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kiss in kind. “I love you too, sweetheart.”
    An hour later I was in my cubicle thumping away at my sticky
keyboard. Rebecca summoned me into her office.
    “You okay there?” I asked as I shut the door behind me.
    “No.” She had puffy eyes and her nose was streaming. Did she have
a cold? “Judy.”
    I hurried around to her. “What happened?”
    “She wants more.”
    That did not sound good. “How do you feel about that?”
    “You sound like a shrink.”
    “You’re avoiding the question.”
    She rested her head on my chest as I perched on the arm. I hoped
it would hold me or we’d end up sprawled in a heap. “I’m heavier than you, quit
worrying.”
    I kissed the top of her head and held her close. “What do you want
to do?”
    “Nothing.” Rebecca sighed. “She was married to the director. I
don’t care what she wants.” She nuzzled in closer. “I can’t do it.”
    “Wow, you sound so noble.” I wanted to squeeze the pain out of
her. “Why couldn’t you have been like this all along?”
    “Where would be the fun in that?”
    “You might get a woman that deserves you instead of the rubbish
you pick up.”
    Rebecca chuckled. “Oh they do deserve me . . . A cocky idiot like
me is what you get for straying.”
    There were times I wanted to knock sense into her. Why couldn’t
she see what a wonderful woman she was? “So what did you say?”
    “That I didn’t want to know.” She gripped hold of my shirt,
squeezing it between her hands. “I told her we had to stop talking.”
    “You did the right thing.” I was so impressed by her strength that
I felt a new wave of affection for her. “How ’bout we forget work and go watch
some DVD’s—”
    “She fired me.”
    “What?”
    Rebecca pointed to the box on the desk. I’d walked straight past
and not even noticed. Good thing I’d never wanted to be a detective.
    “But they can’t do that!” My heart thudded and my stomach churned
up with the injustice of it. That couldn’t happen, there were laws. There were
. . . well . . . laws.
    “She did.”
    Security knocked on the door. I clung to Rebecca. No, no, that
wasn’t fair.
    “Miss Whitely?”
    Rebecca got up and picked up the box off her desk.
    I seethed with thudding anger as I watched her walk out of her
office. No, this was wrong.
    “Wait.” The lovely security guards, who I often skived off work to
chat to, stopped and let Rebecca turn around. “Just wait there a moment . . .
please?”
    Not waiting for a reply, I marched down the corridor and burst
into the meeting room.
    The director, Miss Evans, the board, all looked up at me.
    “Something wrong?” the director asked.
    I took a deep breath. “Yes.”
    Expectant eyes waited for me to say something else. It was wrong,
Rebecca . . . It was wrong. “Your ex-wife is unprofessional.” Bad start, I
would never make a good lawyer.
    “Excuse me?” The director was a nice guy. I really did not want to
rip his heart to shreds. Everyone knew he still loved the wench.
    “Miss Evans. She fired someone without grounds for dismissal.” Was
that even a term?
    “Miss Saunders, please explain yourself.”
    Miss Evans sat there with a smug grin on her face. I was never one
to open my mouth about anything. I never rocked the boat. Here I was about to
destroy the poor bloke’s heart. What did I do?
    “She blackmailed Rebecca.” Nice start, numpty. “Now she’s fired
her.”
    “You fired Miss Whitely?” The director frowned. “Why?”
    Miss Evans did not look so confident now. “She made inappropriate
suggestions—”
    “You’re lying!”
    The director looked as shocked at my outburst as I was. My knees
felt like they were about to buckle and I could see my own hand wobbling as I
ran it through my hair. “She came to our flat. Doug can vouch for that.”
    “I simply—”
    “She told Rebecca that if she didn’t . . .” I wasn’t brave enough
to actually say the words so instead motioned with my hands and nodded