Excerpts of Work

Gay by Day
(Book 1 in the Love Undercover series)

The noise in the function room of the central London restaurant was deafening. Jet-lagged, Amy pasted a polite smile on her face and circulated. Hoping like hell she’d remember everyone’s names for the kick-off meeting the following morning, she headed for the buffet table the local TV station had graciously provided.

“That’s your fifth pork pie,” she teased Tony, as he piled more food onto his plate. “You’d better be careful or Wardrobe will have to let out your trousers.”

“Man, these things are addictive.” He bit into the pie and groaned with pleasure. “Too bad we can’t take them home with us.”

“Have you tried the sausages yet?” At his nod, Amy stuck her fork in the one on her plate. “Now you know why I complain about the lack of decent ones in New York.”

“The sausages from Eli’s Market are pretty good,” he said, citing his usual argument. “But you’re right, they don’t match up to these Lincolnshire bangers.”

Amy raised the sausage to her mouth.

She was halfway through biting off one end, when an unfamiliar male voice asked, “Are you Amy Cuthbert?”

It was as if the noise around them had dimmed. Her brain focused on the deep, smooth voice from behind her.

Turning, she was pleased to see the owner of the gorgeous voice had a face to match. Thick, dark wavy hair.

Warm brown eyes, flecked with gold and green. And he filled out his white cotton shirt and blue jeans very nicely indeed.

She smiled; her first genuine smile of the evening.

But the tall man just looked at her oddly.

Oh God. He hadn’t made the connection between her and Veronica had he? Even worse, he wasn’t one of her mother’s conquests? The thought unsettled her.

“Amy Cuthbert?” he said again. There was a hint of humour in his hazel eyes.

She could stand there all night just listening to him saying her name.

“You may want to swallow that mouthful,” Tony suggested in a stage whisper from behind her.

Bloody hell.

What a way to make an impression on the best-looking man she’d seen in ages; grinning at him with a bloody great sausage in her mouth.

Chew. Swallow. Breathe.

She put the sausage on her plate and passed the whole thing to Tony.

Drawing herself up to her full height, Amy was grateful for the three inch heels which meant she didn’t have to tilt her head too far to meet the bloke’s gaze squarely.

She stuck out her hand. “I’m Amy and you are …?”

“Mark Hanson. One of your researchers.”

He was going to be working for her? Suddenly, the trip didn’t seem so bad.

Amy sent a quick prayer heavenward that he wasn’t gay.

His handshake was firm, his palm warm against hers.

The brush of his slightly callused fingers curving around her hand sent a shiver of awareness through her.

The green flecks in his eyes seemed to brighten, as if he’d felt it too.

“And I’m Tony. Food and wine guy.” The laughter in her friend’s voice seemed to break the spell.

The noise level returned to normal; glasses clinked, cutlery clattered, chatter and laughter filled the air.

After a moment, Mark released her hand.

“Welcome to The Gay Team,” she said brightly. “I’m sure this will be a fun-filled experience for you. Have you worked on this kind of show before? It can be a little overwhelming if you haven’t. But we’re all one big happy family here.”

She swore to herself at his slight wince. Wittering at him like an over-excited teenager wasn’t going to impress him anymore than the sausage.

Mark listed the various reality shows he’d worked on. Amy tried to keep a straight face as, behind Mark’s back,Tony kept waggling his eyebrows. It was nice to know he liked the look of the new researcher, but he could save it for later. She’d embarrassed herself enough as it was.

“My, my. And who is this lovely man?”

Tony rolled his eyes as Calvin sidled up to them. Like the proverbial bad penny, George appeared seconds later.

Amy introduced everyone.

“You certainly are a handsome one, Mark Hanson.” George giggled at what he thought was a clever play on

Mark’s name. “I hope you’re going to be working closely with me. We’ll need someone with your muscles to help with the furniture.”

“As if he’d be interested in slapping paint on walls,” Calvin snapped.

“He’s hardly likely to want to traipse round the shops playing dress-up with you,” George retorted waspishly.

Mark looked increasingly uncomfortable as the two continued to bicker.

“Sorry guys,” Tony interjected. “Mark’s an old buddy of mine. He’s agreed to work with me. Isn’t that right, Amy?”

Grateful for the out Tony provided, she quickly agreed. When it looked like this would cause another war, she grabbed Calvin by the arm and dragged him off to meet one of the cameramen.

Having successfully distracted him with talk of the ‘in’ clubs, she made her way back to the buffet table. Mark stood by himself, looking somewhat bemused by the events.

“Tony took George off to talk to someone about a local gay bar.” His stilted explanation was telling.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get used to them.”

He muttered something which sounded suspiciously like “I’ll have to.

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