"It seems that Joss had already scheduled a good deal of office work for his first few days here. He"s already read his way through most of our current list, but he hasn"t touched on any of your stuff yet, and he wanted to get that done before he decided what, if any, alterations he wanted to make in the departments under his control.
"Have you got anything planned for this weekend, Sarah?"
Puzzled she shook her head.
"Nothing at all."
"Ah, that"s good." For a moment his frown lightened.
"Joss wants you to go down to this house of his and to take with you your current list, plus any ma.n.u.scripts you"ve earmarked for possible publication.
I did point out to him that that involved asking you to work over the weekend," Steven told her before she could speak.
"You know how I feel about asking my staff to take on extra work without proper notice."
Sarah did. Steven was a stickler for fairness, and believed in being scrupulously considerate to all his employees, which was probably why he had so few staff problems, Sarah reflected. Although she had often had to work late, or take work home with her, it had always been at her own instigation. Steven had a firm rule that said that people needed to play as well as work.
"I did suggest to him that you might go down on Monday, but it seems he"s anxious to get on with checking through your list as quickly as possible. Apparently he had intended to call in here this afternoon and collect it from you.. I must admit that a couple of days is not really long enough for him to get through it... How do you feel about giving up your weekend, Sarah?"
She shrugged.
"It needn"t come to that. I could rive there and back in the day, tomorrow. I know the area very well. My sister--" She broke off s she realised how uncomfortable her boss was looking, frowning slightly herself as he studied her with pursed lips and thoughtful eyes.
"It seems that Joss needs more from you than mere carrier dudes," he told her at last.
"As a one-time journalist and writer himself he"s familiar with the basic run of our list ... but he Feels that when it comes to the women"s fiction side of things he doesn"t have the experience to make any judgments. He feels that if you were there to go through the list with him, explaining to him the reason for what has previously been chosen--backed up by the sales figures--it would give him a much clearer idea of exactly what we look for on the women"s fiction side. I can see the sense of that, of course."
So could Sarah, but she could also see something else. Suppose Joss wanted to go through her lists to try and use it as ammunition against her . to try and prove that she wasn"t fit to hold iown her job? Panic flared inside her, which she luickly subdued. How often had Steven chided her before for her lack of confidence? Their women"s fiction list might only be short, but the last quarter"s sales figures from the work they had published had been most encouraging . and all those books had been Sarah"s own personal choice. In fact, on a couple of them she had had to battle extremely fiercely with James Richards to get his acceptance of them. He had wanted to go for more of the "bodice ripper" type novels that David produced, but Sarah had held out for her own choices. In one case this had meant publishing the work of a hitherto unknown author-James had been adamantly against this--but the sales figures so far had proved Sarah to be right, and Elaine Phillips had already been commissioned to write a follow-up to her first book for them--a historical saga, following the fortunes of a Yorkshire family down through the ages. James had complained that the book lacked "fireworks", by which she suspected he meant s.e.x. but it had a quiet charm that held the reader"s imagination and in Sarah"s view readers would be eager to follow up the first book in the series by reading the second.
"Sarah..." She realised that Steven was still awaiting her response.
Every instinct she owned urged her to be wary of Joss . not to be intimidated by him.
If Joss wants me there while he goes through the list then I"m quite happy to fall in with his wishes," she told him coolly.
Immediately his frown lifted.
"Good girl," he approved.
"What will you do ... stay with your sister?"
Sarah bit her lip. That was something she hadn"t thought about.
"I"m afraid that won"t be possible," she told Steven.
"Jane and her family are going away on holiday."
"Don"t worry about it.. if Joss wants you down there, he can sort out some accommodation for you," Steven told her with a smile.
"I"ll give him a ring now, and then let you know what the arrangements are."
Sarah made her way back to her own office her mind buzzing, fuelled by a determination to prove to Joss that although she might not be able to cope properly with David she was a thoroughly professional editor.
That was the problem in being the youngest and only female editor employed by the firm, she reflected wryly back in her own office. The other editors were sometimes inclined to patronise her, and she, ever-conscious of the weight of her new responsibilities often found it hard to speak up for herself. But she was a good judge of what other members of her s.e.x wanted to read. She need have no fears on that score, the sales figures from her list proved that. And yet it was a heavy responsibility . and her own faith in her own judgment was not entirely secure. If it was, she would have told David immediately that she did not like his new novel. It worried her that Joss seemed to have picked out her list for such intense scrutiny. The story he had told Steven seemed reasonable enough but Sarah was not rea.s.sured. She would have to be on her guard if this was the opening round of a campaign to undermine her position with the firm. Joss would make a daunting adversary. Her "phone rang and she picked up the receiver.
"Sarah? Everything"s fixed up," Steven told her.
"You"re to stay with Joss. Apparently he"s got plenty of room ... and as he says it will make it much easier for the two of you to get through the work on hand if you"re there on the premises, so to speak.
You have got a current driver"s licence haven"t you?"
Numbly Sarah confirmed that she had. Stay with Joss? Now why should that thought intimidate her so much? Because in staying with him she would be giving him the advantage of being on his own home ground, she thought grimly, and Joss Howard had far too many advantages on his side already!
"Good. Lucidly we"ve got one of the rep"s cars in the garage at the moment. You can use that..." He caught the note of surprise in her voice and chuckled.
"Well, it"s the least we can do since you"re giving up your weekend. It wouldn"t have been much fun for you struggling across London with two dozen or so books in your suitcase, not to mention half a dozen or so ma.n.u.scripts."
That was something Sarah had not thought about. Thanking Steven for his consideration, and listening to him telling her that he would have the car filled with petrol, and that she could pick up the keys from Bill, the maintenance man, as she left for the evening, she tried to quell the sense of dread filling her.
It would be stretching coincidence far too far to imagine that Joss had deliberately arranged matters this weekend so that they would fall out as they had. but it did seem that fate was giving him a very unfair lead on her.
Well, she would just have to show him that she was not as easily intimidated as he no doubt believed. It was very unfortunate that he should have walked in on her and David when he did. and she would have felt that way about the scene he had overheard even without the additional complications of the fact that they had been lovers. All in all it was probably hardly surprising that he was so anxious to get her out of the firm, Sarah thought wryly. Even without the personal conflict between them on a professional showing to date she had scarcely done anything to inspire his confidence in her.
It was just gone six when she left her office. Bill grinned at her when she went down to the door, clutching a box of books.
"Mr. Holland told me to expect you. Miss," he a.s.sured her.
"Car"s outside and waiting for you... tank"s full. Mr. Holland said to tell you that Mr. Howard would be expecting you this evening," he added, as he took the box from her and turned to open the plate gla.s.s door.
This evening! Sarah digested that in silence as she hurried back to her office for the rest of the books.
Another two journeys had the new list"s ma.n.u.scripts, plus all the sales charts, safely installed in the boot of the car, which she carefully locked.
The car was a nippy Metro, bright red and only one year old, although with a fairly high mileage. Bill saw her comfortably installed inside it, and after one or two b.u.mps as she got the feel of the clutch, Sarah drove smoothly out on to the main road. She had deliberately delayed leaving, knowing that on a Friday night the traffic would be at its heaviest between four and six. Now it was still heavy but not too bad to cope with.
Luckily, she was a quietly confident driver, refusing to be fl.u.s.tered or provoked, using caution where she thought it necessary as she refused to yield to the impatient honking of a sports car driver who apparently wanted her to pull over. no doubt so that he could go through the lights at red, Sarah thought in mild irritation, wondering as she did so what it was about being behind the wheel of a car that seemed to change some people"s personalities.
It took her just under half an hour to get to her flat. Luckily it was in a self-contained block with its own tiny gardens and car park, so she had no problems as to where to leave the car.
Once inside her flat she took her time about getting ready. She had no idea what time Joss expected her, but she wasn"t going to allow his high-handed actions into panicking her.
She showered and washed her hair, and then while she was waiting for it to dry she made herself a salad meal. In all honesty she knew that she wasn"t hungry, and that in a way she was simply employing delaying tactics. She didn"t want to have to face Joss and she certainly did not want to be alone with him. Thank G.o.d he was not still living in the cottage. Her face flamed as without wanting to she had a vivid mental picture of them both; their naked bodies entwined, hers both inciting and yielding to the powerful masculine dominance of his..
Shuddering slightly she fought to deny the image, pushing away her salad barely touched, and trying to turn her mind to more practical things. She would need to pack . what should she take with her.
Common sense suggested the kind of casual clothes she normally took home with her when she stayed with Jane but she was staying with Joss as a subordinate employee she would be working. Chewing on her bottom lip she went to her wardrobe and quickly extracted a couple of pastel-hued skirts and their matching blouses outfits she normally wore for the office but which were a little less formal than her business suits.
She put these in the case and then added jeans and T-shirts and then clean underwear and a nightdress. She would hardly need anything else.
When her hair was dry she dressed slowly in clean underwear, a fluid printed cotton skirt and a matching plain top comfortable enough to drive in, but not so casual that Joss would not recognise her businesslike approach to the coming weekend. Since she nearly always wore her hair loose at weekends, instead of twisting it up into her office chignon, she compromised by making one long neat plait which she secured with a tortoisesh.e.l.l clasp. It was much cooler with the heavy weight of her hair free of her face and neck like this, she thought, studying her reflection in the mirror as she applied a light glossing of eyeshadow and lipstick.