She was better than this, he thought fervently. She deserved better than this. Tessa should be the one who was waited on, catered to, instead of the other way around. He knew from his own observations that most of the other team members didn’t pay this much attention to detail when it came to cleaning up the room after meetings, leaving the bulk of the work for the catering staff. But the rest of the team hadn’t been trained by Francine Carrington, and Ian grimaced as he imagined how tough the old battleax must have been on someone as young and gullible as Tessa. Mrs. C. would have impressed upon her the need to do everything perfectly, to pay close attention to detail, and to never shirk her duties. And Tessa being Tessa would have taken all of that to heart, no matter what task was assigned to her.

But he doubted that even the exacting Mrs. Carrington would have expected Tessa to actually clean the table, would have assumed she’d leave that task for the janitorial staff. As usual, though, Tessa was taking her job much too seriously, undoubtedly anxious to please him, and make sure his exceptionally high standards were not only met but exceeded. Even Andrew didn’t go to such lengths, he acknowledged, especially since his PA considered a great many tasks beneath his dignity.

Unlike Tessa, he realized, who was too meek and introverted to stand up for herself or delegate tasks to others. He hated seeing her working so hard, knowing for a fact that she was almost always the first of the team to arrive and the last to leave each day, and silently cursed her husband yet again for his inability to provide for her. If she was his –

‘No,’ he told himself sternly. ‘Don’t go there right now, mate. You’ve got to stop thinking that way, got to knock off this daydreaming about what it would be like to have her with you. And she must be happy with that boy. Otherwise, why would she still be married to him? There’s obviously a great deal more than meets the eye in that marriage, and it’s none of your business. Just like Tessa isn’t your business, especially outside of the office.’

But it still broke his heart to see her work so hard, and to guess how deprived she must be. He knew, of course, what her monthly salary was, and with the input from a friend who worked for a major international news agency had estimated how much – or, more accurately, how little – Peter Lockwood likely earned. After their rent and other expenses, there wouldn’t be much left over for things like eating out, vacations, or clothes. He knew the skirt and sweater Tessa had on today were items that she wore often, and that her wardrobe in general was very far from being extensive – and certainly not in the least bit expensive.

The latter fact had been driven even further home this morning when she had stood next to Julia McKinnon. Both women were startlingly beautiful, but it was rather obvious that the interior designer was also very much a fashionista. Ian knew quite a bit about women’s fashions, knew that the quality of Julia’s dress and scarf were top notch, and that those very sexy shoes had cost close to a thousand dollars. He longed to send Tessa a pair of those exact same shoes – anonymously, of course – simply for the sheer pleasure of seeing how her long, shapely legs would look while wearing them.

As he returned to his office – not trusting himself to remain in the same room with Tessa a moment longer and not yank those damned furniture wipes out of her hand – Ian thought briefly of the very pretty, very stylish, and very charming Julia McKinnon. She had been a delightful surprise after the dour and dramatic Sonya, and he’d admittedly flirted with her here and there during the meeting. And while she had been witty and engaging in return, he hadn’t picked up any vibes that she had anything but a professional interest in him.

But there had most definitely been some rather intense vibes between her and Nathan Atwood. Even if Ian hadn’t been honing his skills of observation for nearly two decades, he would have been sure to pick up on the wild chemistry that existed between the architect and his new interior designer. The attraction that both of them seemed to be pretending wasn’t there was nearly off the charts, and Ian hadn’t missed the frequent, covetous looks Nathan had sent Julia’s way throughout the two hour meeting. Or the way that Julia had tried like hell to ignore her boss, while at the same time doing her damndest to get his attention.

A smile played about the corners of Ian’s mouth as he walked down the hallway towards his office. He knew that Nathan was engaged, had even met his fiancé once or twice, and wondered how in hell the architect was dealing with his unwilling attraction towards Julia.

‘Probably the same way you’re dealing with your ridiculous obsession with Tessa,’ he told himself scathingly. ‘Ignoring it, denying it, pushing it to the back of your mind. In other words, not really dealing with it at all.’

Chapter Eighteen

September

It had been months since she’d woken up with a bad feeling in her tummy, the all too familiar sensation that something awful was going to happen today. But, realized Tessa as she reluctantly dragged herself out of bed, this was a Wednesday after all, and she should have known that sooner or later life was going to deal her another of those unexpected obstacles. And based on the number of goosebumps on her arm, and with her spidey-sense on full alert, it was going to be a doozy this time around.

The first thing she did was to power up her old laptop – the used one Peter had bought for her when she’d still been a senior in high school – and check on his flight status. He was due to fly home today from Cambodia after another three-week assignment, and she’d learned over the past couple of years that flights departing from that part of the world were rather notorious for being delayed. But so far his flight was scheduled to arrive on time, and she breathed a little sigh of relief to learn he was already airborne. She still worried whenever he had to make one of those long distance flights, always offered up a little prayer that he would arrive home safely, and did the same thing this morning.

She hurried through her breakfast – a slice of whole wheat toast with jam and a cup of tea – before getting ready for work. It was full on Indian summer in the Bay Area right now, with warm, sunny days and balmy nights, so she selected a lightweight dress of pale peach with tiny white polka dots. The dress was sleeveless, belted at the waist, and had a pleated skirt. Because she was running a bit late, Tessa left her hair loose and kept her makeup light. After hastily making up the bed and grabbing her cardigan, purse, and lunch tote, she dashed out of the apartment towards the bus stop.