Dark lashes veiled his gaze. ‘If you’re looking for somewhere to lay blame for your sister’s behaviour, perhaps you should look a little closer to home.’ His tone several shades cooler, he gave a careless shrug. ‘If anyone is to blame for the way your sister lives her life, then it’s surely you.’
‘Me?’ Genuinely shocked by that harsh analysis, Lindsay gaped at him. ‘That’s ridiculous. I’ve always warned her against having meaningless affairs and I certainly warned her to stay clear of you and your brother.’
‘Precisely. For a relationship counsellor, you clearly know very little about human nature.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘That the forbidden and the dangerous is always more exciting than the permitted and the safe,’ he said flatly. ‘I can guarantee that the day you warned her to stay clear of me was the same day she showed up at my office looking for a job.’
‘And you gave her one.’ She couldn’t keep the reproach out of her voice and he gave a dismissive shrug.
‘There was a vacancy in my administrative team. Ruby is decorative, sociable and a relatively competent secretary.’
‘Relatively?’
Alessio’s mouth curved into a faint smile. ‘Well, she’s not here, is she? She does have a tendency to become—easily distracted.’
‘By your playboy brother, presumably.’ Frustration mingled with anxiety and Lindsay shook her head. ‘You didn’t think that throwing the two of them together might not be a good idea?’
‘I allow my sibling to lead his own life. And unlike you I don’t see anything wrong with animal passion. On the contrary, I endorse animal passion. It’s one of the few truly honest human emotions.’ With a casual movement Alessio unhooked the towel and threw it carelessly over the nearest bench. ‘You ought to try it some time.’
Blinded by a disturbing vision of raw masculine perfection, Lindsay felt her mouth dry and looked away quickly. ‘You’re doing this on purpose,’ she muttered hoarsely, ‘trying to unnerve me.’
‘Does it unnerve you my being naked?’ As relaxed as she was tense, he ripped the packaging from a fresh shirt and thrust his arms into the sleeves. ‘That’s interesting. Next time you’re analysing behaviour, you might want to dwell on that. Deep down, buried underneath that layer of control, is a real woman trying to get out.’
‘Ruby.’ Her voice hoarse, Lindsay kept her eyes fixed on a point on the wall, trying to erase the shockingly vivid image of dark body hair and substantial manhood. ‘We were talking about Ruby. You don’t even care that she might have gone off with your brother.’
‘On the contrary, I do care. I’m as keen as you are to contact her. You can look. I’m decent.’
‘You are? I mean—you want to know where she is, too?’ Relief flooded through her. Perhaps she’d misjudged him. He did, after all, have a human side. ‘Then what have you done so far? Have you tried to contact your brother?’
He’d pulled on a pair of beautifully cut dark grey trousers, but the white shirt still hung loose, affording a tantalising glimpse of masculine chest hair shading hard muscle. ‘Like your sister, he isn’t answering his phone. I suspect they’re otherwise occupied.’
Lindsay made a distressed sound. ‘But you can find them. I know you have contacts. It won’t take you long to track them down.’
The snowy-white silk shirt seemed to emphasise his masculinity and Alessio threw an amused look in her direction as he fastened the buttons with slow, deliberate movements of his long fingers. ‘Your belief in the degree of my influence is quite sweet. Do powerful men turn you on, Lindsay?’
‘Please stop it.’ A hoarse whisper was all she could manage because her body was in such a turbulent state. ‘Please, please stop it. I’m just relieved that you’re as keen as I am to intervene before this relationship goes too far.’
‘I have no intention of intervening in the relationship.’
Confused, Lindsay frowned. ‘But you said—’
‘I said that I am as keen as you are to find out where Ruby is—’ he reached for his silk tie ‘—but not because I intend to counsel her on her choice of men. I believe in letting people make their own mistakes in life.’
Lindsay just stared at him. ‘Then why are you keen to find her?’
‘Under the terms of her contract, your sister was obliged to give notice if she intended to terminate her employment. She hasn’t.’ With skilful grace his fingers produced a perfect knot and he eased the tie up to his bronzed throat. ‘If she doesn’t turn up for work by four o’clock this afternoon, she loses her job. I thought it only fair to warn her of that fact.’
There was a buzzing in Lindsay’s ears. ‘You’re going to fire her?’ The words came out as an appalled squeak. ‘That’s ridiculous.’
‘That’s business. I employed her to do a job. She’s not doing it. Be grateful I’m not suing her for breach of contract.’ His tone hardened and she gazed at him in shock.
‘Even you can’t be that hard-hearted.’
His eyes held hers. ‘What would you say if I went back to my office this afternoon and fired someone on the spot?’
‘I’d say you were a megalomaniac,’ Lindsay said faintly and a smile flickered at the corners of his mouth.
‘You’d say I was unfair. Employers and employees have a certain responsibility towards each other. I’m a fair employer but I expect the same degree of fairness in my employees. I expect a certain code of behaviour. Your sister broke that code. I intend to make an example of her.’
Lindsay closed her eyes. If she’d thought things were bad before this conversation, they were fast becoming worse.
‘No.’ She shook her head in disbelief. ‘Please don’t do this—Ruby really likes working for you.’ Although she’d never understood why. ‘Losing her job would be devastating.’
‘It will send a clear message to other employees to think twice before they wilfully abandon their contracts.’ Showing not a glimmer of remorse or uncertainty, he reached for his jacket. ‘Your sister has until four o’clock. If she isn’t on my plane, ready to do the job for which she is employed, then her time with my company is over.’
‘Alessio, I’m begging you not to do this—’
His gaze lingered on her face. ‘Normally I have no problems with a woman begging, but on this occasion you’re wasting your time. If she isn’t here within the hour, she’s fired.’
CHAPTER TWO
LINDSAY stood in stunned silence, wondering how a bad situation had suddenly become so much worse.
Ruby was about to lose everything. ‘Please don’t take her job away from her. When her relationship with your brother crashes, Ruby is going to be devastated.’
‘Only
