No sign of her inner turmoil showed in Kate's face as she wished Luke a cool good morning.

Luke's eyes were shuttered as he returned her greeting curtly, and to Kate's relief he was disinclined for conversation as they checked in and went through Passport Control into the departure lounge. He looked grumpy, and Kate was glad to take refuge behind an air of brisk efficiency.

She was wearing one of the outfits Luke had picked out, a soft tan skirt with a loosely structured jacket and an ivory silk shirt. The casual elegance suited her understated looks, but Luke didn't comment. He had taken some papers out of his briefcase and was studying them with a grim face, effectively ignoring her.

Kate eyed him covertly. His brows were drawn together, his mouth set in an inflexible line. He looked so hard and forbidding that if it hadn't been for the way her pulse was beating it would have been hard to believe that this was the same man who had kissed her last night.

Did he even remember? Kate wouldn't have put it past him to have put it completely out of his mind as soon as she'd been out of sight. Their first kiss hadn't meant anything to him; why should their second? Unconsciously wistful, Kate's eyes deepened to the colour of honey, and she glanced at him again. If Luke did remember kissing her he had obviously decided to ignore it now.

Well, that suited her!

`I suppose you're waiting for me to apologise for kissing you last night,' Luke said abruptly, without looking up from his notes.

Kate, just relaxing into the comfortable certainty that the whole embarrassing episode could safely be forgotten, looked at his bent head with resentment. She should have remembered that it wasn't possible to relax with Luke. He had an uncanny ability to catch her at a disadvantage.

`There's no need to apologise,' she said, proud of her cool manner, but unable to look at him directly. Instead she glanced with studied casualness over at the passengers milling around the duty-free shop. `I didn't take it seriously.'

He looked up at that. She didn't see him, but she could feel his sharp eyes upon her.

`Oh? And how did you take it?'

Why couldn't he just accept the let-out she had given him? Kate thought crossly. It was just like him to be difficult about the whole thing!

`You clearly weren't thinking about what you were doing.'

`How do you work that one out?'

There was the merest suspicion of amusement in his voice and Kate's eyes flickered back to him suspiciously, but he was looking down at his papers again. All she could see were the angular lines of nose and cheek as he scribbled notes.

Her pride rebelling at her being cross-examined by Luke in this embarrassing way while he had half a mind on a quite different subject, Kate spoke more waspishly than she had intended.

`I'd have thought it was obvious. In your book, girl plus dinner plus darkness equals kiss. Unfortunately, you left the fact that I'm your secretary out of the equation.'

`I think I must have forgotten that, under that glamorous new image of yours, a disapproving Kate still lurks,' Luke said with some dryness, making a final note and then slipping his pen into his jacket pocket.

`It's not my new image. It's yours,' Kate pointed out sulkily.

`Oh, I don't know,' Luke said judiciously. He put his papers back into his briefcase and snapped it shut. `All I did was spot the beautiful, rather sexy woman you could be if only you'd let yourself.'

Kate felt herself grow suddenly hot. She would have given anything to have been able to say something cutting in reply, but could only stare fiercely at the book-stall while she fought down a blush. She wished he wouldn't say things like that. He was so much easier to deal with when he was being downright unpleasant.

`I don't want to be beautiful and sexy,' she said desperately. `I'm not like that.'

`You were like that when I kissed you last night.'

`You caught me unawares,' Kate defended herself. She drew a deep breath and forced herself to look straight into Luke's slate-grey eyes. `You were the one who went on about how grateful you were that our relationship was strictly business, so I'd be grateful if you'd remember that in future. Since we have to work together, it seems only sensible.'

`Very sensible,' Luke mocked. `I wouldn't expect a sensible secretary like you, Kate, to suggest anything else!' He glanced up at the flight monitor and, much to Kate's relief, got to his feet, putting an end to the discussion. `Come on, the flight's boarding now.'

Paris was veiled in a typically pale blue-grey light as they took a taxi into the centre from the airport. They were staying at the Paris Oasis on the rue du Faubourg-St-Honore, the standard-bearer of Philippe Robard's chain of hotels, and Kate was impressed by its understated elegance.

She looked about the magnificent lobby as Luke signed them in with his usual brusque efficiency. If this was Philippe Robard's standard then Luke had been right to insist on a change of image for her!

Luke gave no sign of appreciating the luxurious surroundings. He allowed Kate a bare five minutes to comb her hair before whisking her off to their meeting with Philippe Robard.

`Now, remember,' he said as they waited for the doorman to find them a taxi, `you're to be pleasant and charming. I don't want to hear you lecturing Robard about his manners!'

`I wouldn't dream of it,' Kate said loftily.

`Oh, wouldn't you?' Luke snorted. `Just smile and be nice, that's all I ask. Let's have a look at you…' He turned her to face him and subjected her to a critical inspection, from the gleaming hair to the smart new tan shoes. The soft lines of the skirt and jacket gave her an easy elegance, and the warm colours flattered her fine skin and reflected the tawny brown of her eyes.

Kate waited for him to find something to criticise, but he turned abruptly away as the taxi drew up. `You look all right,' was all he said.

Philippe Robard was a slight man of about sixty with an aloof, patrician face. He greeted them courteously and introduced his son, Xavier, who gazed at Kate with frank admiration as he shook her hand. He was darkly handsome with olive skin and caressing eyes, and Kate could feel Luke stiffen with disapproval. Next to the two stylish Frenchmen, he looked massive and granite-hard.

After the initial exchange of courtesies they soon got down to business. It was a tough meeting, and it was clear that Philippe Robard was quite as shrewd a negotiator as Luke. They spoke in French, which meant that Luke could understand and put across the simple facts, but he left Kate to translate the more complex ideas.

Winning a contract like this was not going to be easy, Kate realised as she explained how LPM worked to Philippe and Xavier. Mindful of what Luke had said, she made a special effort to smile and be charming, until even Philippe's stern features relaxed. Xavier was clearly even more impressed. He kept his warm brown eyes on her face, and smiled charmingly back at her.

Kate was very conscious of Luke sitting beside her. There was a coiled tension about him as he leant forward to show Philippe and Xavier photographs of the better-known projects LPM had completed, and she wondered just how much winning this contract meant to him. He was arguing persuasively, but she knew him well enough by now to be able to tell that he was keeping a simmering anger in check. Kate was mystified. She couldn't imagine what he had to be angry about. The meeting was going well, better even than they had hoped.

Xavier caught her eye and smiled as Luke sat back in his chair, and she smiled politely back. Privately she thought he should be studying Luke's figures instead of hers, but Luke had insisted that she be nice, so she had better not spoil things now. Still wondering about Luke, she glanced at him, only to encounter such a blazing look that her eyes widened in surprise.

Philippe chose that moment to rise. `I regret that I have another appointment now,' he said in heavily accented English, `but perhaps we may continue this very interesting discussion this evening?'

`Of course.' Luke got to his feet too. `I hope that you will both be my guests for dinner?' His glance included Xavier, but without much enthusiasm.

`Miss Finch will be there too?' Xavier asked, with another flashing smile at Kate. `Naturally,' Luke said curtly.

`In that case, it will be a real pleasure!'

Outside, the street was crowded with shoppers. Luke set off down the pavement, barely waiting to see if Kate was following. His face was set in forbidding lines, his jaw thrust forward angrily.

`The meeting seemed to go quite well,' Kate ventured, hurrying to keep up.

`We haven't got the contract yet,' he pointed out grumpily.

`Well, no, but I think they were impressed.'

`Oh, they were impressed all right, but I suspect it was more by those big smiles of yours than by anything I might have had to say! I'm not denying that I want this contract badly, but there's no need to offer yourself on a plate for it!'

Kate's jaw dropped, and she stopped dead in the middle of the pavement. `What on earth do you mean?'

'Oh, come on, Kate! All those coquettish looks at Xavier, those little sidelong smiles. I must say, I never suspected you had quite such a talent for flirting!'

`Flirting?' It was so unfair that it took Kate a few moments to get her words out. `I was only being pleasant, as you asked-though ordered might be a more accurate word!'

`There's a difference between being pleasant and laying it on with a trowel!'

Kate's eyes were ablaze with gold as she stalked down the pavement. `Aren't you ever satisfied? You went on and on and on about how I had to be charming, so I was. I smiled and was nice, just as you ordered, and now you turn round and accuse me of flirting! I suppose if I hadn't smiled I'd have been deliberately jeopardising your chances?'