‘I hardly think you’ll lose this commission because I’m not dressed like—like one of your tarty girlfriends!’
Cormac swivelled slowly to face her, light beginning to gleam in his eyes. ‘What would you know about my girlfriends, tarty or otherwise?’
Lizzie swallowed and shrugged defiantly. ‘Only what I see in the tabloids.’
He laughed softly. ‘You believe that tripe? You read it?’
‘You do it,’ Lizzie snapped back, goaded beyond all sense of caution.
‘Do I?’ He took a step forward, his voice dangerously soft. ‘Is that what you’re after?’
‘What I’m after,’ Lizzie replied, her voice turning slightly shrill with desperation, ‘is getting you out of my bedroom and my house. You may be my boss, but you don’t have any rights in here.’
‘I wouldn’t want any,’ he scoffed, and too late Lizzie realised how it had sounded. Bedroom rights. Sexual rights. With a small smile, he bent down and hooked the strap of her discarded bra on his little finger, dangling it in front of her. ‘A bit too small for my taste.’
She flushed, thought of threatening a sexual harassment suit and knew she never would. ‘Please leave,’ she said in a voice that was entirely too weak and wavery, and realised with a stab of mortification that there were actually tears in her eyes. She was pathetic. Cormac certainly thought so.
‘Gladly,’ he informed her, ‘but you’re coming with me.’
Lizzie blinked. The threat of tears had thankfully receded, leaving only bafflement. ‘Coming with you? Why?’
‘You don’t have the proper clothes,’ Cormac said as if speaking to an idiot, ‘so we’ll have to get you some.’
‘I don’t want—’
‘This isn’t about what you want, Miss Chandler. It’s about what I want. Get that straight right now.’
Lizzie bit hard on her lip. She couldn’t afford to dig in her heels now, not over something like this. She needed her job, her salary, especially now Dani was at university, requiring fees, living costs, books and a bit to enjoy herself with. Lizzie couldn’t afford to antagonise Cormac Douglas, especially not over a few outfits.
‘Fine,’ she finally said, her voice clipped. ‘I assume you’re footing the bill?’
He smiled. It made her insides curl unpleasantly. ‘Of course. You couldn’t afford a pair of panties from the place we’re going.’
‘I wouldn’t want any,’ Lizzie snapped, but he’d already walked out of the bedroom, no doubt expecting her to follow, trotting at his heels.
LIZZIE sat stiffly on a cream leather sofa while Cormac spoke in a hushed voice to the sales assistant at the expensive boutique he’d brought her to on Princes Street.
What kind of man inspired the respect, awe and, most likely, fear that kept an exclusive boutique open for its only customer at eight o’clock at night?
The answer was right in front of her, in the arrogant, authoritative stance and the assessingly dismissive look Cormac shot her before turning back to the assistant.
‘Don’t let her choose her own clothes. She wouldn’t know what to pick.’
Lizzie pressed her lips together and gazed blindly out of the rain-smeared window. He was right; she wouldn’t know what to pick. But he didn’t have to tell the assistant that, and certainly not in that tone.
On the taxi ride to the boutique, she’d made the decision not to get angry at Cormac’s rude and arrogant ways. She just wouldn’t care.
He was known as ruthless and cold, she reminded herself; he was indifferent to the point of rudeness. He was also respected because of his incredible talent and building designs.
Right now those designs didn’t seem to matter very much.
‘All right, miss.’ The assistant, a sleek woman in a grey silk suit, came forward, smiling briskly. ‘Mr Douglas would like you to be outfitted for the weekend. Will you come this way?’
With a jerky nod, refusing to look at Cormac, Lizzie followed the assistant into the inner room of the boutique.
‘I’m Claire,’ the woman called over her shoulder as she began pulling clothes from the racks. ‘You’ll need at least two evening dresses, some casual wear, a swimming costume…’ The list went on, washing over Lizzie in an incomprehensible tide of sound.
She’d never spent much time or money on clothes, never had the inclination or interest, not to mention the means. Now she reached out and stroked a cocktail dress of crimson silk, the material sliding through her fingers like water.
Why was Cormac doing this? Surely, surely as his secretary she didn’t need clothes like this, no matter how promising or prominent this commission could be.
Did he feel sorry for her? Impossible. Embarrassed for her? By her? Lizzie considered it, but decided Cormac Douglas didn’t have enough sensitivity towards anyone to feel such an emotion.
So why? Because she knew, more than anything, that Cormac didn’t do anything unless there was something in it for him.
‘Miss Chandler?’ Claire indicated the sumptuous changing room and, with a little apologetic smile, Lizzie entered.
An hour later she was trying on the last outfit, a slinky silver evening dress with skinny straps that poured over her slight curves like liquid moonlight.
Lizzie smoothed the elegant material over her hips, amazed at the transformation. Her pale blond hair fell to her shoulders in a soft cloud, and her eyes were wide and luminous. It looked, she thought ruefully, as if the dress were too big for her, even though it fitted perfectly. She looked overawed by the glamour, and she was.
Just what was Cormac trying to turn her into? Because it wasn’t working.
What kind of woman did he want her to be this weekend…and why?
Perhaps she was paranoid to be so suspicious, yet she couldn’t shake the unreality of the situation…the impossibility.
‘Gorgeous,’ Claire murmured, and gestured her to leave the dressing room. ‘Mr Douglas will want to see this.’
‘I don’t think—’ Lizzie began, but Claire was already pulling her hand, and from the corner of her eye she saw Cormac stand up, alert and ready, lips pressed together in a firm, hard line.
She stood in the middle of the room, conscious of the way the dress clung to her body and swirled about her feet, leaving very little to the imagination…to Cormac’s imagination.
He surveyed her from top to toe, his hazel eyes darkening, his face expressionless.
‘Good,’
