blood on his hand, and then back up to fix Bea with glittering black eyes.
‘You little vixen. You drew blood!’
‘Serves you right—you attacked me.’ She had no idea how aroused or how young she looked to the seated man, or how beautiful. She was still reeling from the totally unexpected explosion of passion between them, and her own shameful reaction to Leon.
For a long moment they simply stared at each other, the sexual tension in the air almost tangible.
Leon finally broke the contact. He looked down at the floor and said quietly, ‘Yes, I did, and I apologise.’
Bea’s bewildered blue eyes searched his handsome face; Leon apologising was unheard of. ‘You apologise?’ she queried, as if she didn’t believe what she was hearing.
‘Yes, a hundred times over.’ He glanced at her with a look in his eyes that she could not fathom. ‘I am a lot older than you and I should have more control. But in all the years we have known each other it never once entered my head that you did not trust me.’
Bea, for some unknown reason, found it hard to look him in the eye. Yet he had made no attempt to deny her accusation. So why did she feel ashamed? It was Leon who should be ashamed, for having tried to trick a grieving teenager. But she doubted he knew the meaning of the word ‘ashamed’. Leon moved through life supremely confident of his own abilities, a ruthless predator, cutthroat in business, overpowering the opposition with arrogant ease. And, Bea realised, he was just as ruthless in his private life.
He shrugged his broad shoulders, dismissing the question of trust, and ran his hands through his dishevelled hair, sweeping it back from his brow. ‘Also, Phoebe, I should have explained in more detail your position in the company.’ He glanced at the slim gold Rolex on his wrist and grimaced.
‘I was in too much of a hurry. But please try and understand, you will not be working as the office junior. Tom and Margot have strict instructions to show you every aspect of the London office and how the company works. You will get to know all the staff we employ there personally. Your job description as a PAA is modest enough, so they will not resent you. But if you insist on walking in and declaring you’re a part owner, and also insist on starting as a junior partner, there is bound to be resentment. Do you want that? The snide remarks about nepotism at work? Perhaps even publicity in the press?’
Bea had not thought about it from that angle, but she realised Leon had a valid point. ‘No, no, I don’t,’ she said quietly.
‘I didn’t think you would. That is why I made the arrangements I did. Only Tom and Margot know your true status in the company, but it is up to you if you want to tell everyone else. Personally, I only wanted to give you some protection, at least for your first few months in a working environment. I had hoped to be able to stay in England for a few weeks, but it simply is not possible.
‘Branching out into the USA and the Far East in the past few years has been a great success, but I seem to spend most of my time jetting between New York, Hong Kong and Athens—as you must know by the company reports you receive.’ He glanced at her, black eyes capturing blue. ‘You do read them?’ he asked with a smile, and her heart gave a curious lurch in her chest at the sight of it.
‘Yes, of course.’ She smiled back and took a step towards him. Leon was right. Since taking over the company he had expanded its business enormously. It had been successfully floated on the London Stock Exchange, but their two families still retained sixty per cent of the shares, thus ensuring that it remained a family concern. Leon’s name was regularly featured in the financial newspapers all over the world, and the meteoric rise of Stephen-Gregoris as a leading international company was constantly remarked upon. As for the tabloid newspapers, they had nicknamed him the “Swashbuckling Tycoon”—probably because when he’d first come to their notice, in his mid-twenties, he’d worn his hair in a ponytail.
‘You’re right,’ she admitted. ‘It was stupid of me to think I could walk into the firm as a partner. I realise that now. But I do want to learn everything, and perhaps eventually I can visit the overseas offices too, maybe even work in one.’ The more she thought about it. the more she liked the idea. ‘Maybe this time next year it will be me going to New York.’
‘Why not?’ Leon stood up and, crossing to where she stood, once more took her hands in his. ‘Next week London, next year the world.’
Bea tilted her head back to look up into his face, her expression serious. ‘Are you teasing, or do you really think I can do it?’ she asked, in a voice that was surprisingly calm considering the way the pulses in her wrists were racing beneath his fingers.
He released her hands and dropped a swift kiss on the top of her head. ‘I think, Phoebe, you will do whatever you set your mind to, and the world had better look out.’
‘You as well.’ She grinned up at him, mischief dancing in her eyes. ‘I might decide I want your job.’
Leon’s mouth twitched, and then he chuckled. ‘You’re some woman, Phoebe.’ He shook his dark head, still smiling. ‘But I really must be going.’ Withdrawing a small velvet box from his trouser pocket, he dropped it into her hand. ‘Happy birthday, and good luck on Monday. I’ll be in touch.’ Turning, he started for the door.
‘Wait. I’ll see you out.’ She hurried after him, but he stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.
‘Not a good idea, Phoebe, unless you want your friends to get the wrong idea.’
‘My friends?’ He had lost her; she didn’t know what he meant.
‘Have a look in the mirror before mingling again, darling...’ Leon drawled softly, and after unlocking the door he went, his laughter ringing in her ears.
Standing where Leon had left her, Bea slowly opened the box. Inside was a delicate pendant, a deep blue sapphire surrounded by diamonds, ringed in gold and suspended on a gold chain. After fastening the chain around her neck, she picked up the pendant and gazed at it in wonder. Leon was an incredibly generous but infuriating man.
CHAPTER TWO
STILL bemused by Leon’s present, Bea wondered why he had not stopped to see her open it. What had he said? ‘Look in the mirror!’ Bea mumbled to herself, quietly slipping out of the study. She quickly dived into the cloakroom—luckily free.
One look in the mirror above the vanity basin, and the pendant was forgotten. Instead she wanted to die of shame. Her blonde hair was a tangled mess around her face—a very flushed face—and the remains of once red lipgloss were smeared over her skin, but none of it on her lips—lips that were unmistakably swollen. Worse, the dress she had hastily pulled up after escaping from Leon on the sofa clung decorously over one breast, then slanted down over the other, revealing the dark areola around her nipple to the world.
Bea groaned out loud. Never again would she wear the silver Spandex creation, she vowed. No wonder Leon had told her to look in the mirror. But the swine could have told her earlier about the dress, instead of feasting his eyes and having a good laugh at her expense. To think she had actually been considering they could be friends again!
Splashing her face with cold water, and tidying herself up as best she could, she felt a humourless laugh escape her. Would she never learn where Leon was concerned? He had arrived, got her to agree to what he wanted, and left... As for her birthday present, to a man of Leon’s wealth, the pendant was a mere trinket.
She
