Читать книгу Greek Affairs - Кейт Хьюит - Страница 23

‘WHAT on earth are you doing here?’ Her voice was numb with disbelief and it made his lips curve in a wryly amused smile.

‘Well, at the moment it looks like I’m employing you to do a job that you originally told me you didn’t want. Strange old world, isn’t it?’

He sounded so cool and calm, and by contrast Katie was anything but calm. There were a million emotions buzzing around inside her and she couldn’t get a handle on any of them.

‘I don’t understand,’ she murmured. ‘The job you offered me was with Demetri Shipping, wasn’t it?’

‘Demetri Shipping now owns Tellesta and Madison Brown,’ he informed her. ‘I bought them both out and took control about six weeks ago.’ As he spoke Alexi allowed his eyes to rake over her. She looked good, he thought distractedly. Everything about her appearance was businesslike, from the white, crisp blouse to the black pencil-skirt. Yet there was an overt sexiness about her—the wide belt that emphasised her small waist, the hint of red gloss on her lips. She always had been too damn sexy for his peace of mind.

Aware of his scrutiny, Katie could feel herself tensing up even more. She wondered what he was thinking … was there even a small part of him that was glad to see her? Even as she asked the question she was berating herself for being a damn fool. Alexi didn’t reason like that. She was just a notch on his bedpost, for heaven’s sake!

‘So, you had just finalised the deal to buy this place when …?’ She almost said ‘when we were together’, but stopped before making that mistake. ‘When I was working for you?’ she finished instead. They had never been together, she reminded herself, not in the true sense of the word. Not as a couple.

He nodded.

‘I didn’t realize. I mean, when I applied for the job here, I didn’t know it was with you.’

‘I’ve gathered that.’

He was so damn cavalier! she thought angrily. Just once she’d like to see that arrogant, businesslike persona slip.

But the thing that made her really angry was that there was a part of her that was glad to see him. She hated that! It was the weak side of her nature, she told herself sternly, because she was over Alexander Demetri, well and truly over him.

OK—she still found him attractive—but then she would have to be dead not to find those dynamic, forceful good looks a turn on. Every woman with a pulse was attracted to him.

She tried not to look at him too closely, tried not to notice little things like the fact that his thick, dark hair had grown slightly and now just brushed the top of the midnight-blue jacket collar, the fact that there was a slight shadow on the strong jawline, or the sensual, almost cruel curve of his lips. Because when she noticed things like that she remembered how it had felt when he’d kissed her, when he’d crushed her against him, his skin abrasive against the softness of hers, his lips hungry and powerfully compelling.

‘Did you know it was going to be me today?’ she asked him suddenly. ‘Did you know I had this job?’

‘Of course!’ He seemed to find the question amusing. ‘Your name was put on my desk nearly a week ago.’

‘So what are we going to do about this, Alexi?’ For a second there was a raw, unguarded note in her voice. ‘I can’t work for you again.’

His eyes narrowed on her and a strange emotion sizzled through him, an emotion he couldn’t place.

He supposed it was anger. Even though he knew he had no right to the emotion, he’d been furious when she’d turned down his offer to stay within the company and then casually walked away. That fury hadn’t diminished any over the last few weeks. In fact if anything it had increased. Alexi was used to getting what he wanted—used to people dancing to his tune. And Katie had left before he was ready to let her go.

‘I’m surprised that you feel like that.’ He paused and measured his words. ‘I expected you to be more … professional about this. You have just signed a four-month contract to work for Madison Brown. You must want the job.’

She glared at him. How dared he accuse her of being unprofessional? She wanted to tell him that he hadn’t exactly been acting in accordance with the rules of business when he’d taken her to bed! But she held the words back; there was no point in raking over the past, and besides he’d probably point out that she had been as much to blame for what had happened as he was. And he’d be right. ‘Yes, I wanted the job!’ she said instead, her voice tightly controlled. ‘But that was before I realised you owned the company!’

‘What difference does that make?’ He shrugged. ‘I haven’t got a problem with employing you again—so where’s your difficulty?’

She could feel panic rising inside her like a gushing, icy spring. He didn’t have a problem with it because his emotions weren’t involved and hers were—not in a deep way, she reassured herself swiftly. But nevertheless she couldn’t turn herself off to what had happened between them, couldn’t deal with it in the same practical way that he obviously could. This was one of the reasons she had turned down his job offer last time.

He could probably deal with this because he was used to it, she realised numbly, used to taking a woman to bed and then dismissing her from his mind—whereas she was totally inexperienced at this kind of thing. In fact that whole casual-sex thing had been completely out of character for her. She’d only ever had one previous lover.

But she couldn’t tell him that.

‘I haven’t got a problem with it—I just wanted to move on,’ she told him.

Alexi watched as she lifted her chin in that determined way of hers, and something inside him twisted. He was usually the one to tell a woman when it was time to move on. This was the second time that Katie had dealt with him in this offhand manner, and he didn’t like it. He didn’t like it at all. ‘You know, Katie, you and I used to have a good arrangement. It suited us both.’

‘Yes, well, people change, don’t they, Alexi? What suits one moment doesn’t the next.’

‘Very true.’ His eyes narrowed on her. ‘And it just makes me realise how very alike you and I are.’

Katie wanted to disagree vehemently, but she held her tongue.

‘And we are both in agreement that we’ve enjoyed our fun and now we’re moving on.’ He shrugged again. ‘I don’t have a problem with that, Katie. I wanted you for this job because I believe you are the best person for it. It’s just business.’

‘I realise that!’ She glared at him. ‘I just wasn’t sure that you did!’

For a second she was gratified to see a flare of something in his eyes—fury, or maybe just irritation; she wasn’t sure. But she had struck some kind of response that had ruffled his impassive façade, and she was glad, so glad that it gave her a buzz of elation.

However, the feeling was short-lived, because then he just shrugged once more. ‘I can reassure you that my first priority is work, Katie. It always has been and it always will be.’

The words upset her. They shouldn’t have done—she knew he was just speaking the truth; she knew the score—but all the same it did hurt, and it crushed her brief feeling of triumph over him.

‘Well, I suppose that’s all right, then.’ What else could she say? she asked herself as she tried to regain her composure and not lose her pride.

‘Good.’ His lips twisted in a sudden smile. ‘So, now we have cleared the air, we can begin again.’

Begin again …? Katie wasn’t sure she liked the sound of that. It made her nerves stretch, and she didn’t know what to say. The reality of her situation was hitting her like a truck travelling at speed.

She had signed a contract for four months—she was effectively trapped here like a butterfly in a jar. And the wonderful new job that was supposed to help her move on and forget the past had just turned to dust.

‘So, shall we get down to business now?’ He glanced at his watch. ‘There is a board meeting in about five minutes. Do you want to run through this report with me?’ He tapped the piece of paper she had made notes on.

Fury raged through her. She hated him in that instant—hated his cool attitude, his arrogance, his disregard for even the smallest feeling of sentiment.

‘I’m happy to run through it at the meeting,’ she said tightly.

‘Such confidence.’

‘Your company is employing me because I’m good at what I do. I don’t need any special favours.’

‘I wasn’t offering any. But the project you will be working on is of significant value. I thought it would be helpful for both of us to discuss a few points before the meeting.’

In other words he probably wouldn’t even have walked in to see her today, only for the fact that her work was of interest to him.

‘There isn’t time for an in-depth debate now, Alexi; if there are any comments you want to make you can make them during the meeting.’

‘OK.’ Alexi’s lips curved. He admired her brain, liked the way she could operate under pressure. He’d deliberately tested her this morning, asking for this report at short notice. And as always she had risen to the challenge. From the notes he had read he could see she had already picked up the gauntlet and was running with it. And that would please the board. ‘A word of warning; you might meet with some resistance this morning. Some of the members of the board have concerns about the fact that you are rather young for such a major assignment.’

‘I see.’ Katie tried very hard not to show any concern. ‘That’s rather bizarre, isn’t it? In today’s world people in their early twenties are very successful, and I have plenty of experience.’

‘Certainly.’ He inclined his head. ‘Don’t worry about it. I have the last say, anyway.’

‘I’m not worried about it. I’ll deal with it.’

Alexi inclined his head. ‘I’m sure you will.’

‘Well, I think we’ve said all that needs to be said.’ Katie glanced at her watch. She needed to get rid of him and gather her thoughts. ‘I’ll follow you down to the boardroom in a few moments. I just want to highlight some points so I can read my notes more easily.’

Alexi shrugged and got up from behind the desk.

She’d almost forgotten how tall he was. Katie wasn’t of diminutive stature herself, but he had to be about six foot three; he towered over her and seemed to dominate the room as he came closer. Every nerve ending in her body went on red alert as he stopped next to her. ‘By the way, nice to have you back.’ He murmured the words almost sardonically.

She wanted to tell him that she wasn’t at all glad to be ‘back’, as he put it, and that she was working for him again under complete sufferance, but she forced herself just to nod.

He smiled as if he knew exactly what she’d been thinking. ‘I’ll see you in the boardroom.’

As soon as the door closed behind him, Katie felt like curling up and dying. She felt physically sick. How had she managed to make such an almighty faux pas? She’d researched Madison Brown—why hadn’t any of the financial papers reported the fact that it had been taken over by Demetri Shipping? How had this happened to her?

She sat down at her desk and took deep breaths, trying to calm herself. There was no point panicking; it wasn’t going to solve anything. She was just going to have to deal with the situation as best she could; after all, it was only for four months.

Another wave of panic hit her—four months! How was she going to keep up this cool, businesslike façade around him for that long when he sent every emotion in her body spinning into total chaos?

How long would it be before he smiled at her, touched her again, and sent common sense flying?

That wasn’t going to happen, she told herself heatedly—she wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice. She stared down at the papers in front of her. In two minutes she needed to be under perfect control and ready to face a boardroom of hostile people. This job should be her priority—not Alexi.

And anyway she probably wouldn’t see that much of him. He was running three companies now, not one. Plus he probably already had a new girlfriend. It didn’t take him long to replace a woman—they’d be queuing up.

She remembered suddenly how her mother had always fallen for the wrong men—the heartbreakers, the users—never the gentle, caring, commitment types. She remembered how she had always sworn she would never make the same mistakes.

The memory helped. Suddenly she felt a lot stronger.

She stood up and put on her jacket, ran a smoothing hand over her hair, checked her reflection in the mirror by the door and then picked up her papers. She could do this.

Most of the board were already seated when she walked into the room, but there were a couple of places vacant, and she slipped into the one furthest away from Alexi.

He was seated at the head of the long, polished table and her eyes collided with his as she looked over. Immediately she looked away again. Best not to make eye-contact, she told herself, best just to look at her work, or at anyone else but him! Otherwise she was going to sound like a gibbering idiot when she made her presentation.

The last of the board members arrived, and Alexi called for order. Immediately a hush fell over the proceedings.

‘Gentlemen, I’m very glad so many of you have been able to make our meeting today, as it was called at short notice. I would like to start by welcoming our new project manager, Ms Katie Connor, into our midst. I’m sure she will be a valued member of the team, and I look forward to a close and harmonious working relationship.’

Katie’s eyes clashed with his again, and she felt her nerves jangle. She wasn’t looking forward to any such thing—well, not with him at any rate! Hurriedly she looked away and tried to concentrate as he introduced the people around the table to her.

He probably wouldn’t be around much, she told herself again soothingly as she smiled in acknowledgement to the few people who spoke to her. He’d be at his head office here in London or in New York, or maybe his office in Athens …

‘Perhaps you would like to proceed, Katie?’ he invited smoothly. ‘Run us through your findings.’

‘Thank you.’ She forced herself to smile coolly at him as she got to her feet. This was horrible—truly horrible. But she had to be businesslike and focus her attention away from him, she told herself firmly.

Alexi sat back and watched her with interest. She gave a very confident performance, running through her assessment of the company’s position within the holiday market, running through her proposals for increasing their slice of that market. She’d obviously done a lot of research before starting work here today. No wonder she had been so shocked to see him. He’d managed to keep his ownership of the company out of the financial news so far, mainly because he’d wanted to be one step ahead of his competitors, but it was an added bonus that he’d managed to snare Katie back into working for him in the process. He’d wanted her for this job all along—he’d known she would be perfect for it.

For a moment his eyes slipped down over her body.

OK, that wasn’t all he wanted; he acknowledged the truth as he felt the sudden fierce pull of attraction for her. She had a fantastic figure, and he remembered all too well how much he had enjoyed exploring those sensational curves. Beneath that strait-laced exterior he had found her to be hot and passionate, and he had wanted her from the first moment she had looked at him with those innocently come-hither, violet-blue eyes.

And he still wanted her now.

That fact was eating him away. It was crazy—there were other beautiful women he could replace her with, women who were only too eager for him. Why did Katie haunt his thoughts? Why, from the first moment when she’d told him it was over, had he wanted her back? It wasn’t like him. Since his divorce eight years ago he hadn’t got emotionally tied up with anyone. Nor did he plan to—he would never get serious about a woman again.

Yet he hadn’t wanted to let Katie go. He’d had to force himself to walk away and continue as normal. And despite the fact that he’d been gaining control of two new companies, and had been up to his neck in work, she’d been on his mind morning, noon and night … especially night.

The answer had come to him today when he’d looked at her again. She’d haunted him because she’d dented his ego; it was as simple as that. Usually he was the one who ended relationships; he was used to calling the shots. As soon as things started to get complicated or he’d had his fill of someone he moved on. But Katie had ended things before he was ready. They had unfinished business. It was called lust.

It was a relief to finally know why she had unsettled him so much. And there was an easy remedy for lust. All he had to do was get her back into his bed again and take his fill of her.

She looked over at him at that moment, and he smiled. Then he watched the blaze of fire in her eyes, noted the way her skin heated up as she moved her attention away.

She wasn’t as coldly indifferent to him as she acted. It shouldn’t be too difficult to have her back on his terms, he told himself confidently. Acquisitions had always been his strong point. And this time he would be the one to finish things.

‘So, has anyone got any questions?’ she asked briskly.

As he’d predicted a few members of the board gave her a tough time, started to grill her more intensely, but she more than held her own. After a few more minutes he could see that there was a shifting change of attitude and she was winning them over.

‘Well, I think you have just about covered everything, Katie, thank you,’ he said smoothly.

She nodded and started to close her notes. ‘Then, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll leave you to the rest of your meeting, gentlemen, and I’ll press on.’

‘Certainly.’

Relief coursed through her. She couldn’t wait to get out of here.

‘Just one last thing,’ Alexi added nonchalantly. ‘There is another meeting at the office in New York tomorrow, and I will need you to attend.’

She looked up and he held her eyes.

‘Tomorrow?’ Apprehension clutched at her stomach. ‘That’s rather short notice, isn’t it?’

‘One of those things.’ Alexi shrugged.

‘What time is the meeting?’ She wrenched her gaze away from him, picked up her pen and looked back at her notepad.

‘No need to sort flights; you can come with me on the company jet later.’

Katie’s head jerked up. She felt like she was already on that plane and it had just dropped into free fall from thirty-five-thousand feet. Her whole body was telling her that being alone with him for hours was not a good idea! She wanted to say, no way, but how unprofessional would that look?

‘I think it would be sensible to sort things out in the USA as soon as possible,’ Alexi continued coolly.

A few of the people around the table were starting their own conversations now, and under cover of the sudden babble of noise she wanted to lower her voice and tell him that she didn’t think it was a sensible idea at all. That she didn’t want to be alone with him—that she couldn’t handle this situation, couldn’t act as if nothing had happened between them!

But she didn’t say any of those things—she had her pride. Instead her eyes remained locked with his, and her heart thundered so hard that it felt like it might break out of her chest. ‘I suppose so.’ She said the words tightly.

‘Good. I’ll pick you up at seven this evening.’

Was it her imagination or was there a gleam of triumph in those dark eyes?

She looked away from him and picked up her notes with hands that were not entirely steady.

‘I’ll see you later.’ What else could she say or do? she wondered furiously. This was about work. He had her in an impossible situation.