The Cost of the Forbidden (Irresistible Russian Tycoons)

by Carol Marinelli

  The only thing that was regular was that he went to England once a year in November, Naomi noted as she scrolled through his past.

  He called her a few times during the day but it was all strictly business. The disaster of the other night wasn’t referred to, and though Naomi had a few questions for him they were mainly logistical.

  ‘I don’t think you can manage four full days in Dubai if you want to be in London by the eleventh.’

  ‘Just sort it.’ Sev’s response told her that he’d far rather be concentrating on work than speaking to her.

  And so she did her best to sort it and then got on with the first round of interviews for her replacement.

  It was harder than she’d thought it would be.

  Imagining them here, with him, and herself gone.

  ‘You’ve interviewed for the role on two previous occasions?’ Naomi checked, as she went through Emanuel’s excellent résumé late on the Thursday afternoon. Tomorrow was her last day in the office and, despite her best attempts; she had only found one suitable applicant.

  Hopefully Emmanuel would make it two.

  ‘I have.’ He nodded. ‘The first interview went well but Mr Derzhavin was concerned that I didn’t speak Mandarin. I do now. I’ve been attending night classes for two years and I also had a month in China to immerse myself in the language.’

  He really wanted this job, Naomi realised, somewhat startled when she thought of her own poor language skills and how Sev had said they could work around that.

  There must be another reason, surely, that Sev hadn’t employed Emmanuel, and she would do her best to find out what it was before she put him forward.

  ‘And what happened at the second interview?’

  ‘It never went ahead. I arrived late,’ Emmanuel said. ‘It’s inexcusable at an interview, I know, but my dog had a seizure just as I was walking out of the door.’

  ‘Did you tell Sev that?’

  ‘I never got the chance.’

  ‘And how’s your dog now?’ Naomi asked, but then wished that she hadn’t as the tip of Emmanuel’s nose went red and his eyes filled with tears.

  ‘He had to be euthanised.’

  * * *

  Late on Thursday Sev rang to say he was home but could she pop out and get him some headache tablets?

  ‘Why aren’t there any?’ Sev snapped. He paid for others to deal with these things and all he wanted to do was to go to bed.

  ‘I forgot to check,’ Naomi admitted, remembering when she’d done her monthly inventory but had baulked after checking the bedside table.

  No, she would not miss this part of her job, Naomi thought as she knocked and then let herself into his penthouse suite.

  He looked terrible. He was paler than usual and she could see his exhaustion. Naomi wondered why he was on his computer when surely he needed a break?

  ‘How was Washington?’

  ‘Cold.’ Sev shrugged.

  ‘Here are your headache tablets.’ She put them down on the desk.

  ‘Do you need anything else?’

  ‘Nope.’

  ‘About my replacement—I’ve narrowed it down to two applicants. The first interview is at midday. I think they’re both—’

  ‘I think,’ Sev interrupted, ‘that that can wait for tomorrow. I don’t want to think about work.’

  She let herself out and Sev punched out three headache tablets. No, it hadn’t been a ruse to get her to come up. He was tired, had a headache and it was still November.

  He was checking through his emails.

  His mother’s care level had been upgraded to high dependency. Another email informed him that the two gifts he had sent his niece had been delivered.

  Sev had sent a small gift to Mariya’s home but the main one he had sent to her school.

  He didn’t trust his half-sister at all.

  Last year he had sent Mariya an antique necklace. It really had been a stunning piece but then, flicking through an auction catalogue a couple of months later, he had come across it.

  The earrings he had bought not just with his niece in mind.

  They were a touch more generic.

  If she sold them on, he wouldn’t know. He really didn’t need a reminder as to how he’d been used.

  The headache tablets did nothing and he woke the next morning and for a very long while debated whether or not he would even go in to work.

  Of course he had to.

  He walked and, unusually for Sev, stopped and bought a coffee before heading up to his office.

  Naomi was in already, wearing the same suit that she’d had for her interview, and it certainly wasn’t too tight now.

  He offered a brief good morning and then went into his office, closing the door. He sat staring at the door, picturing her behind it.

  He’d miss her and Sev didn’t like that feeling at all.

  In fact, he was considering telling Naomi that he would prefer that she leave today rather than come with him to Dubai.

  ‘Who’s my first applicant?’ Sev asked, when Naomi came in to ask how he wanted his coffee this morning.

  ‘Her name is Dianne,’ Naomi said. ‘And then you’ve got Emmanuel at two p.m. They’re both excellent’

  ‘I’ll decide for myself, thank you.’

  ‘Do you want coffee?’

  ‘I’ve already got it.’

  He nodded to a take-out cup.

  It felt like a snub.

  It wasn’t.

  He just wanted it to be over and done with.

  Sev sat thinking.

  Okay, if one of the applicants was suitable and could start straight away, then he’d suggest that they do just that.

  Midday came and Dianne arrived on time and gave Naomi a wide smile.

  ‘He shouldn’t be too long,’ Naomi offered. ‘Can I get you a drink?’

  ‘No, thanks.’ Dianne’s smile stayed on and she took a seat as Naomi buzzed Sev to let him know the first applicant had arrived.

  Naomi did her best not to look up as Sev came out of his office but, having shown Dianne through, he then came out of the office and over to her desk.

  ‘You might as well go to lunch.’

  ‘Sure.’

  Naomi wasn’t foolish enough to think Sev was going to be taking her out for a little leaving do.

  She had hoped he might, though.

  How she wished she could erase the other night. Well, not all of it, just the ending.

  In fact, she wished now that she had slept with him.

  Just to have known what could have been.

  More than that, she wanted ‘them’ back, the little in-jokes, the easy conversation.

  Now it was tense and awkward.

  His voice was tart and she could barely look up and meet his eyes as he delivered his instructions for the rest of the day.

  ‘Can you make sure my case is packed before you finish? I’ve got company tonight, I don’t want you coming around after five.’

  ‘Of course,’ Naomi said. ‘I’ll go over now.’

  ‘Before I go in...’ he nodded in the direction of his office ‘...how soon did she say she could start?’

  ‘She’s available straight away.’

  Naomi knew then that she wouldn’t be going to Dubai.

  Back to his apartment Naomi went.

  For the last time, she was quite sure.

  There were no maids there. They had clearly been in, though. His bed was made, Naomi noted as she took out his case.

  She took out her tablet and pulled up the list she kept for Sev’s packing. It would be hot and humid in Dubai and cold, possibly wet in London so she decided to pack a separate case for each. She packed his shirts and suits and a couple of casual options. And then she dealt with his toiletries.

  How odd, she thought, that she could have such access to someone’s life and still know so little about them.

  And this really was it.

  Naomi moved the cases through the entrance hall and had one final
walk around. She was dreading going back to the office, to be told her services were no longer required.

  But it was surely better this way.

  She should have followed her instincts three months ago and said no to the job there and then.

  Her heart had already known just how hard this would be.

  Naomi didn’t stop for lunch. Instead she went to the patisserie she had called earlier in the week and picked up the cake she had ordered.

  It looked amazing.

  A champagne-and-raspberry layer cake and, yes, she stopped and bought a bottle of champagne to go with it.

  ‘Are we having your leaving party now?’ Sev asked when Naomi came back from her lunch break carrying the champagne and cake box.

  ‘You didn’t need to go to so much trouble,’ Naomi quipped.

  Sev got up and followed her into the little kitchen where she usually prepared drinks and things for his clients, and when she put down the box he opened the lid and saw ‘Happy 50th, Dad’.

  ‘Naomi,’ Sev warned. ‘He clearly said that he didn’t want a fuss.’

  ‘People always say that,’ Naomi said, putting the bottle in the fridge.

  ‘Men generally mean what they say,’ Sev said. ‘Well, bastards do. When they say leave it they mean leave it. Take it from me and don’t make a big deal of it.’

  ‘It’s just a cake.’

  Oh, he knew that it was so much more than a cake.

  It was her heart and her hope smeared between the layers and she was going to get hurt, Sev knew.

  He knew exactly.

  Not that he could tell her that without telling her about himself, which he chose not to do.

  Not his problem, Sev decided.

  ‘Everything’s ready for Dubai tomorrow. The car’s booked for six a.m.,’ Naomi said. ‘You fly at seven and arrive in Dubai for six on Sunday morning.’

  ‘And I fly out when?’ Sev said. He had heard she had taken herself out of the equation, he just had to officially tell her, that was all.

  He just wasn’t ready to yet.

  ‘You leave Dubai at five a.m. on Thursday the twelfth and with the time difference get into London at eight a.m. the same day.’

  ‘But I said specifically said that I wanted to be there by the eleventh,’ Sev pointed out.

  ‘And then you said you needed four full days for Allem and to just make sure you got into London early.’

  ‘Not good enough, Naomi.’ The day he hated the most in the world had just been extended by four hours! ‘When I say I want to get there on the eleventh, you get me there on that date.’

  ‘I can’t rearrange time zones,’ Naomi said. ‘Believe me, I’ve tried.’ She didn’t want things to end on a row. ‘I’ll go and have another look at it,’ she went on. ‘If you leave Dubai—’

  ‘Just leave it as is,’ Sev snapped.

  He hated the eleventh too.

  If he could change one date, it would be that one.

  He would have asked more questions, pushed for his friend to speak or just stayed awake and made sure he was okay.

  It wasn’t a coincidence that Sev had hoped to meet Daniil on the twelfth.

  That was the morning he had woken up in the orphanage to find the bed next to him empty. Nikolai’s exact date of death was unknown but Sev had hoped, on what he considered the anniversary, to let Daniil know what had been lost that day many years ago.

  ‘How did the interview with Dianne go?’

  Sev shook his head. ‘She’s not suitable.’

  ‘She was perfect.’

  ‘Not for me,’ Sev said. ‘She had one of those nervous smiles.’

  Naomi let out a tense breath but then she thought back and she smothered a smile of her own because, yes, Dianne had. ‘Sev, you thought that I said sorry too much, remember? Surely you can give her a chance.’

  ‘Nope.’

  ‘Well, hopefully the second interview goes well.’

  ‘I doubt it, it’s his third application,’ Sev pointed out. ‘Why can’t some people get that no means no?’ He met her eyes then. ‘I do.’

  ‘Sev.’ Naomi had never been braver in her life and he looked at her very red cheeks and saw the tears in her eyes. ‘I want to apologise for the other night. I backed out...’

  ‘You had every right to.’

  And, no, he didn’t want things to end on a row either.

  He came over and he took her burning cheeks in his palms.

  ‘It’s fine.’ He could see her tears. ‘No crying over me,’ Sev said. ‘I’ve been thinking too.’

  ‘About?’

  ‘The catalogue comment.’

  He trawled through his very impressive multilingual vocabulary and came up with that little-used word.

  ‘Sorry.’

  Naomi gave him a tired nod.

  ‘I never meant to embarrass you. I was just...’

  ‘I get it.’

  ‘Did you give him hell?’ Sev asked. He had happily noted she wasn’t wearing the ring.

  ‘No comment.’

  And he looked into those deep brown eyes and he wanted to know more, he wanted Naomi to say that she’d dumped him.

  Why did he need to know?

  ‘Right.’ He brought the subject back to work. ‘In all seriousness, I’m less than hopeful about the next applicant. He was late last time.’

  ‘Because his dog had a seizure.’

  ‘Well, that doesn’t bode well! So, if I employ Emmanuel, then I’ve got to arrange my schedule around my PA’s epileptic dog.’

  ‘He was euthanised.’ Naomi sighed. ‘Sev, the man’s spent the last two years learning Mandarin on your casual suggestion. At least give him a fair go.’

  Sev didn’t want to give him a fair go.

  And, despite his musings this morning, he didn’t want her gone.

  He loathed that she was leaving.

  A while later his intercom buzzed and Naomi informed him that Emmanuel was here. She remembered her first interview with him, standing up and knocking over a glass at her first sight of him.

  He still had the same effect on her. Sev turned her to jelly on the inside.

  ‘Emmanuel.’

  Sev’s deep, rich voice still entranced her.

  And he was still beautiful.

  Just that.

  Sev gestured with his head to his office and Emmanuel stood, took a deep breath and then followed him in.

  ‘So,’ Sev said, ‘we meet again.’

  Emmanuel interviewed like a dream.

  ‘Why do you keep applying to work for me?’

  ‘I want to work with the best.’

  ‘And are you aware of the hours?’

  ‘Naomi was very thorough—she told me there can be eighteen-hour days.’

  ‘Several in a row at times’

  ‘I’m an insomniac,’ Emmanuel replied.

  He had an answer for everything.

  ‘When could you start?’ Sev said.

  ‘Now.’

  ‘Is that fair to your previous employer?’

  ‘I’m actually between roles,’ Emanuel answered. ‘I saw that, more often than not, you seem to hire around the three-month mark.’

  ‘Most of my PAs burn out after three months.’

  ‘I’m not like most,’ Emmanuel said. ‘I’ve been doing some temporary work in the interim. I wanted the opportunity to explain, in person, why I was late last time.’

  ‘Your dog.’

  Sev had enough trouble relating to people let alone grasping pets but, no, he didn’t expect the guy to step over his dying dog to get here for an interview.

  ‘How many languages...?’ He glanced again at the résumé at the same time that Emmanuel answered.

  ‘Four.’

  He should have said quatre, Sev thought, remembering how Naomi had answered his question.

  It was the only teeny fault he could find.

  ‘Naomi will be in contact.’

  Sev sat sulking in his office for the rest of the day and
when he came out at five she was putting on her coat, guessing he was about to tell her that her services were no longer required.

  Emmanuel had given her a thumbs-up when he’d come out of the office and had also told Naomi when she had first interviewed him that he could start any time.

  It was just a matter of Sev telling her now.

  ‘How was Emmanuel?’

  ‘Useless.’ Sev shook his head. ‘There’s a reason I’ve turned him down twice...’ He looked at Naomi’s bewildered expression. ‘Have you got another job to go to?’

  ‘I’ve got a couple of things in the pipeline.’

  ‘Have you got somewhere to live?’

  He saw her swallow.

  ‘Why don’t you stay on till you’ve got another job or I’ve got a suitable replacement?’

  ‘No, thanks,’ Naomi said.

  ‘Naomi, you haven’t been able to get an apartment. I heard you this morning on the phone—’

  ‘I’ll be fine,’ Naomi interrupted. ‘It’s not as if I’m going to end up homeless. I’ve got family here after all.’

  It dawned on Sev then that this little dark horse was pushing for Daddy-o to finally step up to the plate. Bingo!

  That’s what she did!

  Sev was finally working her out.

  He knew that she’d tried to get fired that morning when he’d called her from the plane and she’d given him attitude—Naomi didn’t want the confrontation of resigning.

  And she was pushing for her father to be the one to tell her that no, he simply didn’t want her in his life.

  He watched as she headed into the little kitchenette and came back carrying the cake.

  ‘Do you want me to come to your father’s with you?’

  Sev saw her blink and so did he—as surprised as she was by his offer.

  ‘Er...why?’

  ‘I don’t know.’ Sev shrugged. ‘I wouldn’t mind a drive.’

  ‘No, thank you.’

  It was her last time here in this office.

  She was walking out on a dream job, and a boss that couldn’t be called a nightmare but he certainly woke her up deep in the night.

  ‘Will you be coming back to get your things?’

  ‘I took them all yesterday. Sev, I gave you notice, I’ve done everything I can to find a replacement...’

  ‘Yep.’

  He didn’t want her to go.

  ‘I’ll see you in the morning,’ Sev said, and he watched her shoulders sag briefly. ‘I need you in Dubai. You agreed to stay for that—there’s a lot of work I have to cram into four days.’