that there should be too many of those, when this house already lends itself to what I have in mind. The décor is something I would like you to deal with. I usually hire a team in London, but you know this house better than anyone. Your input is going to be invaluable once it comes to furnishing and decorating the rooms in a style that complements its amenities. With your help, I hope, Andrea, Tarrington Park is going to become the most luxurious spa-hotel and conference centre in the country.’
Andi felt a fluttering of excitement as Linus Harrison outlined his plans for her childhood home. Of course she would have preferred that they didn’t have to sell Tarrington Park at all, that her mother could just be allowed to continue living here, but Andi knew after the last few months that that was impossible. With the sale of Tarrington Park they would be able to pay off her father’s debts, and, although Linus Harrison was possibly the last person Andi would ever have wanted to sell it to, his offer of employment meant she would at least be able to have a say in the alternations and the décor. Her mother would be able to remain on the estate too, albeit in the much smaller gate house rather than the manor-house itself.
Linus easily read the wavering resolve in Andi’s expression. ‘Admit it, Andrea—you’re tempted by the idea,’ he taunted.
Her eyes flashed darkly. ‘The idea maybe,’ she allowed waspishly. ‘The reality is a different matter. I’m really not sure I could work for you.’
His gaze narrowed. ‘Why the hell not? No, let me guess,’ he continued harshly. ‘Someone with your privileged background shudders at the mere idea of being employed by someone like me!’
She blinked. ‘Someone “like you”…?’
‘I’m sure you, like every other reader of tabloid newspapers, are aware of my background,’ Linus rasped knowingly.
The press had made much, over the years, of the fact that Linus had started out with nothing fifteen years ago but the sharpness of his brain and a determination to succeed. That, although he was a multi-millionaire now, he had started out as the only child of a single mother, brought up in the back streets of Glasgow, leaving school at the age of sixteen to work as a labourer on a building site.
Within four years he owned his own building company, buying run-down properties and turning them into hotels, each one more luxurious than the next. Until now, fifteen years later, Linus owned dozens of them all over the world.
Along the way he had lost his Glaswegian accent, learnt to wear Armani suits as if born to it, and had become as comfortable in the company of lords and ladies as he was with his own labourers.
Andrea Buttonfield looked confused by his accusatory tone. ‘Why should your background matter to me?’
Why indeed? Linus instantly berated himself for revealing even this much of a chink in his own armour. As far as Andrea Buttonfield was concerned, she had reason enough to dislike him simply because he was the upstart who intended to buy her family home and turn it into a profitable business-venture. For her, he could now see, the added knowledge that their backgrounds were so dissimilar simply didn’t come into the equation.
Some of the tension left his shoulders, although the restless anger remained. ‘I’ve decided I don’t want to wait for your decision after all, Andrea,’ Linus bit out impatiently. ‘What’s it to be? Take it or leave it.’
Andi wanted to leave it. Every instinct in her body told her to do exactly that. But just the thought of how her mother had changed these last three months—of the fragility of her emotional state, let alone her mental one—was enough to give Andi pause for thought.
Linus Harrison’s offer of employment would solve so many problems for her concerning her mother. Andi knew she would be a fool to turn down that offer just because being in the same room with Linus Harrison made her feel so uneasy.
She drew in a deeply controlled breath. ‘Okay; I accept your offer, Mr Harrison. But my contract says I have to give Gerald three months’ notice, not one,’ she added determinedly as she saw the brief triumph that blazed in those beautiful eyes.
Linus Harrison looked completely unperturbed. ‘I can live with that.’
Andi just hoped that she could live with the ramifications of her decision…
CHAPTER ONE
‘PACK your bags, Andi, we’re going to Scotland for a few days!’
Andi looked up, frowning, to where Linus stood in the doorway that separated their two offices on the top floor of Tarrington Park. She had already known he was here at his private apartments just down the hallway from their offices, having seen his car parked out on the forecourt when she’d arrived for work this morning. It was what he had said that caused her to react so sharply. ‘Scotland?’
‘Hmm.’ Linus strode further into the room to lean against the side of her desk. His dark hair was styled only slightly shorter than it had been a year ago; the pale green of his eyes was still as icily astute in the rugged handsomeness of his hard, chiselled features as he looked down at her. ‘Now that Tarrington Park has opened, I’m looking for another big project to work on. There’s a castle in Scotland I’m thinking of buying.’
Andi eyed him. ‘And you want me to go with you?’ He had never suggested taking her away on business with him before. He hadn’t suggested it now, either, Andi reminded herself derisively—Linus had told her they were going.
‘You are my PA,’ he reminded her.
Andi was well aware of what she was. Just as she was aware that during the last few months she had started to see Linus as more than just the demanding employer who would appear for a few chaotic days to check on progress at Tarrington Park, and then just as abruptly disappear back to his life and apartment in London.
Expecting Andi to accompany him to Scotland on business was a perfectly reasonable request for Linus to make of his PA. In fact, when Andi had worked for Gerald Wickham, she had gone away on business with him all the time. But Linus wasn’t Gerald…
Totally aware of Linus’s ruthless reputation when it came to women as well as business, Andi had been determined to keep him safely at arm’s length when she’d begun working for him a year ago. Not difficult to do when she still felt so emotionally numb following the deaths of David and her father.
But gradually—insidiously, it seemed—Andi had found herself looking forward to Linus’s whirlwind visits. She had become aware of the sexy seductiveness of Linus’s pale eyes; the wolfishness of his rare smile. She had come to appreciate the width of his shoulders and leanness of his muscled body as he strode forcefully through Tarrington Park issuing orders that he would expect to have carried out by his next visit.
Just as Andi was now totally and heatedly aware of his close proximity as he leant against the side of her desk.
Andi gave a self-disgusted grimace as she pulled her laptop towards her. ‘Which airport are we flying to?’ she prompted briskly, thankfully able to breathe a little easier as Linus stood up and moved away slightly.
‘I thought I might drive up in the Range Rover.’
‘Drive?’ Andi glanced out of the window at the bleakness of the winter sky. ‘Doesn’t it snow in Scotland in February?’
‘Stop being picky, Andi,’ Linus
