The Silver Bride

START ONE

'WHAT on earth are you wearing on your head?' Grace Bell demanded as she pressed the button for the service lift.

Stella raised a self-conscious hand to the floral scarf which covered her hair. 'It'll keep the dust off.' 'Since when have you been so fussy?' Stella heaved a sigh and decided to be honest with the older woman. '

There's this guy who often works late on my floor...and, well, he's—' 'Making a nuisance of himself, is he?' Grace's round face tightened with disapproval but she wasn't surprised by the news.

Even in an overall Stella would attract keen male attention. Fashioned on petite but shapely lines, the young woman had hair so naturally fair it gleamed like silver, and clear green eyes enhanced by unexpectedly dark brows and lashes.

'I bet he thinks he's onto a sure thing with a humble cleaner. Old or young?' 'Young.' Stella stood back to let Grace enter the lift first.

'He's getting on my nerves. I've been thinking about mentioning him to the supervisor.' Grace grimaced. 'No, whatever you do, don't make it official, Stella.

If this lech works late, he must be quite important. Let's face it, you're more expendable than some business whizzkid!' 'Don't I know it.' Stella sighed. 'It's still a man's world.'

'He must be pretty persistent if he's getting you down...' Grace frowned, thinking of how feisty Stella could be, although nobody would ever think it to look at her. 'Look, you do my floor tonight and I'll do yours.

That'll give you a break. Then maybe one of the other cleaners will consider doing a permanent switch with you.' 'But I haven't got security clearance to clean the top floor,' Stella reminded the older woman reluctantly. 'Oh, never mind that!' Grace dismissed impatiently.

'Why should anyone need special permission just to polish floors and empty bins? But if the security guard does around while you're up there, take yourself off out of sight if you can.

Some of those blokes would report us. And don't go through those big double doors at the front. That's Harlequin's office suite and I'm not allowed in there...OK?'

As the older woman pushed her trolley out onto the floor mat was usually Stella's responsibility, Stella gave her a grateful smile.

'I appreciate this, Grace.' Stella had never been on the top floor of the Harlequin International building before. When she emerged from the service lift, she realized that the layout was different from the floors below.

Rounding a corner, she saw a large, luxurious reception area to her right. Beyond it, all the lights had been turned off, but she could dimly see an impressive set of double doors in the gloom.

But when she looked to her left, another set of plainer double doors also greeted her at the far end of the corridor. She raised her eyebrows, but assumed the unlit passage closer to Reception housed the office suite that was off-limits.'

Deciding to start at the opposite end and work her way back along the corridor, Stella relaxed. She was delighted by the prospect of an evening shift uninterrupted by Joshua Clark and his suggestive remarks.

Her canvas-shod feet making little sound, Stella opened one of the heavy double doors and had crossed the room to reach for the overflowing wastepaper basket before she registered that the interconnecting office beyond was still occupied.

The door stood slightly ajar, spilling out the unmistakable sound of male voices. Usually, she would have announced her presence, but, having taken Grace's advice on board, she decided it would be wiser just to beat a quick, quiet retreat. The very last thing she wanted to do was get the older woman into trouble.