The Virgin Secretary's Impossible Boss. Кэрол Мортимер

and, although Linus Harrison was possibly the last person Andi would ever have wanted to sell it to, his offer of employment meant she would at least be able to have a say in the alternations and the décor. Her mother would be able to remain on the estate too, albeit in the much smaller gate house rather than the manor-house itself.

      Linus easily read the wavering resolve in Andi’s expression. ‘Admit it, Andrea—you’re tempted by the idea,’ he taunted.

      Her eyes flashed darkly. ‘The idea maybe,’ she allowed waspishly. ‘The reality is a different matter. I’m really not sure I could work for you.’

      His gaze narrowed. ‘Why the hell not? No, let me guess,’ he continued harshly. ‘Someone with your privileged background shudders at the mere idea of being employed by someone like me!’

      She blinked. ‘Someone “like you”…?’

      ‘I’m sure you, like every other reader of tabloid newspapers, are aware of my background,’ Linus rasped knowingly.

      The press had made much, over the years, of the fact that Linus had started out with nothing fifteen years ago but the sharpness of his brain and a determination to succeed. That, although he was a multi-millionaire now, he had started out as the only child of a single mother, brought up in the back streets of Glasgow, leaving school at the age of sixteen to work as a labourer on a building site.

      Within four years he owned his own building company, buying run-down properties and turning them into hotels, each one more luxurious than the next. Until now, fifteen years later, Linus owned dozens of them all over the world.

      Along the way he had lost his Glaswegian accent, learnt to wear Armani suits as if born to it, and had become as comfortable in the company of lords and ladies as he was with his own labourers.

      Andrea Buttonfield looked confused by his accusatory tone. ‘Why should your background matter to me?’

      Why indeed? Linus instantly berated himself for revealing even this much of a chink in his own armour. As far as Andrea Buttonfield was concerned, she had reason enough to dislike him simply because he was the upstart who intended to buy her family home and turn it into a profitable business-venture. For her, he could now see, the added knowledge that their backgrounds were so dissimilar simply didn’t come into the equation.

      Some of the tension left his shoulders, although the restless anger remained. ‘I’ve decided I don’t want to wait for your decision after all, Andrea,’ Linus bit out impatiently. ‘What’s it to be? Take it or leave it.’

      Andi wanted to leave it. Every instinct in her body told her to do exactly that. But just the thought of how her mother had changed these last three months—of the fragility of her emotional state, let alone her mental one—was enough to give Andi pause for thought.

      Linus Harrison’s offer of employment would solve so many problems for her concerning her mother. Andi knew she would be a fool to turn down that offer just because being in the same room with Linus Harrison made her feel so uneasy.

      She drew in a deeply controlled breath. ‘Okay; I accept your offer, Mr Harrison. But my contract says I have to give Gerald three months’ notice, not one,’ she added determinedly as she saw the brief triumph that blazed in those beautiful eyes.

      Linus Harrison looked completely unperturbed. ‘I can live with that.’

      Andi just hoped that she could live with the ramifications of her decision…