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dismissing her.
    Back at her desk, Rachel still wasn’t sure if she had heard right. Had he just said he was taking her to lunch? Maybe he was just reminding her that he was meeting a client for lunch to make her check the online diary. That would be it—he was probably having a little dig at her because of her fuck-up yesterday.
    As she fired up the computer, she glanced quickly at her mobile and saw there was a text waiting for her. It was from Mandy.
    ‘Did the bastard fire you? Let me know what happened. M xx’
    Grinning, Rachel quickly keyed her reply, No, he apologised! Will talk tonight. R x
    A couple of minutes later, her phone bleeped again.
    Sorry, not home tonight. Out with girls from work, will be late. M xx
    Oh well never mind , she thought, as she put on the headphones and lost herself in Adam Stone’s beautiful voice as she started typing.
    The morning passed quickly with no dramas. Adam Stone remained courteous and polite and didn’t seem to have any complaints about her work. At twenty-five past twelve, he strode out of his office and nodded at her. “Are you ready?”
    Oh God, he really was taking her to lunch! “Er, yes,” she stuttered, and quickly grabbed her bag.
    Ten minutes later, they were seated in a busy, modern restaurant frequented mostly by business people.
    “Mr Stone, very good to see you.” The tall, rather attractive maître d’ rushed over to their table and shook Mr Stone’s hand like an old friend before turning to Rachel and giving her a warm smile. “Have you replaced the lovely Lucy?” he asked, laughing.
    Mr Stone smiled back at him. “Hello, Pierre. This is Rachel. Unfortunately, Lucy has taken ill so Rachel is helping out until the new maternity cover starts.”
    Pierre’s face fell. “I’m very sorry to hear that. Please send her my best wishes.”
    “Thank you.” Mr Stone took the menus Pierre was holding out to him and, without opening them, asked Rachel, “Do you eat fish?”
    “Yes, but…”
    “Good. Pierre, we’ll have two lemon soles with buttered new potatoes and wilted spinach.”
    Rachel had been about to say that she didn’t fancy fish, but it looked like she wasn’t going to be given a choice. Oh well, luckily she liked lemon sole. Then, just as she was wondering whether to have a Diet Coke or a lemonade, Mr Stone ordered two glasses of sparkling water for them. Bloody hell , she thought crossly, he could have asked .
    “Is there a problem?” Mr Stone was staring at her and she realised she must have been frowning. She quickly smoothed out her expression and replaced her disgruntled expression with a smile.
    “No, of course not.”
    “Good. I come here every two weeks with Lucy,” he said. “It gives us a chance to catch up without interruptions. I like to keep in touch with my employees—it makes for better working relationships.”
    “I think that’s a great idea,” said Rachel, thinking briefly that if this was how he encouraged his working relationships, she’d love to see what he was like with his private relationships. Stop it, Rachel, she scolded herself and forced her attention back to the man opposite her.
    Mr Stone leant back in his seat and studied Rachel silently before asking, “Do you enjoy working for Joe?”
    “Yes, he’s a good boss, we work well together.” She thanked the waitress as she placed a glass of icy sparkling water in front of her.
    “How long have you worked for him?” Mr Stone was looking at her in a way that made her feel incredibly self-conscious. His sharp eyes clearly didn’t miss a thing and she wondered if he could read all her expressions and mannerisms. She knew a lot of successful business people studied body language so they could assess people’s reactions, and the thought made her uncomfortable. What if he knew that she fancied him like mad at the same time as hating him? Mind you, that probably wasn’t an unusual occurrence for him.
    She looked up at his face and saw him waiting