‘Have you been here long?’ He spoke in a relaxed way that put her at her ease a little.

‘Oh, no – only a few months.’

‘Really?’ He sounded impressed and turned to look directly at her, which brought an embarrassed flush to her face. ‘Where were you before?’

‘I was at Serck,’ she told him, trying to sound casual.

‘Oh, marvellous – that’s good . . .’

She wasn’t quite sure why this was so good, and it dawned on her that he was rather nervous of her, which somehow put her more at ease.

‘And you were working at Herbert’s?’

‘Yes, that’s right. I thought I’d go somewhere and do some time in a place that wasn’t the family firm – just for a while anyway. All good experience . . .’

He began to peel off as they got inside.

‘I’m going onto the floor for a bit.’ He turned, walking backwards as he spoke to her, moving towards the shop floor. See you up in the lions’ den!’

Katie laughed at this unexpected comment and heard his laughter too as he disappeared through the swing doors. She liked the way he was so light-hearted and ready for a joke.

She had to calm herself down as she climbed the stairs, because her face was all pink and she had a broad grin stretched across it. If only she didn’t blush so easily and give herself away. She stopped on the stairs and took some deep breaths.

‘Stop being so silly,’ she ticked herself off. ‘He was only making polite conversation with you – it doesn’t mean anything!’

But as she went into the office she could feel Lena Crosby staring curiously at her and felt herself blush even more. Even after she’d sat down at her desk, it was a long time before her heartbeat slowed to something approaching normal.

Over the next few days, whenever Simon Collinge came into the office, Katie always looked down and busily got on with her work. But sooner or later she would raise her head and become aware of his eyes fixed on her, though he was at his desk, seemingly wrapped in deep thought about a technical problem. She was astonished at his effect on her. She had never really believed all those romantic stories about women going weak at the knees, melting inside – or however they put it. Not until now. The very look of him, the curve of his long back, the lift of his hair in a boyish wave from his forehead, the way he sat hunched with his head in his hands, thinking hard, tapping his toes and sometimes drumming his fingers on the desk, the air of confidence he gave off – everything about his sheer masculine presence did make her feel, yes, soft and melting inside! And she was very embarrassed about it, because surely he was not looking at her on purpose, and she didn’t want to make a silly little fool of herself.