fenner towered over her. ‘And don’t slam the door, whatever you do. I think I’ve finally managed to get him to sleep.’

Great, Beth thought. And it’s nice to see you too. Scowling, she followed the retreating figure into the spacious hall. ‘Managed to get who to sleep?’ she enquired, handing James her coat and small case.

He didn’t answer, his narrowed blue eyes sweeping over her tumbled curtain of glossy brown hair and then dropping to the baggy cream sweater and slim-fitting jeans.

‘You look different,’ he muttered disapprovingly.

Thanks for the ego trip, Beth seethed. ‘I look like someone who has been dragged out of their bed at half-two in the morning,’ she said bitterly. It was, she realised, the first time James had seen her attired in anything but the severely tailored suits she wore in the office.

‘It’s your hair...’

OK, she looked a mess, but there was no need to keep pressing the point, Beth thought, aggrieved. She’d barely had time to run a comb through her hair, let alone arrange it in the neat chignon she adopted for work. ‘I might tell you you’re no oil painting at this hour of the morning either, Mr Fenner.’

Which was a downright lie, she admitted with an uncomfortable dip of her stomach. It was completely unfair, but with his thick, dark hair rumpled, his strong jawline and decisive square chin shadowed by stubble, and dressed in black denims and an open-necked blue shirt, James Fenner simply looked blatantly and devastatingly masculine.

‘So why exactly have you dragged me halfway across London?’ she demanded, tilting her head upwards, even more aware than usual of his height and the width of his powerful shoulders. ‘What on earth was that?’ She spun round as she heard a plaintive wail.

‘Oh, hell!’ James Fenner strode down the hall. ‘You’ve gone and woken him up.’

‘It’s a baby!’ Beth scurried after him, her eyes wide with astonishment. ‘What on earth are you doing with a baby in your flat?’

He paused with his hand on the bedroom door and looked down into her suspicious, upturned face. ‘Before you go jumping to any conclusions,’ he said dryly, ‘Timmy is my nephew.’

He pushed open the door, the light from the hall flooding the bedroom, illuminating the small, tearful figure sitting forlornly at one end of the travel cot.

‘Oh, you poor little poppet.’ Instinctively Beth moved towards the cot and swept the baby up in her arms.

‘It’s all so strange, isn’t it?’ she murmured softly, her slim body swaying from side to side as she rocked him soothingly. ‘So what’s the matter? Are you hungry?’

‘Hungry?’ James Fenner muttered under his breath. ‘I’ve done nothing but feed, water and change him for the last two hours.’

Large blue eyes surveyed Beth gravely and then the small face, surrounded by a halo of golden curls, creased into a grin. Her heart suddenly squeezing, Beth grinned back.

‘He’s adorable.’ Gently she ran a caressing finger over a soft pink cheek. ‘How old is he?’

‘Adorable?’ James grunted. ‘You wouldn’t have said that if you’d been here half an hour ago,’ he muttered darkly. ‘A couple of months,’ he added vaguely.

‘A couple of months?’ Beth scoffed. Not unless he was some sort of child prodigy! His blue eyes hazing over, Timmy began sucking furiously on his thumb. ‘Surely you know how old he is?’ She gave a quick, disbelieving glance at the figure filling the open doorway.

‘He was born on my birthday...’

‘June the eighteenth,’ Beth said without thinking, and then flushed as she saw the flicker of surprise on the dark face. Oh, damn, she cursed silently. ‘That makes him six months,’ she calculated quickly. Exactly thirty-five years his uncle’s junior.

She looked down into the small face and saw the golden eyelashes begin to flicker down. Humming softly under her breath, she laid the sleeping infant carefully down in his cot. She pulled up the cover and very gently extracted his tiny thumb from his mouth. He stirred slightly and then lay still. More than a little surprised by her success, Beth tiptoed silently from the room.

‘Beginner’s luck,’ James informed her, his eyes unreadable. ‘Coffee?’

He led her into the spacious, airy lounge, indicating with a wave of his hand that she should take a seat, and disappeared in the direction of the kitchen that Beth had glimpsed earlier.

Muffling a yawn, she sat down on an armchair beside a low table, her gaze wandering curiously around the room. It was grey-carpeted, like the hall, and the walls were cream, adorned by three framed, enlarged photographs of mountains, only one of which she recognised—the Matterhorn. She hazarded a guess that the large cream drapes at the far end of the room concealed French windows leading out onto a balcony.

The subtle decor was undoubtedly restful, the furniture obviously expensive and of a good quality, but the room had a transient feel to it. There was no real impression of the owner’s strong personality, no clutter, no collection of mementos or curios.

But then Beth doubted that James Fenner spent much time here except to eat and sleep. On the rare weekends he wasn’t in his office, he disappeared down to his cottage in Dorset. Whether he was accompanied on these trips or went alone she had no idea. She and James Fenner, Beth mused wryly, weren’t in the habit of exchanging personal confidences over their mid-morning coffee. She glanced up as he walked into the room carrying two mugs.

‘White, no sugar.’ He placed a mug on the table beside her.

She nodded her thanks. It was ridiculous to feel that swift glow of warmth because he’d remembered something as trivial as the way she drank her coffee.

She took a sip from her mug, and then surveyed him inquiringly over the rim as he folded his long frame into the opposite chair.

‘Caroline, my sister, turned up with Timmy about nine o’clock this evening.’ He answered her unspoken question. Stretching out his long legs, he folded his arms idly behind his head, the movement causing his shirt to tauten over his powerful shoulders. Beth studied her coffee-mug. ‘Mike, her husband, who’s been working out in Madagascar, has been taken into hospital with some sort of virus. It’s not life-threatening, but he won’t be fit enough to travel home for some time.’

‘And your sister’s gone out to be with him?’ Beth raised her eyes to his face, her gaze moving swiftly over the familiar, rugged masculine features.

‘She went over to Amsterdam tonight and she’ll fly out of Schiphol on a connecting flight first thing in the morning.’ He took a sip of coffee. ‘Caroline managed to contact an agency before she left, and had arranged for me to interview a temporary nanny tomorrow.’

‘So you woke me up in the middle of the night because you couldn’t cope with a tiny baby for a few hours?’ Beth asked dryly. Why hadn’t he called on Julia for assistance? Not that, from the glimpses Beth had had of her in James’s office, the cool, long-legged blonde had struck her as the overly maternal type.

‘Oh, I could cope with Timmy all right,’ James informed her loftily, and then his straight mouth quirked wryly. ‘It was just that Timmy couldn’t seem to cope with me.’ He paused and added casually, ‘Caroline and Mike named him after me—James Timothy—although they use his second name...’

Beth hid her smile, not fooled in the least by the casual tone. There was no mistaking the underlying pride and pleasure in his voice. So, contrary to what she’d often thought, James Fenner was capable of normal human emotion occasionally.

Her eyes flicked over the long, lean form. Despite the indolence of his posture he still exuded a latent energy. His eyes, darkened to navy in the dim lighting, were completely alert, showing no sign of fatigue. Unlike hers, which felt itchy with lack of sleep. Did he never switch off? she wondered. Did he never completely relax?

As if aware of her scrutiny James