by Sarah Morgan
Giggling, Emma slipped behind the curtain and slid her skirt off. ‘You wouldn’t really. He’s horribly moody in the mornings. I try not to speak to him before he’s had at least two cups of coffee.’
‘I’m good with moody men. Are you dressed yet?’
‘Nearly.’ Surprised by how much chatting to Avery had lightened her mood, Emma slid the dress over her head. ‘I think it might be a bit tight.’
The curtain was whisked back and Avery stared at her. ‘Oh Lucas, Lucas,’ she purred, ‘you are in so much trouble. I almost feel sorry for you.’
Emma gave a nervous laugh. ‘You don’t think it’s too tight?’
‘That’s not tight. It’s called a perfect fit. Have you even looked in the mirror?’
‘Not yet, but—’
‘Then look.’ Avery spun her round and Emma stared at her reflection.
‘Oh my God.’
‘Yes. My thoughts exactly. And the back of it is—’
‘Non-existent.’ Emma felt a lurch of excitement and terror. ‘I don’t look like me.’
‘Yes, you do. But it’s you as you’ve never seen yourself before.’ Eyes narrowed, Avery reached forward and twisted Emma’s hair into a loose knot. ‘Hair up, hair down … Up, I think. Then he’ll fantasize about letting it down over your beautiful, bare back.’
‘I don’t want him to fantasize about me! We’re trying to get things back to normal, not make them worse! Avery, you have to stop this.’ And she had to stop it too. She had to stop thinking about that night. She had to stop thinking of him as anything other than her boss. She had to—
Her eyes met Avery’s in the mirror.
‘The man is delicious and it’s time he got together with someone decent instead of choosing shallow, brainless women who are only interested in his money and contacts. I’m going to arrange for you to have hair and make-up in your suite—’ Avery whipped her phone out and sent a string of emails. ‘Do you own any diamonds?’
‘Of course not. Nor do I go anywhere that I could wear any.’
‘Well, tonight you are. That dress needs diamonds,’ Avery murmured without looking up. ‘I’m going to arrange for one of the jewellery companies to loan you something for the evening. Smile—’ She snapped a photograph with her phone and then proceeded to email it to someone. ‘They will be able to decide what will look best with that colour and neckline.’
‘OK, stop! Now you’re going over the top.’ Emma backed away. ‘Tonight is about work. I’m supposed to be mingling and networking, not parading around in diamonds.’
‘I’ve never understood why a woman can’t look her best while she’s mingling and networking,’ Avery murmured. ‘I suspect Lucas Jackson hasn’t been so interested in a woman for a long time—maybe never. We should make the most of that.’
Emma found herself trapped. She couldn’t tell Avery that the only reason Lucas had slept with her was to get through a truly terrible night. So now Avery had totally the wrong impression and this whole situation was spiralling horribly out of control and all she could do was mutter a lame, ‘He’s not interested.’
‘He’s interested. He noticed the red dress. Men only notice what a woman is wearing when it makes them think of sex.’
‘Avery!’
‘What?’ She looked up from her phone. ‘You are very, very pretty. You deserve diamonds.’
‘I do not want to be wearing anything valuable. What if someone steals it from around my neck?’
‘Do you want an estimate of the combined wealth of the people attending tonight?’
‘No. I assume that the Crown Prince alone is worth a fortune. I wonder why he isn’t married?’
Avery’s smile faded and her pretty face lost some of its colour. ‘Because, like you, he puts duty before his personal needs. Only in his case he intends to marry the boring virgin princess his father has picked out for him. I don’t know who I feel more sorry for.’
‘How do you know that?’ Emma stared at her. ‘Oh! You and he—’
‘Yes. But not for a while.’ Avery gave a bright smile. ‘Our Sultan-to-be needs a well behaved obedient bride prepared to honour and obey and, as you’ve probably guessed, I am so not that person. Even if I could occasionally obey, which is a major struggle if I’m honest, I totally bombed out at the word “virgin”.’
Emma wasn’t fooled by the light tone. ‘You’re in love with him.’
‘God, no,’ Avery answered just a little too quickly. ‘I’d never be stupid enough to love a man who doesn’t like me to argue with him. I’d never be so stupid as to love a man, full stop. Now what are we going to do about shoes for you?’
Emma looked at her closely but Avery was back to normal again as she made arrangements for the dress to be delivered to the hotel.
‘I’m worried this outfit is over the top. I’m his PA. I work for him and I want to continue working for him. This whole thing is so complicated.’
‘Welcome to the real world. Love is complicated. Why do you think I’m so careful to avoid it? Nothing can ruin a perfectly planned and ordered life like love.’
‘I’m not in love.’ Horrified and defensive, Emma removed the dress carefully. ‘Absolutely not.’
‘So here’s a little tip from an expert—’ Avery’s tone was conversational as she helped Emma out of the dress. ‘If you don’t want people to know you’re in love, be careful not to let your face light up like a halogen light bulb when his name is mentioned. I’ll deal with this while you get dressed—no, not the skirt you arrived in. Try this blue linen. It’s cool and professional. Perfect for meetings.’
It was just physical attraction, Emma told herself as she slid into the blue dress. She liked him, of course she did, but she wasn’t in love.
‘How is the dress? Businesslike?’
‘It’s perfect. What about you? Has there been someone else since the Prince? You must meet gorgeous men all the time.’
‘I do. Unfortunately I have a congenital urge to want what I can’t have.’ For a fleeting moment Avery’s eyes were sad and then she shrugged. ‘Are you ready?’
‘But if you have feelings for him then this whole party must be hell for you, because the Prince is going to be here,’ Emma said slowly as the implications sank in. ‘Why didn’t you turn it down?’
‘Pride.’ Avery gave a lopsided smile. ‘If I turned it down, people would think I was broken-hearted and I don’t want him to have that power over me. I intend to go out there and show that his careless, heartless attitude hasn’t made a dent in me.’
But Emma could see that it had. A big dent. ‘You must feel terrible.’
Avery gave a careless shrug. ‘Nothing that a pair of killer heels won’t cure. That and the money they’ll be transferring into my account when I’ve given them a party that no one is going to forget. This is business, Emma. I never feel terrible when I’m parting the rich from their money.’
Emma felt a flash of admiration. ‘You make me feel guilty for moaning. If you can go out there and pretend you’re not bothered so will I. Just share the secret of how you do it.’
‘Look fabulous,’ Avery said simply. ‘Show him what an excellent time you are having without him. And if it gets too much just text me and I’ll meet you in the Ladies. We can both cry in the toilet.’
Seriously distracted, Lucas tried to concentrate as Cristiano Ferrara outlined his objectives for the proposed development in Sicily. Across from him sat Emma, making notes in her usual efficient manner. Her hair was twisted into a severe, businesslike style and today she’d chosen to wear sober navy. A perfect choice. He’d insisted that their relationship remained professional and she was following that instruction with the same efficiency with which she followed every other instruction.
Everything should have felt fine.
It didn’t.
In the past he’d always managed to compartmentalize his life and Emma fell into the category marked ‘work’, but suddenly the edges of those compartments had broken down
. Instead of focusing on the business, he found himself focusing on her. He noticed things he hadn’t noticed before, like the way she listened attentively to everything that was being said. She never missed a thing, which was what made her so good at her job. He was used to mixing with women who continually monitored their appearance and the effect they were having on the men around them. Emma did neither. If she was even aware of how she looked, she gave no sign of it.
He, however, was all too aware of it.
Never before had he had trouble forgetting a woman but he was finding it impossible to forget his one night with her. And it wasn’t just the physical, he thought. It was so much more than that. The fact that she’d stayed when she could have left. The fact that she’d refused to leave him even though she had responsibilities elsewhere. The way she’d tidied up all the evidence of the party so that he wouldn’t be upset. The way she’d covered him with a blanket.
He wasn’t used to being on the receiving end of anyone’s warmth or compassion. He’d made his own way in the world, nurtured himself and provided his own comfort.
And now …
Just one night, he thought savagely. It had been just one night and he hadn’t been able to concentrate since. His body was in an almost permanent state of sexual arousal and as for his mind …
‘We’ll do a site appraisal,’ he said, realising that his friend was waiting for a response, ‘and then come back to you with an outline design that incorporates the features you just described.’ It had been a mistake to bring her to Zubran. He’d thought he would be able to continue as if nothing had happened, but that was proving more of a challenge than he’d anticipated.
Across the table, Cristiano raised an eyebrow in expectation. ‘Any initial ideas? Concepts? Normally, you’re already sketching by this point in our discussions.’
Normally, his brain wasn’t full of inappropriate thoughts. ‘You want me to build in the shadow of the largest active volcano in Europe. We’ll have to analyse the soil and consider the possible effects of volcanic activity. It isn’t an ordinary project by any means. Naturally we’ll address the usual issues of sustainability but air quality might have a negative impact on photovoltaic systems so we’ll need to be creative in our design.’ They talked at length about the Ferrara vision for the hotel while Emma continued to make notes.
Lucas knew that whatever emails needed to be sent would already be winging their way through cyberspace. She was as ruthlessly efficient as he was. Nothing went undone. Nothing was forgotten.
‘Fly over soon.’ Cristiano’s tone was conversational. ‘Why not spend a few days with us? Mix business with pleasure. I’ll take you to see the site and you can get a better feel for the area.’
Mix business with pleasure.
He’d already done that, Lucas thought, with devastating consequences. He’d thought it would be easy to put that one night behind him, the way he’d put other nights behind him in the past. But this time was different.
‘Emma will put a time in the diary.’
Immediately she lifted her eyes and smiled acknowledgement, but the smile was for Cristiano, not him, and Lucas felt a flash of anger because she hadn’t looked at him once during the meeting. Nor had she looked at him when she’d returned from her shopping trip with Avery. The fact that his reaction was illogical made no difference to the degree of his response. Nor did the fact that Cristiano was a happily married man and that Emma’s smile had been friendly rather than flirtatious. There was nothing to explain the sudden surge of jealousy. It was a primitive response, entirely out of character for him and inappropriate given that the focus was an employee.
As they closed the meeting, Emma walked round the table to Cristiano and Lucas could hear her asking after his wife and children. He clenched his jaw as the Sicilian businessman withdrew his phone and showed Emma a series of photographs.
It was typical of Emma to know everything about everyone, he thought. It was what made her such an excellent PA. Nothing escaped her. She forgot nothing. She knew names, faces—hell, she knew whole family trees.
Angry with himself, Lucas rose to his feet. ‘If we’re finished then we need to move on.’ He shot Cristiano a pointed look. ‘You and I have a string of media interviews to get through today.’
Work, he thought. The answer was to bury himself in work as he’d always done in the past and hope that the dress Emma had chosen to wear tonight was less provocative than last night’s choice.
He could only hope that her sudden interest in navy would extend to evening wear.
CHAPTER EIGHT
EMMA stayed in her room until the last minute, rehearsing her expression in the mirror. Cool. Composed. Not bothered.
True to her word, Avery had arranged for both a hairdresser and a make-up artist to come to the suite so she’d been pampered and spoiled while Lucas had been tied up giving interviews to the media. She hoped that his mood would have improved. During the meeting he’d looked ready to explode.
A brisk knock on the door made her jump. ‘Emma?’ Lucas’s voice came through the door. ‘A security team has just delivered a necklace for you. Are you ready?’
Yes, she was ready. Or as ready as she’d ever be.
Pride, she reminded herself, thinking of Avery.
Breathing deeply, she opened the door. The white dinner jacket was a shock. She’d expected black and the dramatic contrast between the white and that raven hair made her hold her breath and not release it for a long moment. He was effortlessly elegant, everything masculine and altogether unobtainable. Despite all her best intentions, her stomach tied itself in a knot and of course he had to see her reaction because he was a man who saw everything. To calm herself, she focused her attention on the box in his hand. ‘I hope it’s nothing over the top. Avery arranged it. She thought the dress needed something.’
His gaze scanned her in a single sure sweep. No doubt he’d done the same to countless women far more beautiful than her but still she couldn’t look away from him, this man who had been told he was nothing and had made himself something.
She’d expected at least a polite smile, but he wasn’t smiling. Instead his expression was deadly serious and when he lifted those dangerous blue eyes to hers she felt suddenly dizzy.
The situation called for a light, jokey response but there was nothing like that in her head so Emma simply held out her hand for the dark blue velvet box. ‘Can I see?’
When he didn’t hand it over, she reached and took the box from him, knowing that if she wanted to keep her job she had to prove to him that she could do this. That she could be every bit as detached as he was.
He probably thought she was dressing for him.
She had to prove she was dressing for herself.
‘I feel uncomfortable wearing anything valuable.’ She discovered it was possible to speak as long as the subject wasn’t personal. Flipping open the box, she gave a gasp. ‘Oh it’s gorgeous.’ It was a sapphire pendant and her heart gave a little skip as she imagined how it might have felt to be given such a gift by a man who loved her.
Killing those thoughts fast, she was about to lift it from the case when Lucas did it for her.
‘Turn around,’ he said roughly and she turned without thinking and then heard his sharply indrawn breath and remembered that the dress swooped low on her back.
Would he say something?
There was a pause. A moment when she held her breath and willed that admirable restraint of his to splinter. She closed her eyes and waited, wanting desperately for him to just grasp her and take control as he had that night in the turret bedroom. She wanted all of that urgency, all of that wild passion, and then felt guilty because she knew that urgency and passion had been fed by raw emotion and a situation so painful that no one would want to repeat it.
And then she did feel his hands on her skin, cool and steady as he fastened the necklace. The touch was minimal, but even that was enough to set her alight. Even with her back to him the attraction was
so fierce that it took her breath away and she was relieved he couldn’t see her face because she was sure everything she felt would be visible. No make-up, however clever, could conceal feelings so powerful. And now she had to pretend that their relationship hadn’t changed even though it had changed beyond recognition.
‘The meeting seemed to go well.’ She couldn’t say any of the things she wanted to say so she talked about work. ‘It’s the first time I’ve met Cristiano in person, although I’ve talked to him on the phone a lot. He’s not as scary as his reputation.’
‘He liked you.’ There was an edge to his tone that she didn’t understand and she picked up her wrap and then turned, smiling, making sure that nothing of what she was feeling inside showed on the outside.
‘I’m ready if you are.’
From the moment they set foot out of the hotel it was clear that this was going to be a party like no other. Flames shot into the air from torches, and what appeared to be a million tiny lights lit the paths that wound through the grounds towards a spectacular marquee large enough to accommodate hundreds of people. Emma felt a rush of excitement because she’d never, ever in her life been to an event like this one.
‘It’s incredible,’ she breathed and Lucas glanced down at her, registering her delight with a frown that made her wonder what she’d done to annoy him.
‘Avery Scott is very good at her job.’
‘Good? I’m not good, I’m brilliant.’ A sultry female voice came from behind them and Emma watched as Lucas’s mouth curved into a smile. And that smile made Emma catch her breath. To describe him as handsome would be to do him an injustice, she thought, watching as a passing waitress dressed as a mermaid slid a tall, slender-stemmed glass into his hand.
