‘Harry’s probably waiting for you somewhere,’ he said, peering out of the window, making a meal of looking for Harry, who was now nowhere to be seen. ‘Better let your husband know you might be a bit late back.’ He grinned as he winked.

‘Don’t you dare!’ Laura suddenly spat. ‘Don’t you dare insinuate that I would cheat on my husband. Men like you make me sick,’ she blurted. To think of everything she had sacrificed for Miles, for Harry, and this was how she was being repaid. Having to listen to crap, to be made to feel like she was nothing.

Miles pursed his lips, straightening himself atop Harry’s desk. The smile rapidly slid off his face.

‘I won’t be doing any more work for you,’ she said calmly. Already Laura wondered if she’d later regret her words, but what other option was there? She wouldn’t spend another minute in the man’s company.

‘You’re right there,’ Miles sang out as she opened the door. ‘There is no job, Laura.’

She paused and turned, cocking her head questioningly as Miles’s eyes flared in triumph.

‘The job’s already gone to someone else. As Harry knows,’ he added, raising his brows, goading her.

‘I don’t understand …’ she said, despite her need to get out of the office.

‘The work you’ve been doing for our tender—’ Miles broke off, blowing out his cheeks and throwing up his hands to indicate it had just evaporated. ‘Harry’s not broken the news to you yet, then? No. I know he hasn’t. He told me that this afternoon. He said he was worried how you’d react; that you were getting your knickers in a twist over some other girl in the office …’

‘What?’ Laura gasped, sickened by his choice of words.

‘Maybe I’m paraphrasing, but you get the gist.’

‘I don’t believe you,’ she said defiantly. ‘Harry wouldn’t let me carry on working on something that wasn’t going anywhere. That’s ridiculous.’

‘I agree,’ Miles chuckled. ‘He thought he could twist my arm – still try to play for something that wasn’t up for grabs. I guess it was too much of an attractive proposition,’ he broke off, smiling.

Laura turned her back on him, her heart pounding as she released the door handle and paced to her desk, picking up her bag. She scoured the office for signs of her boss, who was no longer anywhere to be seen. Miles was following her out of the office, the scent of his aftershave preceding him. Grabbing her bag from the floor, she walked as quickly as she could to the lifts, stabbing her finger against the button until one arrived.