The Platinum Collection: An Australian Conquest. Emma Darcy

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СКАЧАТЬ the rooms cool. The kitchenette was small, and its only equipment appeared to be an electric kettle, a toaster and a microwave oven.

      ‘You won’t need that for much,’ Sarah explained. ‘Meals will be brought to you from the restaurant. Just tick what you want on each menu. You’ll find tea, coffee and sugar in the cupboard above the sink, milk and cold drinks in the bar fridge.’

      Elizabeth nodded, thinking the gourmet meals provided here were a wonderful perk—no shopping for food, no cooking and no cleaning up afterwards.

      ‘The bed linen was changed this morning so everything’s fresh for you apart from these towels.’ Which she’d collected from the bathroom as she’d showed Elizabeth the facilities. ‘I’ll send clean ones over for you. Plus a hair-dryer and toothbrush. Harry said he’d whipped you off Mickey with no time to pack anything.’

      Again the familiar name usage. Elizabeth frowned quizzically. ‘He’s always been Michael to me. I’ve only heard Harry calling him Mickey. And now you.’

      She laughed. ‘I’ve known those two since they were teenagers. Jack and I looked after their parents’ place in those days. I guess I was like a second mother to them. Never had kids of my own. Good boys, both of them. You couldn’t be connected to better men, Elizabeth, as employers or people.’

      It was a high recommendation, though probably a biased one, given Sarah’s obvious fondness for them. ‘They’re very different,’ she commented, wanting to hear more.

      ‘Mickey’s more like his dad, a seriously driven achiever. It’s in his genes, I reckon. Harry’s nature is more like his mum’s. She had a very sunny disposition, radiating a joy in life that infected everyone around her. It was a wicked shame when...’ She heaved a deep sigh. ‘Well, I guess we never know the day or the hour, but I tell you, those boys are a credit to their parents. Losing them both when they did, they could have run off the rails, plenty of money to spend, but they took on the business and pushed forward. And they looked after everyone who could have been hurt by the loss. Like me and Jack.’

      She paused, grimaced. ‘Here I am running off at the mouth but you know Mickey. Harry said you’ve been working closely with him for two years.’

      ‘Yes, I have.’

      ‘You’ll find Harry good to work for, too. Just a different nature, that’s all.’

      Sunny...like his mother...like Lucy. Was that why Michael was so attracted to Lucy? But why wasn’t Harry? Why did he have to plague her with his endlessly provocative attention?

      ‘I’ll only be here for a month, Sarah. I’m the fill-in until Harry finds a replacement for Sean.’

      ‘Whatever...’ She waved airily. Obviously it was not something that weighed on her mind. ‘I’ll send over sets of the island uniform with the towels etc. Do you want short shorts, Bermuda length or three-quarters?’

      ‘Bermuda length,’ Elizabeth decided, thinking that would look more dignified for her position as manager.

      ‘Harry thought a bikini...?’

      ‘No. I’ll wash my undies out tonight. I’ll be fine, thanks, Sarah.’

      She grinned. ‘I love your butterfly blouse. It’s just the kind of thing Harry’s mum used to wear.’

      Lucy’s choice, Elizabeth thought. ‘I’ll gladly change it for tropical fish,’ she said. The butterfly blouse represented failure with Michael and trouble with Harry, since he saw it as sexy. ‘I’ll be more comfortable here in the island uniform.’

      ‘Well, it is easy. You don’t have to think about what clothes to put on. I’ll be off now. You might want to freshen up before rejoining Harry in the office.’

      ‘Yes, I do. Thanks, Sarah.’

      She was relieved to have such a good ally in the head housekeeper. It would surely make this job easier. Sarah’s long association with the Finn family meant that she could be absolutely trusted, too.

      What she’d said about the two boys lingered in Elizabeth’s mind as she made use of the bathroom facilities. The plane crash that had taken the lives of Franklyn and Yvette Finn had been frontline news about ten years ago, soon after her own mother had died. She hadn’t known the people so it had meant nothing personal to her at the time, yet it must have been a traumatic period for Michael and Harry, both young men, possibly still at university, having fun, believing there was plenty of time to work out what they wanted to do with their lives. It was admirable that they’d taken on their father’s business empire instead of selling up and shedding all responsibility.

      But it still didn’t make Harry good relationship material. She could respect him for what he’d done. He might be very solid in that sense. However, that did not mean he had any staying power where women were concerned.

      For the next hour she had to sit beside him at the computer workstation in the office while he went through the Finn Island website, showing her how bookings were made over the internet and their dates subsequently slotted into the island calendar. He explained how to work out all the schedules that had to be kept and Elizabeth had no trouble grasping what she had to do.

      However, being so close to Harry—virtually shoulder to shoulder—did make concentration more difficult than it should have been. With their brief encounters in the Cairns office, she’d always managed to keep her distance from him, hating how he could exude a male sexiness that made her acutely conscious of being a woman whose needs weren’t being answered. Now, having barely any space between them made her senses hyperalert to almost everything about him.

      Her nose kept being invaded by his smell—a sharp tanginess like a sea breeze somehow mixed with an earthy animal scent. His strong, muscular forearms were a very masculine contrast to her more slender, softly rounded ones and she couldn’t help noticing his long dexterous fingers as he worked the computer mouse—fingers that fascinated her into flights of erotic fantasy. He didn’t touch her, not even accidentally, but she was wound up inside, expecting him to, silently schooling herself not to react as though his touch was like a hot iron scorching her skin.

      She had to learn how to behave naturally around him. Whenever he glanced at her to check if she understood what he was explaining, the vivid blue eyes seemed to be tunnelling into her mind and she had to force herself to hold his gaze as she assured him everything was clear to her. Then he smiled approval which made her stupid stomach contract. He was an extremely disturbing man even when he wasn’t teasing or flirting and she didn’t want him to be. Hopefully his wretchedly unsettling effect on her would gradually fade away over the next few days.

      People started strolling by on the path outside, heading towards the bar for predinner drinks. Harry named them as they passed. Of course he had been here over this past weekend, but it was impressive that he could identify every guest on the island and tell her where they came from, as well as how they’d come by their wealth. Elizabeth tried to commit most of what he said to memory but it was a struggle—too many of them, too quickly.

      ‘You’ll soon have them down pat,’ Harry said confidently. ‘I told Daniel we’d be eating in the restaurant tonight. I’ll drill you on everyone at the other tables while we dine, then introduce you around before they leave.’

      ‘That would help a lot,’ she said gratefully.

      ‘Hope you can find some more appetite than you had for lunch. Daniel will be СКАЧАТЬ