The Billionaire's Ruthless Affair
Miranda Lee
To-do list of a billionaire playboy’s secretary:1. Filing: ensure all ex-girlfriends are kept safely out of sight.2. Expenses: all jewellery must be received one week from termination of relationship.3. Diary management: there must be no clashes in his heavy dating schedule.When Harriet McKenna’s own relationship goes up in smoke, her ruthless boss Alex Katona challenges her to take a leaf out of his book and embark on an illicit affair with him! This means being at his beck-and-call beyond office hours and in return Alex promises to show Harriet how pleasurable life can be…
‘You know full well I would never want to have an affair with you. You’re my boss!’
‘You didn’t mind my kissing you just now,’ Alex reminded Harriet with brutal honesty. ‘But all that is beside the point. I saw the folly of my ways in time and changed my mind about trying to “seduce” you, since you seem to like that word. Perhaps because it stops you from taking any responsibility over what just happened.’
‘You kissed me, Alex. I didn’t do a thing!’
‘Nothing except look so deliciously sexy this morning that I haven’t been able to think of anything else but making love to you all day.’
An already flustered Harriet honed in on his patently false wording. ‘You don’t want to make love to me at all,’ she snapped. ‘You want to have sex with me. That’s a totally different scenario.’
‘True,’ he said, before walking slowly back towards her. ‘But nothing changes the fact that we can’t go back to the way it was between us, Harry. You want me as much as I want you—don’t deny it,’ he said, close enough now to reach out and place his large hands on her suddenly trembling shoulders.
Harriet somehow found her voice. ‘That doesn’t mean I have to do anything about it.’
‘True again. But why deny yourself something which can give you pleasure? And I can give you pleasure, Harry,’ he murmured, lifting his right hand off her shoulder to trace circles around her gasping lips. ‘Lots of pleasure.’
Rich, Ruthless and Renowned
Billionaires secure their brides!
International tycoons Sergio, Alex and Jeremy were best friends at college. Bonded by their shared passion for business—and bedding beautiful women!—they formed The Bachelors’ Club, which had only two goals:
1. Live life to the full.
2. Become billionaires in their own right!
But now, with the dotted line signed for the sale of their multibillion-dollar wine empire, there’s one final thing left for each of the bachelors to accomplish: securing a bride!
The trilogy begins with Sergio’s story in
The Italian’sRuthless Seduction
Continues with Alex’s story in
The Billionaire’s Ruthless Affair
And concludes with Jeremy’s story—coming soon!
The Billionaire’s Ruthless Affair
Miranda Lee
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Born and raised in the Australian bush, MIRANDA LEE was boarding-school-educated, and briefly pursued a career in classical music before moving to Sydney and embracing the world of computers. Happily married, with three daughters, she began writing when family commitments kept her at home. She likes to create stories that are believable, modern, fast-paced and sexy. Her interests include meaty sagas, doing word puzzles, gambling and going to the movies.
Contents
COVER (#u55708c2f-aa5a-50ff-b44e-795fae210ecb)
INTRODUCTION (#u7dd803e4-a829-5a45-9493-8cefe1d23244)
Rich, Ruthless and Renowned (#uf7c1289a-49a5-50f7-921c-1f13513076c1)
TITLE PAGE (#u68ed00b6-03b6-5232-9d04-df34e35f2c60)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR (#ud241dfd9-e465-511e-a6b2-9236d9435933)
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
EXTRACT (#litres_trial_promo)
COPYRIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE (#uf2b5d50c-e3e1-5d85-93d0-22d0b45c0697)
I SHOULD BE HAPPIER, Alex thought as he picked up his mug of coffee and carried it out onto the terrace of his penthouse apartment, shivering slightly when the crisp air hit his face. Not that it would be cold for long, the sun already peeping over the horizon. Winter in Sydney was a picnic compared to winter in London. He was glad to be back home. But not all that happy, for some reason.
Alex surveyed the panoramic view of the city skyline, telling himself that a man would have to be a fool not to be happy when he’d finally achieved everything he’d ever vowed to achieve.
At thirty-four, Alex was no fool. He was, in fact, a very successful businessman.
A Rhodes scholar, Alex had first become an entrepreneur back in England over a decade earlier, going into partnership with his two best friends from Oxford in a dilapidated old wine bar, which probably should have been demolished, but which they’d turned into a going concern. As it turned out, one wine bar had eventually become two, then three, then ten, till finally they’d formed a franchise.
Sergio’s idea, that.
Alex smiled for the first time that morning. Thinking of Sergio always brought a smile to his face. Jeremy, too. Yet those two were as different as chalk and cheese. Sergio was inclined to take life way too seriously at times, whereas Jeremy... Lord, where did one start with Jeremy? Though some people might describe him as a playboy, Alex knew Jeremy was a decent man at heart, generous and loyal, though with way too much charm and money for his own good. And he’d have even more money now, the recent sale of their wine bar franchise having made them all billionaires.
Alex’s smile faded somewhat as he realised that the sale of their franchise had now severed the main connection between the three men. Whilst he didn’t doubt they would always remain friends, it would not be the same as when they’d gathered together in London on a regular basis. Sergio had now returned to Milan to take up the reins of his family’s ailing manufacturing business, whilst he himself would have no reason to return to England.
Still, that was life, Alex supposed. Nothing stayed the same. Time and tide waited for no man, he knew, a quick glance at his watch showing that it was almost eight.
He was going to be late for work, which was a rarity.
Harry would be wondering where he was. Alex hoped she wasn’t upset over the way he’d spoken to her yesterday. Not that she’d seemed offended. Though relatively young, she was without doubt the best, most sensible PA he’d ever had.
Gulping down the rest of his coffee, he hurried back inside, stashed his mug in the dishwasher, snatched up his phone and keys, then headed for the lift. Just as the lift doors opened, his phone rang. A wry smile lit up Alex’s face when he saw that it was Jeremy.
Speak of the devil!
‘Jeremy...mate...I was just thinking about you.’ Alex strode into the lift and pressed the button for the basement car park.
‘That’s a worry,’ Jeremy replied in that deeply masculine voice which always surprised people. ‘Haven’t you got anything better to do with your life? You should be out there making more millions. Though, perhaps not. You’d only give the lot away.’
Alex grinned. ‘You’ve been drinking, haven’t you?’ It would be late evening in London.
‘You could say that. I’m at a party. An engagement party.’
Alex suppressed a groan at the thought that another one of Jeremy’s brothers—perhaps even his mother or father—were on their way to the altar again. You didn’t have to look far to understand Jeremy’s negative attitude towards love and marriage. Clearly, he didn’t trust either to last.
Alex wasn’t into love and marriage himself, either, but not for reasons of scepticism and cynicism. He knew full well that true love existed and lasted, if you found the right person. Alex just wasn’t interested in finding his soul mate. He had personal reasons for staying a bachelor, the main one being the promise he’d made to his mother on her deathbed.
‘God made you extra smart for a purpose, son,’ she’d told him with her last breath. ‘Promise me you won’t waste your talents. Use them for good. Make a difference.’
Alex had done just that. But being a dedicated philanthropist took a lot of time and energy. He simply didn’t have enough left over for a wife and family. Though, if he was strictly honest, Alex liked being a bachelor. Liked living by himself. Liked being free of emotional entanglements.
The lift doors opened at the basement and Alex headed for his nearby SUV at a clip.
‘So who’s getting hitched this time?’ he asked Jeremy. ‘Not your mother, I hope.’ Jeremy’s mother had divorced her third husband last year after she’d discovered he was sleeping with his personal trainer.
‘No, thank God. No, this is someone far more surprising.’
‘Really?’ The mind boggled. ‘Look, hold it a sec. Have to get in my car. I’m on my way to work.’ Alex jumped in behind the wheel and swiftly connected his phone to Bluetooth. ‘Right. All systems go,’ he said as he backed out of his spot.
‘Do you ever do anything except work?’ Jeremy said drily.
‘Sure I do. I eat out, work out and have lots of great sex. A bit like you, dear friend.’
‘Are you still dating that Lisa chick, the girl you told me about with the grating giggle? Or did you break up with her as you said you were going to as soon as you got back to Sydney?’
‘Yeah, she’s gone,’ Alex said with a scowl on his face. Lisa was still a sore point with him. He’d been going to tell her tactfully this last weekend that it was over between them when she’d actually had the hide to break up with him first, informing him that she’d taken a job on a cruise ship that was setting sail for Asia that very week.
He should have been relieved. Instead, he’d felt decidedly disgruntled. ‘I don’t want to talk about Lisa,’ Alex ground out. ‘I want to know which surprising person is getting married.’
‘Trust me when I say that you’re going to be more than surprised. It’s Sergio. He’s the one getting married.’
Though slightly taken aback, Alex was not exactly shocked. ‘What’s so surprising about that? He said he was going to find himself a wife when he got back to Italy. It is a bit quick, though.’
Jeremy laughed. ‘You don’t know the half of it. The wedding’s set for just over two weeks’ time.’
‘Good grief! Why all the hurry? The bride-to-be can’t possibly be pregnant. He’s only been back in Italy a little over a fortnight.’
‘As far as I know, Bella’s not pregnant.’
Alex’s foot slammed on the brake, bringing an angry hoot of the horn from the car behind him. He was on the car park exit ramp at the time. Gathering himself, he drove on, trying to stay calm and not cause an accident.
‘You shouldn’t tell me something like that when I’m driving,’ he said a lot more calmly than he was feeling. For Bella was the Bella, the darling of Broadway and Sergio’s one-time stepsister. Sergio had confessed to his friends a couple of years back that he’d always had the hots for her. Naturally, they’d both urged him to move on and forget her.
Clearly, he hadn’t taken their advice.
‘Trust me, I’m just as shocked as you are,’ Jeremy said in droll tones. ‘Even worse, I’ve had to witness Sergio’s crazed obsession first-hand.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I knew Sergio was staying at his villa on Lake Como, so I decided to fly over yesterday and surprise him for his birthday.’
‘Oh, God, his birthday. I forgot, as usual.’
‘You always forget birthdays. Anyway, back to my story. Naturally, I thought Sergio would be alone. He’d said he wanted a holiday before tackling the family business. Apparently, I’d got that wrong. Because when I arrived, he was in Milan, with Bella installed at the villa. She claimed she was suffering from burnout and had tried to rent the villa from Sergio, but he’d invited her to stay as his guest instead.’
Alex’s teeth clenched down hard in his jaw. ‘So the upshot is she wangled her way back into Sergio’s life and then seduced him.’
‘That’s not how Sergio tells it. He says he seduced her.’
‘That doesn’t sound like Sergio.’
‘I agree, but apparently he did. And then the poor bastard fell in love with her.’
‘Yes, but did she fall in love with him back, or is this a case of like mother like daughter?’ Bella’s mother was a cold-blooded, ambitious woman who’d married Sergio’s widowed father to finance her daughter’s singing and dancing career, then divorced him once Bella’s career had taken off. ‘Does Bella know he’s a billionaire now?’
‘Don’t know. It’s been a madhouse here.’
Alex rolled his eyes. ‘You must have got some impression of Bella’s sincerity. Or lack of it.’
‘Well, as unlikely as this will sound coming from an old cynic like me, I think she might be genuinely in love with Sergio.’
‘Don’t forget she’s an actress,’ Alex pointed out sharply.
‘Now who’s being a cynic? Anyway, the wedding’s set for the thirty-first of July. I have no doubt that Sergio will be in contact with you shortly. He wants us both to be his best men. I told him we’d be honoured. So when he asks you, try to act thrilled, because there’s no way he’s going to change his mind about this. The man’s crazy about her. All we can do is be there for him to pick up the pieces if and when everything goes belly-up.’
Alex wasn’t sure how much help he could be from Australia. But of course he would go to the wedding. He would be proud to stand at Sergio’s side as his best man.
‘Just book a flight that will get you to Lake Como the day before the wedding. No, make that two days before. I want to take you into Milan and have you fitted with a decent dinner suit. This might prove to be a disastrous marriage, but that’s no excuse not to look our very best. We must do Sergio proud on the day. We are, after all, his best men.’
A lump formed in Alex’s throat, rendering him speechless for a moment. Fortunately, Jeremy wasn’t similarly afflicted.
‘Have to go now, Alex. Claudia has just come out onto the terrace looking for me. Now, don’t forget to book your flight, and for pity’s sake sound thrilled when Sergio calls you. Ciao,’ he said with a wry laugh. ‘When in Rome, you know.’ And he hung up.
Alex groaned at the thought of having to sound thrilled when Sergio contacted him. But he would do it for Sergio’s sake. Fate wasn’t being kind to him, letting him fall for a woman like Bella. Their getting married was a disaster waiting to happen.
Such thinking reinforced Alex’s own decision never to get tangled up in the whole ‘love and marriage’ thing. Loving and losing someone—either through death or divorce—was never going to be on his agenda. No way would he risk ending up like his father, or becoming the victim of some clever gold-digger. That was why he always dated girls who never had a hope of ensnaring his heart. Girls who just wanted to have fun.
Alex quickly realised there would be no time for fun during the next two weeks. His nose would be pressed to the grindstone every single day. At least it would be when he finally got to the damned office. Poor Harry. She was probably close to sending out a search party!
* * *
Harriet didn’t mind at all that her boss was running late that morning. When she’d arrived at the office shortly before eight, she’d been dreading having to tell him her news, news which she should have told him when he’d first come back from London. But at the time her emotions had been too raw. She would have wept in front of him. She knew she would. And she didn’t want to do that. Alex would have been embarrassed. And so would she.
So she’d let the days tick away without confessing that her engagement to Dwayne was no more, her anxiety increasing as each day passed. She’d rather hoped her boss might notice that she wasn’t wearing her engagement ring, but he hadn’t. Alex didn’t notice personal details like that. He was a man with tunnel vision most of the time. When at work, he worked.
It did irk Harriet slightly that no one else at Ark Properties had noticed, either. But that was her fault. Whilst she was friendly with everyone who worked there, she didn’t socialise with the rest of the staff. She never went with them for drinks on a Friday night. Harriet had her own group of girlfriends she had drinks with, Emily of course being the main one. Then of course, up till recently, she’d had Dwayne.
Naturally, things would be different from now on, with no Dwayne to complain if she didn’t hurry home after work. It worried Harriet, however, that her suddenly single status would change the wonderful working relationship she’d always had with Alex. He was a great boss. She liked him a lot and felt sure that he liked her back. Yet when she’d walked into his office to be interviewed for the job last year, Harriet had gained the immediate impression that she was a non-starter. Alex had looked her up and down with sceptical eyes. With hindsight, maybe he’d been worried that she might make a play for him. He was, after all, one of Sydney’s most eligible bachelors.
Whatever; as soon as he’d discovered she was engaged, his attitude had changed. Though he’d still put her through the mill during the interview. She must have pleased him with her answers, because he’d hired her on the spot.
Of course, her résumé had been second to none—provided you overlooked her poor pass in her Higher School Certificate. Which Alex had, once she’d explained that her dad—who was a miner—had lost his job during her high school years and that the family finances had been so tight that she’d taken not one but three part-time positions to help make ends meet, her studies suffering as a result. A little white lie, that. But not one she felt guilty about. The boss of Ark Properties didn’t need to know the ins and outs of her past life. Alex had seemed suitably impressed by her work ethic, plus her career in real estate. He didn’t care that she’d never actually been a PA before. He wanted someone who could take over the office whenever he was away, which up till recently had been quite often. He had business ties in England which she wasn’t privy to; Alex could be secretive at times.
But those business ties had apparently been wound up and he was back in Sydney permanently. Harriet might have felt pleased if she hadn’t been in a state of apprehension at the time. That apprehension had now reached such a level that it was interfering with her sleep. So Harriet had resolved last night to bite the bullet and tell Alex the truth this morning. Which would have happened already if he’d been here when she’d arrived, she thought with a flash of irritation. All of a sudden, his being late didn’t seem quite so desirable, the delay in confessing twisting her stomach into more knots.
Sighing at the sight of Alex’s empty office, she headed straight for the staff room, where she filled the kettle in readiness for the mug of black coffee Alex always wanted first thing on arriving. He’d probably send her out for a bagel, too. That man was a bagel addict! Maybe she’d leave off telling him her news till he’d downed his coffee and bagel. Alex wasn’t at his best till he’d eaten. The kettle on, she opened the overhead cupboard and took down one of the small tins of quite expensive cat food she kept there. The snapping sound of the ring pull had a rather large moggy dashing into the room, purring his welcome as he wound his way around Harriet’s ankles.
‘Hungry, Romany?’ Harriet said, quickly scraping the food out onto a saucer and putting it down on the floor. The cat pounced, gobbling up the food like he was starving.
‘You spoil that cat.’
Harriet whirled at the sound of Alex’s voice, surprised that she hadn’t heard him come in. He looked impossibly handsome as usual, dressed in a dark blue business suit which deepened the blue of his eyes and contrasted nicely with the fair hair. His shirt was a dazzling white, his tie a stylish blue-and-silver stripe.
‘You ought to talk,’ Harriet said, thinking of all her boss had done for Romany. ‘Might I remind you that you were the one who insisted on buying all the top-of-the-line cat accessories.’
‘Had to do something to stop my PA from crying her eyes out.’
‘I wasn’t doing any such thing.’
‘You were close to,’ he reminded her.
I suppose I was, she thought as she picked up the plate, washed it thoroughly and put it away, not wanting any of the staff to start complaining about the smell of fishy cat food. Not that they would. They all loved Romany. Unlike Dwayne. He hadn’t loved Romany at all; had complained like mad when Harriet had brought the poor starving animal home a couple of months ago after she’d found him cowering and crying under her car one Saturday night. He’d insisted she take it to the RSPCA the very next day, which she had, hopeful that they would find him a good home.
Impossible, they’d said. No one would want a seriously old cat like Romany. Unable to bear leaving him there to be put down, in desperation she’d taken him to work on the Monday, where she’d asked if anyone would give him a home. When no one had put their hand up, Alex had said he could be the office cat. Always a man of action, he’d immediately had a cat flap installed in the store room, then had taken Harriet out to buy whatever was necessary to keep the cat happy and clean. The cleaners had been informed of Romany’s presence so that precautions could be taken for him not to escape.
Harriet recalled feeling overwhelmed by Alex’s generosity and kindness at the time whilst seething with resentment over Dwayne’s meanness. As she bent and scooped the cat up in her arms, she realised that the incident with Romany had been the beginning of the end of their relationship. Being an animal lover was, after all, one of her checklist points. After that, she’d begun to look at Dwayne with different eyes. The rose-coloured glasses that came with falling in love had definitely come off. His constant refusal to give any money to charity was a sore point. So was his not doing his share of housework around the flat. When she’d complained to Emily about this, she’d just laughed, saying Harry expected way too much from men.
‘They expect their women to look after them,’ her best friend had told her. ‘It’s in their DNA. They’re the protectors and providers, whilst their women are the homemakers and nurturers.’
Harriet hadn’t agreed with Emily, hoping the world had moved on from expecting women to be happy with such narrow roles in life. No way was she going to settle for less than what she wanted in life, which was an interesting career, as well as a husband who ticked all of the boxes on her Mister Right checklist. Dwayne had certainly ticked the first three, but had begun seriously falling down on the rest. His suggestion a month ago that she buy her wedding dress second-hand on the Internet had been the last straw!
‘So has the kettle boiled?’ Alex asked, interrupting Harriet’s none-too-happy thoughts.
‘Should have,’ she said.
Dropping the cat gently on the tiled floor, she set about getting two mugs down from the overhead cupboard. ‘It’s not like you to be late,’ she added, doing her best to ignore the instant churning in her stomach. Maybe she wouldn’t tell him today after all...
‘I slept in,’ he replied. ‘Then traffic was bad. I’m going to need a bagel with my coffee.’
‘Fine. Oh, and, Alex...’ she said before he had the opportunity to walk away and before she could procrastinate further. ‘When you have a minute, I...um...I need to talk to you about something.’
He sighed a rather weary-sounding sigh. ‘Look, Harry, if you’re going to complain about the way I spoke to you yesterday, then don’t bother. I’m sorry. All right? I was in a bad mood and I took it out on you, which I realise was unforgiveable, but I’m only human. If you must know, I broke up with Lisa at the weekend.’
‘Oh,’ she said, not really surprised. Of the three girls Alex had dated during the time she’d worked for him, Lisa had been the most annoying with that silly laugh of hers, not to mention the way she would drop into the office unannounced. Alex hadn’t liked that, and neither had Harriet. ‘I’m sorry,’ she added a little belatedly.
‘I’m not. Not really.’ Alex stared at her hard for a long moment. ‘You’re not going to quit, are you?’
Her shocked expression must have soothed him, for his eyes immediately softened. But it underlined to Harriet that Alex was not a man who responded well to being crossed or thwarted. She’d always known he was a tough businessman, but she’d never seen him seriously angry. It wasn’t in his nature to be mean, but she suspected he had a temper, like most men.
‘No, nothing like that,’ she said quickly.
‘Then out with it, Harriet. I don’t like to wait for bad news.’
‘It’s not bad news,’ she said, startled by his calling her Harriet like that. She’d always liked the way he called her Harry. There was a subtle intimacy about it which made her feel like his friend as well as his assistant. Obviously, she’d been deluding herself in that regard.
‘Well, not bad news for you,’ she went on sharply, doing her best to control a whole range of emotions which began bombarding her. The sudden lump in her throat alarmed her.
‘The thing is, Alex, I...I’ve broken off my engagement to Dwayne.’
His expression carried a measure of shock, quickly followed by one of genuine sympathy.
When tears pricked at her eyelids, panic was only a heartbeat away.
‘I’m very sorry to hear that, Harry,’ he said gently. ‘Very sorry indeed.’
His calling her Harry like that completed her undoing, bringing a wave of emotion which shattered her pretend composure and sent a torrent of tears into her eyes.
CHAPTER TWO (#uf2b5d50c-e3e1-5d85-93d0-22d0b45c0697)
ALEX’S SHOCK AT Harriet’s news was eclipsed by her bursting into tears. For not once during the months she’d worked for him had she ever cried. Or come close to it, except perhaps over the cat. She was the epitome of common sense and composure, pragmatic and practical under pressure at all times. Even when he snapped at her—as he had yesterday—she just ignored him and went on with her job. Which he admired.
He didn’t care for women who cried at the drop of a hat or used tears as a weapon. He’d been brought up by a woman who’d been very stalwart by nature, a legacy perhaps of being born poor in war-torn Hungary, she and Alex’s father having migrated to Australia when they’d been just newlyweds. They’d hoped to make a better life down under. Unfortunately, that hadn’t happened. But his mother had never complained, or cried.
‘Crying doesn’t get you anywhere,’ his mother had told her three children often enough.
She had cried, however, when she’d found out she was dying of cervical cancer, a condition which could have been cured if she’d been diagnosed early enough.
Don’t think about that, Alex. Attend to the here and now. Which is your usually calm PA sobbing her broken heart out.
After standing in the doorway for far too long, wondering how he’d forgotten that Harry was a woman with a woman’s more sensitive emotions, Alex launched himself across the room and gathered her into his arms.
‘There, there,’ he said soothingly as he stroked her soft brown hair.
If anything she sobbed even harder, her shoulders shaking as her hands curled into fists and pressed against his chest. Romany meowed plaintively at his feet, obviously sensing distress in the air.
‘Stop crying now,’ he advised gently. ‘You’re upsetting the cat.’
She didn’t stop crying and Romany ran off, the insensitive deserter. Alex wished he could do likewise. He didn’t feel entirely comfortable holding Harry like this. He was never comfortable with excess emotion. Neither was he a touchy-feely kind of guy. He touched a woman only when he was about to make love to her.
‘Oh! S-sorry.’
Alex’s head swivelled round at the sound of Audrey’s startled apology. Audrey was forty, divorced and a cynic and the expression on his receptionist’s face suggested she’d instantly jumped to the conclusion that something of an intimate nature was going on between her boss and his PA. Alex knew he had to nip that idea in the bud before nasty rumours started flying around the office.
‘Harriet is upset,’ he said rather brusquely. ‘She’s broken off her engagement to Dwayne.’
Audrey’s finely plucked eyebrows formed an even greater arch. ‘Really? What did he do?’
Alex rolled his eyes at the woman’s lack of compassion. All she seemed interested in were the grisly details. Though, now that he thought about it, Alex was curious about the circumstances as well. He could not imagine Dwayne being unfaithful. He wasn’t that kind of guy. Not that he knew him well. He’d met him only twice.
Alex had actually been surprised by Harriet’s choice of fiancé. She was a very attractive girl—and smart as a whip—whereas Dwayne was just, well, ordinary, both in looks and intelligence. Alex had found him quite boring to talk to. He would have expected more interesting conversation from a high school history teacher, but Dwayne had come over as being interested in only his pay cheque and his holidays.
‘More time to play golf,’ he’d said rather avidly.
Perhaps that was what had gone wrong. Maybe he’d been spending too much time on the golf course and not enough time making love to his fiancée. Alex knew that if he was engaged to Harriet, he would spend quite a lot of time making love to her. Having her in his arms reminded him what a good figure she had.
When such thinking sparked a prickling in his groin, Alex decided to bring a swift end to his hugging Harriet so closely. Stepping back from the embrace, he leaned over to snatch a handful of tissues from the box that was kept on the counter and held them out towards her still-clenched hands.
‘Dry your eyes,’ he ordered.
She did as she was told, blowing her nose quite noisily.
‘Now, I’m taking Harriet out for coffee. And we won’t be back for a while,’ he relayed to Audrey. ‘Let the others know the situation when they come in, will you?’
‘Will do,’ Audrey replied.
‘I...I’d like to fix my face before I go out anywhere,’ Harriet requested.
‘Fair enough,’ Alex said. ‘I’ll meet you at the lifts in five minutes.’
* * *
Grabbing her handbag, Harriet dashed out of the office and along the corridor to the ladies’ room, which thankfully was empty. She groaned when the vanity mirror showed flushed cheeks and red-rimmed eyes. Sighing, she splashed them with cold water, glad that she didn’t wear eye make-up during the day. Otherwise she might have ended up looking like a raccoon.
Grabbing some paper towels, she dabbed her face dry, after which she swiftly replenished her red lipstick before running a brush through her shoulder-length brown hair. When it fell into its usual sleek curtain without a strand out of place, she conceded that her monthly appointment with one of Sydney’s top stylists was worth every cent. It saved her heaps of time every morning and in moments like this. Because, when Alex said he’d meet her in five minutes, he meant five minutes. Patience was not one of her boss’s virtues. Kindness was, however. And compassion. He’d shown both with Romany and now with her.
She should have known he’d be nice to her.
Not that she’d expected him to hug her like that. That had been a surprise. So had her bursting into tears in the first place. It wasn’t like her to be so emotional. But she supposed it wasn’t every day that your dreams for the future were shattered. Maybe if she’d cried buckets during the days after the split with Dwayne, she wouldn’t have broken down just now. She hadn’t even told Emily, knowing perhaps her friend’s critical reaction. She’d just bottled up her feelings, then stupidly started worrying that telling Alex her news would jeopardise her job. As if he would be so cruel as to sack her because she was suddenly single. The very idea was ludicrous!
With a final swift glance at her reflection in the mirror, Harriet hurried from the ladies’ room and strode quickly along the grey carpeted corridor which would bring her to the lift well. Alex was already there, his expression shuttered as he looked her up and down, probably searching for signs that she had herself under control. No way would he want her weeping by his side in public. She gave him a small, reassuring smile, but he didn’t smile back, his gaze still probing.
‘Better now?’ he said.
‘Much. You don’t have to do this, you know,’ she added, despite actually wanting to go and have coffee with him. ‘We could just go back into the office and have coffee there.’
‘Absolutely not. Audrey and the others can hold the fort.’
The lift doors opened and several office workers piled out, Ark Properties not being the only business with rooms on that particular floor, though theirs were the pick, with Alex’s office having a wonderful view of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. ‘Nothing like a good view of Sydney’s spectacular icons to help sell property in Australia,’ he’d told her on the day he’d hired her.
Harriet agreed wholeheartedly.
‘So when did all this happen?’ Alex asked her as he waved her into the now empty lift.
‘The weekend you flew home from London,’ she told him.
He threw a sharp glance over his shoulder as he pressed the ground-floor button.
‘Why didn’t you tell me straight away?’ he went on before she could think of a suitable answer. ‘Did you want to give yourself the opportunity to change your mind? Or for Dwayne to change it for you?’
‘No. No, once I made up my mind, I knew I wouldn’t change it. Dwayne hasn’t tried to change my mind, either. After our last argument, he knew it was over between us.’
‘That must have been some argument.’
‘It was.’ A rueful smile teased the corners of her mouth. What would Alex say, she wondered, if he knew he’d been the subject of most of that last argument?
His eyes narrowed on her. ‘Want to tell me about it?’
She looked up into his gorgeous blue eyes, then shook her head. ‘I don’t think that would be a good idea.’
‘Well, I do,’ he stated firmly just as the lift doors opened on the ground floor. Taking her arm, he steered her across the spacious lobby and through the revolving glass doors which led out onto the chilly city street.
‘So which café do you prefer?’ he asked, nodding towards each of the two casual eating establishments that flanked the entrance to their building. It occurred to Harriet that Alex had never actually taken her for coffee before. She’d lunched with him a few times—always with clients—but only at the kind of five-star restaurants which catered for businessmen of his status.
‘That one has better bagels,’ she said, pointing to the café on their left.
‘That one it is, then.’
He found them an empty table at one of the windows which overlooked the street, seeing her settled before heading for the counter. Harriet found it odd watching him queue up to order food, thinking he wouldn’t have done that too often. But then she recalled that he hadn’t always been rich and successful.
When she’d secured a second and personal interview for this job, she’d looked him up on the Internet, unable to find out all that much information, the best being an article written about him for a men’s magazine a couple of years back. Harriet had been surprised to discover that he’d come from a down-at-heel migrant family, living in government housing in the outer western suburbs of Sydney. His near-genius IQ had given him access to special schools for gifted children, followed by various financial grants to help him through university, culminating in his being awarded a Rhodes Scholarship.
The magazine article she’d read had outlined his rise to success in Sydney, first as a realtor based mainly in the western suburbs, then as a property developer with his head office in the heart of Sydney’s CBD. The article made no mention of any business interests in England, or his personal life, except to say that he was one of Sydney’s most eligible bachelors. There’d been no mention of his family or friends.
Harriet rolled her eyes at what happened when Alex reached the front of the queue. The very pretty young brunette behind the counter beamed at him as she took his order, her eyes and manner very flirtatious. Harriet found herself decidedly irritated, hating the thought that Alex might have already found a replacement for that silly Lisa. The sudden thought that she might be jealous seemed ludicrous. Jealous of whom? And of what? And, more to the point, why?
Harriet frowned, wondering and worrying that Alex’s hugging her earlier might have unlocked feelings which she’d always had for him and which she’d successfully hidden, even from herself. Harriet couldn’t deny that she’d liked the feel of his big, strong arms around her; she liked his bringing her here for coffee as well.
Whatever, when Alex turned away from the counter and started heading towards her, Harriet found herself looking at him with new eyes, the same new eyes which had examined Dwayne with brutal honesty and had found him sadly lacking.
The word ‘lacking’ would never apply to the boss of Ark Properties. He had everything that any woman would want. In a boyfriend, that was, but not in a prospective husband.
So lock this unwanted attraction of yours away again, Harriet, and look elsewhere for your life partner. Because it’s never going to be Alex Kotana!
Perversely, however, as soon as he sat back down at their table, she opened her silly, jealous mouth and said waspishly, ‘I suppose that happens to you all the time.’
‘What?’ he said, sounding perplexed.
Whilst kicking herself, Harriet quickly found a wry little smile and a more casual tone. ‘The brunette behind the counter didn’t half make it clear that you could have put her on your order, if you’d been so inclined.’
Alex smiled. ‘She did, didn’t she? Unfortunately, she’s not my type.’
‘You don’t like brunettes?’ Now that she thought about it, his last two girlfriends had been blondes. She’d never met the first one, who’d come and gone within a month of her becoming Alex’s PA, so she didn’t know if she was a blonde or not.
His eyes held hers for a rather long moment, making Harriet feel decidedly uncomfortable. She hoped her momentary jab of jealousy hadn’t been obvious earlier. If it had, then she might not be lasting long in her job. It was a depressing thought. Her job meant the world to her. It was interesting and challenging and very well paid. Now that she didn’t have Dwayne in her life, she needed her job more than ever.
‘Sorry,’ she said swiftly. ‘I shouldn’t be asking you personal questions like that. It’s none of my business.’
Alex shrugged his powerful shoulders. ‘No sweat. I’m about to ask you a personal question or two.’
‘Oh?’
‘Come now, Harry, you don’t expect me not to be curious over why you broke up with Dwayne. That’s why I brought you down here away from the prying eyes and ears in the office. To worm out all the grisly details. You must know that.’
Harriet sighed. ‘There are no grisly details.’ Just mundane ones.
‘So you didn’t discover he was a secret drunk, or a drug addict?’
‘No!’
‘You didn’t come home and find him in bed with your best friend?’
‘Lord no,’ she said and laughed.
‘Then what on earth did the man do?’
Harriet knew it was going to be difficult to explain without her seeming like some kind of nutcase. But she could see she would have to try. When Alex wanted to know something, he was like a dog with a bone.
‘He just didn’t measure up as husband material.’
‘Ah,’ Alex said, as though understanding perfectly what she was talking about. ‘I rather suspected that his golf playing might have become a problem.’
Harriet just stared at him. ‘I had no problem with Dwayne playing golf,’ she replied, feeling somewhat confused. ‘Though it didn’t go down well when he bought a very expensive set of clubs the same day he suggested I buy my wedding dress on the Internet.’
Alex’s brows lifted. ‘He wanted you to buy a second-hand wedding dress?’
‘Yes,’ she admitted tartly.
‘Ah,’ he said in that knowing way again, Harriet gratified that her boss understood that Dwayne’s penny-pinching suggestion might have been a deal breaker.
‘My father was a mean man with money,’ she found herself elaborating. ‘I vowed when I was just a teenager that I would never marry a scrooge.’
‘I fully agree with you. But didn’t you know Dwayne was tight with money when you first started dating him?’
‘He wasn’t like that then. He used to spend money on me like water. Took me to the best restaurants, the best concerts, the best of everything.’
‘Yes, well, a man like Dwayne would have had to pull out all stops to impress a girl like you. And he succeeded, didn’t he? You fell for him and agreed to marry him. But once he had his ring on your finger, he dropped the ball. Am I right?’
‘Very right,’ Harriet agreed, then frowned. ‘What do you mean by “a girl like me”?’
Alex smiled a crooked smile. ‘It must have been very upsetting to find out that your Prince Charming was nothing but a frog. And a stingy frog at that. What I meant was that you were always a cut above Dwayne, not only in looks but in intelligence and personality. He must have known on first meeting you that he would have to lift his game in every department if he wanted to win the heart of the beautiful Harriet McKenna. But the fool couldn’t keep it up, which is what happens when you play out of your league.’
Harriet flushed wildly at his compliments, not sure whether to believe him or not. Alex could be inclined to flattery on occasions. Not with her, but with clients. Though he had said she looked gorgeous the night they’d all attended that fundraising dinner back in March. She’d been wearing a new red cocktail dress which had looked well on her with her dark hair and eyes.
‘So what was the final straw?’ Alex went on. ‘The wedding dress business? Or something else?’
‘The wedding dress suggestion certainly brought things to a head. But I’d been unhappy for some time. And worried. It was obvious Dwayne wasn’t the man I thought he was. He certainly wasn’t acting like the man I fell in love with. He’d become lazy around the house. And with me.’
‘You mean your sex life had suffered.’
Harriet laughed and blushed slightly. ‘What sex life?’
‘The man was a fool,’ Alex said sharply. ‘What did he honestly expect would happen if he started neglecting you in bed?’
‘I have no idea,’ Harriet said with a sigh, thinking to herself that she couldn’t imagine Alex neglecting any of his girlfriends in bed. That man had testosterone oozing out of every pore of his gorgeous male body. ‘He obviously didn’t expect me to break off our engagement. He couldn’t believe it at first. When I tried to explain the reasons why I’d fallen out of love with him, he went into a rage, accusing me of all sorts of crazy things.’
‘Like what?’
Harriet could see Alex was determined to hear the truth behind the break-up.
‘Like I no longer loved him because I’d fallen in love with you...
‘As if I’d be stupid enough to do something like that,’ she raced on before Alex had a chance to jump to any potentially dangerous conclusions.
CHAPTER THREE (#uf2b5d50c-e3e1-5d85-93d0-22d0b45c0697)
THE ARRIVAL OF the brunette with his order of coffee and bagels could not have come at a better time, giving Alex the opportunity to hide his peeved reaction to Harriet’s somewhat scoffing reply to Dwayne’s accusation. A perverse reaction, in a way, considering he didn’t want any woman falling in love with him. But it wasn’t very flattering for Harry to tell him that her falling for him would be stupid!
His throwing the waitress one of his super-charming smiles was more the result of a bruised ego than his desire to capture the girl’s interest. He’d been right when he’d said she wasn’t his type. She’d been way too eager to please. As much as Alex liked to date pretty young things—and the brunette was just that—he preferred independent, spirited girls who didn’t gush or grovel, and who didn’t have a single gold-digging bone in their bodies. Alex had known immediately that the brunette was not of that ilk.
‘Is there anything else you’d like, sir?’ the brunette asked after carefully placing the coffee and bagel on the table, her attention all on him, not having cast a single glance in Harriet’s direction.
‘No, thanks,’ he said and resisted the impulse to give her a tip. Harriet was already looking seriously irritated.
As the waitress departed, Harriet sent him a droll look.
‘Yes, I know,’ he said drily. ‘It does happen to me all the time. But she’s still not my type.’
‘Then perhaps you shouldn’t have flirted with her.’
Alex clenched his teeth hard in his jaw whilst he struggled to control his temper. ‘And perhaps you should tell me why you find me so unlovable,’ he retorted, still smarting over her earlier remark.
She blinked at his sharpness before dropping her eyes, taking a few seconds to pour the sugar into her coffee and looking up at him again. ‘I never said you were unlovable, Alex. I said I would not be stupid enough to fall in love with you. That’s an entirely different concept.’
Alex’s bruised ego was not to be so easily mollified. ‘Would you care to explain that last statement further? Why would it be so stupid for you to fall in love with me?’
‘Aside from the fact that I’m your PA, you mean?’ she threw at him.
He had to concede that that was an excellent reason. It was never a good idea to mix business and pleasure, something which he was in danger of forgetting.
‘Point taken,’ he said. ‘Is that the only reason, then?’
She gave him a long, searching look that he found decidedly irritating. This was a Harriet he wasn’t used to. Up till today she’d been the perfect PA, never complaining or criticising, calmly obeying his every wish and command. She’d never before looked at him in such an assessing and possibly judgmental fashion. He didn’t like it. He didn’t like it one bit.
Frankly, he preferred the Harriet who’d wept in his arms.
‘You’re not eating your bagel,’ she said as she coolly stirred her flat white. ‘And your coffee will get cold. You know how you hate lukewarm coffee.’
‘I also hate not having my questions answered,’ he ground out, sweeping up his mug of black coffee and glaring at her over the rim.
* * *
Harriet knew she had annoyed him; knew he’d taken her statement as a personal criticism. It had been seriously foolish of her to tell him about Dwayne’s accusation. But it was too late now. Somehow she had to explain her remark without offending Alex further.
Make light of it, girl. Turn it round so that it’s your failing and not his. And don’t, for pity’s sake, repeat the word ‘stupid’ in context with falling in love with him. No wonder he took umbrage!
‘The thing is,’ she said in a lighter, less emotional voice, ‘I realised a few years back that if I wanted to get married and have children...which I did; which I still do, actually...that I had to stop dating a certain type of man. I—’
‘And what type is that?’ Alex interrupted before she could go on.
‘Oh, you know. Your type.’
‘My type?’
Oh, dear, she’d done it again. She’d opened her big mouth and put her foot in it. ‘Well, not exactly your type, Alex,’ she said with a ‘butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth’ smile. ‘You are rather unique. As you are aware, I’ve worked in real estate ever since I came to Sydney when I was twenty. Girls usually date men they meet at work. It was inevitable that I would end up dating real-estate salesmen. Invariably, they were tall and handsome, with the gift of the gab, but not exactly the most faithful kind of guy.’
‘I see,’ Alex said thoughtfully. ‘Go on.’
Harriet was glad to see that Alex had lost his disgruntled expression, his blue eyes no longer cold and steely.
‘By the time I turned twenty-seven, I decided I was wasting my time on men like that. So I sat down and made a checklist of what I wanted in a husband.’
‘A checklist?’ he repeated, looking both surprised and amused.
‘Find it funny if you like. Emily certainly does.’
‘Who’s Emily? Your sister?’
‘No. Emily’s my best friend. She’s an English teacher who flatted with me for a while. It was through her that I met Dwayne.’
‘I did wonder how you two met. Frankly, I never thought you were all that well suited. Still, Dwayne must have met your checklist to begin with.’
Harriet sighed. ‘I thought he did, till he moved in with me and eventually showed his true colours. I now appreciate that it’s impossible to know a man’s true character till you live with him. Dwayne certainly met the first three requirements. When I made up my checklist, I decided that I wouldn’t even go out with a man till he ticked those three boxes. That way I hoped to avoid falling in love with any more Mr Wrongs.’
* * *
Alex’s mind boggled over what those three requirements might be. Harriet was right about his finding the idea of a checklist funny. He did. Though he shouldn’t have. Didn’t he have a checklist of his own when it came to the girls he dated? They had to be in their early twenties, pretty and easy-going. He had a feeling, though, that Harriet’s checklist would be a lot more fascinating. And, yes, very funny indeed.
‘Do tell,’ he said, trying to keep a straight face.
‘Promise me you won’t laugh.’
‘I promise,’ he said, but the corners of his mouth were already twitching.
‘Okay, well, the first requirement is he can’t be too tall or too short. Whilst I find tallness attractive, I’ve found that too-tall men are often arrogant, whilst too-short men can suffer from the “short man” syndrome.’
Alex realised that at six-foot-four he probably came into the ‘too tall’ category.
‘Do you think I’m arrogant?’ he asked.
‘A little. But not in a nasty way.’
‘Thank God for that. And requirement number two is?’
‘He can’t be too handsome or too ugly.’
Well, Dwayne had certainly been on the money there. As for himself... Harriet would probably label him in the ‘too handsome’ category.
‘And number three?’
‘He can’t be too rich or too poor.’
‘Right.’ Well, that certainly ruled him out as a prospective date for Harriet. Not that he would ever ask her out. He’d have to be mad to date Harriet.
But, as he looked into her big brown eyes, Alex was struck by the startling realisation that that was exactly what he wanted to do. Take her out, then take her back to bed.
Bad idea, that, he thought and busied himself stuffing his mouth full of bagel whilst trying to work out where such a potentially self-destructive desire had come from. After all, Harriet didn’t fit his own checklist for dating candidates any better than he fitted hers!
Still, it didn’t take Alex all that long privately to admit that he’d secretly wanted to take Harriet to bed since the day he’d interviewed her ten months ago. The attraction had been there from the moment she’d walked into his office, looking deliciously nervous but beautifully turned out in a sleek black suit which had followed the curves of her very feminine figure. Her dark brown hair had been up in a professional and somewhat prissy style, but her lushly glossed mouth had betrayed her true nature. He’d immediately made the decision not to hire her, despite her excellent résumé—till he found out she was safely engaged, at which point he’d fooled himself into thinking he could ignore his hormones.
And he had, up till now.
They would have remained in control, too, if she hadn’t broken up with Dwayne; if she hadn’t cried and he hadn’t hugged her. That had been the catalyst which had started the chemical reaction which saw him now being tempted to do something seriously stupid.
Thank God it was still just a temptation. He didn’t have to act on it. Didn’t have to suffer the humiliation of Harriet rejecting him, not just because he was her boss, but because he was too tall, too handsome and too rich.
His sudden laughter brought a reproving look into her velvety brown eyes.
‘You promised you wouldn’t laugh,’ she chided him.
‘Sorry. Couldn’t help it.’
‘In that case, I won’t tell you the rest of my checklist. You’d probably crack up entirely.’
‘You could be right, there. So I’ll save up the rest of your checklist till a later date. Now, I think we should finish up here and get back to work.’
CHAPTER FOUR (#ulink_4a457d6e-ce7e-5bfe-9f8b-6bbf7c4d2c6e)
HARRIET SIGHED AS she sat back down at her desk and turned on her computer. She hadn’t wanted to go back to work; back to reality. She’d been enjoying having coffee with Alex, despite her many faux pas. She hadn’t really minded his laughing at her checklist, which she now appreciated was rather funny. Whilst it did have some merit, such strategies simply didn’t work out in real life, just like those silly matchmaking forms they made you filled in on online dating sites.
Most women ended up marrying men they met through work, Harriet accepted, thinking of her other married girlfriends. Actually, all her girlfriends were married, a thought which was rather depressing. Harriet was well aware that marriage and motherhood wasn’t the only pathway to happiness and fulfilment in life, but it was her chosen pathway. That and a career. Yes, she wanted to have it all, which was possibly where she was going wrong. Having it all suddenly seemed beyond her grasp. This time next year, she’d be hitting thirty. After thirty, finding a husband became more difficult; all the good ones were already snapped up.
Even ordinary men like Dwayne weren’t exactly thick on the ground. Maybe she shouldn’t have been so quick to dump him. Maybe she should have ignored his failings and accepted him for the imperfect specimen he was...
Harriet was pondering this conundrum when Alex strode out of his office and perched his far too perfect body on the corner of her thankfully large desk.
‘A couple of things I forgot to tell you this morning,’ he said as he hitched his right knee up into a more comfortable position, indicating he was staying put for a while. ‘First, I want you to book me a flight to Milan, arriving on the twenty-ninth of July.’
‘Milan?’ she echoed, forgetting that it wasn’t a PA’s job to question her boss, just to obey.
‘Yes. Milan, Italy. One of my best friends from Oxford is getting married on the thirty-first. I’ve been ordered to be there two days before the actual wedding so that I can be attired suitably for my job as best man. The other best man obviously fears I might show up in jeans and a T-shirt.’
Harriet blinked her astonishment at such a ludicrous idea. The night they’d attended that fundraising dinner back in March, Alex had walked into the hotel ballroom wearing a magnificent black tux. He’d quite literally taken her breath away.
‘How ridiculous,’ she scoffed. ‘You are one of the best-dressed men I’ve ever met.’
‘You haven’t seen me when I’m slumming it. Jeremy has.’
‘Jeremy?’
‘The other best man and possibly the best-dressed rake in all of London.’
Harriet’s eyes widened. ‘Your best friend is a rake?’
‘Birds of a feather flock together, you know.’
‘You’re not a rake,’ she defended. ‘You just pick the wrong girls to date. The reason they never last is that you get bored with them.’
* * *
Alex stared at Harriet and thought how right she was. He did get bored with the women he dated. But that was exactly what made them safe. They never touched him with any depth of feeling, never moved his soul. Leaving them behind was so damned easy.
The truth hit that he wasn’t unhappy with his life so much, but he was bored. Bored with dating silly young girls. Bored with never having a decent conversation with a woman.
He hadn’t been bored having coffee with Harriet this morning. He’d been alternately annoyed, then angry, then amused and, yes, aroused. A whole gamut of emotions. He hadn’t been able to settle back down to work afterwards; he’d been looking for any reason to come out and talk to her again. Having Harriet book that flight for him had just been an excuse. He could quite easily have done it himself.
I’m not going to be able to resist this attraction, Alex finally conceded, no matter what the danger. He suspected she would not reject him; the sexual chemistry which had sprung up today was not all on his side. Alex had noticed her pique when the brunette in the café had flirted with him.
He still hesitated to ask her out on a regular date, sensing that it was too soon for such a move. Clearly, she was still hurting over the break-up with Dwayne. On top of that, she was his PA, one of the many reasons she’d given to explain why she would never fall in love with him. Not that he wanted her love, just her body. If truth be told, he didn’t want Harry to be his next girlfriend. He just wanted to have an affair with her. A strictly sexual affair.
He should have been disgusted with himself. But Alex soothed his conscience by reassuring himself that he would never hurt Harry. He could give her pleasure and fun, something which he suspected had been in short supply in her life for some time.
The only problem was finding a way to achieve his aims without offending her.
An idea struck, one which would sound perfectly reasonable but which would give him the opportunity to act upon his feelings away from the office. Of course, there was always the risk that Harry would still reject his advances. And, yes, she might even be offended by them. Alex suspected she was a stickler for propriety in the workplace. But it was a risk he was prepared to take. It had been a long time since he’d lived on the edge, so to speak, and it excited him. She excited him.
His eyes met with hers, his gaze intense as he searched her face for a sign that he’d been right about her body language when they’d been having coffee together. Alex was gratified when a faint flush bloomed in her cheeks.
‘My having to go to Italy for days on end couldn’t have come at a worse time,’ he said, schooling his own face into a concerned mask. ‘I need to be continually hands-on with that golfing estate if it’s going to be up and running by Christmas. Someone has to be up there every week to crack the whip. While I’m away, that person will have to be you, Harry.’
‘Me?’ she squawked.
‘Yes, you,’ he insisted. ‘I’ve heard you over the phone to our contractors when they’ve been giving us grief. You are one tough cookie when you want to be.’
‘But doesn’t that job already have a foreman in charge?’
‘Yes, but even the best foreman can get slack when he’s working that far from the boss. If I hadn’t been driving up there on a regular basis, we’d be even further behind than we are. I don’t want any more delays.’
‘Right,’ she said, still looking a bit hesitant.
‘I thought we could drive up there this Friday, stay overnight, then drive back on the Saturday. We’ll stay overnight. And not in some dreary motel, either. Book us a two-bedroomed apartment at a five-star resort in Coffs Harbour. That’s only a half-hour drive from the golf course. Somewhere near the ocean, with a balcony and a sea view. And make sure they have a decent restaurant. In fact, we might stay another night, then drive back on the Sunday. You deserve a break after what you’ve been through.’
CHAPTER FIVE (#ulink_dc890dd1-791d-5483-957d-3baa407f6c0b)
HARRIET DIDN’T KNOW what to say. She had travelled with Alex only once before. To the Gold Coast, to meet with some Japanese billionaires who’d been staying there at the Hotel Versace and who were potential clients for his new golf resort. But they’d travelled by plane and she’d taken a taxi to the airport by herself. She’d also stayed in a totally separate hotel room. The thought of staying with her way-too-sexy boss in an apartment—for possibly two nights—made her feel...what, exactly?
‘Panic’ came close to describing her reaction.
Before today, Harriet would have been supremely confident that Alex would never make a move on her. But things were different now. Lisa was past history and so was Dwayne. A new intimacy had sprung up between them, first when Alex had hugged her, and then when they’d had coffee together, an inevitable result once you started opening up about your private life to another person, even when that person was your boss. Harriet knew that men found her attractive. Why should Alex be any different?
And then there was her own silly self. She’d always been blindly attracted to men who were tall, handsome and, yes, super-successful, a failing which she’d worked hard to conquer. But she was in a highly vulnerable state at the moment and, when she faced it, when it came to tall, handsome and super-successful men, Alex was at the top of the heap. To stay with him in an apartment for two nights was asking for trouble.
She didn’t need any more trouble in her life. She did, however, need her job; the mortgage on her Bondi apartment barely manageable now that she didn’t have anyone to help with the payments. Having an affair with the boss was a sure way to lose her job. Harriet had been around long enough to know how such relationships ended.
‘Thank you for your kind offer,’ she said in her best businesslike voice. ‘But I can’t stay away for two nights. Emily is getting back from Bali on Saturday and we’re having a catch-up lunch on Sunday.’ This was a bald-faced lie. Emily was away for a further two months. Harriet knew, however, that she needed a decent excuse to get out of this. Alex didn’t like being told no.
‘Pity,’ he muttered, then shrugged his shoulders, his indifference indicating he hadn’t had any dastardly secret agenda when he’d suggested a two-night stay. He was just trying to be nice to her again. Truly, she was letting herself get carried away here, thinking he had seduction on his mind, a prospect which she had found perversely appealing and painfully flattering. Oh, dear... She seriously wished he’d get off the corner of her desk. Or alternatively stop swinging his foot like that. He was making her way too aware of his body, his very hunky, handsome male body.
Harriet picked up a biro so that she could pretend to take notes and not look at him.
‘I’ll get onto those bookings right away,’ she said. ‘I presume you’ll be flying first class to Milan?’ This with a quick glance his way.
‘Of course,’ he replied and smiled at her.
When Harriet’s heart gave a lurch, she told herself quite fiercely just to stop it. But she might as well have tried to stop the tide from coming in. Why, oh why, did women find men like Alex so damned attractive? She supposed it was a primal thing, the female of the species blindly surrendering to the alpha male because that was the way of nature. But that didn’t make it any easier to endure. The last thing she wanted was to start suffering from some silly crush.
‘What about a date for the return flight?’ she asked crisply.
‘Mmm. Can’t say I’m sure when that will be. I might spend a day or two with Jeremy in London after the wedding. It’s summer over there at the moment. Look, just make it the one-way to Milan. I’ll organise the return flight myself when I’m over there.’
‘Fine. I’ll scout around and see what’s the best first-class deal. Might take me a while. First, I’ll look up the various five-star resorts at Coffs Harbour,’ she went on, putting the biro down and clicking on the computer to bring up resorts at Coffs Harbour. ‘Get your tick of approval whilst you’re here. Hmm... An ocean view, you said. With a balcony. It is winter, you know. I doubt we’ll be spending too much time on an ocean-facing balcony.’
‘Possibly not,’ he agreed. ‘But I like apartments with balconies. They’re usually larger and have better light.’
‘A balcony it is, then. Here’s one which should suit—the Pacific View resort just south of Coffs Harbour. They have a two-bedroom spa suite available for Friday night which has a huge balcony with an ocean view.’
‘And the other facilities?’
‘Everything you could possibly want. There’s a heated indoor pool as well as a gym and not one but two restaurants—one a bistro, the other à la carte.’
‘Great.’
‘Shall I book it, then?’
‘Absolutely. Oh, and, Harry,’ Alex added as he slid off the corner of her desk. Finally. ‘Perhaps it might be best not to mention where we’ll be staying to the rest of the staff, especially Audrey. She might jump to the wrong conclusion, the way she did this morning when she walked in on my hugging you. We don’t want to start up any rumours, do we?’
‘Absolutely not. Right you are, boss. Mum’s the word.’
‘Good girl,’ he said, before heading back into his office.
Harriet almost laughed. Because all of a sudden she didn’t want to be a good girl. She wanted to be a very bad girl. With Alex.
She was in the process of making the bookings when a courier walked in, holding a huge bouquet of assorted flowers.
‘Someone’s a lucky girl,’ he said, smiling a goofy smile. ‘The lady on reception said they were for you.’
Harriet’s first hideous thought was that they were from Dwayne, in some vain attempt to get her back. But when she opened the card which accompanied the flowers, the words written there brought tears to her eyes for the second time that day.
Hope you’re feeling better soon.
Love from Audrey.
PS The bum wasn’t good enough for you, anyway.
The PS made her laugh, which came as a relief to the courier, who was looking worried.
‘Everything’s fine,’ she said to him, waiting till he left before going out to reception and thanking Audrey profusely.
‘Flowers always make me feel better,’ Audrey said. ‘So does a glass of wine or two. Want to come have a drink with me after work?’
‘Love to,’ Harriet said. She’d missed her girls’ nights out with Emily since she’d gone away.
‘Great,’ Audrey said. ‘You should join the rest of us on Friday nights as well.’
‘I will in future,’ Harriet said. ‘But I can’t this Friday night. Have to go north with the boss to inspect his new golf resort. He has to go away overseas again soon and he wants me to keep a personal eye on things up there,’ she added by way of explanation. ‘So I need to see the lie of the land and meet the foreman.’
‘That’s a long drive. You’ll have to stay somewhere overnight.’
‘Probably. Still, there are plenty of motels up that way.’
‘True.’
‘I’d better get back to work or the slave driver might come looking for me.’
‘He can be like that, can’t he?’
‘He’s a workaholic, that’s for sure.’
‘I wouldn’t like to do your job.’
‘I don’t mind. I like it.’ An understatement. She loved her job.
‘Don’t you get fed up with being at his beck and call all the time? I mean, the things he asks you to do sometimes.’ Audrey rolled her eyes.
Harriet just laughed. Alex had been very up-front at her interview over the menial tasks he might ask her to do. She honestly didn’t mind getting his bagels, buying presents for members of his family or even organising his dry-cleaning. Better than sitting at her desk all the time.
It wasn’t till Harriet was sitting back down at that same desk that she realised she would enjoy the drive up to the golf estate this weekend very much if she wasn’t starting to have these awkward feelings for Alex. Still, at least these days she was capable of resisting such self-destructive desires, having become wise to her own weaknesses where the opposite sex—and sex—was concerned. In time, these feelings would pass and she would meet someone else, someone who could satisfy her in bed and tick at least some of the boxes in her checklist, someone more in her league than the boss of Ark Properties.
The man himself suddenly materialised by her desk.
‘So what’s with the flowers?’ he demanded, his face decidedly grim. ‘I hope they’re not from your idiot of an ex, trying to get back into your good books.’
‘Hardly. They’re from Audrey. Wasn’t that sweet of her?’
‘Very sweet. Look, I have to go out. Family emergency. Hold the fort till I get back.’
Harriet frowned at his swiftly departing back as well as his brusque manner. She wondered what kind of family emergency. He never talked about his family. Yet she knew he had a father still living, and a married older sister who had two children, a boy aged ten and a girl aged eight. She knew because she’d bought Christmas and birthday presents for them.
Maybe she would ask him about his family during the long drive north on Friday. And maybe not.
Friday now loomed in Harriet’s mind as a day fraught with unspoken tension. Life, she decided, wasn’t being very kind to her at the moment.
But then she looked at Audrey’s flowers and smiled.
CHAPTER SIX (#ulink_c7fe71d1-984f-57a6-a124-12071179cb2c)
IT TOOK ALMOST an hour for Alex to drive from the inner city out to Sarah’s home in North Rocks. Sydney’s traffic situation was getting worse with each passing year. No matter how many motorways they built, nothing seemed to ease the congestion, or the delays. But the level of his frustration when he finally pulled up outside the house he’d bought his sister some years back was not due to road rage but rage of a different kind.
Gritting his teeth, he jumped out from behind the wheel and stormed through the front gate, bypassing the front door and making his way hurriedly round to the back of the house to the entrance to the granny flat. The one-bedroomed very comfortable flat accommodated his father, his useless, drunken father, whom Sarah had kindly taken in but with whom Alex had totally run out of patience. He’d only come because Sarah had asked him to.
She was waiting for him in the doorway, startling Alex with how much she looked like his mother at around the same age. Both were petite and dark, though with blue eyes. Sarah was like her mother in nature, too, being strong and sensible. Alex loved her a lot and would do anything for her. He wasn’t as fond of her husband, Vernon, who seemed to resent the things Alex bought for his family.
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