Secretary on Demand by Cathy Williams

you want to know where the bedroom is?’
    â€˜ Bedroom I said, not bed .’ He gave the chair in the corner a doubtful look, as if unsure as to whether it would take his weight, and then gingerly sat down.
    â€˜There is no bedroom. The sofa is really a single bed. I just fling the sheet on it when I’m ready to go to bed and use the big, square cushions for pillows. It’s very comfy, actually.’
    â€˜You sleep on a chair?’
    â€˜Sofa,’ she corrected, bristling at the incredulous contempt in his voice at her living arrangements.
    â€˜Surely we pay you enough to find somewhere a bit…’ he looked around him and she could see him searching for the least offensive description to apply ‘…bigger?’
    â€˜Places are very hard to come by in London,’ Shannon informed him, following his eyes and looking around the poky room herself. ‘It was a bit of luck getting this in the first place, as a matter of fact.’
    â€˜Yes. A bit of bad luck.’ Kane drank some more of the hot chocolate. ‘How was your evening at the pub?’
    â€˜Don’t try to distract me with lots of questions. What are you doing here?’
    â€˜I was in the area and…’
    â€˜You thought you’d drop by for a cup of coffee and a chat?’
    â€˜Not exactly, no. I thought I’d take a drive to see how far you have to walk once you get to your underground station here.’
    Shannon gave an exasperated sigh.
    â€˜And I wanted to check out the area,’ he expanded, making her feel even more cringingly helpless.
    â€˜Is there any chance at all that you might stop acting as though I’m too young or too stupid to take care of myself?’ Realising that she was still standing up, Shannon tucked herself back into the sofa and folded her arms imperiously.
    â€˜If that’s the impression I’ve given you, I apologise,’ he said in a voice that didn’t sound very apologetic, ‘but when I think of Eleanor living in a place like this, my skin crawls. And if, for some reason, she found herself forced to, I’d be bloody glad if there was someone around who took an interest.’
    â€˜You mean someone like you.’
    Kane shrugged and raised his eyebrows.
    â€˜In other words, I should be grateful for you nosing around in my private life.’
    â€˜Does your mother know about your living conditions?’ he asked shrewdly, and Shannon squirmed a little bit, whilst trying to hang on to the liberated, twenty-first-century veneer she was in the process of creating.
    â€˜Of course she does,’ Shannon lied. It was, in fact, such a vast lie, that she amended slightly, ‘Well, she knows I don’t live anywhere grand…’ She had an uncomfortable feeling that her mum thought she was livingsomewhere small but charming, a bit like a smaller version of her own house, in fact. Somewhere with more than two rooms and an atmosphere of cosy homeliness. She would have an instant heart attack were she to know that the small but charming place in her head was in reality a charmless dump in a borderline part of the city.
    Shannon could imagine her mother swooping down to London on a bedsit inspection tour and she would probably drag her daughter back off to Ireland the minute she clapped eyes on her rented accommodation.
    â€˜I take it you’ve been economical with the truth.’
    â€˜I had to,’ Shannon grumbled defensively, ‘for her own good.’
    He didn’t say anything for so long that she finally blurted out, ‘Look, I haven’t eaten yet, so would you mind leaving? I’m tired and I’m hungry and I’m not in the mood to argue with you. I’m not your child, you don’t have to look after me and when I can afford something better, I shall naturally move out. I don’t see why you’re complaining. I do a good job for you at work and I don’t complain about travelling