composure and not lose her pride.
‘Good.’ His lips twisted in a sudden smile. ‘So, now we have cleared the air, we can begin again.’
Begin again…? Katie wasn’t sure she liked the sound of that. It made her nerves stretch, and she didn’t know what to say. The reality of her situation was hitting her like a truck travelling at speed.
She had signed a contract for four months—she was effectively trapped here like a butterfly in a jar. And the wonderful new job that was supposed to help her move on and forget the past had just turned to dust.
‘So, shall we get down to business now?’ He glanced at his watch. ‘There is a board meeting in about five minutes. Do you want to run through this report with me?’ He tapped the piece of paper she had made notes on.
Fury raged through her. She hated him in that instant—hated his cool attitude, his arrogance, his disregard for even the smallest feeling of sentiment.
‘I’m happy to run through it at the meeting,’ she said tightly.
‘Such confidence.’
‘Your company is employing me because I’m good at what I do. I don’t need any special favours.’
‘I wasn’t offering any. But the project you will be working on is of significant value. I thought it would be helpful for both of us to discuss a few points before the meeting.’
In other words he probably wouldn’t even have walked in to see her today, only for the fact that her work was of interest to him.
‘There isn’t time for an in-depth debate now, Alexi; if there are any comments you want to make you can make them during the meeting.’
‘OK.’ Alexi’s lips curved. He admired her brain, liked the way she could operate under pressure. He’d deliberately tested her this morning, asking for this report at short notice. And as always she had risen to the challenge. From the notes he had read he could see she had already picked up the gauntlet and was running with it. And that would please the board. ‘A word of warning; you might meet with some resistance this morning. Some of the members of the board have concerns about the fact that you are rather young for such a major assignment.’
‘I see.’ Katie tried very hard not to show any concern. ‘That’s rather bizarre, isn’t it? In today’s world people in their early twenties are very successful, and I have plenty of experience.’
‘Certainly.’ He inclined his head. ‘Don’t worry about it. I have the last say, anyway.’
‘I’m not worried about it. I’ll deal with it.’
Alexi inclined his head. ‘I’m sure you will.’
‘Well, I think we’ve said all that needs to be said.’ Katie glanced at her watch. She needed to get rid of him and gather her thoughts. ‘I’ll follow you down to the boardroom in a few moments. I just want to highlight some points so I can read my notes more easily.’
Alexi shrugged and got up from behind the desk.
She’d almost forgotten how tall he was. Katie wasn’t of diminutive stature herself, but he had to be about six foot three; he towered over her and seemed to dominate the room as he came closer. Every nerve ending in her body went on red alert as he stopped next to her. ‘By the way, nice to have you back.’ He murmured the words almost sardonically.
She wanted to tell him that she wasn’t at all glad to be ‘back’, as he put it, and that she was working for him again under complete sufferance, but she forced herself just to nod.
He smiled as if he knew exactly what she’d been thinking. ‘I’ll see you in the boardroom.’
As soon as the door closed behind him, Katie felt like curling up and dying. She felt physically sick. How had she managed to make such an almighty faux pas? She’d researched Madison Brown—why hadn’t any of the financial papers reported the fact that it had been taken over by Demetri Shipping? How had this happened to her?
She sat down at her desk and took deep breaths, trying to calm herself. There was no point panicking; it wasn’t going to solve anything. She was just going to have to deal with the situation as best she could; after all, it was only for four months.
Another wave of panic hit her—four months! How was she going to keep up this cool, businesslike façade around him for that long when he sent every emotion in her body spinning into total chaos?
How long would it be before he smiled at her, touched her again, and sent common sense flying?
That wasn’t going to happen, she told herself heatedly—she wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice. She stared down at the papers in front of her. In two minutes she needed to be under perfect control and ready to face a boardroom of hostile people. This job should be her priority—not Alexi.
And anyway she probably wouldn’t see that much of him. He was running three companies now, not one. Plus he probably already had a new girlfriend. It didn’t take him long to replace a woman—they’d be queuing up.
She remembered suddenly how her mother had always fallen for the wrong men—the heartbreakers, the users—never the gentle, caring, commitment types. She remembered how she had always sworn she would never make the same mistakes.
The memory helped. Suddenly she felt a lot stronger.
She stood up and put on her jacket, ran a smoothing hand over her hair, checked her reflection in the mirror by the door and then picked up her papers. She could do this.
Most of the board were already seated when she walked into the room, but there were a couple of places vacant, and she slipped into the one furthest away from Alexi.
He was seated at the head of the long, polished table and her eyes collided with his as she looked over. Immediately she looked away again. Best not to make eye-contact, she told herself, best just to look at her work, or at anyone else but him! Otherwise she was going to sound like a gibbering idiot when she made her presentation.
The last of the board members arrived, and Alexi called for order. Immediately a hush fell over the proceedings.
‘Gentlemen, I’m very glad so many of you have been able to make our meeting today, as it was called at short notice. I would like to start by welcoming our new project manager, Ms Katie Connor, into our midst. I’m sure she will be a valued member of the team, and I look forward to a close and harmonious working relationship.’
Katie’s eyes clashed with his again, and she felt her nerves jangle. She wasn’t looking forward to any such thing—well, not with him at any rate! Hurriedly she looked away and tried to concentrate as he introduced the people around the table to her.
He probably wouldn’t be around much, she told herself again soothingly as she smiled in acknowledgement to the few people who spoke to her. He’d be at his head office here in London or in NewYork, or maybe his office in Athens…
‘Perhaps you would like to proceed, Katie?’ he invited smoothly. ‘Run us through your findings.’
‘Thank you.’ She forced herself to smile coolly at him as she got to her feet. This was
