else had chosen to wear a dark suit to the meeting. It was typical that Polly Prince had favoured fashionable over formal, her short dress revealing incredibly long legs showcased in hot pink tights and black ankle boots. She looked fresh, young and—sexy.
The sudden explosion of primal lust was as unexpected as it was unwelcome and Damon dragged his gaze up from the heels of her cheeky black boots to focus on her face.
Accustomed to mixing with women who dressed with understated elegance, he was exasperated that the self-discipline he exerted over his own responses appeared to have deserted him. Even as he was telling himself that he had more sophistication than to feel sexual attraction for a girl with great legs, he was wrestling with a powerful urge to shrug off his jacket and cover those slender curves.
To kill those unwanted feelings stone-dead, he focused on the issue of his sister and her father. ‘Where the hell is he?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Then tell me what you do know.’
Her delicate features were set and determined as she stared directly at him. ‘I know you’ve taken over my father’s company. Clearly you’re a megalomaniac.’ Her cool remark threw petrol onto the fire that raged inside him.
‘Don’t take me on, Miss Prince. I’m a tough boss but I’m a tougher enemy. Remember that.’ He delivered the warning and had the satisfaction of seeing her face lose colour. ‘I don’t want to hear anything from that smart mouth of yours except answers to my questions. Where is your father?’
‘I have no idea.’
That unmistakably honest admission was a solid blow to his gut. He’d been relying on her to reveal her father’s whereabouts. ‘You must be able to make contact. How do you get hold of him in an emergency?’
‘I don’t.’ She sounded genuinely surprised by the question. ‘My father taught me to be self-sufficient. If there’s an emergency, I handle it.’
‘I’ve taken over your father’s company, Miss Prince. This is definitely an emergency and I don’t see you handling anything. I can’t believe that the CEO of a company can so readily abandon his responsibilities.’ It was a lie, of course. He’d seen it before, hadn’t he? Tasted first-hand the bitter after-effects of another man’s careless disregard for obligation. The memory of it had never left him. Even now, when success was his many times over, it was always there beneath the surface. It drove him forward from one deal to the next. It was the reason he had never relied on another man for employment.
In the midst of discovering that the past still had the power to destabilise him, Damon found his attention snagged by the wisp of pale blonde hair that had floated down from the haphazard, kooky hairstyle she wore. It seemed that even her hair was rebellious.
This girl, he mused, knew nothing about obligation and responsibility.
She selfishly pursued her own agenda with no thought to the casualties. Ten years before it had been his sister who had suffered. Thrusting aside the fleeting thought that Polly Prince couldn’t be held accountable for her father’s shortcomings, he subjected her to a cold appraisal which she returned with no visible display of nerves or conscience.
‘You offered an inflated price for the stock and the board members sold my father out. That was outside my control. My priority now is to do everything I can to protect our loyal staff from your predatory instincts.’
‘Cut the act. We both know that you have no interest whatsoever in protecting the staff. The only reason you care about the business is because it’s your meal ticket. No other company would be stupid enough to take you on. You’ve been bleeding this company dry for years, but it’s stopping right now. If you were hoping I’d give you a pay-off to leave, then you’re in for a shock because I don’t carry passengers. You may be the ex-boss’s daughter, but from now on you’re going to work for your money.’ The anger boiled up inside him, the past somehow mixing with the present. ‘You’re going to take your useless, lazy self and finally do a job. And if all you’re capable of doing is clean the toilets, then you’ll clean the toilets.’
Those sapphire-blue eyes were locked on his and then she made a sound that might have been a laugh. ‘You really don’t know anything about the company you just bought, do you? Mr Media Mogul who never makes a mistake in business—Mr Big Tycoon who is all-seeing and all-knowing—is suddenly blind.’ Her voice dripped contempt and Damon, who prided himself on his lack of emotion in all his dealings, found himself wrestling the temptation to throttle her.
‘My only interest in your father’s business is as a way of ensuring his co-operation.’
‘You have no choice but to be interested in his business. You own it. A fairly heavy-handed approach to a problem, I’d say.’
‘I’ll do what it takes to protect my sister.’ He’d been protecting her since he was fifteen years old—since that cold February night when the policeman had knocked on the door and delivered the shattering news. Losing both parents in such a brutal way had been devastating but Damon had somehow dragged himself through each day, driven by the knowledge that another person was depending on him. He was all Arianna had in the world and what had began as the most terrifying responsibility had become the driving force behind everything he did. Now, protecting Arianna was as natural as breathing. Nothing would destroy the web of protection he’d spun around her. ‘If you have any idea where they are, you should tell me now because I will find out.’
‘I have no idea. I am not my father’s keeper.’
‘Arianna is your friend.’ He watched with satisfaction as that barb slid home.
‘And she’s your sister. She’s as likely to confide in you as she is in me.’
‘She tells me nothing about her life.’ The words tasted bitter in his mouth. ‘And now I know why. Evidently she has much to hide.’
‘Or possibly you’re just not an approachable person, Mr Doukakis. Arianna is twenty-four. An adult. If she wanted you to know what she was doing, she’d tell you. Perhaps you should try trusting her.’
Worry fuelled his anger. ‘My sister is ridiculously naïve.’
‘Had you not been so over-protective, perhaps she would have developed some street sense.’
Damon was thrown once again by the contrast between her fragile appearance and the layer of steel he sensed in her. It had been the same ten years before, when she’d stood in the office in silence, steadfastly refusing to explain her appalling disregard for school rules and general good behaviour. Because of her, his sister had been forced to leave one of the best schools in the country. Damon had subsequently banned Arianna from seeing the appalling Polly Prince. That was before he’d understood how teenage girls worked. The ban had effectively spurred his young sister into full rebellion mode and Arianna had promptly doubled the time she’d spent with the Prince family. It was a decision that had triggered numerous high-octane explosions in the Doukakis household.
‘Arianna is a very rich woman. That makes her a target for all sorts of unscrupulous individuals.’
‘I don’t pretend to be an expert on relationships, Mr Doukakis, but I do know that my father isn’t with Arianna because of her money.’
‘Really? Then perhaps you have no idea just how much trouble
