Rebecca came out of her hiding place as soon as Jason left the house of the woman he had brought to the luncheon.

She did not know the reason she felt that she should follow them. Jason was normally very observant and she had taken care not to be seen by him as she tailed them but it had not been too hard. It would seem that he had been busy smooching the girl in the car while driving which was very unlikely. Jason was a very cautious man when it came to driving. He observed all the rules of safe driving, unless of course he had suddenly changed since the last they saw.

But if not, then he must be very distracted or bothered about something and she hoped it was because of her.

She had expected him to ell at her, be angry but she had been surprised at the civil way he had handled seeing her again after the way they had parted and she was sure their parting had really hurt him.

Could the reason for his obvious nonchalance be because he no longer cared for her let alone love her? Or maybe he was already in love with someone else?

She had thought that he would spend the night with his companion but he had left her and gone home alone. Of course they had gone in together but she doubted they did anything intimate be ause the time that elapsed before he came back out was not enough for them to have had sex.

She had felt strangely relieved that he had not spent the night with the Phoebe girl but that does not mean that they didn't have something going or that there was no other person in his life.

Her informants had told her how he lived now. Having numerous female companions. She had just wanted to check out the competition and knew intuitively like women did that Phoebe was no match for her and that was why she had gone back to her hotel rather than follow Jason home to see if there was any other rival she should be aware of.

One might want to ask her reason for all this. 'The reason is that I want my Jason back!' she said aloud.

She had not wanted to say it loud all these while because she had not known what his reaction to seeing her again would be but now that that first hurdle was jumped, she was going to proceed with her plan to get Jason to want her so desperately that he would want her back and not just that but beg her to come back into his life.

He may not propose marriage at first but at least they could start as lovers and once that was established, she knew how to go about getting her ex husband to agree to remarry her.

She had Intentionally said something about not wanting to be trapped in marriage but that was all a lie. She had realised the mistake she had made when she divorced him

She had thought that she loved Terry but they had been together for about six months before she realised that it had been mete infatuation. The novelty wore off and she was on the run again with another man when she could no longer stand Terry.

Terry had really been in love with her and she had thought that she felt the same way. Her attraction to him must have been due to boredom. Now she realised that she had not been wise enough

She could just continued having an extramarital affairs with Terry while she remained married to Jason and still have access to his wealth and all the luxury his money provided.

She had wanted too do it that way but Terry would not agree to that. Terry had infact stopped making love with her and she enjoyed his lovemaking to the point of obsession. She felt she could not do without feeling him inside her and if eloping with him would keep him by her side, then she was willing to do it.

She had tried to take as much money as she could possible steal from Jason and demanded more and properties from him during the divorce. She had been so lucky that he had not contested the divorce or her demands but with her lifestyle, the money was dwindling to nothingness.

She had had many wealthy make friends who had supplied her with money and fame but she could not get over how generous Jason had been

No one could measure up to the standard he had laid in her life and that was why she wanted him back. Not because of love. Love, my foot! What was the meaning of love?

Right next w she didn't know where Terry was and had been grateful when that girl had interrupted them, else she didn't know what she could have told Jason about Terry and if he found out the real truth,it might paint her in a bad light in his sight.

She planned to make an entrance at his office the next day and see how all went. It was also part of getting Jason's attention once more and finding out if there was anyone in his office who was close to him which she should be aware of.

Jason was not into office romance, so there was no threat there but just to make sure.

He also would not want to make a scene. If she could get him to take her out to dinner, then the first hurdle will have been jumped.

From the dinner, they could settle their differences and he could end up in her hotel room and on her bed or she could end up spending the night with him in his mansion. Only then would she know she was triumphant.

But she realized that it was not going to be as easy as she was thinking it. She had hurt Jason deeply and he just might not want to have anything to do with her and even if he consented to taking her out to dinner,it was no guarantee that he would want to stay further with her after the meal but that was where her skill at seduction and persuasion would come in.

She was not called 'Hot Rebecca' for nothing.

The first thing was to surprise him with a visit to his office. And to look good, she had to have her beauty sleep and get ready for the kill.

Nancy did not know if she should be happy or disappointed that Jason had gone ahead to the office without her. She found out that she felt both emotions.

She was happy that she didn't have to face him that morning after the events of the previous night. The kiss that is. But she was disappointed because she had wanted to know what he would say about it and how he would react to seeing her that morning and to tell this truth, she had wanted to stay close to him as they drove to the office. She missed their friendly chatter.

She consoled herself with the thought that they were going to see each other at the office in any case.

She got the driver to drive her to the office. She was growing used to her new life style and could not have asked for more. She had a comfortable dwelling place, friendly people surrounded her both at the office and at home. She had a good, well paying job and though her boss was a perfectionist, he was not a bad boss at all but ....

She must make sure that the kiss was never repeated, else it could cause complications in their friendly and cordial relationship and the last thing she wanted was for their working relationship to be strained.

Jason had intentionally gone a little to early to the office because he had wanted to avoid Nancy. He did not know what she thought of him now. Most probably as someone who could take advantage of a vulnerable woman. A man without scruples? That would serve him right but it irked him to think that Nancy might want to place him in the same category with the bastard that was so heartless as you get her pregnant and desert her with no thought to her welfare.

He still had not got round to getting her to tell him the whole story but he was sure that it was not going to be a pleasant tale at all.

Also, he didn't want to force her to confide in him if she was not ready. He believed that she would at her own time. But he would see if he could get her to confide in him just like she expertly did last night.

That night again! He didn't want to think about it because the more he thought about it, the more he wanted to kiss her again. He had not felt that way in a long long while.

What magic could she have woven in that little kiss? And she was not the one that initiated it but she broke it off, else he would have maybe started suspecting that she was trying to seduce him but since that was not the case, then he was the one guilty of trying to seduce a pregnant woman for goodness sakes!

'Jason where are your morals? Have you totally lost it?' he screamed inside his head.

He knew that he would have to put up the act of his life and pretend as they meet in the office that morning that it was nothing but just a brotherly kiss and that he had already forgotten about it and then she would have no option but to do likewise.

Why was he even bothered? Nancy may already have forgotten about the kiss. She had more important things to think anyways. Her pregnancy and what lay ahead was enough to distract her from thinking about it.

Rebecca woke and stretched luxuriously on her bed in the hotel room. Today was going to be a hell of a revelation. She felt the stirrings of apprehension but was not going to allow that deter her.

She called for room service and ordered her meal. Then she started preparing to go out as she had planned. The meal was brought and she ate and passed the time going through fashion and gossip magazines.

It was in one of such magazines that she found the heading:

'Is this pretty lady, the one for our Jason Campbell?'

The paper went ahead to talk about how Jason had brought Phoebe to such an important luncheon and that she must be important to him for him to have brought her and stated that they hoped this time it would be permanent and not like the other flings with the other ladies he had been seen with.

Then there was a portion that she was sighted at the luncheon with some influential people and wondered if she was there to reconcile with her ex or was just a guest at the luncheon.

'That remains to be seen. We hope that if she is back, it is not to cause more problems for the illustrious Jason Campbell', the paper ended.

Rebecca would have got angry if she thought that there was any truth in it but she had seen for herself and had come to the conclusion from her deductions that there was no threat there.

Afterwards, she dressed up delibrately in a very provocative cloth. It was not daring. It left no part of her body exposed but it was like a second skin to her and was very becoming on her. She looked herself in the mirror and felt satisfied with the outcome.

She knew she looked younger and irresistible and that was the impression she wanted to make. She wanted Jason to find her irresistible.

She got to the office and at the reception, she would have been stopped but because the receptionist recognised her, she didn't know what to do. She was noth shocked and amazed and didn't want to lose her job by denying the boss'ex wide entrance since she didn't know if they had reconciled or not.

She asked Rebecca to be seated and she quickly called the personal secretary to the boss.

Nancy picked .

'Nancy, is the boss around?'

'What is it Lizzy?'

'The boss' ex wife is here and I do not know if he is expecting her or not. Could you find out?'

'Right away!'

Nancy pressed a button on the phone that connected the call to her boss and asked him if she should ask his ex wife who had come to the office to come in.

Jason was shocked afresh at the woman's guts. What had she come to his office to do this time? He had not invited her. What was she doing there?

'Sir, are you still there? What should I do, send her in or tell her you are not in?'

Jason was tempted to ask them to tell her he was not in but he knew that she might wait there till he came out and he didn't want to cause a scene.

'Ask her in after about five minutes', he said and disconnected.

He had acted formally with her since they saw that morning.

Nancy felt that he must have forgotten about the kiss and why not? It had not meant anything to him.

After about five minutes, Nancy called Lizzy and asked her to ask in Rebecca.

As she ascended to Jason's office, the employees who knew her stopped what they were doing and greeted her and stared after her wondering if the boss and his wife were back together again.

Some gossip erupted as they contemplated the new development.

She came in and Nancy looked at the apparition before her and was dumbfounded.

The woman was a mermaid. Her beauty was unparalleled. Little wonder that her boss was so disturbed after seeing her yesterday. How could he resist this beauty personified?

'You may go in ma'am', Nancy said respectfully.

'Thank you!' she smiled and even her sing song voice was an attraction in itself.

Rebecca waled in and was face to face with Jason once more for the second time in less than twenty four hours.

'Good morning Jason ', Rebecca greeted her ex husband smiling willingly.

'Good morning Rebecca. What is the meaning of this?'

'The meaning of what?'

:What are you doing here in my office? Did you have an appointment? Or have you forgotten that this is an office? And there are rules to be followed here?' he asked barely controlling himself.

'I didn't know that such rules applied to me as well. It didn't in the past. I could come visit it at will'.

'In the past being the operating word. That was in the past. Now, you have lost all right to come here at will. You were my wife and could come here as you pleased but you are no longer my wife. In fact you are someone else's wife and you should book an appointment before coming to see me and your reason for wanting an appointment with me should be valid and by that I mean business and formal and never personal. Now why are you here?'

'You have not even asked me to be seated. Is that how you treat your clients?'

'Rebecca, I am a very busy man and your presence here is grating on my nerves because for the life of me, I can't fathom why you are here. It was okay for you to be at the luncheon, anyone could have invited you but here, I have not invited you and neither do you have an appointment so please be brisk with what you are here for so that I can continue with my work'.

'That's okay. You have a right to be angry. I am here on a peace mission. I want to invite you to have dinner with me', she said calmly and Jason could only stare at her. This woman had guts.

Who did she think that she was? To run away with his money and best friend, divorce him demanding a handsome alimony and then after a while, appearing out of the blue to ask him to dinner, very calmly without any remorse as though that was the right thing to do.

'You must have other important people to go out with, I am a busy man and my busy schedule encourages no such frivolities. Thanks for the invite but no thanks', he said smiling sarcastically.

'Don't flatter yourself Mr. Campbell. You are my ex husband and I have a business proposition for you. I was not inviting you out for personal purposes. What did you think? That I would divorce you only to come crawling back to you?' she said lying through her teeth.

Her intention was to bruise his ego so that he goes out with her. Then she can put the next part of her plan into action.

Jason could not believe the woman. He knew that she was someone who said what she thought but this was a totally different person but maybe not. He never really knew her

If he had, he would never been in the situation she left him.

'So what would it be? Business or no business?' she asked tauntingly.

Jason was still undecided and hesitated and Rebecca took advantage of his indecision to drive home her point.

'What are you afraid of Jason? Are you afraid that if you went out to dinner with me, you will realise that you still love and desire me? Or are you scared that you will fall in love with me all over again?'

'What time?' Jason snapped. He was not going to be ridiculed by this piece of shit who thought herself more than she really was.

'7pm, at the La Cuisine Hotel. I shall be there with my proposal

Please be early. Thanks and have a great day'.

She walked out the office and the company with her head held high.

She was going to make Jason hers before the day was out or at least she would get him to desire her beyond his control.

Jason could not believe what Rebecca had done but he consoled himself with the thought that it was about business and no matter what history they shared, business was business and though he found it hard to trust her, he recalled that she had said she was not looking to being intimate with him again. She had virtually said that she loved her independence and that was okay by him.

After to he close of work, he tried to finish off by 5pm and not stay late because of the business date he had with Rebecca.

He drove Nancy home and the silence was awkward.

Nancy knew it was not her business but she thought that he would have told her about Rebecca's visit and what she wanted just like he had confided in her the night they had ended up sharing that memorable kiss.

Nancy had to stop herself. The memory of the kiss made her feel hot and flushed. She felt that her hormones were acting up again and blamed it on the pregnancy.

:I have no right thinking about that kiss. I am going to have a baby and he has his mistresses and his wife is back now and may get back into his life, then what would become of me if I f as lol in love with him because of my foolish thoughts and desires?' she murmured to herself.

Jason had been stealing glances at her and saw her flush and he felt that she must be remembering the kiss they had shared and his body reacted strangely. He felt elated that she had remembered the kiss. So, maybe she was not as indifferent to him as she was making out. But the slight frown that furrowed her brows and the serious look on her face showed that she was deep in though and then she murmured to herself.

'A penny for them?'

Nancy looked up shocked out of her reverie and saw him looking at her with a very tender look on his face. It was nearly her undoing but she remembered that that was how he cared for all his employees and there was nothing special in his looks and why would there be when he could take his pick out of the beautiful women around him who would give anything to be with him.

'Nothing!'

'Nothing?'

'I mean I was not really thinking about anything just that Rebecca is a very beautiful woman and the both of you make a handsome pair'.

Jason looked at her and back on the road. He could have sworn that she was remembering their kiss.

'About the kiss yesterday....'

'Oh, not again. Forget about it would you. It was nothing. So do not read any meanings into it because there is none other than the obvious. A friend comforting another'.

Jason looked at her disappointed and nodded. Then concentrated on his driving.

Nancy knew that she had been harsh but she had not want to be reminded and for Jason to talk about it just when she had given him an opening to tell her about his wife's visit at the office meant that he wanted to apologise to her again and tell her it was all a mistake and she did not want to hear it.

Soon they were home and she got put of the car, said her thanks and walked straight to her quarters. She had to start staying in her limits.

Jason went upstairs, had his bath and got prepared for his dinner date.