Claiming His Hidden Heir. Carol Marinelli

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       PROLOGUE

      HE WOULD NOT be hiring Cecelia Andrews.

      Property magnate Luka Kargas had already decided that Candidate Number Two would be his new personal assistant.

      ‘Ms Andrews is here for her interview,’ Hannah, his current PA, informed him.

      ‘There’s no need for me to meet her,’ Luka responded. ‘I’ve decided to go with Candidate Two.’

      ‘Luka!’ Hannah reproached, a little braver now that she was leaving. ‘At least have the decency to see her. She’s been through two extensive interviews with me, and as well as that it’s pouring outside. She had to come across London in the middle of a storm.’

      ‘Not interested,’ Luka said, because he didn’t buy into sob stories. ‘It’s a waste of my time.’

      And a slice of Luka’s time was precious indeed.

      But then Luka suddenly remembered that Ms Andrews had been personally recommended by Justin, a contact he wanted to keep onside.

      ‘Fine, send her in,’ Luka said, deciding to see her briefly but then to get rid of her as soon as he could.

      Impatient fingers drummed the desk as he waited, and then Candidate Three was shown in.

      ‘Ms Andrews.’ Luka stood and shook her right hand, noticing that on her left she wore an engagement ring.

      Nothing would induce him to hire her, for she would have to have the most patient fiancé in the world to tolerate the ridiculous hours she would have to devote to him.

      And everyone knew his reputation.

      He just had to give her a few minutes of his time so he could tell Justin that he had interviewed her but gone with another candidate.

      ‘Please,’ he said. ‘Take a seat.’

      Cecelia knew that although he had called her Ms Andrews he was awaiting correction and an invitation to call her by her first name.

      There would be no such invitation to do so.

      Ms Andrews would do just fine, Cecelia had decided.

      She had read about him, thoroughly researched him, and even been told by his current PA during two prolonged interviews about his bad-boy ways.

      ‘You would have to deal with his girlfriends, or rather his exes,’ Hannah had explained. ‘It can be quite a juggling act at times. Luka works hard all week and then works just as hard breaking hearts at the weekend.’

      Cecelia had seen it all before, and not just through her work. She abhorred the rich, debauched kind of lifestyle he led and with good reason—her mother, Harriet, had lived and died the same way.

      Still, Luka Kargas’s morals were his own concern, not hers. Cecelia had her sights set on working for royalty and he was a step in the right direction, that was all.

      ‘He has a yacht, currently moored in Xanero,’ Hannah had said.

      ‘That’s where he’s from?’ Cecelia checked, although she had found that out in her research.

      ‘Yes, though you won’t be expected to travel there with him and you won’t be involved with the family business there. Luka keeps that strictly separate.’

      She would not be falling for him, Cecelia had reassured both his incumbent PA and herself. The only thing the career-minded Cecelia wanted from Luka Kargas was his name on her résumé and the glowing reference that, after a year’s hard work, he would surely provide.

      But now she had finally met him, and as his long olive fingers had closed around hers, the very sensible Cecelia’s conviction that she would not be attracted to him in the least had wavered somewhat.

      ‘Hannah said you got caught in the storm,’ Luka frowned.

      The skies had darkened just over an hour ago.

      Luka, from his vantage point of the fortieth floor, had watched the black clouds gather and roll over London.

      Candidate Two had arrived drenched and had asked Hannah for a ten-minute delay before proceeding with the interview.

      Usually that would have been enough to ensure a black mark against her name but, having watched the storm himself, Luka had accepted the excuse and the rather bedraggled candidate.

      Cecelia Andrews was far from bedraggled, though.

      She wore a dark grey suit that was immaculate, her blonde hair, worn up, was sleek and smooth, while her make-up was both discreet and in place.

      Hannah had insinuated that a drowned rat sat in the entrance yet the woman who sat before him was far from that.

      ‘I got caught up in the storm,’ Cecelia said, ‘but I wasn’t caught out—I heeded the warnings.’

      And she might want to start heeding them now, she thought, for the impact of him on her senses was like nothing she had ever known.

      He wore a dark suit and tie and his crisp white shirt accentuated his olive skin; he hadn’t shaved that morning.

      The air in the room had changed, as if the charge that had lit the sky for the past hour had joined them.

      Luka Kargas was everything her aunt had warned her about, and though she had told herself she could handle it, and that there was no way she could ever be attracted to someone like him, Cecelia hadn’t allowed for the impact of Luka close up.

      They skipped through the formalities, both determined to get this over and done with and move on with the day.

      ‘Hannah will have explained that the hours are long,’ Luka said.

      ‘She did.’

      ‘Sixteen-hour days at times.’

      ‘Yes.’ Cecelia nodded.