sorry, but I can’t.’ Edging away from him, she sprang to her feet. ‘If that’s all you need tonight, I’ll say goodnight.’
‘Goodnight...Brianna.’ Her name sounded like the sweetest temptation on his lips.
She hesitated. ‘I would really prefer it if you kept calling me Moneypenny,’ she said.
Immediate refusal rose to his lips. Until he remembered he was supposed to be her unimpeachable boss, not a demanding lover who was at this moment repeating her given name over and over in his mind. ‘Very well. See you in the morning, Moneypenny.’
He straightened from the table and watched her walk away, her pert bottom tight and deliciously curvy beneath her khaki pants, causing blood to rush hot and fast southward.
He still sported a hard-on that wouldn’t die when his phone rang in his suite an hour later. He stopped pacing his small balcony long enough to snag it from the coffee table where he’d dumped it.
‘Pantelides.’
The short conversation that ensued made him curse long and fluently for several minutes after he hung up.
THE FIRM HAMMERING on her door made Brianna’s already racing heart threaten to knock itself into early retirement. Considering the way it’d been racing for the past hour—ever since her wits had deserted her in the conference room—it would’ve been merciful.
What the hell had she been thinking?
Hard knuckles gave the wooden door another impatient workout.
Consciously loosening her tense shoulders, she blew out a reassuring breath and forced composure back into her body. The hastily pulled together bland look was in place when she answered the door.
Sakis stood on the threshold, frowning down at his phone.
‘What’s wrong?’ she asked before she could stop herself. The feeling that passed through her, she recognised as worry, a curiously recurring feeling over the past two days. Not cool, Brianna. In fact, a wincingly large percentage of her reactions today had been...off. From the moment he’d stared down at her and told her in that mesmerising voice, ‘I don’t know what I’d do without you,’ her judgement had been skewed.
Watching him pace with mounting frustration all day, wishing there was something she could do, had rammed home the fact that her professional equanimity was still very much in jeopardy.
Now...now he looked as if he’d clawed frustrated fingers through his hair several times. And the lines bracketing his mouth had deepened. She cleared her throat.
‘I mean, is there something you need, Mr Pantelides?’
His gaze flicked over her then returned to her face. ‘You haven’t changed for bed yet. Good. The pilot is readying the chopper for take-off in fifteen minutes.’
‘Take-off?’
His hand tightened around the phone as it signalled another incoming message. ‘We’re leaving for the airport. I’ve called an emergency meeting first thing in the morning back in London.’
‘We’re returning to London? But...why?’
His lips firmed. ‘It seems more vultures are circling over our disaster.’
Stunned, she stared at him. The thought that anyone would want to challenge Sakis Pantelides at any time, let alone when he was at his most edgy and dangerous, made her doubt his opponent’s sanity. ‘Media or corporate?’
His smile was deadly. ‘Corporate. I’m guessing the usual suspects who chest-thump every now and then will be feeling bolder in light of the slumping share price as a result of the tanker accident.’
She retrieved the bag she’d left at the foot of her bed. ‘But the shares have started to recover again after the initial nosedive. Your statement and the very public admission of liability made it stabilise very quickly. Why would they...?’
‘News of a takeover bid would make it plunge again and that’s what they’re counting on.’ His phone pinged again and he growled. ‘Especially if two of those companies are announcing their intended merger in the morning.’
He cursed in Greek, using a particular word that made heat rise to her cheeks as she dove into the bathroom for her toiletries bag.
‘Which two companies?’ she called out as she zipped up her bag and checked the room to make sure she hadn’t left anything important.
Exiting, she saw the lines of fatigue etched into his face and her heart lurched.
‘Moorecroft Oil and Landers Petroleum.’
It was only because he’d turned away, his attention once more on this phone, that Sakis didn’t see she’d stopped dead in her tracks; that the blood had drained from her face with a swiftness that made her dizzy for a moment.
It couldn’t be. No. It had to be pure coincidence that the petroleum company shared the same name with Greg, her ex-boyfriend. Landers was a fairly common name...wasn’t it? Besides, Greg’s company when she’d been a part of it before he’d struck the deal that had doomed her, had been a gas-brokering company; a company that had since declared bankruptcy. And certainly not one large enough to take on the juggernaut that was Pantelides Shipping.
‘I’d like to get out of here this side of— Brianna? What’s wrong?’
For goodness’ sake, pull yourself together!
Dry-mouthed and heart thumping, Brianna forced herself to breathe. ‘Nothing; it’s the heat, I think.’
Keen eyes scoured her face and gentled a fraction as he pocketed his phone. ‘Not to mention the lack of sleep. My apologies for dragging you off like this. You can sleep on the plane.’
Stepping forward, he held out his hand for her bag. Their fingers touched, lingered. Heat shot through her and she hastily pulled back from the scorching contact. Swallowing, she followed him out and shut the door behind her. ‘I’ll be fine. And you’ll need me to find out everything we can about the two companies.’ Not to mention she needed to know whether Greg had anything to do with Landers Petroleum.
The thought that he might have started another company, might be cultivating another patsy the same way he’d cultivated her, made her stomach lurch sickeningly.
Could she alert Sakis without drawing attention to herself? Out herself as the needy woman, so desperate for love she hadn’t seen the trap set for her until it’d been too late?
Her belly churned with fear and anxiety as they left the hotel and rode the short helicopter journey to the private hangar at Agostinho Neto airport.
Dear God. She could lose everything.
The thought sent a shudder so strong, she stumbled over her own feet a few steps from the airplane.
Sakis caught her arm and steadied her. Then his fingers dropped to encircle her wrist, keeping a firm
