Katie could hardly believe her luck! It was a large corner-office with views along Canary Wharf. With difficulty she dragged her eyes away from the view and concentrated on the desk and the stack of files sitting on top of it.
‘I was told to gather research material for you,’ Claire murmured as she watched Katie flicking through the top layers of papers. ‘And you are to attend a meeting in the boardroom at ten.’
‘OK.’ Katie nodded. ‘I thought the managing director wanted a word first?’
‘He did, but he’s had to go down to one of his other companies. He said he’d see you in the boardroom. Oh, and he’s asked if you will look at the pre-Christmas budget figures and prepare a preliminary report on how you think they can be improved. He wants you to run your ideas past the board.’
‘He wants me to prepare the report before ten?’ Katie felt her nerves start to stretch a little.
‘Afraid so.’ Claire pulled a face. ‘He’s a man in a hurry.’
‘I’ll say!’
As Claire left, Katie took off her suit jacket and hung it up on the hook beside the filing cabinets.
This was what she’d wanted, she told herself as she started to sort through the piles of paper, a job that would challenge her and take her mind off the past.
The excitement of her previous job had been almost addictive—or had that been the excitement of being with Alexi?
Swiftly she cut the thought and told herself that she had missed the cut and thrust of working for a dynamic company for the last few weeks, that was all. Alexi had been a mistake. She flicked through the papers angrily and tried to concentrate. But for a few moments no matter how hard she tried all she could think about was Alexi. Alexi kissing her…Alexi caressing her, possessing her…
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then she reminded herself how scared she had felt when she’d thought she was pregnant. Thank heaven that test had come back negative, because Alexi was definitely not into commitment. His business was his one and only priority.
He’d looked at her almost coldly when she’d told him she wasn’t going to stay on with the company.
‘Is this an emotional decision or a business one?’ he’d asked.
‘Does it matter?’
‘Yes. Because if your reasons are emotional it means you are not thinking straight.’
His logic had been so typical of him that she’d laughed. ‘So the only good reason is a business reason?’
‘Basically, yes.’ He’d watched her impassively. ‘We had an understanding, didn’t we? We’ve been enjoying a bit of fun together, but we both agreed it wouldn’t cloud work issues.’
‘And it hasn’t.’ She’d tipped her chin up and met his gaze defiantly. ‘I don’t want the job you are offering because it’s time for me to move on. Our agreement has reached the end of the road. I want a fresh challenge.’ She’d managed to sound as collected and calm as he was. But inside she’d been hurting.
Inside she was still hurting—because there’d been a part of her that wanted him to show her some ounce of feeling, some spark of tenderness.
But he hadn’t. He’d just told her that he’d leave the job offer open for a while and to get in contact if she changed her mind. Then he’d wished her well for the future and walked away.
He hadn’t been around when she’d cleared her desk for the last time; he’d been in the States on business.
If he’d cared he wouldn’t have been able to stay away. He wouldn’t have been able to put business first.
She glared down at the papers on her desk. Why was she wasting time thinking about Alexi, when she was under pressure to produce a vital report for her new boss? Her relationship with Alexi was over and she needed to be realistic about it. Of course he hadn’t cared about her; she had always known that. They’d shared ‘a bit of fun’, as he’d so coolly liked to refer to it. Not love—just sex.
Katie pulled the papers closer and forced herself to study them. She was a twenty-four-year-old woman with a degree in economics, not a love-struck fool. She’d made a mistake, she’d thought she could handle a relationship without letting her emotions intervene, but it hadn’t worked for her. Now she needed to get over it. She took a deep breath and pushed all the past thoughts out of her mind, and felt a surge of a relief as she looked at the files in front of her. Yesterday had gone.
She circled some figures that suddenly struck her as unusual and traced their pattern. Then she started to make notes.
At nine forty-five she had put together a rough preliminary report. It wasn’t perfect, but it was the best she would be able to achieve given the time restraints. And she had a few interesting points she would be able to raise at the meeting.
With a few minutes to spare, she left her desk and went down the hallway to get a drink from a water machine she’d noticed earlier.
There was a mirror next to the dispenser, and she glanced briefly in it to check her appearance. She had applied more make-up than usual to disguise the fact that she hadn’t been sleeping well. Her blue eyes looked good with the extra smudge of taupe highlighter, and the brighter lipstick complemented her skin tones and contrasted well with the darkness of her hair, but it wasn’t really her. She tended to favour a more natural look.
They are not employing you for your style, she told herself sharply as she turned back towards her office; they are interested in your brain.
Hopefully now she had started her new job she would get a better night’s sleep. She swung through her office door and came to an abrupt halt. For a moment she thought she was in the wrong place because there was someone sitting behind her desk. She couldn’t see who it was, because he’d swivelled the chair around towards the window. All she could see was his long legs stretching out to one side and his hand holding her phone. He had a bit of a nerve to make himself at home like that, she thought with a frown. And he’d been reading her notes, she realised suddenly, as she saw he was holding them in the other hand.
‘Excuse me?’ She cleared her throat. ‘Can I help you?’
‘I’ll have to get back to you, Ryan. I have a new employee to deal with before our meeting convenes.’ The brisk, businesslike voice was velvety warm with just a hint of a Mediterranean accent, and Katie recognised it at once.
With the recognition came a plummeting feeling of shock as the office chair swivelled around and she found herself face to face with the man who had turned her world upside down and inside out—Alexander Demetri. Her mouth went dry; her stomach seemed to tie itself into knots.
For a moment she wondered if she was imagining things. She held her breath and wondered if she had thought about him so much over the last few weeks that she had actually conjured him up in some kind of wild illusion.
Then he put the phone down, leaned back in the leather chair and looked at her.
‘Hello, Katie.’
There was no mistaking that
