She waited until her door closed again before bringing him back on the line. “Hello, Channing.”

“Sydney, I’ve been trying to reach you for a couple of days. Where have you been hiding?”

She thought of Mikhail’s lumpy bed and smiled. “I’m sorry, Channing. I’ve been…involved.”

“All work and no play, darling,” he said, and set her teeth on edge. “I’m going to take you away from all that. How about lunch tomorrow? Lutece.”

As a matter of course, she checked her calendar. “I have a meeting.”

“Meetings were made to be rescheduled.”

“No, I really can’t. As it is, I have a couple of projects coming to a head, and I won’t be out of the office much all week.”

“Now, Sydney, I promised Margerite I wouldn’t let you bury yourself under the desk. I’m a man of my word.”

Why was it, she thought, she could handle a multimillion-dollar deal with a cool head, but this personal pressure was making her shoulders tense? “My mother worries unnecessarily. I’m really sorry, Channing, but I can’t chat now. I’ve got—I’m late for an appointment,” she improvised.

“Beautiful women are entitled to be late. If I can’t get you out to lunch, I have to insist that you come with us on Friday. We have a group going to the theater. Drinks first, of course, and a light supper after.”

“I’m booked, Channing. Have a lovely time though. Now, I really must ring off. Ciao.” Cursing herself, she settled the receiver on his pipe of protest.

Why hadn’t she simply told him she was involved with someone?

Simple question, she thought, simple answer. Channing would go to Margerite, and Sydney didn’t want her mother to know. What she had with Mikhail was hers, only hers, and she wanted to keep it that way for a little while longer.

He loved her.

Closing her eyes, she experienced the same quick trickle of pleasure and alarm. Maybe, in time, she would be able to love him back fully, totally, in the full-blooded way she was so afraid she was incapable of.

She’d thought she’d been frigid, too. She’d certainly been wrong there. But that was only one step.

Time, she thought again. She needed time to organize her emotions. And then…then they’d see.

The knock on her office door brought her back to earth. “Yes?”

“Sorry, Sydney.” Janine came in carrying a sheet of Hayward stationery. “This just came in from Mr. Bingham’s office. I thought you’d want to see it right away.”