Dream Lover Read online

  Dream Lover

  Nicola Peterson

  Copyright © 2012 by Nicola Peterson

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  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. Please do not participate in or encourage the piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  Thank you to my husband Alan and my friends Wendy Miller and Sue for encouraging me to keep writing.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  CHAPTER ONE

  Quinn Morgan smoothed down her skirt and sighed, she was not looking forward to meeting her new boss, it was her own personal rule never to work directly for a man, any man and yet here she was going to work for one with a reputation for being something of a tyrant, a very moody tyrant. She had worked for Cordell and Smyth for just over six months, up until today she had been employed as the personal assistant to one of the female directors, Alana Patterson. They worked well together and both women were disappointed to be separated if only for a short while, Alana had tried her best to keep hold of her secretary, she was in her opinion the best in the company. Only problem was yesterday Alana had been told that the Chairman’s personal assistant had been badly hurt in a car accident and that her p.a. was to stand in for him until he was able to return to work, which was expected to be some months down the line, and no one argued with Maxwell Cordell and so had to let her go.

  Although Quinn had not yet met Maxwell Cordell she had obviously heard of him, alas nothing good. His bad temper and abrupt manner were legendary throughout the company, rumour had it he hated women and only just tolerated men. ‘Great,’ she muttered when she was given instructions to report to him.

  Quinn had made a few discrete enquires about Maxwell and beside that he worked hard, gave generously to charities she had been able to find out very little else about him. She had even searched the internet but all she could find out about him was how well his business was doing and one very dodgy photograph of him which she doubted she would recognise him from.

  The Chairman’s office was located on the tenth floor, as Quinn stepped from the lift she couldn’t help but notice the deep thick sumptuous carpet under her feet. Even the atmosphere was different, a quiet expectant air hung over the wide corridor. As she made her way Quinn noticed there were only two doors, straight ahead of her the other on the right, her perfect eye sight told her that the Chairman’s office was directly ahead of her.

  Praying she was not going to regret having to take this temporary position she quickened her step and stopped out side of the Chairman’s door. Taking one more deep breath she lifted her slim hand and knocked on the door to his office, waiting for a reply she heard a deep voice assuming he was inviting her to enter she did just that.

  Quinn gasped loudly for a number of reasons, one Maxwell Cordell was devastatingly handsome, plus he had the most perfect body she had ever seen or could imagine. How did she know this? Well that was the reason why she gasped in the first place; he was standing dressed in just his boxer shorts and nothing else.

  ‘I told you to wait,’ he yelled at her snatching his pants from the back of his chair and pulling them quickly over his long muscular legs.

  Quinn forced her chin up from her chest as she gaped at him and was already stumbling from the room and back out into the corridor, she slammed the door closed and buried her red face in her hands. She opened her eyes quickly again; she could picture his muscular body all too clearly with them closed. A sick sinking feeling invaded her slender body, just what on earth was he doing near naked in his office?

  Suddenly the door was snatched open once again, this time thankfully her new boss was dressed ‘What do you want?’ he demanded angrily, his blue eyes flicked over her, while his long nimble fingers straightened up his tie.

  ‘I…sorry,’ she stammered stupidly, while her mind fumbled around for something sensible to say.

  ‘Spit it out woman, you barge in while I’m changing and now you don’t know why you’re even here in the first place,’ he snapped at her, ‘stop gawping like a gold fish what do you want?’ he demanded angrily.

  Discreetly she wiped her unusually damp palm down the side of her skirt then held out her hand to him, ‘I’m Quinn Morgan your relief personal assistant,’ she said more confidently, then dropping her hand back to her side when he rudely ignored it.

  ‘What?’ he repeated, ‘you can’t be I was expecting a man,’ he informed her curtly. This was exactly why he never had a female p.a. they stuttered and stammered, licked their lips a lot while fluttering unnaturally long lashes at him.

  ‘Well I’m not a man,’ she snapped back at him. It was a common mistake people often thought her name was masculine, but once they had seen her it was not a mistake they made again.

  Maxwell glared down into her face, ‘I do not have female secretaries,’ he shouted at her not realising Paul was the only male personal assistant who worked for his company.

  ‘There is no one else available, so it’s me or no one,’ she retorted quite forgetting just whom she was talking to.

  Maxwell cursed loudly and colourfully before spinning on his heel back into his office. ‘Get in here,’ he yelled when he realised she was still standing where he had left her.

  Only Quinn needed her job, for two pins she would have walked out there and then, swallowing her pride she walked slowly and sedately into his office. Resisting the urge to slam the door behind her she made her way to his vast desk. Quinn’s temper was at boiling point, she hated bad manners and this man had the worst she had come across in a long time, but if he thought for one moment she would not argue back he was in for a shock, even if he was the Chairman.

  Maxwell sat behind the huge slab of mahogany rocking back and forth on his high backed leather chair; with his elbows resting on the arms he made a pyramid of his fingers resting his chin on the top. Narrowing his eyes at her he watched as she walked toward him, slow and unhurried which did nothing to improve his mood.

  ‘Let’s get a few ground rules laid down. If my door is closed don’t ever enter my office again before I invite you to, don’t ever be late. Don’t argue with me,’ he stopped to give a short humourless laugh and run his hands through his dark hair before going on to tell her, ‘You will find I am always right,’ he then carried on with his list of do’s and don’ts.

  But Quinn wasn’t listening anymore, well not to the words, to his deep baritone voice definitely, looking at his stunningly handsome face and into his thickly lashed azure blue eyes certainly.

  ‘Do I make myself clear?’ he demanded.

  ‘Yes,’ she answered, ‘oh heck what was he saying?’ she thought when she realised he was looking at her with a strange expression on his handsome face.

  He lifted one hand and pointed over her shoulder
, ‘Your office is through there,’ he looked at his slim gold watch while he spoke, ‘you have five minutes to make yourself comfortable then get back in here and bring a pad and pen with you,’ he ordered her offhandedly.

  Quinn only realised she was dismissed when he turned away, picked up his telephone and started punching numbers. Standing up once more she made her way toward the door he pointed to and into the relative calm of her own office.

  Being the Chairman’s personal assistant certainly had its perks. The office was well appointed, no mass produced furniture in here, state of the art computer and fax machine sat on her desk behind which was a very comfortable looking high backed chair, not leather but very comfortable tweed material.

  After a very quick look around the room she snatched up a pad and pen, remembering his instructions she knocked on the door and waited to be invited in, silence. So she knocked again, a little louder once again all she heard was silence. Quinn had just raised her hand to knock for a third time when the door was snatched open.

  Maxwell Cordell glared at his new personal assistant, ‘I distinctly told you not to keep me waiting,’ he snapped at her as he turned away quickly striding back toward his desk.

  Quinn followed not too closely behind, ‘I knocked twice you didn’t answer, after last time I wanted…’ she paused over her words so she didn’t stammer, the last thing she wanted was to let him know she was troubled by his shouting, ‘I wanted to be sure you were decent!’

  Maxwell sat down heavily in his seat and glared at her, ‘Someone knocked coffee over me, I don’t normally walk around the office naked,’ he told her.

  ‘I should hope not!’ she gasped in alarm, while trying and failing not to recall the vision of him in just his shorts, but it was really difficult and for a moment her eyes rested on his broad chest.

  Maxwell shook his dark head and looked down at his shirt front wondering what she was starring at. ‘I haven’t time for this, and we have a lot of work to do before I go to my meeting,’ he said with an exasperated sigh.

  Over the next hour he spun off a list of information he needed putting together for his meeting later that morning, he reeled off his list so quickly she could hardly keep up with him, but determinedly did not ask him once to repeat himself. Armed with her list she dashed off to collect what he required, with fifteen minutes to spare everything was waiting on her desk neatly stacked in folders.

  Tucking them safely under her arm she knocked on his door and walked in, ‘I think everything you requested is here,’ she laid them out on his desk and turned back toward her own office.

  ‘Sit,’ he demanded opening the top folder he flicked through the contents.

  For just one second she was tempted to ask him to stop speaking to her as though she was his pet dog, quickly clamping her lips together she thought better of it and sat down without a word while thinking he could do with a lesson in manners.

  While he was quickly looking through each of the folders she sat looking around his tastefully decorated office. When she looked back toward her boss he was no longer reading the file in his hands but studying her legs. As he looked up their eyes met, he looked straight into hers for a few long seconds until obscenely long thick dark lashes closed over his blue eyes.

  ‘Fine,’ he stood up quickly locking the files in his brief case. With a curt ‘I’ll see you tomorrow,’ he marched out of his room leaving her sat at his desk.

  As he walked through the door she couldn’t help but turn to look at him, he was she decided bone achingly handsome, very tall, very broad but unfortunately had the manners of a skunk she decided as she stood up and went back to her own office.

  It was after six thirty by the time Quinn arrived home, grateful her first day working for Maxwell was over. Kicking off her shoes she slumped onto the sofa, she had not been under any illusions about working for the Chairman of Cordell & Smyth. It had been with great reluctance she had taken the temporary position in the first place. At least she now knew first hand why his previous personal assistants had been male; they were probably the only ones capable of standing up to him. But Maxwell Cordell was in for a surprise if he expected Quinn would stand and take the abuse he hurled at everyone he came in contact with, whether they deserved it or not, because no matter what she would stand her ground.

  The one thing she hadn’t been prepared for was how handsome he was, he was very tall with dark hair, and his eyes were the colour of a clear blue sky. His face was sculptured perfection, if some one had asked her to sketch her image of the perfect handsome man Maxwell Cordell would have been hers.

  Smudge her cat jumped up onto her lap nestled herself down against her thighs and proceeded to purr loudly. ‘Well Smudge I wonder what sort of day you have had?’ she asked her cat as she scratched her ears. ‘Better than mine I hope,’ she added with a sigh.

  Smudge looked up at her mistress with one green eye before stretching her neck further back for another scratch, purring contentedly when she obliged.

  Quinn’s evening passed much the same as usual, after placing a frozen meal in the oven she telephoned her mother to pass on and catch up with the family news. When her mother asked how she was getting on with her new boss she held back a sigh.

  ‘The jury is out at present,’ she told her with a small laugh, ‘I’ll let you know in a couple of weeks.’

  Now her mother sighed, ‘Don’t let him bully you dear,’ she said not hiding the concern she felt.

  ‘I won’t mum, don’t you worry.’

  As usual her mother fussed over her wanting to know had she had breakfast and lunch, what are you having for dinner?

  ‘Please stop fussing mum, the last thing I would do is go without my food!’ she laughed. ‘Talking of which my dinner should be ready now, I’ll ring before the weekend,’ she promised.

  After feeding her cat and herself Quinn fell into bed and slept like a log, so much so she overslept the next morning and was unusually ten minutes late for work. Entering her office though her own door she was dismayed to find the adjoining door to Maxwell’s office open, she had hoped to get to her office before he missed her but the moment she walked in he bellowed through the open door.

  ‘Quinn get in here!’

  ‘Yes your majesty,’ she muttered stopping only to snatch up her pad and pen then almost leaping from her skin when she looked up to find him in the doorway.

  The flicker of amusement in his eyes was quickly hidden. ‘If you are going to give me a title you might try curtsying in future,’ he drawled, ‘or at least touch your forelock when using it,’ he added as he walked away.

  Determinedly holding back her apology she followed him into his office, although she did duck her head so as to hide her red cheeks from him should he turn, she was quite confident her face was as red as her jacket.

  ‘I don’t care one way or the other what you call me behind my back, to my face or within earshot I prefer Maxwell or Mr Cordell. Okay?’

  ‘Yes Mr Cordell,’ she refused to let him hear she was embarrassed he had heard her and spoke up clearly giving no hint of apology in her voice.

  He sat behind his desk and narrowed his eyes at her for a moment, ‘Do you recall our conversation of yesterday?’ he tapped his fingers on the wide expanse of wood as he spoke before lifting one hand to pull his fingers through his thick hair.

  Her mind scrambled about looking for just what it was he wanted her to remember, ‘Most of it, yes,’ she said hopefully, while determinedly ignoring the urge to smooth down his hair once more.

  ‘What about the bit about being late?’ he asked as he stopped drumming his fingers and looked pointedly at his watch.

  ‘The traffic was very heavy,’ she lied quickly, ‘also a car broke down in the bus lane,’ she added for good measure not flinching for one moment as he looked straight into her eyes, although she did cross her fingers out of sight.

  ‘Well leave earlier in future, I won’t tolerate lateness no matter whose fault it is,’ he narrowed
his eyes at her for a moment. ‘Right let’s get down to work.’

  Over the next hour he went over his itinerary for the next month, taking a deep breath she realised she was hardly going to have a day to call her own. She was to accompany him to conferences, functions and meetings in London, Paris and Belgium where he expected her to stay for anything up to a whole week with him.

  He looked up quickly from his diary, ‘Are you married?’ he asked glancing quickly at her left hand, she shook her head, ‘boyfriend or girlfriend?’ when she gave him a wide-eyed look he added, ‘well you never know these days.’

  ‘No, no one, just my cat,’ she informed him.

  He studied her for a moment before adding; ‘the company will foot the bill if you have to have it looked after… whatever.’

  ‘That won’t be necessary, thank you anyway,’ she smiled and he looked away quickly.

  ‘I expect you to dress accordingly for each of the functions we attend, the company has an account with a lady and gents outfitters that we use in the city centre, I just can’t recall the name, I’ll find it later,’ he scratched his chin for a moment. ‘Anyway go there see Monique she is in charge of our account. Just tell her where you are going and she will supply you with the correct dresses for day wear and evening wear.’

  Before she could stop herself she gave a small laugh, ‘I can’t see Paul in a cocktail dress somehow.’

  Maxwell Cordell was not amused, ‘You have a smart mouth Quinn you’d do well to keep it shut,’ he glared at her while he spoke, obviously not pleased at her attempts making a joke with him.

  ‘Sorry, I was trying to joke it won’t happen again, and while we are on the subject of....’

  Almost as though he sensed she was going to object to the company buying her clothes, he cut in quickly. ‘Your predecessors used the facility I expect you to without argument,’ the tone of his voice told her not to dare argue. ‘We will be mixing with some very influential people you will need to dress accordingly,’ he finished before concentrating on their forthcoming arrangements once more.