At the Boss's Command

by Darcy Maguire

  The Vung Tao refinery was almost complete. It was one of Anton’s most ambitious projects, a plant designed to refine used lubricating oil from the automotive industry and turn it back into something pristine. In an economy like Vietnam’s, it was a project that could save millions on oil imports and encourage growth. It represented the kind of thinking that she most admired in Anton—his ability to find solutions for less wealthy clients, saving money and preserving the environment.

  Even the colours of the plant seemed positive, a mass of scarlet, green and bright yellow piping that somehow made her think of a huge children’s game. The Vietnamese engineers could not have been more hospitable or charming; this was a country of exquisite manners.

  Two phases of the plant were running already and they were able to watch the process at work. Wearing the obligatory hard hats, she and Anton walked the length of the plants, the engineers and the interpreters talking enthusiastically about the results they were obtaining.

  ‘Notice something?’ Anton asked her, pointing to the towers. ‘No flames. Most refineries burn off waste from chimneys, releasing poisons into the air. We’ve eliminated that.’

  ‘It’s a remarkable achievement,’ she said.

  In the quality-control lab, a smiling assistant brought two glass beakers for them to compare—one containing black sludge that was the starting point, the other containing a clear golden oil that was the finished product.

  ‘It’s hard to believe this can turn into this,’ Amy commented.

  ‘Smell the used oil,’ Anton commanded.

  She obeyed, and wrinkled her nose. ‘Not nice. It smells like dirty old engines.’

  ‘Now smell the clean oil.’

  ‘Nectar,’ she grinned, amused by his earnestness. ‘I think I’ll put some behind my ears.’

  ‘Well, at least you can put it in your engine. It’s cheaper than imported oil by a long way and it solves the problem of disposing of dirty oil.’

  ‘All our tests on this oil have shown that it meets industry standards, Mr Zell,’ added one of the Vietnamese engineers, an older man with gold-rimmed glasses and a white moustache. ‘We are very pleased with the results!’

  Anton smiled and nodded. But when he caught Amy’s gaze, he waggled an eyebrow suggestively. She knew he was hoping to sell more such plants to the Vietnamese and this was a very encouraging sign.

  Indeed, as they left the plant some three hours later, he was in a more upbeat mood than she had seen him in for days. ‘The man with the gold-rimmed spectacles and the moustache is no ordinary engineer,’ he told her. ‘He’s a senior official in the government’s energy programme. It looks like we’ll be getting those new orders soon.’

  ‘I’m so happy for you.’

  He grinned at her. ‘It ain’t bad. Hey. Want to go to the beach before we head home?’

  ‘That would be wonderful!’

  It was late afternoon and golden sunlight was washing the coastline. The day had been very hot. She felt nothing would be nicer than a visit to the sea.

  The driver took them through Vung Tao to a section of beach that was absolutely deserted, more beautiful than any tourist brochure could depict. White sand stretched out for miles, lapped by a gentle sea. Sea birds wheeled overhead. It was heavenly.

  Leaving the driver with the car, she and Anton took off their shoes, rolled up their trousers, and wandered along the beach side by side.

  ‘I can see why you love this place,’ she said to him. ‘It’s a slice of paradise. And your refinery is helping to protect it.’

  He stooped and picked up a shell. ‘Politics have kept their economy from developing the way other Asian tigers have done. Now they can choose their own path to wealth.’

  He handed her the shell. It was pink, ribbed on one side and pearly on the inside. ‘It’s perfect.’

  He looked into her face. Here by the sea, his eyes were the deepest blue imaginable. ‘It’s been a long, hot day. I feel like swimming. Join me?’

  ‘I left my bikini back at the villa! I didn’t think we’d be swimming!’

  ‘Don’t you ever do anything spontaneous?’ he asked.

  She looked at the inviting waves longingly, then at the car, barely visible in the distant haze. ‘In my underwear? And be wet and sandy all the way back to Saigon?’

  ‘Well, as an engineer, I can tell you that there are multiple solutions to this problem. You can take off your dress, swim in your underwear and go home wearing a dry dress but with no underwear. Or you can take off your underwear, swim in your dress, and go home wearing dry underwear. Or you can take off both your dress and your underwear, swim as Mother Nature intended, and go home in a dry dress and underwear.’ He laughed softly at her expression. ‘I’ll leave you to work it out, Worthington. I promise not to look at you, whatever you decide. You shall be as a maiden invisible unto mine eyes.’

  ‘Or I could not swim at all,’ she said in a small voice.

  He sighed wearily. ‘And stay hot and sticky. It’s your decision.’ He was already unbuttoning his shirt. She looked away quickly. The beach was deserted. She hunted in vain for a chaste rock to disrobe behind.

  When she looked back at Anton, he was walking down to the water. He had kept his briefs on, she saw with relief. His muscular, tanned body slipped with barely a splash into the blue water.

  The way he’d said it’s your decision had stung her. She was so afraid that his patience would finally run out with her behaviour—with what he probably saw as her ridiculous prudery.

  She stripped off her dress and ran down to the water in her pale blue underwear.

  The sea was deliciously cool. She laughed out loud with the delight of feeling the day’s heat and grime vanish. She swam out from the shore, her body buoyed on the gentle swells of the South China Sea. What a heavenly place! This was surely the very beach that featured in all those holiday brochures, and somehow never seemed to exist in real life. ‘Anton?’ she called. ‘Where are you?’

  Tanned arms closed around her waist. She gasped and squirmed, but his muscular body was far too strong for her.

  ‘You scared the life out of me,’ she spluttered, turning to face him.

  ‘Aren’t you glad you took the plunge?’ he said, laughing.

  ‘It’s wonderful!’

  ‘For a moment I thought you were going to sit there on the beach, all forlorn, like Miss Muffet.’

  ‘Don’t laugh at me. Men can always strip off and jump into the sea. In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m not a man.’

  Anton was still holding on to her arms. He drew her towards him so that his face, the most beautiful male face she had ever seen, was close to hers. ‘What makes you imagine,’ he said in an intimate murmur, ‘that I haven’t noticed you’re a woman?’

  ‘Perhaps I phrased that wrong,’ she rejoined in a whisper that was almost as intimate. ‘I meant to say a lady.’

  ‘Is there a difference between a woman and a lady, Miss Worthington?’

  ‘A lady knows how to behave!’

  ‘Whereas a woman knows how to have fun?’

  ‘That’s a typical male attitude. That’s what men always say when they want a woman to abandon her principles. It’s only a bit of fun. But somehow, the fun is all on your side— and the pain is on ours.’

  ‘Not all men are like that,’ he said.

  She searched his eyes, which were a deep indigo, for the truth. ‘I haven’t seen any exceptions,’ she whispered.

  ‘I’m an exception.’ His mouth brushed her eyelids. Her skin, flushed with the sun, felt a million times more sensitive than normal. Her fingers curled, nails digging into his muscular shoulders as she offered her half-open mouth to his.

  He claimed it as possessively as if only he, in all the world, had that right. She pressed to him in the cool water, the soft peaks of her breasts thrusting against his chest, covered only by her flimsy bra. It was a kiss more passionate than anything she had ever known. Like a roller coaster thundering down a slope out of
control, then swooping up into the air, leaving her stomach behind, so that her heart lurched.

  ‘Anton,’ she whispered, ‘what are we doing?’

  ‘Isn’t it obvious?’ He smiled. That the kiss had ignited his passions too was obvious by the deep blue fire in his eyes.

  ‘We can’t ever be like this together!’ she said.

  ‘Isn’t this what we’ve both wanted, since the moment we met?’

  ‘Perhaps you’ve wanted it,’ she said shakily, ‘but God knows I’ve tried to avoid it in every way I could.’

  ‘Even that day on the island?’

  ‘Even then.’

  ‘What are you so afraid of?’ he demanded.

  She touched her lips with her fingertips. His kiss had left them throbbing, almost bruised. ‘I’m afraid of what you do to me.’

  ‘I thought you wanted that as much as I did.’

  ‘Of course I did. That doesn’t mean it’s sensible!’

  ‘Or prudent, or moral, or safe?’

  ‘None of those things!’ She floated away from him on the billowing waves. ‘You said we were doing this to cool off.’

  He shook his head wryly. ‘You’re cool, all right.’

  Despite her flippancy, Amy was in anguish. When he’d kissed her like that, her whole body had responded in a way she couldn’t control. Even now, she was aching in perilous ways. Her legs felt weak, there was electricity pulsing through her breasts and loins.

  She knew exactly what the game was. The cooler she was, the more she aroused the hunter in him. From the start he had seen her as a potential conquest. And now she was not going to be the one that had got away.

  As for her own feelings, she was caught in a paradox. She was wildly attracted to him, adored him, but she could not go through another Martin McCallum situation again. Her heart had been damaged almost beyond repair. She was desperately trying to save what was left.

  Yet when she felt Anton’s desire for her, her whole body sang with joy. She wanted him to see her as a woman, but not as a lover. She wanted this to go on forever just the way it was.

  They emerged from the water as the sun was starting to set. She reached up to squeeze the water out of her hair. ‘That was lovely,’ she said to him, smiling.

  His face had changed. He was looking at her body as though in awe. ‘Mercy,’ he whispered huskily. ‘You are so sexy.’

  Dismayed, she saw that her flimsy underwear had been rendered all but transparent by the water. She was concealing few secrets from him. ‘I’d better get dressed,’ she said unsteadily.

  ‘Amy, you’re the most desirable woman I’ve ever seen,’ he said quietly. ‘I wish I could understand you.’

  ‘I wish you could understand me, too,’ she said in a sad voice. Standing there, his magnificent male body still streaming with seawater, he was like some ocean god wanting to claim his bride. If only he knew how she longed to throw herself into his arms!

  ‘There are so many fabulous beaches on this coast,’ he said. ‘We could go somewhere else tomorrow. Take a picnic, spend the day.’

  ‘The day? The whole day? How could you possibly afford to take all day off from your mighty works, oh master? You need to get your priorities straight!’

  ‘You’re right,’ he replied. ‘My priorities have been up-side-down for a long time.’

  ‘Meaning?’ she asked curiously.

  ‘Meaning I’ve been neglecting the truly important things in life.’

  ‘Which are…?’

  ‘This,’ he replied succinctly.

  ‘What do you mean by this?’ she demanded.

  His deep blue eyes met hers. ‘The beach. A sunny day. The woman of my dreams in wet underwear.’

  She looked at herself. Her nipples were plainly visible as strawberry peaks under the lacy bra. ‘Are those the truly important things in life? This is the latest wisdom from Workaholics Anonymous?’

  He laughed. ‘Well, maybe it’s time I took the cure.’

  ‘Well, I don’t have billions to rest my laurels on. I am a working girl. I have to take care of your calls, Mr Zell.’ As if on cue, the satellite phone started to buzz from its nest in her dress. ‘I’d better answer that.’

  He held her wrist, restraining her. ‘Let the damned thing ring.’

  She met his smiling eyes. ‘Are you serious? About tomorrow?’

  ‘Very serious,’ he said. He drew her to him and kissed her forehead. His body brushed hers, muscled and smooth. Now her heart accelerated like a locomotive, screaming danger, danger.

  ‘You can’t kiss me!’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘You’re the boss, I’m the employee. I’m a cat, you’re a dog. It doesn’t work like that!’

  He was amused. He drew a line down her nose with his fingertip. ‘Maybe we’re both cats, and we just don’t know it. Or both dogs.’

  ‘Well, thank you so much for calling me a dog,’ she said with mock-indignation.

  ‘You’re not a dog,’ he said gently. ‘There isn’t a more beautiful woman than you in the whole wide world.’

  She wanted him so much in that moment that it was all she could do to stop herself from throwing her arms round his neck and devouring that erotic, maddening mouth.

  They dressed and walked back along the beach to the car, holding hands.

  Chapter Ten

  THEY ate their evening meal at opposite ends of the table, the room lit by two candelabra, which cast a rosy light on their faces. It was the most romantic meal, and Amy’s stomach was already populated with a horde of butterflies, so she could hardly taste the exotic dishes that proceeded from the kitchen, one after another.

  It was a sultry, still evening. When the coffee had been drunk, Anton rose from his chair. ‘I have a present for you.’

  Half expecting a repetition of the jade-bangle episode, Amy smiled nervously. ‘Really?’

  ‘It was in the house when I bought it. I think it’s perfect for you.’ He took something from the mantelpiece and handed it to her.

  Amy inspected the thing curiously. It was a little wooden box, its sides made of stretched gauze, with four little feet. The lid could be fastened shut and had a hook so that the box could be suspended. It was charming in its simplicity but she had no idea what it was.

  ‘What is it? A little cage for something?’

  ‘It comes from Japan. It’s a firefly lantern. Come, let me show you.’

  He picked up a painted paper fan and led her out into the garden. Amy exclaimed in delight; the warm darkness was dotted with dozens of tiny wandering lights. They drifted over the pond, especially, their bright glow reflected in the still water. ‘That’s so beautiful!’

  ‘Let me show you what to do.’ He opened the lid of the lantern, then used the fan to deftly tap one of the luminous insects into it. ‘It’s easy. Try.’

  Gingerly, she took the things from him and started hunting the nearest firefly. It was not quite as easy as Anton had made it look. After several wild swats, she learned how to coax the little creature into the box. She snapped the lid shut triumphantly. ‘There!’

  ‘Very good,’ he said with soft irony, sitting on the wall of the pond. ‘Let’s see if you can catch enough to make your lantern useful.’

  ‘It’s not as easy as it looks,’ she said.

  ‘This is what young Asian women used to do on warm evenings,’ he said. ‘Before radio, before television.’

  She tapped another firefly into the box. ‘Got you! And what did the young Asian men do?’

  ‘They watched the young women, of course. It’s one of the prettiest sights in the world.’

  ‘I hope I don’t fall in the pond,’ she said, concentrating on a particularly brilliant insect that was drifting languidly over the lily pads.

  ‘At least you’ll have a change of underwear handy,’ he said ironically.

  ‘You must think me an awful ninny,’ Amy said, snapping another firefly into the gauze box.

  ‘No,’ he replied. ‘I think you’
re very complicated. I try to see into your mind but usually I can’t. I know that there are things that bother you. But I don’t know why.’

  Amy was silent.

  ‘One of the things that seem to bother you,’ he went on after a silence, ‘is Marcie. I don’t know why. I don’t know what you’ve been told. But it certainly wasn’t the truth.’

  She had captured another two fireflies in her box and now she stood very still. ‘What is the truth?’

  ‘Up until now, I’ve considered that the truth wasn’t mine to tell. But what I’ve started to feel for you overrides that. So I’m going to tell you what I have no right to tell you.’

  She stepped down from the wall and sat beside him, the little box glimmering like a fairy lantern in her hands. She watched the trapped insects flitting to and fro. ‘Go on.’

  ‘Marcie was a fine personal assistant, but she had a drug problem. She’d had it before she came to me. When she started working for me, she was clean. She managed to conceal it during the interview process and she never told me about it. But the stress of the job began to tell on her and after a while it was obvious there was something wrong. I found out what it was. She was using cocaine heavily. I should have fired her then, but I didn’t. Instead, I got involved. Not sexually, but in her problem. I made her go for treatment. I gave her leave so she could do rehab, get herself together again. And then I took her back. I told her I would fire her if she went back on drugs. I thought I had solved her problem. It was a mistake.’

  ‘People say she was deeply in love with you,’ Amy said in a low voice.

  ‘I think that was part of the problem. That was part of what made it so hard for her to carry on. Without drugs, I mean. But there was nothing I could do for her. I didn’t return her feelings. But I don’t flatter myself that the problem was just that. I think she’d been an addict for a long time, and the pressure of the job made it worse. Within a few months, I could tell she was using again. She made bad mistakes, did sloppy things that put people at risk. I made her go for a medical. The blood test said it all. So I fired her.’

  ‘She went to Switzerland?’