At Her Boss's Pleasure. Cathy Williams

that had reduced her mother to a victim over the years.

      To combat the treacherous ache in her body she tightened her jacket around her, buttoning it and standing straighter—ramrod straight.

      ‘This is a man’s future we’re talking about,’ Alessandro’s keen eyes had noted all her little defence mechanisms: the way her lips had pursed, the tension in her shoulders, the buttoning of the jacket. ‘You wouldn’t want to write it off in a five-minute summary just because you happen to have a hot date for the evening, would you?’

      ‘I don’t have a hot date.’

      The words left her mouth before she could drag them back, and it was no big deal but she still felt suddenly vulnerable and exposed. Her cheeks were burning as curious eyes lingered on her face.

      ‘I...I prefer to stay in on week nights,’ she gamely went on, even though she knew she should just shut up, because now he was staring at her with even more curiosity. ‘I often take work home with me. There’s a lot to get through and I know how easy it is for...for...things to pile up...’

      ‘You work late every evening, Kate. I don’t imagine anyone would expect you to take work home with you as well.’ He moved towards the door and opened it, standing back to allow her through. ‘Which is all the more reason for me to take you out for dinner, so that we can discuss this in less formal surroundings. I wouldn’t want you to see me as an unscrupulous boss who denies his employees a private life.’

      Rattled, Kate walked briskly towards the lift. She turned to look at him. ‘But aren’t you?’

      It was a daring question. One she shouldn’t have asked. He represented everything she didn’t like. In the normal course of events their paths would scarcely overlap. He rarely ventured down into the bowels of his offices, where the little people kept the wheels of his machinery well oiled and turning. But she didn’t like what he did to her, what he did to her prized self-control, and some wicked little devil inside her had pushed her to be more daring than she normally would have been.

      ‘Aren’t I what?’ He wondered how he had not noticed before the way her green eyes were the colour of polished glass.

      Those polished-glass eyes slid sideways now.

      ‘Unscrupulous.’ Kate said eventually, although she still wasn’t looking at him as the lift carried them downstairs in what felt like a step out of routine that she didn’t want to take. Her heart was beating frantically inside her and she was thankful for the reliable armour of her neat starched suit. It gave her a confidence that was suddenly missing.

      As they exited the building it was at least easier to talk to him when she was walking next to him and not staring directly at his face.

      ‘What I’m saying is I thought that in order to make it to the top you would have to be unscrupulous. No one ever gets to play in the Champions League unless they’re willing to...well...’

      ‘Crush everyone and everything in their path?’ He clasped her arm and turned her to face him.

      ‘I didn’t say that.’

      ‘That’s not my style. There’s no need. And if this has to do with any decision I make about Cape, then you’re way off target. If Cape’s been defrauding my company then he’ll take the consequences. It’s an unfortunate truth that people must live and die by the decisions they make.’

      ‘That seems a little harsh.’

      ‘Does it?’ His eyes darkened but he released her arm, even though he didn’t immediately carry on walking. The crowds parted around them, shooting them curious looks.

      Here, outside, it was very warm, and her suit of armour was beginning to feel more than a bit uncomfortable. Her skin prickled and she licked her lips nervously.

      ‘Not that it’s any of my business,’ she was quick to add. ‘Where are we going to eat?’

      ‘Is that your way of telling me that you’d like to bring this conversation to an end?’

      ‘I shouldn’t have said...what I said.’

      ‘You’re free to speak your mind.’

      They began walking to a gastropub that was tucked down one of the tiny side streets close to his offices in the heart of the city.

      ‘Because it’s really just a family firm...?’ There was a smile in her voice as she tried to lighten the atmosphere.

      ‘You’ve got it. One big, happy family—just so long as all my family members behave themselves. When one of them steps out of line, then I’m afraid I have to rule with a firm hand.’

      ‘It’s a very big family.’

      ‘Which started small. And I suppose that’s why it’s important for me to take control when a situation such as the one we have now develops. I didn’t create this baby for anyone to get it into their heads that they could climb on my bandwagon and begin looting. Here we are.’

      He pushed open the door into a space that was so dark it took Kate a couple of seconds for her eyes to adjust. Dark and refreshingly cool, and quaintly higgledy-piggledy.

      ‘This is not the sort of place I thought you would have liked,’ she blurted out impulsively, and Alessandro smiled.

      ‘I’m old friends with the man who owns it, and as a matter of fact coming here is something of an antidote to my frenetic pace of life. Why don’t you take your jacket off?’

      ‘I’m fine.’

      Alessandro raised his eyebrows with mild disbelief. ‘I expect you’d like to get down to work immediately...bypass all the pleasantries...?’

      ‘I have all the files in my briefcase.’

      ‘I hate to curb your enthusiasm, but I could do with relaxing for five minutes before I begin to hear about what George Cape’s been up to. You might think I’m hard-line, but Cape’s been with my company for a quite a number of years. It’s regrettable that he could not have just approached me had he wanted a loan.’

      She was spared the temptation of telling him that perhaps he needed to work on the whole family atmosphere approach by the arrival of the owner of the restaurant, who made a great fuss of Alessandro. They lapsed into rapid Italian and she covertly watched Alessandro, relaxed, gesticulating, grinning, showing her a natural warmth that was usually concealed under the forbidding exterior.

      This would be the man who charmed women, she thought. The guy who could have any woman he wanted at the snap of a finger and made full use of the talent.

      And, of course, none of those women were Plain Janes or, God forbid, downright unappealing.

      Drawn into their conversation towards the end, she smiled politely and offered the owner her hand in a businesslike handshake which, as they moved towards a table nestled in its own alcove towards the back of the restaurant, Alessandro told her had successfully nipped his friend’s salacious ideas in the bud.

      ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’ Once seated, she pointedly extracted the file they would need to discuss and placed it on the table next to her.

      Wine was brought to them. On the house.

      ‘You must know the proprietor very well,’ she murmured, ‘if free wine is part of the deal when you come here.’

      ‘He would throw in free food as well.’ Alessandro sat back and looked at her with lazy consideration. ‘But I always insist on paying for what I eat.’

      ‘That’s very thoughtful of you.’

      He laughed aloud and shot her an appreciative look. ‘You have a sense of humour! I never realized.’

      Kate thought that that was borderline rude, but how could she object when she had been pretty outspoken in some of the things she had said to him?

      ‘Relax,’