She expected him to throw his assistant at her and leave her to face the wolves alone.

Damn, he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t.

‘Ruby, can you reorganise my afternoon?’ he said, and he said it as though every word was being dragged out of him. As if he couldn’t believe what he was saying.

Not seeing this deal through this afternoon might well cost him thousands. But it couldn’t be helped. When Marcus made a decision the decision was made-and his decision was made right now.

‘If you’ll set everything back a few hours, I’ll take Peta over,’ he told Ruby. And then, as his assistant’s eyebrows hit her hairline, he clinched it.

‘I’ll face Charles Higgins with her.’

‘You…’

Marcus was left in no doubt of what she thought of him. She was still seated, with Marcus and Ruby speaking over the top of her. She was still-waif-like? Her mop of chestnut curls was tousled and wild, her freckled nose was completely free of make-up and that dollop of jelly was still there. And so was her antagonism towards him. Peta stared up at him and he thought ruefully that he might as well be Charles Higgins himself. Was it the suit? he wondered. Or the presence of his assistant? Tokens of power… Whatever, there was no doubting that she was looking at him with contempt, as if such an action as he proposed was just a figment of his imagination.

‘Why not?’ he demanded. He looked from Peta to Ruby and found their expressions matched. Both women were looking at him as if he’d lost his mind.

‘The project is important,’ Ruby murmured, but he thought he detected a trace of a smile behind her normally expressionless eyes.

‘I know. I’m trusting you to keep things on ice until I can take over again.’

‘And when will that be?’

‘A couple of hours.’

‘Let’s keep you clear until tomorrow,’ Ruby suggested and there was no mistaking the laughter now. ‘You might find ankle-fixing and clothes-shopping and lawyer-facing takes a bit longer than you think.’