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‘Tarting yourself up for me?’

‘Yes,’ she said sheepishly

He laughed ‘I would never think that of you Silly Rachel’

Rachel tried not to be offended But she was, all the same Yes, silly, silly Rachel

‘Which brings estion,’ he went on ‘Now, toet the works Facial, , hair, make-up The lot It says here they do all that’

‘That seeht ruefully

‘No, it’s not It’s necessary’

‘Oh, thank you very much,’ came the waspish comment

‘No, this is no time for over-sensitivity, Rachel The truth is you’ve let yourself get into bad habits with this plain-Jane nonsense I can understand that you ht not have bothered with your appearance much when you were at home all the time, but I’ll bet there was a time when you went to a lot of trouble with your hair and make-up and clothes’

‘We-ll…’

‘Well?’ he probed forcefully

‘I always suspected I didn’t become a finalist in the Secretary of the Year competition on my office skills alone,’ she said drily

‘I don’t doubt it I’ll bet you were a looker back then’

‘I was…attractive’

‘And you never wore black’

‘Not often’

‘How did you wear your hair?’

‘Down,’ she adhts’

‘No wonder people froht, Eric the Mongrel will recognise you all right’

‘Eric the Mongrel?’ she repeated on a gasp

‘Yeah That’s what I’ve nicknamed him Do you like it?’

‘Oh, dear I love it’

‘So you’ll do it? Come to the dinner with me?’