I do,’ he stated firmly just as the lift doors opened on the ground floor. Taking her arm, he steered her across the spacious lobby and through the revolving glass doors which led out onto the chilly city street.
‘So which café do you prefer?’ he asked, nodding towards each of the two casual eating establishments that flanked the entrance to their building. It occurred to Harriet that Alex had never actually taken her for coffee before. She’d lunched with him a few times—always with clients—but only at the kind of five-star restaurants which catered for businessmen of his status.
‘That one has better bagels,’ she said, pointing to the café on their left.
‘That one it is, then.’
He found them an empty table at one of the windows which overlooked the street, seeing her settled before heading for the counter. Harriet found it odd watching him queue up to order food, thinking he wouldn’t have done that too often. But then she recalled that he hadn’t always been rich and successful.
When she’d secured a second and personal interview for this job, she’d looked him up on the Internet, unable to find out all that much information, the best being an article written about him for a men’s magazine a couple of years back. Harriet had been surprised to discover that he’d come from a down-at-heel migrant family, living in government housing in the outer western suburbs of Sydney. His near-genius IQ had given him access to special schools for gifted children, followed by various financial grants to help him through university, culminating in his being awarded a Rhodes Scholarship.
The magazine article she’d read had outlined his rise to success in Sydney, first as a realtor based mainly in the western suburbs, then as a property developer with his head office in the heart of Sydney’s CBD. The article made no mention of any business interests in England, or his personal life, except to say that he was one of Sydney’s most eligible bachelors. There’d been no mention of his family or friends.
Harriet rolled her eyes at what happened when Alex reached the front of the queue. The very pretty young brunette behind the counter beamed at him as she took his order, her eyes and manner very flirtatious. Harriet found herself decidedly irritated, hating the thought that Alex might have already found a replacement for that silly Lisa. The sudden thought that she might be jealous seemed ludicrous. Jealous of whom? And of what? And, more to the point, why?
Harriet frowned, wondering and worrying that Alex’s hugging her earlier might have unlocked feelings which she’d always had for him and which she’d successfully hidden, even from herself. Harriet couldn’t deny that she’d liked the feel of his big, strong arms around her; she liked his bringing her here for coffee as well.
Whatever, when Alex turned away from the counter and started heading towards her, Harriet found herself looking at him with new eyes, the same new eyes which had examined Dwayne with brutal honesty and had found him sadly lacking.
The word ‘lacking’ would never apply to the boss of Ark Properties. He had everything that any woman would want. In a boyfriend, that was, but not in a prospective husband.
So lock this unwanted attraction of yours away again, Harriet, and look elsewhere for your life partner. Because it’s never going to be Alex Kotana!
Perversely, however, as soon as he sat back down at their table, she opened her silly, jealous mouth and said waspishly, ‘I suppose that happens to you all the time.’
‘What?’ he said, sounding perplexed.
Whilst kicking herself, Harriet quickly found a wry little smile and a more casual tone. ‘The brunette behind the counter didn’t half make it clear that you could have put her on your order, if you’d been so inclined.’
Alex smiled. ‘She did, didn’t she? Unfortunately, she’s not my type.’
‘You don’t like brunettes?’ Now that she thought about it, his last two girlfriends had been blondes. She’d never met the first one, who’d come and gone within a month of her becoming Alex’s PA, so she didn’t know if she was a blonde or not.
His eyes held hers for a rather long moment, making Harriet feel decidedly uncomfortable. She hoped her momentary jab of jealousy hadn’t been obvious earlier. If it had, then she might not be lasting long in her job. It was a depressing thought. Her job meant the world to her. It was interesting and challenging and very well paid. Now that she didn’t have Dwayne in her life, she needed her job more than ever.
‘Sorry,’ she said swiftly. ‘I shouldn’t be asking you personal questions like that. It’s none of my business.’
Alex shrugged his powerful shoulders. ‘No sweat. I’m about to ask you a personal question or two.’
‘Oh?’
‘Come now, Harry, you don’t expect me not to be curious over why you broke up with Dwayne. That’s why I brought you down here away from the prying eyes and ears in the office. To worm out all the grisly details. You must know that.’
Harriet sighed. ‘There are no grisly details.’ Just mundane ones.
‘So you didn’t discover he was a secret drunk, or a drug addict?’
‘No!’
‘You didn’t come home and find him in bed with your best friend?’
‘Lord no,’ she said and laughed.
‘Then what on earth did the man do?’
Harriet knew it was going to be difficult to explain without her seeming like some kind of nutcase. But she could see she would have to try. When Alex wanted to know something, he was like a dog with a bone.
‘He just didn’t measure up as husband material.’
‘Ah,’ Alex said, as though understanding perfectly what she was talking about. ‘I rather suspected that his golf playing might have become a problem.’
Harriet just stared at him. ‘I had no problem with Dwayne playing golf,’ she replied, feeling somewhat confused. ‘Though it didn’t go down well when he bought a very expensive set of clubs the same day he suggested I buy my wedding dress on the Internet.’
Alex’s brows lifted. ‘He wanted you to buy a second-hand wedding dress?’
‘Yes,’ she admitted tartly.
‘Ah,’ he said in that knowing way again, Harriet gratified that her boss understood that Dwayne’s penny-pinching suggestion might have been a deal breaker.
‘My father was a mean man with money,’ she found herself elaborating. ‘I vowed when I was just a teenager that I would never marry a scrooge.’
‘I fully agree with you. But didn’t you know Dwayne was tight with money when you first started dating him?’
‘He wasn’t like that then. He used to spend money on me like water. Took me to the best restaurants, the best concerts, the best of everything.’
‘Yes, well, a man like Dwayne would have had to pull out all stops to impress a girl like you. And he succeeded, didn’t he? You fell for him and agreed to marry him. But once he had his ring on your finger, he dropped the ball. Am I right?’
‘Very
