In the Market for Love Read Online Free PDF

boss to finalise the decision,” Rachel said. “But I definitely think the third concept is the strongest.”
    “Obviously your CEO makes the final decision,” Jake said.
    She couldn’t work out why h e was being so difficult. “Yes, that’s right. He makes the final decision based on the good judgement of his senior staff.”
    “Certainly.” His expression remained rigid as though he didn’t believe her.
    “We’re the clients,” she reminded him. “It’s our call.”
    “Well, we’ll see when we can fit in a presentation. It’s a busy time of year for us and we have to give priority to our paying clients.”
    Rachel was dumbstruck. She’d ride it out and wait politely until Jake’s mood and manner improved. She gathered her things and signalled to Samantha that the meeting was closed.
    *          *          *
    Jake’s eyes were glued to Rachel as she slid her bag over her shoulder and hastened out of the door. He couldn’t let her leave like this. He had to do something. He rushed to follow her, his head racing.
    When Marcus had twirled Rachel around and kissed her hand, Jake had seen a woman at ease with herself and pleased with Marcus’ company. He had cringed on the inside at their apparent familiarity with one another but now thought he’d read too much into it. Marcus’ attention was now very much taken with Samantha, as it had been on many previous occasions, and Rachel didn’t appear to be pursuing him.
    This hadn’t gone well. First there was Bia nca’s unsettling phone call. He’d walked into their meeting in a tentative mood and then completely overreacted to Marcus’ prank.
    “I’ll ge t the door for you,” Jake said, though it was probably too little, too late. And that was surely what Rachel was thinking too.
    She cut across him to reach for the door release and pulled the door open before he could grab it. Clearly she didn’t want his help.
    H e recalled her girlish beauty after their first meeting when she’d been unable to open the door. She had looked playful, her figure svelte, her face crossed with determination.
    And now, slipping through hi s grasp, she looked more beautiful than ever before.
    Had he left it too late ?

Chapter four
     
    Jake stood on the other side of the desk from the Omega Pharmaceuticals receptionist.
    “There’s a Jake Austin from Agency 66 here to see you,” she said to Rachel over the phone.
    The young woman’s eyes skimmed the length of his physique, then grew visibly larger. It didn’t faze him that she should look admiringly at him but he felt a pang of something resembling regret. He wished Rachel shared that same predatory instinct, wished she would look at him that way, consider him more than a business partner.
    It was time to change that, time to take her out of the boardroom and into a more intimate setting. It’d be difficult to explain his marital situation to her and the workplace clearly wasn’t the right location for such a private discussion. Tonight he planned to tell her all about his predicament. That was if she agreed to go out with him.
    Rachel walked into the room.
    “You’ve kept him a secret!” the receptionist said loudly enough for Jake to hear.
    Rachel greeted him and steered him away into the meeting room, very plain with ivory walls, camel coloured chairs and pale melamine table. The emphasis was on the functional unlike the agency offices which were designed to impress.
    As t hey stood beside the table, she met his gaze. “I’m surprised to see you here today.”
    “I hope it’s a pleasant surprise.”
    “You tell me.”
    “Aren’t you going to offer me a seat?” he asked.
    “You said this wouldn’t take long.”
    She wasn’t making this easy for him. He’d come her e to apologise for his rude behaviour and make amends but Rachel wasn’t like other women. She wasn’t going to give an inch.
    She wore the same stylish pink jacket she’d worn the first time they met, though it