‘Well, not permanent replacement, of course. Just temporary until my regular secretary is feeling better. Have you been here long-with the firm, I mean?’

‘No, a very short time,’ he said. He was watching her keenly and picking his words with caution.

‘Never mind, you’ll soon get the hang of it. We’re in the middle of an upheaval at the moment. Curtis has been taken over by an Italian firm called Leonate Europa, and soon someone will arrive from Italy to make it official. We’re all waiting in fear and trembling to learn our fate.’

He raised his eyebrows. ‘Fear and trembling? You?’

She gave a half smile, pleased by the implication. ‘Yes-well-I can do a good imitation of it if necessary.’

‘Will it be necessary?’

‘I’ll tell you that when I’ve met His Majesty.’

‘Who’s he?’

‘Primo Rinucci. The “great man” who’s coming to whip us all into line. Damned cheek!’

‘Isn’t it a bit soon to blame him? He might be all right.’

Suddenly her carefully cultivated pose fractured under the burden of her anger.

‘He’s not all right. He’s a predator who thinks he can snatch whatever he wants and to hell with everyone else. Ooh, I wish he was here so that I can give him a piece of my mind!’

‘It’s only a moment ago you were going to pretend to fear and tremble.’

‘I’ll do that first. Then I’ll tell him what I think of him, coming here, disrupting my life, taking my promotion just when it’s in my grasp, thinking his money can buy anything.’

‘Money has a way of doing that,’ he observed mildly. ‘It’s one of its virtues.’

‘To hell with virtue, to hell with money and to hell with Primo Rinucci.’

The sight of her eyes, blazing with indignation, held him entranced. Men had lost their heads for eyes like that, he thought. As he was in danger of doing.

‘I can see that this is going to be a meeting of Titans,’ he murmured.

She returned to sanity, and sighed.