The Irresistible Tycoon by Helen Brooks Page A

marriage work for the sake of their unborn baby.
    Graham’s business had failed almost immediately—it couldn’t have done anything else with the lack of time and effort he had put into it—and with his parents unable tobail him out he had started borrowing from all and sundry, using his compelling charm and attractiveness to get him what he needed. He had always had the ability to be irresistible when he had put his mind to it.
    Kim glanced up suddenly from the task of darning the hole in the pocket of Melody’s school coat.
    Irresistible. The word had suddenly switched on a light in her mind and now she understood why she was thinking of Graham after months of being able to shut him out. ‘They all seem to find him irresistible.’ Those were the very words June had used about Lucas.
    Kim’s soft mouth straightened into a hard line and her dark brown eyes narrowed unseeingly across the cosy sitting room. ‘They’ all might find Lucas Kane irresistible, but this was one female who had received very powerful antibodies against such a disease, she told herself savagely, acknowledging in the same instant that the little episode in Lucas’s office that morning had bothered her more than she had admitted.
    He was the first man who had even remotely stirred her sexual awareness since Graham had died, but now she had recognised the fact and the danger it represented she would be on her guard against herself twenty-four hours a day. It wasn’t that she thought he would be interested in her in a personal way—she almost laughed out loud at the thought of the ruthless and focused Lucas Kane harbouring romantic inclinations towards his secretary—but she didn’t want to be attracted to any man, ever again, and certainly not one cast in Graham’s mould.
    She had never told anyone about those last awful twelve months with Graham, the humiliations she had suffered at his hands, and she never would. She didn’t have to. She was answerable to no one and that was the way she liked it. Melody was the only important thing in her life and, thanks to this new job—she couldn’t bring herself to saythanks to Lucas Kane—she was going to be able to give her daughter the kind of lifestyle she hadn’t imagined was remotely in her grasp just a few months ago. And nothing— nothing —must interfere with that.
    She nodded sharply to herself, her eyes focusing once more on the small red coat in her hands, and as she set to again with renewed vigour her lips were still drawn uncharacteristically tight.
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    The next morning there were several inches of snow and the world had been transformed into a winter wonderland, much to Melody’s delight, but the BMW regally ignored such trifles as snow-packed roads and icy conditions.
    Once Kim had dropped Melody off and was on her way to work she found herself thinking, as she had done more than once in the last few weeks, how fortunate she was to have such a powerful and comfortable car at her disposal. No more struggling along glassy pavements with wet feet or sitting in a cold bus which had arrived late and was filled with the musty smell of damp humanity.
    As usual Lucas was already in his office when she arrived. She had the feeling that if she went into work at five in the morning she would still find him there.
    She assumed the routine the hiccup yesterday had interrupted, taking his coffee into him once she had divested herself of her coat and quickly smoothed her hair in her small cloakroom.
    â€˜Good morning, Kim.’ He didn’t raise his head from the report he was studying as he spoke and his voice was polite and cool.
    Kim answered in the same vein, placing the tray on the desk and forcing herself to walk smoothly out of the office without allowing her glance to linger on the dark bent head and harshly carved lines of his face, but, annoyingly, she found her heart was beating a tattoo as she sat