Boardrooms of Power. Heidi Betts

her cage and, while her teeth were still clattering from the shock, he had disappeared off into the distant horizon, leaving her to gather her untidy, scattered thoughts.

      ‘I still don’t know what you think you can do over there if a hurricane does strike,’ Rose said, standing up and once again focused on the dreadful thought of Gabriel caught up in the elements. ‘You might joke about camping on a beach but there’s nothing funny about the situation, Gabriel.’ Her heart squeezed painfully. ‘People die in situations like that and it’s just stupid to pull a macho stunt and think you can deal with it.’

      ‘Somebody has to,’ Gabriel told her seriously, ‘and it’s not going to be the foreman on the site. My venture, my responsibility.’

      ‘That is so bloody typical of you, Gabriel Gessi!’ Rose finally exploded from a combination of sickening fear and sheer frustration. ‘You think you can handle anything! That you’re invincible and you’re not!’ Tears wanted to spring from the back of her eyes but there was no way that she would allow that level of emotion to seep through. ‘It’s not a sign of strength to never admit to being weak!’

      ‘You’re worried about me?’

      ‘Of course I’m worried about you!’ And, just in case her response was too dramatic, ‘Anyone would be!’

      ‘There’s no need,’ Gabriel said gently. He itched to go over to where she was standing in tight-lipped silence and hold her close against him. For once, he wasn’t finding it claustrophobic to have a woman openly show her concern for him. ‘The building may not be complete but what’s there should be structurally sound. It’s taken long enough but it’s been constructed to hold firm against the elements, even though the island doesn’t lie in a hurricane path. I shall have a solid roof over my head. Only one wing will be exposed to the elements and even that will stand. I suspect the electricity and water might fail if the hurricane hits but, aside from that, I’ll be fine.’ He grinned. ‘Doesn’t everyone long to get close to nature? Now I have my big chance.’

      Rose looked at the devilishly handsome face and sighed to herself. She did believe him when he said that the structure was solid but, even if it wasn’t, she knew that he wouldprobably have gone to the island anyway. In another life, he would have been a Formula One racing driver, enjoying the challenge of dicing with death.

      ‘Of course if you’re that worried,’ he purred softly, ‘you could always come with me. Damn good opportunity to see exactly how much more work needs to be done on the place instead of relying on emails and reports…’

      CHAPTER SIX

      THE more Gabriel thought about it, the better he liked the idea of Rose accompanying him out to the island. He was utterly convinced that, hurricane or no hurricane, neither of them would be in any physical danger and somehow the thought of having her for company was very appealing.

      ‘We would probably be able to make some serious inroads into sorting out the niggles that have been blighting this whole business for months,’ he pointed out. ‘And having you around would mean that I could work twice as fast because I wouldn’t have to do any of the transcribing myself. Four days and I reckon we could have the matter under control.’

      Rose looked at him as if he had suddenly taken leave of his senses. ‘You’re expecting to work while a hurricane rages outside?’

      ‘We don’t know that the hurricane is going to hit the island.’

      ‘But the weathermen seem pretty convinced.’

      ‘Weathermen are notoriously wrong when it comes to reporting on the weather. In fact, in any other line of work the sheer inaccuracy of their reporting would get them sacked on the spot.’

      Rose opened her mouth to protest at Gabriel’s vast sweeping assumption but he was already moving on, developing his plans out loud.

      ‘Of course, I realise that with this course ahead of you and the glittering prospect of a bright new career, you might no longer have the necessary dedication to tackle a job that’s going to take you out of the country…’

      ‘You know I would never give anything but one hundred and one per cent to the job!’

      ‘Except when it happens to fall at inconvenient times…’

      ‘There will be no one on the island, anyway,’ Rose pointed out dubiously. Her knowledge of the place was pretty sparse, confined to the brief dispatches she had read over the months, but mostly she knew of the hiccups in the nuts and bolts of the building work and little else. ‘Who do you plan on talking to about what’s been going on with the site if there’s no one there?’

      ‘Of course there’ll be people there! You don’t think they’re conveniently going to disappear while there’s a hurricane watch on because they all just happen to have second homes somewhere else, do you?’

      Rose reddened and glared at him. ‘I’ll go and sort the flights out.’

      ‘Book two.’

      Rose paused by the door and stared him down, which was a very difficult thing to do when her heart was thumping like a steam engine inside her chest. ‘I’m afraid I just won’t be able to make it, Gabriel…’

      Gabriel’s eyes narrowed. ‘It’s not this man, is it? Getting in the way of your job even though he’s only been on the scene for two minutes…?’

      ‘Of course not!’ At the back of her mind, she knew there was absolutely no imperative to defend her decisions but Gabriel’s pointed silence accompanied by that infinitesimal raising of his eyebrows was enough to get every self defensive mechanism in her body rearing up into immediate action. ‘Joe would never dream of being chauvinistic enough to try and dictate how I conduct my working life…’

      ‘No. I forgot. He’s the perfect gentleman.’ Gabriel grinned and got a well-deserved glower in response.

      ‘I can’t come with you because…’

      ‘It would be incredibly helpful…’

      ‘Because…’Rose ignored his velvety interruption ‘…there’s too much to do here, especially as I’ve had to take a bit of time out with all the interviewing…’ The pointless interviewing, she wanted to add.

      ‘I’m the boss. I’m excusing you for the next four days. There’s too much to gain, if you accompany me, in terms of speed…’

      ‘You could take Ralph…Surely someone on the board would be better served there with you…’At this point she had virtually jettisoned the sensible argument of how exactly work would be conducted if they were having to shore up the building with sandbags or whatever. Hard to transcribe emails in gale force winds and twenty foot waves.

      ‘Somehow I don’t think Ralph would be overly impressed at having to play secretary to me out there. Anyway, I doubt his ability to type is as quick as yours…I just don’t get it, Rose…You’ve never had a problem accompanying me on trips before…’

      ‘Not to storm-battered islands in the middle of the ocean…’

      ‘Which brings us back to those damned over-pessimistic weathermen. Why don’t you book the passages over and if you do decide to come I would be very grateful.’

      He returned his attention to whatever was absorbing it on his computer screen and Rose, taking the hint, left his office, shutting the door quietly behind her.

      Okay, she would book the two passages. He had given her permission to change her mind. The wasted fare would be peanuts to him. Not only could his conglomerate absorb it but he could personally absorb it as well and not even miss it from his bank account.

      Everything was booked for first thing the following morning. She had checked on the Internet and gathered that the likelihood of the hurricane sweeping over the island was fairly remote. They probably would be able to get some vital work done.

      She paused at the