A Mistletoe Proposal by Lucy Gordon Read Free Book Online Page A

suicide it smashed Roscoe.’
    â€˜Suicide?’
    â€˜He didn’t tell you that?’
    â€˜No, he just said his father had died and his mother never really recovered.’
    â€˜There was a car crash. Officially, it was an accident, but in fact William killed himself because his life’s work was going bust. Roscoe worked for his father. He’d seen the financial mess they were in and tried to help, but there was little he could do. Secretly, I think he blames himself. He thinks if he’d done more he might have prevented the disaster—used his influence to pull William back from the brink. It’s nonsense, of course. He was only twenty-four, little more than a beginner. There was nothing he could have done.
    â€˜After William’s death he managed to save the business and build it into a massive success, but it changed him, not really for the better. His ruthless side took over, but I suppose it had to. You won’t find him easy. What he wants, he wants, and he doesn’t take no for an answer.’
    â€˜But do you realise what it is that he wants?’ Pippa demanded. ‘Am I supposed to seduce this boy, because you know what you can do with that idea.’
    â€˜No, of course not,’ David said hurriedly, ‘but let’s be honest, you’ve had every man here yearning for you. You’ll know how to get this lad’s attention.’
    â€˜I’m not sure—’
    â€˜You haven’t turned him down?’ David sounded alarmed.
    â€˜I’m thinking about it,’ Pippa said cautiously.
    What are you talking about? raged her inner voice. Just tell him you’ve already said no.
    â€˜Pippa, please do this, for the firm’s sake. Roscoe brings us a lot of work and, between you and me, he owns our office building. He’s not a man I want to offend.’
    David was a good boss and a kind man. He’d taught her well, while keeping his yearning admiration for her beauty behind respectable barriers.
    â€˜I’ll get back to you,’ she said.
    She was thoughtful as she walked back to Cavelli’s, trying to reconcile the contradictions that danced in her mind. She’d perceived Roscoe Havering as an older man, certainly in his forties, but if David’s facts were correct he was only thirty-nine.
    It was his demeanour that had misled her, she realised. Physically, he was still youngish, with dark brown hair that showed no hint of grey or thinning. His face was lean, not precisely handsome but intelligent and interesting. It might even have been charming but for a mysterious look of heaviness.
    Heaviness. That was it. He seemed worn down by dead weights that he’d carried so long they were part of him. They aged him cruelly, but not permanently. Sometimes she’d surprised a gleam of humour in his eyes that hinted at another man, one it might be intriguing to know.
    She quickened her steps, suddenly eager to talk to him again, wondering if he would still be there. He might have walked out. Or perhaps he was calling David to complain about her.
    But as soon as she went in she saw him sitting where she’d left him, staring into space, seemingly full of silent sadness. Her heart was touched, despite her efforts to prevent it.
    Control, warned her inner voice. Stay impartial. His outrageous request must be considered objectively.
    How?
    She approached quietly and pulled out a chair facing him. He looked up in surprise.
    â€˜I’m sorry I stormed out like that,’ she said. ‘Sometimes I get into a temper. Shocking loss of objectivity, especially in a lawyer. A wise man wouldn’t want to employ me.’
    â€˜There’s such a thing as being too wise,’ Roscoe said gently. ‘I’m sorry, too. I never meant to offend you. I expressed myself badly, and you were naturally upset.’
    â€˜You didn’t express yourself badly. You laid out your requirements for your employee, making