Guilty Love (Completed)

Chapter Three

** Please, do help me with the covers.. I don't have any idea for the covers.. Muahhh..

All the same, she had impressive office skills, good references from her last boss, who had only parted with her because he was moving his firm to another part of the country, and most important of all, she was married. Ritchie's previous secretary had fallen in love with him, without any encouragement, and had made his life impossible with jealous scenes and weeping in the office. He had to fire her, it made him shudder just to remember that scene and he hadn't wanted it to happen again, so he had only short-listed married applicants for the job.

He had intended to choose a safe, middle-aged woman, but then Linzi had walked into the office, and for some inexplicable reason he had found himself offering her the job. He had rationalised his desicions, afterwards, by telling himself that she had a gentle manner, which he knew he would find restful in the office after the hassle he got out on the construction sites, also she was both very capable, and very young, a combination which meant that he would have no difficulty moulding her into the sort of secretary he wanted. And then, the fact that she was married made her safe to have around.

In fact he admitted to himself now that he really had not known what crazy impulse had made him offer her the job. He still didn't. He was glad he had, though. All the same, he had encouraged her to keep a distance between them, and he didn't know why he was trying to bridge the gulf now. He would probably regret it tomorrow, but at this moment he found himself intensely curious about her, he wanted to know what sort of life she led, away from the office, what sort of man she had married, and whether the two of them were happy. In the six months they had worked together they had rarely talked about anything but work, he had no idea about her private life.

"What exactly does your husband do?" he asked, and saw her faint bewilderment, the blue gleam of her perfectly shaped eyes as she stared at him, frowning. Obviously she was suprised by his sudden interest. He would have to be careful she didn't get any wrong ideas and start being afraid he fancied her. He certainly didn't want that. He lowered his lids but watched her though his black lashes. She was lovely, no question about it. Except that he didn't go for the delicate, faintly ethereal type. All that long, pale hair, the big blue eyes......he preffered his women sophisticated, experienced, exciting. Yet he kept on watching her, listening to the cool sound of her voice. What would she look like if that dreamy, cool look dissolved? What did she look like when she made love? he wondered, then frowned at his own wandering thoughts. What on earth was wrong with me, thinking like that? She was married, for one thing, and for another, the last thing I needed was any more disruption in the office! Stop it! he told himself.

"He's a computer programmer with an electronics firm," she slowly said. "Matthews and Cuthlow." He knew them and nodded, quite impressed. "Excellent firm. Computer programming is a job that demands a lot of patience, very complicated stuff usually. Does he like it? Is he good at it? I suppose he must be or he wouldn't be doing it." "He's always been clever with machines of any kind." Actually, Barty found the job boring. He had preferred being a mechanic with a garage that specialised in customising luxury cars and motorbikes. Barty had loved that job, it had broken his heart to give it up, but two years ago he had crashed on his own motorbike and been badly injured. For a while it had looked as if he might die. Linzi had terrible memories of that time. She had been down to hell and back in a few short days, she preferred to forget all about what happened during that week of her life.

Barty had devoted nursing and good doctors, and he had pulled through, after months of operations and illness, because his body was fit and young and healthy. But the man who came back to her had not been the Barty she had loved and married. That man had gone forever, perhaps she was only one in the world who remembered that Barty, now that his mother was dead. He had been full of fun, lighthearted and loving, as much her friend as her lover because they had known each other all their lives. They'd had a few friends, but none of them had ever been very close. And since the accident, they hadn't seen much of any of them. They had come round, at first, to visit him, but they were mostly other mechanics and Barty hadn't wanted to see them, and he'd made that plain.

Barty could no longer stand the strain of hard physical work, it was out of the question for him to go back to his job at the garage. But an old family friend was a top executive in an electronics firm, and had suggested he take up a job as a computer programmer. Computer had been his hobby for years, Barty had only needed to do a specialist course at a technical college for a year to bring his skills up to the right standard, and the pay was certainly very good. But the programming he was doing was often tedious, and he still suffered from headaches and eye-strain. One of the lasting effects of his accident, Barty would so much rather be doing his old job.

**Until the next chapter..