True to his promise, Aaron Robertson assigned himself ferociously to learning the background of all the directors and top echelon connected with the Company. It was a mammoth task, but one he obviously found so absorbing that it left him - according to the grateful physiotherapist - little time to ponder over the slowness of his progress.

But progress he was undoubtedly making, as Kate saw for herself during her frequent visits to the house in Orem Square. Although Sir Angus had promised his doctor not to overwork, he still did a great deal during the weekends, and hardly a Saturday or Sunday passed without her working with him. Even when there was no dictation or reports to be done he seemed reluctant to let her leave, and took to using her as a sounding-board for innovations he wished to make, while sometimes he just used her as a listener for his more outrageous proposals which, once voiced and aired, she knew would rarely be used.

A week before Christmas and six months after the plane crash, Aaron was able to walk into the dining-room on crutches and take his place at the table. Kate was the only person to know he had recovered sufficiently to do this, and she was sworn to secrecy.

"I want to wait till I'm completely fit," he said by way of explanation. "Then I'll give a party and invite all my friends here to celebrate my return to the world."

"Acquaintances seems a better word than friends," she replied acidly. "If they were really friends you wouldn't mind them seeing you as you are."

He did not argue the point and she now knew him better than to continue it. Although he had a great similarity to his father, there was much in him she did not understand; one moment he could be tolerant and amused and the next waspish or sullen Not that it was fair to judge him until he was completely well, she conceded, though when that time came he would move totally out of her own orbit. It was a thought which, coming to her as she watched him talk to his father in the library one Sunday evening, made her realize how much a part of her life both Sir Angus and his son had become. Too big a part to be healthy, she acknowledged, and realized that though she criticized Aaron for cutting himself off from his friends, she herself had done exactly the same, albeit for different reasons.

His own desire to be alone until he was well again had stemmed from a need for self-protection, whereas her desire to be alone was in order to protect a love which she knew could never come to fruition. Yes, at last she was admitting the truth of her feelings for Aaron Robertson.

She loved him. Loved a man who saw her only as his father's competent secretary.

With the conscious realization of her attachment to Aaron she became increasingly aware of the difficulty of her position, and for the next few days was on tenterhooks in case Sir Angus guessed at her feelings. But he acted towards her in his usual half abrupt, half jesting manner, and gradually she relaxed, confident that she had not given herself away.

But in this she was doing her employer an injustice, for he had not built his press empire on hard work alone: intuition had played a large part too, and it was this intuition that made him aware - before Kate herself had realized it -of the impact his son was having on her. To begin with he had been amused by it, but as he saw the impact Kate was having on Aaron - an impact of which his son was totally unaware - he started to consider the implications and the more he did so the better he liked them. It would be an ideal marriage. Quiet Kate, whose iron will was hidden by a thick velvet glove, would make the ideal wife for Aaron. Indeed it was Kate whom he could thank for his son's decision to learn everything he could about the Company — a request which had always been ignored when he himself had made it. Yes, the more he thought about such a marriage, the more he liked it. The only thing left was to hope that Aaron had the sense to realize it.

Sir Angus was so intent on considering the position from his own point of view that he paid no attention to what Kate might do, and he was totally unprepared when she came to him one morning in the middle of January and said she wished to leave.

"But why?" he asked, at a loss for words.-

 "Because I'm in love with your son."

He tried but failed to stop his look of surprise. "Honest Kate," he said abruptly. "So you've finally realized how you feel?"

"You mean you knew?"

"Yes." Then seeing the fear in her face, he shook his head. "But Aaron hasn't guessed. I promise you that."

"I must go before he does."

"What makes you think he will?"

"He's his father's son!"

"Then if he is he'll have enough sense to realize you're the best thing that's ever happened to him!"

It was her turn to be surprised. "Wouldn't you mind? I'd have thought you would have wanted him to marry -"

"A foreign countess or a socialite with background and no money?" he interrupted. "Credit me with more sense than that, my child! I wasn't born with my title, Kate. I'm a self[1]made man and I've no respect for anyone who forgets his background. If you had a million pounds and a royal crest you couldn't be a better match for Aaron."

Tears filled her eyes and she blinked them away. "Unfortunately he doesn't even know I exist - as a woman, that is. That's the main reason I've made the decision to leave. When I first realized how I felt about him I'd hoped that… but now I see it's impossible. He's gone out with some of the most beautiful girls in the world, and for me to try and compete-"

"There's no question of your competing. What you're offering him is something quite different. As for your looks - well, to me you're a bonny girl." She smiled sadly and Sir Angus went on gruffly, "Don't you think you're being a bit too dramatic? If Aaron is treating you like a sister, perhaps it's a form of self-defense? After all, until he knew for certain he was going to get better, there wasn't much point in him thinking of a woman at all."

This was something Kate had never considered, and a rush of colour tinged her cheeks, making Sir Angus laugh. "Don't be in such a hurry to resign, my dear. Besides, even if my son doesn't need you, I do." Unexpectedly he caught her hand. It was the first time they had ever made physical contact and she was dismayed that despite the strength of his grasp there was a perceptible tremor in his hold. It reminded her of what his doctor had said about his health and she knew that to leave him now would place an additional burden on him that her conscience would not allow. "Don't worry," she whispered. "I won't leave you. But don't ask me to come to Orem Square."