LSF Publications: spanking fiction ebooks

Collective Nouns
by Margaret Jane
Something was different about him that morning. His walking pace was quicker, his tie wasn't knotted to its usual perfection - he was definitely excited. He actually smiled when he greeted her.

"Good morning Miss Moore, no calls for the next fifteen minutes."

He practically slammed his office door and she wondered what exactly was going on.

Did she dare? She thought she did. Company policy allowed her to track his internet usage. He logged on immediately and to her amazement he looked up a website about birds - of the feathered variety! She dared even more by listening in to his first phone call - the dialling code was to a distant city.

"Arthur, have you seen it?"

An unknown male voice answered. "I certainly have, how soon will you be able to get away from work?"

"I can probably manage Friday off. That should give us three clear days; I just hope they haven't flown off by then. Look I'll make my travel arrangements and let you know on Thursday what I've managed to get sorted."

"Brilliant - hear from you then."

The two phones went down simultaneously.

Mr Fitzroy next booked himself into a very plush B&B miles away. Sophia found this very unusual as he would normally ask her to make these arrangements for him. He then rang the CEO and asked for Friday off. Sophie had never heard the CEO laugh before.

"Oh god, you're not off twitching again, Geoffrey?"

"Certainly am, Sir."

Sophia googled 'Twitching'. None of the results made sense until she came to the entries about bird watching.

Sophia thought fast; she'd wanted Mr Fitzroy since she started working as his PA. He barely seemed to notice her and Sophia wasn't used to being ignored. She went back to his initial website search and read quickly. Very rare blue ducks had been spotted on a bleak estuary somewhere in the north. She knew what she was going to do. Mr Fitzroy was nothing if not a creature of habit.

She had a hurried chat with her best friend in Accounts and they held a highly stage managed conversation during tea break when Mr Fitzroy was collecting his coffee and pastry.

"It's such a shame my dad is too ill to travel and I've no way of getting there without him. He'd love me to see the blue ducks; he's been hoping they'd get established again. He used to watch them when he was a boy."

"That's such a shame, Sophia," gushed her friend. "If only you knew someone else who was interested."

Mr Fitzroy paused by her desk.

"Are you talking about the blue ducks that were spotted yesterday, Sophia?"

Sophia looked convincingly taken aback.

"Why yes, Mr Fitzroy, how do you know about them?"

From there she reeled him in hook, line and sinker. He had no idea she'd played him.