The girl in the mirror looked back at her critically. She was trim and neat in a grey suit and high-necked white blouse, and her thick brown hair was twisted up and held away from her face by a tortoiseshell clasp.

She looked crisp and efficient-and dull, Kate decided as clear eyes gazed back at her a little wistfully. No wonder Luke Hardman hadn't remembered her! It wasn't as if there was anything wrong with her, but there was nothing very special either. She was just Kate: cool, capable Kate. An ideal secretary, in fact, she reminded herself sensibly as the doors slid open on to a thicklycarpeted corridor. Stepping out, Kate was met by a harassed-looking girl with wavy red hair.

`Miss Finch? I'm Paula Stephens. We spoke on the phone.' She seemed relieved by Kate's businesslike air. `I had hoped to explain a bit about this job before you met the managing director, but he's in a tearing hurry today, so would you mind if I introduced you to him first and then we had a word later?'

'Of course not,' Kate said politely, wondering if it was the managing director who had reduced her to such a jittery state.

Paula led her along the corridor and into an office. It was a large, bright room, equipped with all the latest technology. `This would be your room,' she said, and then lowered her voice. `That's his office in there,' she said in a conspiratorial whisper, nodding her head at a door on the far side of the room.

With a visible attempt to steel herself Paula went over and knocked. `Miss Finch is here to see you,' she said nervously.

Kate heard an impatient voice say, `Ail right, all right. Tell her to come in,' before Paula stood back and, with a look that was suspiciously sympathetic, gestured her inside and shut the door behind her.

She found herself in a vast, high-ceilinged room with a window that looked out over the elegant Knightsbridge street below. For a moment she hesitated, confused by the fact that she seemed to be alone in the room, and then the voice spoke again, deep and abrupt.