Chapter 2

She woke me far too early. "I must go," she said, kissing my ear. "Thank you for a lovely evening."

I sat up and began to swing my legs out of the bed.

"No." She stopped me. "Charlie will take me home. I'll be at work in the morning, usual time."

I hate to admit I was grateful, and closed my eyes. I knew no more until the alarm woke me. A shower, during which my housekeeper arrived and got coffee and food ready for breakfast, and was just about ready to face the day. What am I saying? Ready to face Stacey.

She beat me, as usual, to the office, and greeted me with a smile and "Good morning, Mister Carpenter," just the same as usual.

Try as I might I could detect no change in her demeanour from any previous morning. At my desk I tried to concentrate on the overnight reports until, after the usual interval, Stacey arrived with my first cup of coffee.

"Thank you, Stacey," I muttered and – again as usual – watched her rear undulate towards the door. "Um ... Stacey?" I got out as she reached it.

She turned with a smile. "Sir?"

"I ... um..." I trailed off. How did I talk to her? Tell her ... whatever.

She stepped back to stand in front of my desk.

"Mister Carpenter. I loved last night. But I know there's no more between us. I'll do it again any time you like, because it was, yes, great fun. But I love my job – I love you – but I know you and I would send each other mad in a week if we lived together. One day, you'll find someone who fits with you and you'll want to get married. Until then, I ... and probably quite a few other girls ... will be happy to have whatever we can of you. Are we straight now?"

"It just seems, I dunno ... unbalanced, somehow."

"Rest assured ... I was very happy, last night. No regrets, no complaints. I'll do it again ... just not for a few days. I'm aching a bit. Good aches. Legacies of some great sex."

"If it was great, it was more down to you than me, I think. But I enjoyed myself too, so thank you, Stacey. Oh, Jake Roberts, and Jen and Dave, have priority today."

She smiled. "Very good, sir."

I actually got some work done before Stacey announced Jake, who came to my office, rather than ringing.

"Right, Mister Carpenter. Albert Sharpe. Competent, reliable, loyal but unimaginative accountant for Bells Stainless. Borrowed against the equity on his house, so no equity, effectively. In a hole financially, grey loans thanks to the Stevens Brothers, who have been ramping up the pressure on him. Some of this I got from Jen and Dave, by the way – credit where it's due – but so far has avoided actual criminality. He could be forced into that, or perhaps suicide, if your intervention doesn't work. There'd definitely be a risk to his daughter."

"Okay, Jake. That's the father. I expect I'll hear more from Jen and Dave about that. What about the daughter?"

"A jewel. A treasure. I can almost guarantee she's a virgin. She seems to have had no intimate interaction with either gender, though she has friends and goes out with them. Usually quiet outings. Country pubs, walking, that sort of thing. Professionally, she has a gift for spotting anomalies in accounts. She's saved Kelso the better part of a million in the last couple of years, and three employees have been let go for dishonesty. However, Kelso don't seem willing to pay her what she's worth. She's on about thirty K a year. Ridiculous."

"So it'd be a good move to offer her a job?"

"Absolutely."

"Fine. Thanks Jake."

The rest of the morning passed routinely. Lunch was a corned-beef and salad on wholemeal bread sandwich. Jen arrived at two.

"We called on Jimmy Stevens. He wasn't happy, but I convinced him It was a good deal."

"How much?"

"One fifty. That was a compromise. The interest he was charging would have made it nearly two hundred. Sharpe was no problem and he agreed to counselling with hardly a murmur."

"No problems at all?"

"Nah. One of Stevens' bully-boys tried to touch me up. He won't be able to try that again for a bit."

"Oh?"

"Broken wrist."

"That's very well done, Jen. Thanks."

Melissa Sharpe arrived at the office early. When Stacey announced her, I told her to send her right in.

I stood as she entered, and held out my hand. "Good afternoon, Miss Sharpe. Come in, take a seat."

She took my hand, briefly – hers was cold – and sat. She looked tired and drawn, unsurprisingly, I suppose.

"I think we've solved your problem," I told her, watching the mixture of surprise, relief and 'but what now' anxiety cross her face. "My people have visited your father, got the information they needed, and have persuaded his creditors to accept a settlement. I'm pretty sure that will work. So you ... and he ... are off the hook."

She breathed deeply for several moments. "How much?" she asked eventually.

"One-fifty grand," I told her.

"That's..." her eyebrows were hidden by her fringe in her surprise. "that's a lot less than they were asking."

"Yes, but it's a lot more than your father borrowed. And he took loans on the equity in the house, too. He's agreed to go into counselling."

"Oh." She sat silent, obviously thinking things over. "So..."

"So you're free."

"But what about..."

"Miss Sharpe, do you really want sex with me?" I could see the conflict in her expression.

"But I offered..."

"Yes, you did. But I'm sure an offer made in desperation is not the way you want to lose your virginity."

I wouldn't have thought the shock could have intensified, but it did. Her mouth dropped open.

"Miss Sharpe, if you want to repay me, there's an easy way. Come and work for me. I've taken the liberty of having a contract prepared, if you agree, and your start date will depend on how much notice Kelso demands." I rummaged through my in-tray – the papers were near the top. I slid them across the desk and she reached for them.

She was glancing through, and gasped when she came to the salary. "This ... this is almost three times what Kelso are paying me."

"Yes. They've been underpaying you for years. That's what we think you're worth."

"Wow." She breathed deeply. "I didn't expect..." she closed her eyes. Opening them, she went on, "I'd be a fool to turn this down. I ... Mister Carpenter, I don't like to be in debt to you."

"Believe me, I am sure you will be worth a lot more to me than I've spent."

"Aren't I good-looking enough for you? I mean, I know I'm not blonde, and I'm tall and not much..."

I held up a hand to stop her. "Don't go there! I mean it. This is nothing to do with what you look like. It's about who you are, and who you are isn't a girl who sleeps around. You're a girl, I think, who meets someone, gets married, and sleeps with her husband and no-one else. Am I wrong?"

I didn't know what to make of her expression, but eventually she shook her head. "Thanks. Thank you. Yes. I'd like the job. I suppose I'd better get back to work."

She left and I turned my attention to an uncomplimentary report on a property I was considering. It wouldn't do, not at that price, anyway.

Kelso were not happy when Melissa handed in her notice. The HR director questioned her about it.

"Well," she shrugged, "I've been offered a job at nearly three times the salary. I can't afford to turn it down."

He grunted sourly. "Well, you might as well take off, unless you really want to work out your notice. You've got four weeks' annual leave to take, so you can leave now if you want."

"Thank you," she said sweetly, "that'll work."

I don't want to spend time detailing the minutiae of the next few weeks. Miss Sharpe settled in and rapidly earned the respect of our chief accountant. I continued to have the odd tryst with Stacey. The only incident worthy of note – which I'm quite sure will fascinate you – was the day Charlie came to my office wanting to discuss a 'personal issue'.