The Boss's Christmas Proposal. Allison Leigh

      

       He’d been around too long not to know that lightning could strike twice. That the one kiss they’d shared wasn’t just some random fluke.

      Kissing Kimi Taka—no matter how many times—was like lassoing lightning. Intoxicating, exhilarating and dangerous as hell.

      Even knowing that, it took him too damn long to tear his mouth from hers, and when he did, he found his hands were wrapped around those long, silky skeins of dark hair. “Dammit to hell.”

      She pressed her lips together as if savouring the taste of him. Her voice was husky when she finally spoke. “Sorry.”

      Greg let out a strangled groan. “You’re not really sorry?”

      Kimi sucked in an audible breath. “No.” Her fingers fluttered over the loosened knot of his tie. “Does it help if I take all responsibility? I kissed you. It is not as if you were an interested participant.”

      His gaze fastened on her face. “If you think I’m not interested, you haven’t been paying attention.”

      Allison Leigh started early by writing a Halloween play that her school class performed. Since then, though her tastes have changed, her love for reading has not. And her writing appetite simply grows more voracious by the day.

      She has been a finalist for a RITA^® Award and the Holt Medallion. But the true highlights of her day as a writer are when she receives word from a reader that they laughed, cried or lost a night of sleep while reading one of her books.

      Born in Southern California, Allison has lived in several different cities in four different states. She has been, at one time or another, a cosmetologist, a computer programmer and a secretary. She has recently begun writing full-time after spending nearly a decade as an administrative assistant for a busy neighbourhood church, and currently makes her home in Arizona with her family. She loves to hear from her readers, who can write to her at PO Box 40772, Mesa, AZ 85274-0772, USA.

      The Boss’s Christmas Proposal

      Allison Leigh

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      Once again, I owe my thanks to others for sharing with

      me some of their personal experiences with Japan.

      Thank you, CJ, Brian and Karen.

      The errors belong to me.

      Thanks, also, to the fine authors I had the privilege of

      working with on this series.

      Not only were there some great laughs, but I always

      learn something valuable along the way.

      Lastly, to my very own Greg

      (for whom Mr Sherman was not named,

      despite the rumours otherwise!) who makes it easy,

      indeed, to write with some knowledge about the way

      a man can hold a woman’s heart.

       Prologue

      “You have decided to what?”

      Kimiko Taka managed not to cringe at her father’s very cool, very controlled question. Mori Taka rarely lost his temper, but she knew if he were going to, she would probably be the cause of it. A quick glance at her stepmother, Helen, told her that even she was looking somewhat distressed.

      Kimi moistened her lips and tried not to look as nervous as she felt. “I have decided not to go back to school,” she repeated.

      Her father’s eyes could not be a darker brown. She knew that, because when she looked in the mirror each morning, she saw that very same near-obsidian looking back at her. But at that moment, she felt quite certain that his eyes turned from brown to cold shards of jet.

      “Is that so?” His tone became even milder. “Am I supposed to be more pleased by this decision of yours than I was when you last left school—because of expulsion? What do you plan to do with your time? Shop? Attend movie premieres with unsuitable escorts? Be photographed on topless beaches?”

      Her hands curled. It had been one beach, and she had not been topless, exactly, but arguing the point would not earn her any points.

      “Mori.” Helen had been sitting next to Kimi’s father since Kimi had entered the study of their lavish Chicago home. As always, Kimi’s stepmother was the perfectly beautiful blond foil for her dark, powerfully built husband, and now she slid her slender hand over Mori’s shoulder.

      There had been a time—a time that Kimi could still remember—when her most intimidating father would not have allowed such familiarity. Not even from a loved one. More to the point, maybe, no one would have dared such familiarity.

      Helen had changed all of that, though. She had changed Mori’s life. And Kimi’s. She was the only mother that Kimi had known, since her own had died when she was a baby.

      “Perhaps we should let Kimi explain,” Helen finished calmly. But the green gaze she focused on Kimi held a plea that the explanation had better be good.

      Kimi managed not to wring her hands. The truth was, she hated worrying Helen just as much as she did her father. “I—I want to work for the corporation,” she said, in more of a rush than she would have liked. She really, really hated feeling defensive.

      Perhaps she had inherited that trait from her father.

      His expression was inscrutable, though she detected a faint thinning of his lips.

      She moistened her lips again. “I believe I will receive a more important education in the real world, Papa. My professors—” She broke off, aware that her father probably did not want to hear another rehashing of her low opinion of her professors.

      What was it about even the most educated of individuals that they could be so preoccupied by a person’s pedigree? Even when she had tried to fail a course, she had not been allowed to. Her professors had always found some reason to make allowances for her. Some reason to change a well-deserved failing grade into a passing one. Anything to honor the family name.

      Mori was not looking any more convinced. Even the faintly encouraging expression on Helen’s face was looking strained.

      If Kimi were not careful, she was either going to start crying or stomp her foot with temper and prove that she was the child everyone believed her to be.

      She rose from the couch facing her parents. “Everyone in this family has been able to contribute in some way to TAKA-Hanson. Everyone except me. I am asking for an opportunity. Let me start somewhere. I will learn. I will work hard.”

      “Like you worked hard at those mediocre grades you managed to earn?”

      She winced. Mediocre indeed, but still passing, when she had intentionally tried to fail. “Working for the family business will be different. You have my promise. If I fail you—” she swallowed, thinking about the numerous times she had already done that “—or disgrace you, I will never ask for another favor.”

      Mori’s lips compressed. His gaze flicked to his wife, then back to Kimi. She knew it had to be her imagination that there was a trace of humor in his eyes. Her father had very little reason to feel humorous where she was concerned, and she knew it. She knew that his reaction was deserved.

      “I will follow whatever direction you set for me,” she added, feeling decidedly desperate.

      “Even if that means agreeing to a suitable marriage?”

      She barely kept her jaw from dropping. She looked at Helen. “Um…”

      “Mori,” Helen chided softly. “You’re beginning to sound like your father.” Mori looked irritated, but Helen