"That's something of a contradiction, isn't it? Why aren't you loudly pleased, Sarah? It's my experience that most editors are only too eager to let others know just how well they've done.. just how invaluable they are to their employers."

What was he hinting at? That she wasn't to think herself invaluable?

Was he deliberately trying to undermine her; because he was certainly succeeding.

"I said quietly pleased. Joss, because that's exactly what I meant,"

she told him firmly.

"I haven't been doing the job for long enough yet to be any more confident than that. Of course I'm pleased that my choices have done so well, but that isn't enough to tell whether it was good judgment on my part, or simply good luck."

"I couldn't have put it better myself," Joss agreed drily, plainly amused to see her fall into the pit she had dug for herself.

"And the only way we will have of knowing will be to let you select this year's list and possibly next's. And, of course, if it was only good luck and that luck fails..."

Sarah wanted to protest that he was hardly being fair. But she was too unsure of her ground to do so. She felt instinctively that she did have a flair for her work, but she was naturally una.s.suming and hesitant to take credit for herself without someone else there to back her up in doing so.

"Steven seems to have confidence in me," she said stiffly.

Joss grimaced.

"Steven is a sucker for a pretty face," he told her blightingly.

"Which is one of the reasons he's more than happy to hide behind me and let me be his hatchet man if, of course, it should ever come to that as I was just saying, it's really early days as far as your abilities are concerned, isn't it? Now I think we'd better break for lunch."

Childishly, Sarah wanted to tell him that she didn't want to eat. He had thoroughly upset her, leaving her feeling tense and drained.

Joss was watching her and Sarah felt thoroughly unnerved when he said softly, "Hasn't it ever occurred to you that you're somewhat on he sensitive side for this job, Sarah? How do you ;ope for instance when you have to deal with a itubbom writer, when you have to ask for alt erit ions or do I already know the answer to that?"

Sarah knew that he was referring to David Vandal.

"That's not fair," she burst out, very close to be verge of tears.

"Most writers aren't a bit ike David."

"I should hope not," he agreed blightingly, adding: "By the way, I've been through his na.n.u.script, and I don't like it. It takes an att.i.tude o women that could do us a great deal of harm is a publishing house from a feminist point of dew. He'll either have to abandon, or rework."

"I'll tell him." Her relief that Joss agreed wither own view of David's book was swamped by the knowledge that she would have to confront David again.

"No." Joss's sharp refusal jarred through her.

"I'll tell him," he told her grimly.

"Somehow I Think it will be much more effective coming from ne..."

His eyes told her mercilessly exactly what he meant and Sarah quailed beneath the derision in them. He was undermining her authority again, and she knew she had to object, and yet a cowardly part of her wanted to hand over the responsibility for dealing with David to him. "It's my job--' she began only to fall silent as loss intervened crisply.

"And it's mine to see that yours gets done, as quickly and efficiently as possible. You'll have to forgive me, Sarah, if I say that I can hardly see that being accomplished after what I witnessed in your office the other day. David Randal terrifies you."

It was all too uncomfortably true, and Sarah lapsed into an unhappy silence. In a few short hours Joss seemed to have possessed himself of every one of her weaknesses. How long would it be before he told her that he intended to recommend to Steven that she was demoted?

Not very long, she suspected miserably.

"Come on, lunch."

The fresh salad and chicken might just as well have been sawdust, Sarah reflected as she pushed her plate away, barely touched. If this was a sample of what working with Joss was like, then perhaps she ought to give in her notice. But how could she? How could she let him see that he had bested her? How could she manage without her salary?

They were two questions that returned again and again to torment her in the days that followed.

Joss had a capacity for work that she could only marvel at, and she could not hide from herself the knowledge that he was an extremely able and accomplished editor. Somehow in the few days he had available he managed to read all through her past and current lists, possibly in bed at night, Sarah reflected, because he was certainly far too busy to do so during the day. If they weren't being interrupted by the contractors, the telephone was ringing it amazed Sarah how quickly he could switch his attention from one thing to another without apparently losing track. The more she saw of his own professional ability, the more insecure she felt about her own. He had given her the odd word of praise it was true . but all in all when she returned to London on Wednesday afternoon it was with the distinct feeling that her days as Leichner & Holland's women's fiction editor were numbered.

The very last thing Joss had said to her before she drove off was that immediately he got back he intended to write to David.

"If he gets in touch with you before then you can refer him to me."

"And the work I'm doing on this year's list?" she asked hesitantly.

His response had been distinctly noncommittal, and all in all Sarah was relieved to have been granted a couple of days off work, in lieu of the previous weekend, before she need face him again.

CHAPTER SEVEN.

the blow wasn't long in falling. She had been in her office for only half an hour on Monday morning when Steven rang through and asked to see her.

She could tell by the faintly embarra.s.sed smile he gave her when she walked into his office what was coming. How easy it had been for Joss, she thought bleakly. She might have known she would not have had a chance in h.e.l.l of standing out against him. What would Steven say if she told him that Joss wanted her out of the firm because they had been lovers? She closed her eyes, knowing she would make no such charge.

and knowing just as much that it was true.

"Sarah, are you all right?"

She could hear the anxiety in Steven's voice.

"Fine..." she lied brightly.

"You wanted to see me?"

"Er, yes..." He fiddled with some papers on his desk.

"Joss and I were having a talk last week."

"When I was away from the office..." Sarah said evenly.

She caught the vaguely shifty glance Steven sent her.

"Er ... yes. That's right. Sarah, why didn't you tell me about the problems you were having with David?"

She might have known Joss would choose to launch that cannon first, Sarah thought bleakly.

"I felt I should handle the situation on my own," she responded coolly, wondering exactly how much Joss had told Steven.

"But to allow yourself to be subjected to such a degree of s.e.xual hara.s.sment. My dear girl, you should have gone to James or myself immediately."