very close to the surface. Emotions she was usually very good at holding down.
“Well, rehearsed or not,” she said, eyes narrowed, “it’s true. The better I look, the better I make you look, the more money you make. And the better you behave, the better you follow my advice, the more money you make, the more success I’ll have.”
“So, is this lecture your form of consent?”
“Yes,” she said, not missing a beat.
“I want you to work with me personally. I don’t want anyone else on your team involved with my account. It has to be you.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“The building project in Thailand is already controversial, which has my shareholders clutching their wallets in terror.”
“And what about the Thailand project is controversial?”
“The fear that by building more resorts we’re distorting local culture. That such a Westernized focus doesn’t show people the real Thailand. That we’re giving tourists a theme park rather than reality.”
“And are you?”
He shrugged. “Does it matter to you?”
“I don’t have to like you, Mr. Forrester, I just have to make sure everyone else does.”
“So, even if you did have a personal problem with the project?”
“Like the wedding bells, not an issue. This is business. My business is presenting your best to the public and to your shareholders.”
“I need to get the details hammered out as quickly as possible.” He leaned over and picked his briefcase up from the floor, opened it and pulled out a thick stack of papers. “This is the contract. If you need anything changed, let me know and we’ll discuss it. And you need to terminate your dealings with Jeff Campbell. One thing I require is that your firm no longer represent him in any capacity. Conflict of interest.”
“Of course.”
He looked at her, and reached across her desk, picking up her cell phone and holding it out to her.
“What? You want me to call now?”
“Time is money, or so I’ve heard.”
She snatched the phone from his hand and dialed Jeff’s number, her palms slick with sweat. She hated that he had the ability to make her lose her cool. It didn’t help that Jeff Campbell had definitely been giving her the “let’s make this business into pleasure” vibe. Which made terminating the contract sting just a little bit less, as the last thing she wanted to deal with was working with a man with sex on his brain.
The phone rang once before Jeff answered. “Hi, it’s Lily.”
Gage raised his eyebrows but didn’t comment.
“I know.” Jeff sounded far too pleased about it for her peace of mind, his tone of voice almost intimate. It made her skin crawl.
“I’m really sorry to have to tell you this, but I’ve been offered a better contract and I feel I can’t afford to turn it down.”
She listened while Jeff expressed his disappointment, in a very nice fashion, considering she was breaking a contract they’d drawn up a week ago. He was probably still hoping to get a date. Which was confirmed when he asked if they could meet over dinner to discuss it further.
“Sorry. I’m going to be really busy with … work. Because of the contract. The new one.” Gage’s blue eyes were locked on her and it was making her nervous, which she hated. Men never upset her personal balance. She never let them close enough to do that.
“There’s a monetary penalty for terminating the contract,” Jeff said, his voice icy now.
“I know. I was there when the addition was made and I read the contract thoroughly before I signed it.” She looked at Gage, trying to judge his reaction. “But this is a business move that I feel I have to make. It’s the best thing for my company.”
“So ethics, fulfilling your commitments, aren’t as important as money?”
Ouch. She took a breath. “It’s business, Jeff. In my position you would do the same. Business is business,” she said, unconsciously echoing Gage’s earlier statement.
“You certainly never treated it like it was only a business arrangement.” The inference and the venom in his tone shocked her. Though she knew it shouldn’t. Men seemed to think a polite greeting meant she wanted to hop into bed with them. And that was their problem, not hers.
“Sorry to have given you the wrong impression,” she bit out, conscious of Gage’s close study of her. “But as far as I’m concerned, yes, it was only a business arrangement. And now, it’s a defunct business arrangement.”
Gage took the phone from her hand, his expression far too satisfied for her liking. “Just wanted to affirm that Lily is working for me now.”
And now Lily felt like a treat being fought over by two dogs, and it was not pretty. She didn’t like that she was in the middle of some kind of alpha war. And the feeling was only magnified by the fact that Jeff had, apparently, assumed she was interested in him as more than just a source of income.
She could hear the tone, not the words, to Jeff’s curt reply before Gage snapped her phone shut and set it back on the desk.
She stood up and rounded the desk, reckless anger coursing through her. “This is my office, Mr. Forrester. I might be working for you but I expect you to remember that.”
“You’re working for me, Ms. Ford, that’s the bottom line, whether we’re in your office or mine.” His blue eyes held that steel that made him so successful.
On the outside he might seem like the kind of man who didn’t take life seriously. The endless succession of models and actresses on his arms saw that he featured in the tabloids regularly, and he’d garnered a reputation as a playboy. But she knew that he hadn’t reached the level of success he had without an edge of ruthlessness. He didn’t often put it on show, but then, he wouldn’t have to. The man radiated power. And beneath that she sensed that he had the soul of a predator. The fact that he was in her office now was proof of that.
At one time that would have intimidated her. He would have intimidated her. But not anymore. She was an up-and-coming player in the business world, and she wasn’t going to reach her destination by backing down.
But she hadn’t gotten where she was by being stupid, either, and even if she was angry beyond reason that Gage was usurping her authority in her own office, she wasn’t about to spar with her brand-new boss.
“I apologize,” she said, lowering the register of her voice, trying to project a calmer demeanor than she currently felt capable of projecting. “But I have to confess I’m a little bit controlling and I can be very territorial.”
Gage tried to ignore the tightening in his gut. The woman practically purred when she spoke. And when she stood from her desk, she sauntered around to the other side, her walk as slinky and liquid as a cat’s, her curves enough to remind him
