Читать книгу The Platinum Collection: An Australian Conquest: The Incorrigible Playboy / His Most Exquisite Conquest / His Bought Mistress - Emma Darcy, Emma Darcy - Страница 12

CHAPTER FIVE

EXHILARATION bubbled through Harry’s brain. Who would have thought when today had started out that he would be riding towards the end of it on this glorious high? Here he was on the open sea, carving through the waves, the problem with his thieving manager solved, and the deliciously challenging Elizabeth at his beck and call for at least a month.

Her brick wall against him was still in place, but that blind obsession of hers with Mickey was gone. Lovely, lovely Lucy had done the job, blitzing his brother right in front of her sister’s eyes. And at the most opportune moment! So easy to step in and take advantage of Elizabeth’s disillusioned state.

She’d found herself trapped in a situation where pride had forced her to side with him, undoubtedly kicking and screaming about it in her mind, but totally unable to disguise the fact that she reacted to him physically. Always had. She could deny it as much as she liked but sexual chemistry didn’t lie, and now that Mickey was out of the picture, cultivating the instinctive attraction she couldn’t quite control was going to be the most enjoyable task Harry had set himself for some time.

Ellie Flippence...

That’s who she needed to be, not stiff-necked Elizabeth. Though she did have a lovely long neck. He’d often fantasised bending that swanlike column with a trail of hot kisses, melting the rest of her, too. She had beautiful lush breasts and the gorgeous butterfly wings on her blouse showed them off a treat.

This morning he’d wanted to reach out and touch them, cup them, kiss them. He’d find the right time and place for that now. The moment would come when she’d give in to good old healthy lust, and Harry intended to make it so good she’d forget all about her shattered Mickey dreams and revel in the pleasure he’d give her.

But business came first.

He definitely needed to sober up, not give away the game before Elizabeth was ready for it.

* * *

Just as well she’d worn sandals, Elizabeth thought as she moved around the galley, steadying herself to the sway of the yacht as it headed out to sea. High heels would have been disastrous in this environment. Clearly there were tricks to keeping everything safe on board. She found a drink holder attached to a sling which made transporting coffee to the bridge relatively easy, and mugs with lids like the takeaway variety used by coffee shops. There was no risk of slopping it onto her good clothes which had to last her until her luggage arrived.

A scene flashed into her mind of Lucy in their apartment, with Michael advising her on what to choose for her sister’s island wear—an intimate little scene that made Elizabeth gnash her teeth. She had to stop thinking of them together, think about what was ahead of her instead.

Finn Island was at the high end of the tourist industry—exclusive to only twenty couples at a time, people who could pay thousands of dollars for a minimum three-day stay. She had never been there, since it was way beyond her pocket. However, the Cairns office did have a video of it, showing its attractions and facilities, so she had some idea of how it operated.

There were twenty luxury villas, a tennis court, a gym with a pampering centre offering all sorts of massages. The administration centre, boutique, restaurant and bar faced the main beach and were spread around a landscaped area with lush tropical plants and clusters of palm trees, plus a swimming pool and spa. Apart from this artfully designed section, most of the island was covered with rainforest. A creek running from the central hill provided delightful waterfalls and rock pools, and walking tracks had been made to these natural beauty spots.

Dive-boats for exploring the Great Barrier Reef were readily available, as were yachts for deep-sea fishing and small motorboats for reaching the other beaches at the various inlets around the shoreline. All in all, Finn Island provided the perfect tropical getaway...if you were rolling in money.

Guests who could afford it would obviously be demanding, expecting the best for what they were paying. Elizabeth hoped there would be no hiccups to the island’s excellent reputation for providing it while she was in charge. She knew supply boats called regularly. However, how the staff operated was a mystery to her and the need for that information was foremost in her mind as she climbed the ladder to the bridge.

She sat down in the chair beside Harry’s before handing him his coffee. ‘Black, as requested,’ she said, forcing a smile to disprove his sourpuss description and holding on to a fierce determination not to be prickly in his presence.

‘Thanks.’ He smiled back. ‘We’ll be there in about forty minutes.’

‘I know the general layout of the resort, but I know nothing about the staff, Harry. Or how everything runs.’

‘You’ll learn fast enough,’ he assured her. ‘Basically you have three undermanagers. Sarah Pickard is the head housekeeper. She handles the cleaning staff. Her husband, Jack, is the head maintenance man, who has his own team of helpers. The head chef, Daniel Marven, runs everything to do with the restaurant. He also keeps a check on the bar and will tell you what needs to be ordered in.’ He made a wry grimace. ‘The guy you are going to replace was overordering and reselling elsewhere, not to mention a few other perks he was working.’

‘His name?’

‘Sean Cassidy. Not important for you to remember. He’ll be gone within an hour of our arrival. I’ll call up a helicopter to take him off.’

‘Are you going to prosecute?’

He shook his head. ‘Bad publicity. Besides, it wasn’t major criminal stuff.’

‘How did you find out he was crooked?’

‘Our sommelier in Cairns remarked to me that our island guests drank an inordinate amount of wine and spirits. Surprisingly inordinate, despite the fact that we run an open bar. It rang warning bells. When Sean had his mainland leave this past weekend, I did a thorough check of all supplies and usage, and bingo! No doubt he was robbing us and has been doing it for some considerable time.’

‘Will he know you were checking on him?’

‘He knows I was there but I didn’t tip my hand to anyone. Mickey and I still had to decide what to do about it. Any disruption is not good for business.’ He flashed a grin at her. ‘Which is where you come in. No disruption.’

She nodded. ‘I’ll do my best to make it appear a smooth transition, but I’ll need some help to begin with.’

‘No problem. I’ll be your guide for the first few days, until you’ve familiarised yourself with how everything runs.’

A few days in close contact with Harry had to be tolerated. The groundwork for this management job had to be laid if she was to carry it through successfully. It was the measure of closeness she had to watch. If he started taking liberties with her person...somehow she had to deal with that if and when it happened.

‘I’ll get on top of it all as soon as I can,’ she said with strong resolution.

Harry chuckled, his vivid blue eyes dancing with teasing knowledge as he slowly drawled, ‘I’m sure you will, Elizabeth. Can’t get rid of me fast enough, can you?’

She felt heat rushing up her neck and turned her face away, looking out to sea, hating how he could read her mind and provoke this reaction in her. ‘I’m sure you have to keep a check on other things besides the resort,’ she said flatly.

‘True. Though I am aware that I’m throwing you into a position you haven’t held before. I’ll spend a few days with you, then drop in from time to time in case you have any problems that I can resolve.’

She wished she could say, Don’t. I’ll call you if I need your help. But he was her boss now and what he was laying out was reasonable. Problems could arise that she didn’t even recognise because of her inexperience. ‘Do you have accommodation kept especially for you on the island?’ she asked, worrying about how close he was going to be to her.

‘No. I’m happy sleeping aboard this yacht. The Pickards have their own private villa as they are the only ones on the staff, apart from the manager, who actually live on the island full-time. The rest work on a rotation basis—ten days here, four days on the mainland—and they’re accommodated in a series of motel-like structures.’

‘Is that where I’ll be staying?’

He shook his head. ‘You’ll have your own private quarters in the administration building.’

Where Harry could make private visits.

Elizabeth grimaced at that thought. She was getting paranoid about the man. He could not get her into bed with him unless she allowed it. All she had to do was keep him at a sensible distance. It was only for a month and he wouldn’t be there all the time.

‘Don’t be worrying about clothes for tomorrow,’ he suddenly tossed at her. ‘I’ll get Sarah to issue you with the island uniform.’

‘What’s the island uniform?’ she queried, not having seen that on the video.

‘This...’ He indicated his T-shirt and shorts and pointed to the emblem just below his left shoulder—a stitched line of waves in blue over which Finn Island was written in a small flowing multicoloured script to match the multicoloured fish across his chest.

She hadn’t noticed the emblem before, distracted by the way the T-shirt clung to Harry’s very male physique. ‘I hadn’t realised. Of course, you came from there this morning.’

So much had happened today, her state of hopeful eagerness this morning felt as though it had been wiped out a million years ago. Another life ago.

‘Makes it easier for the guests to know who’s staff and who’s not,’ Harry explained, adding with one of his devilish grins, ‘That won’t take care of your undies, though.’

He was probably having a fantasy of her naked beneath her outer clothes.

‘I’ll manage,’ she said through gritted teeth.

He laughed. ‘You can probably pick up a bikini from the boutique. Sarah can provide you with a hair-dryer and a toothbrush. Don’t know about make-up.’

‘I have some in my handbag.’

‘No worries then.’

Only you, she thought.

Yet when they arrived on the island and confronted Sean Cassidy in his administration office, the playboy image Elizabeth had of Harry Finn in her mind was severely dented. Right in front of her eyes his easygoing attitude disappeared, replaced by a formidable air of authority. There was no semblance of light banter in his voice as he set about firing the crooked manager with ruthless efficiency.

Sean Cassidy had risen from the chair behind his office desk to greet his visitors, a smile on his face that didn’t quite reach his eyes, which skated over Elizabeth and settled warily on Harry. He was a tall, lean man, dark-haired, dark-eyed, and the unheralded appearance of his boss clearly caused some tension in him.

‘You’re out, Sean,’ Harry shot at him before the manager could say a word. ‘Move away from the desk. Don’t touch anything in this office. A helicopter will be arriving shortly to fly you to the mainland. Go and collect all your personal effects from your apartment. You won’t be coming back.’

‘What the hell...’ the guy started to expostulate.

Harry cut him off. ‘You know why. I have evidence of all your skimming activities. Providing you go quietly, I won’t hand you over to the police at this time. If you know what’s good for you, Sean, you’ll stay quiet. Any bad-mouthing of the Finn family and its business operations will have consequences you won’t like. Do you understand me?’

The threat had a steely edge to it that would have intimidated anyone. Sean Cassidy sucked in his breath, swallowed whatever defensive words he might have spoken and nodded. He looked shell-shocked.

‘Let’s go then.’ Harry waved commandingly to a door in the rear wall of the office. ‘I’ll accompany you into the apartment to ensure you don’t take anything that doesn’t belong to you.’

As the man started to move as directed, Harry turned to Elizabeth, his blue eyes ice-hard, not a vestige of a twinkle in them. ‘Take over the desk, Elizabeth. You’re now in charge of this office.’

She nodded, her mouth too dry to speak. Her heart was beating faster than normal. The air felt charged with electricity. She was still stunned by the strike-anyone-dead energy that had emanated from Harry. In her two years of working for Michael, she had never witnessed anything like it coming from him, and she had always thought he was the stronger brother.

It wasn’t until Harry had followed Sean into the apartment and closed the door that she could bring herself to actually move her feet. The desk was large and L-shaped with a computer workstation on one side. She sat in the chair that was now hers, grateful for its firm support. Witnessing the formidable side of Harry Finn had shaken her. The man was lethal, and she suddenly felt very vulnerable to whatever he might turn on her, now that she was locked into this situation with him.

That nerve-quivering blast of forcefulness... A shiver ran down her spine. Though surely he would never force a woman. He wouldn’t have to, came the instant answer in her head. He was so innately sexy he could make her feel hot and bothered with just a teasing look. But he needed her here for business so maybe he would refrain from pushing anything sexual with her. Teasing was just teasing. Hopefully she could keep a level head with that.

Having cleared her mind enough to concentrate on business, Elizabeth took stock of the other office furnishings—filing cabinets, a couple of chairs for visitors, a coffee table with brochures fanned out on top of it, framed photographs of celebrities who had stayed here hanging on the walls.

On the larger section of the desk, which faced the entrance doors to administration, was a telephone attached to an intercom system with numbers for all the villas, the staff quarters and the restaurant. Beside it was a notepad and pen for writing notes or messages. On the top page were two reminders which had been ticked. Chocs to 8. Gin to 14. Obviously she had to deal with all requests from guests as well as handle bookings and coordinate the staff for whatever was needed.

Directly in front of her was a spreadsheet, detailing the occupancy of the villas this week—arrivals and departures. Three couples had left this morning. Their villas were vacant until another three couples arrived tomorrow. One of them was only staying three days, the other two for five. Most of the bookings were for five, only a few for a whole week. She would have to have her wits about her, coordinating the turnovers, personalising the welcomes and the farewells, memorising the names of all the guests. Wealthy people always expected that courtesy and respect.

She was matching names to the occupants of each villa when she heard the distinctive sound of a helicopter coming in. The door behind her opened and Harry led Sean, who was loaded up with luggage, out of the apartment, waving him to go ahead, pausing at the desk long enough to say, ‘Hold the fort, Elizabeth. I’ll be back in twenty minutes.’

He didn’t wait for a reply, intent on escorting Sean to the helipad, wherever that was. The glass entrance doors to the office opened automatically for ease of access and Harry caught up with Sean as he made his exit. There was no verbal exchange between them. The ex-manager was going quietly.

Elizabeth watched Harry until he moved out of sight. Her heart was hammering again. Experiencing a completely different side of Harry Finn to the flirtatious tease she was used to was having a highly disturbing impact on her. It was impossible now to dismiss him as a lightweight playboy. The man had real substance, impressively strong substance, powerful substance, and it was playing havoc with her prejudice against him.

Michael had said this morning that Harry’s mind was as sharp as a razor blade and he had his thumb on everything to do with his side of the business. That description could no longer be doubted. She’d had evidence enough today of how accurately he could read her thoughts—something she would have to guard against more carefully in the future—and she would never again underestimate how capable he was of being master of any situation.

His attraction was all the stronger for it. Dangerously so.

Nevertheless, that still didn’t make him good relationship material.

He was a dyed-in-the-wool flirt with women.

And that wasn’t just her judgment. Michael had said so.

Regardless of what Harry Finn made her feel, she was not going to have anything to do with him apart from the business of managing this resort for a month. He could flirt his head off with her but she would stand absolutely firm on that ground.

He was not what she wanted in her life.

She had to look for someone steady, solid, totally committed to her and the family they would have together.

Not like her father.

And not like Harry, who probably treated women as though they were a carousel of lollipops to be plucked out and tasted until another looked tastier.