didn’t. My name really is Daisy and, for your information, I am one of those poor hapless waitresses. That’s why I’m here.’
Her eyes locked with his. Pushing her hands into the pocket of her apron, her fingers brushed against David’s security card, and she felt a sudden fierce urgency to protect her brother.
‘I was working at the party downstairs and I was going to get some more napkins from the kitchens,’ she lied. ‘But I pressed the wrong button in the lift.’
For a moment Rollo stared at her coldly, then without turning he pushed the door shut.
In less than three seconds he had crossed the room, and as he stopped in front of her, her body tensed with panic.
‘I told you to keep it short and simple. Clearly what I should have said was tell the truth.’ His eyes hardened. ‘Please don’t insult me by trying to pretend you “pressed the wrong button...”’
Daisy felt the walls of the huge office shrink inwards. In his dark suit, his broad shoulders blocking the light, Rollo Fleming dominated the space around them. But she couldn’t allow him to dominate her. If she did, then the truth would come out and David’s life would be ruined.
She tried to let out her breath without his noticing.
‘You’re not the only one who’s had a long day,’ she retorted. ‘I’ve been on my feet for hours and I’m tired too. Which is why I made a mistake.’
He shook his head.
‘I don’t class breaking and entering as a “mistake.” And I’ll think you’ll find most juries agree with me.’ His face was hard, anger harshening the fine features. ‘So stop prevaricating and tell me why you’re sneaking about in my office at quarter to one in the morning.’
‘I didn’t know it was your office.’ She forced herself to meet his face. ‘How could I? I don’t even know who you are.’
His expression shifted into one of pure disbelief.
‘You’re working downstairs and you don’t know who I am?’
Daisy glowered at him. His derisive tone, coupled with his arrogant and irritatingly correct assumption that she would know who he was, made her see red.
‘I work for lots of people,’ she said stubbornly. ‘I don’t remember all their names and faces.’
Watching his mouth tighten, she felt a stab of satisfaction at having punctured his pride.
There was a long, abrasive silence and then he shrugged. ‘Which is no doubt why you’re just a waitress.’
Her cheeks flooded with heat, his sneer stinging like a slap.
Just a waitress!
‘Don’t patronise me—’ she began furiously.
‘Then don’t lie to me,’ he said softly.
She glared past him, face flushed. ‘Fine. So I know who you are! So what? It makes no difference to me—’
‘Then you are either exceptionally foolish or dangerously foolhardy, because this is my building, and my office. And you shouldn’t be in it.’
His voice scraped against her skin, sending flickers of fear in every direction.
* * *
Watching her face turn pale, Rollo felt his stomach twist.
Beneath her bravado she was scared—maybe she wasn’t the hardened criminal he’d taken her to be.
But she was still guilty.
Guilty of knowing the power of her beauty and guilty of exploiting it to deceive and disarm. He stared at her critically, noting the slight tilt of her chin, the wash of colour on the flawless cheekbones. He’d known women like her before. One in particular, who had thought nothing of lying and manipulating those around her, causing havoc and devastation even as she played the victim.
Daisy had made the biggest mistake of her life if she thought her charms would work on him and, eyes narrowing, he let the silence lengthen until finally, with a mixture of defiance and almost exaggerated casualness, she said, ‘I was curious. I just wanted to have a look around.’
‘I see.’ He loaded his words with sarcasm. ‘And yet you didn’t put on the lights? You must have truly extraordinary night vision.’
Daisy bit her tongue. Already she hated that sneer, the way his eyebrows lifted, and the glitter in that mocking green gaze. Of course, she’d imagined what would happen if she got caught. But in her head she had pictured some bumbling security guard. She certainly hadn’t expected to be grilled by Rollo Fleming himself. The watch’s owner and a man who was demanding an honesty she couldn’t give.
‘I didn’t put the lights on because I thought somebody would see,’ she said quickly.
He was standing too close; the heat and scent of his body was messing with her head so that speaking in sentences was suddenly a struggle.
‘I know this floor is off limits, but I’ve worked here a couple of times and I wanted to see...’
She paused. What could she have possibly—believably—wanted to see in an unlit office?
Blood pounding in her ears, she stared desperately past him at the lit-up skyscrapers—and then her gaze locked on to the Empire State Building.
‘The city. At night,’ she said, her breath juddering in relief. ‘Everyone says the view from up here is amazing, so I thought I’d come and look.’
He stared at her for so long and so hard that she had to clench the muscles in her legs to stop them from giving way.
‘How?’
She blinked. ‘What?’
‘Not what. How? How did you get up to this level? Catering staff only have clearance for the floor they’re working on.’
Daisy swallowed. Keep it simple, she told herself. ‘I don’t know,’ she lied again. ‘I just pressed some buttons.’
Her head was starting to ache, and there was no way she could keep this up for much longer. It was time for a dignified retreat. David would understand, and together they could think of another less humiliating way to return Rollo Fleming’s watch to him.
She breathed out, fighting for calm. ‘Look, Mr Fleming, I’m really sorry I came up here, okay? It was a bad idea—a mistake—and I promise I will never do anything like it again. So if you could just forget I was ever here, I’d be really grateful.’
There was a taut silence as his gaze held hers.
‘Daisy. Pretty name...’ he said quietly.
She could sense he was battling to control his temper.
‘Old-fashioned. Sweet. Decent.’
He smiled—a
