Kate dealt with all the work quietly, efficiently and with a complete lack of fuss that gradually earnt a grudging respect from Luke. She never flapped, or complained, or bothered him with silly questions, and their battles were limited to her insistence on courtesy. Luke grumbled about having to say please and thank you the whole time, but usually gave in to Kate in the end.

`You obviously don't dislike him as much as you said you did,' Serena said. She and Kate were sitting in a wine-bar, making the most of the free peanuts.

'No-o.' Kate hesitated. `He hasn't done anything to make me like him particularly, but I suppose we get on quite well when he's not shouting at me and I'm not ticking him off about his manners.'

`Don't get on too well. He might recognise you!'

Kate shook her head. `I'm just his secretary,' she said with an unconsciously wistful smile. `Luke's single-minded in the office. As long as I get through all the work, he wouldn't notice if I did the dance of the seven veils on his desk-he'd just tell me not to mess up his papers!'

`He sounds awful,' Serena said frankly, pinching the last peanut. `I don't know why you put up with him.'

`He's not that bad,' Kate said, instantly on the defensive. `He'll talk to me about work and let me make my own comments and suggestions.'

`Big of him!'

'It's more than he does with most people. He was always a loner, and now he's even more so. He keeps people at a distance. I made him laugh the other day, and I felt as if I'd just conquered Everest!'

'Why, what did he do?'

'Nothing. He just laughed. I've seen him smile, of course, but it's usually more of a sneer. This was a proper laugh…' Kate trailed off. It was impossible to explain to Serena the sheer unexpectedness of seeing Luke throw back his head and laugh. All she had done was make a dry comment about a newspaper headline, and suddenly it had been as if a complete stranger stood before her, his face alight with humour, and she had been shaken by the rush of triumphant warmth she had felt. She had made him laugh! She had got through that iron wall of indifference, and without even trying.

`He's much nicer when he laughs,' she finished lamely.

`Kate!' Serena put down her wine glass and looked at Kate with foreboding. `You're not-you're not-thinking of doing anything silly like falling for Luke, are you?'

Falling for Luke? Kate shrugged off a small shiver of memory.

`Of course not,' she said crisply. She took a sip of her wine and avoided Serena's accusing eyes. `You ought to know me better than that, Serena! I'll admit that I like him more than I expected, but I'm far too sensible to fall for a man like Luke. That would be asking for trouble!'

CHAPTER FOUR

KATE went into work the following Monday to find Luke sitting on the edge of her desk, flicking through the diary.

`Good morning,' she said, hanging up her coat and wishing she could get Serena's ridiculous suggestion out of her mind. She felt cross at the very thought. She knew enough about Luke to be under no illusions about him, and there was no danger whatsoever of her falling for him. The whole idea was absurd! So absurd that it had kept her awake at nights. After two restless nights she felt grouchy and irritable and on edge.

Luke had merely grunted in response to her greeting as he compared the desk diary with the slim leather one he carried in his pocket.

`I said, good morning!' Kate reminded him, and he looked up with an exasperated sigh.

`Oh, very well… good morning, Kate.' He eyed her sardonically. `Is that sufficient, or do I need to say anything else?'

'You could ask me if I had a nice weekend,' Kate suggested, refusing to be intimidated by his sarcasm.

`Did you have a nice weekend?'

'Yes, thank you. And you?'

'Not particularly,' he snapped. `Now that we've 'one the social bit, can we get on with some work? We're going to Paris tomorrow.' He rushed the diary across the desk towards her.

Just for one night. Get on to the travel agents -and book a hotel and two flights-first class.'

`When you say "we", does that include me?' Kate asked carefully.

`As there are just two of us in the room, I'd have thought that was obvious. Why, is there a problem?'

`It's rather short notice.'

`So?'

'I might have something planned,' she pointed out, searching in her bag for her own diary.

`You'll just have to cancel it,' Luke said unsympathetically. `This is important. And that reminds me, don't book any appointments for this afternoon.'

`Are you going to be out?'

'We are going to be out,' he corrected her. `I'm taking you to get your hair cut.'

Kate had been making neat notes in the diary, but her head jerked up at that. `I don't need to have my hair cut!'

'Yes, you do. It's important to give our clients the right impression of LPM, and I don't want you turning up in Paris looking like that.'

`Looking like what?' Kate's voice was deceptively mild but her eyes held a glitter of frost.

Luke hunched his shoulders irritably. `You look so bloody prim and proper with your hair tied back like that and those sensible suits of yours. It's like having a governess instead of a secretary!'

`I suppose I should be flattered that you even notice what I wear,' Kate snapped back, angry and more than a little hurt. `I'd always thought that as long as I typed your letters and answered your phone I could be dressed in rags for all you would care!'

'There's no need to get hysterical,' Luke said. He stood up and tucked his diary back into the inside pocket of his jacket.

The lack of interest in the gesture infuriated Kate. `I am not hysterical!' she said through gritted teeth. `Why do men always say that as soon as women dare to answer back?'

`If that were the case I'd be permanently accusing you of being hysterical,' Luke pointed out. `Anyway, what are you getting so het up about? I only made a simple comment about your appearance.'

`Oh, it was a simple comment, was it? I don't suppose it occurred to you that I might not like being accused of being prim and proper, or looking like a governess? Does it even occur to you that I'm a human being and not just another piece of office machinery?'

Luke glowered. `For heaven's sake, stop overreacting!'

`No wonder your secretaries keep leaving you!' Kate was searching for a pen, banging papers up and down on her desk furiously. `You have no consideration for other people's feelings at all!'

`I'm not in the business of worrying about feelings,' Luke said coldly. `As far as I'm concerned, you're here to do a job, and part of that job involves projecting the right image of the company. Now, if you want to look like some uptight spinster when you're in London, that's fine, but this meeting tomorrow is my big chance to break into the European market, and I'm not going to blow it just because you can't be bothered to make the right impression!'

`What's wrong with what I've got on?' Kate demanded, gesturing down at her Prince of Wales check. `It's smart, and it's suitable. What more do you want?'

'I want some style!' Luke said, exasperated. `There's nothing wrong with that suit, but it doesn't do anything for you, and nor does your hairstyle. That's all I'm saying.'

`All you're saying is that you don't mind having an efficient secretary, but you'd really rather I looked completely different!'

Luke's mouth was set in an angry line. `If you're going to be unreasonable, Kate, I'm not going to bother arguing with you!'

`Me, unreasonable?' Kate pushed back her chair and leapt to her feet. Luke's comments had caught her on the raw and she was angrier than she had ever been, certainly too angry to consider what she was saying. `You're a fine one to talk! You've got a nerve, going on about the impression you're afraid I'll make in Paris when you're the one who hasn't the first idea of how to behave!'

The black look had descended on Luke's face. `I should be careful what you say to me, Kate,' he warned. `You're not the only girl in the world who can speak French.'

`I'm probably the only one who would put up with your rudeness!' Kate retorted. `You treat everyone here like your slaves. Do this, do that, dress like this, cut your hair like that! Well, I'm your secretary, not your slave, and I'm not going to change my image just to suit you!'

`Don't push me too far, Kate,' Luke ground out, `or you won't be my secretary much longer!'

`Fine!' Incandescent with rage, Kate snatched up her bag and marched over to the coatstand.

`Where do you think you're going?'

`Where do you think?' Kate said, dragging on her coat. `I'm going to find an employer who'll appreciate the skills I have to offer and who doesn't care if he has to put up with some grotesque frump sitting in the front office!'

Her hand was at the door and she had half opened it when Luke strode over and pushed it firmly shut. `I didn't say that!'

He was standing very close to her. Kate dropped her hand from the door-handle but stood her ground. `It sounded like that to me!' she said.

Luke stared down at her. Her face was bright with anger, her eyes glittering and her chin set defiantly.

`Oh, hell!' He raked his fingers through his dark hair and sighed. `Look, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have spoken to you like that. I had rather a fraught weekend, and I was taking my bad temper out on you. I'm sorry.'

Kate was so surprised to hear him apologise that she could only look uncertainly up into his face.

`I do appreciate you,' he went on. `You're the best secretary I've ever had.' And then, unfairly, he smiled. `Honestly!'