Boardrooms of Power. Heidi Betts

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СКАЧАТЬ up, Rose!’

      ‘I’m sorry…’ She stuck her chin out defensively and thanked the stars that mind-reading wasn’t one of his many talents. If it had been, he wouldn’t have had much trouble deciphering the dread inside her as she contemplated the foolhardiness of what he proposed to do.

      ‘You’re no use to me mooning about the place,’ he snapped, thrusting his face aggressively towards hers.

      Rose had no idea what he was talking about but, whatever it was, it was a darn sight safer than being accused of being no use to him because she was worried to death.

      ‘You come to work, Rose, and you leave the love struck business behind in the bedroom!’

      Realisation dawned and she opened her mouth to protest but then immediately thought better of it. There had been too much entanglement of her private life with her professional one recently and it was time for her to re-define the boundaries.

      ‘Right,’ she agreed readily and was treated to an even more thunderous frown before he pushed himself away and strode back to sit behind his desk.

      ‘Cancel everything in my diary for the week ahead. I don’t anticipate being out there longer than a couple of days but there’s nothing predictable about the weather.’

      ‘It’s a ridiculous plan, Gabriel.’

      ‘Thank you for your opinion. That will be all for the moment.’ Somehow it seemed all wrong for his perfect secretary to have spent the night making passionate love to a man she barely knew. Because she hadn’t denied it and he knew her well enough by now to know that if she was innocent of the accusation she would have denied it vigorously. Despite the change in her appearance, her sense of morality was too ingrained.

      What she got up to or didn’t get up to was, he acknowledged, a side issue. There were far bigger problems on his plate for him to give even a passing thought to Rose in the arms of a man, but he was finding it hard to rid himself of the image.

      ‘How was your theatre date on Friday?’ he heard himself asking. ‘Fun?’

      ‘What?’

      ‘Theatre? Last Friday? You were going to see Les Miserables?’

      ‘Oh. Right. Yes, of course. It was brilliant. Thank you.’ Rose wondered where the change in conversation was leading and decided that it was probably just his distracted way of taking his mind off the enormous problem of how to tackle several hundred thousand pounds worth of incomplete bricks and mortar that was in imminent danger of being reduced to rubble. In truth, he barely looked as though he was paying her the slightest bit of attention.

      It was a learning experience to realise that this was the man whose possible brush with any danger whatsoever was enough to reduce her to a state of witless tension.

      ‘Joe was wonderful company!’ she added, more to remind herself that there were actually normal, genuine, caring men on the planet, men who were far more worthy of her care and attention than the brooding powerhouse sitting in front of her.

      Which means what? Gabriel wondered. The mere fact that he was wondering was enough to rouse anger at his own weakness. Unlike most men, he had never personally found women to be an incomprehensible species. On the contrary. The women he had wined, dined and bedded had been as transparent as glass. Rose was of a different genetic make up. One minute she slotted nicely into the pre-packaged box in his head, the next minute she had wriggled out and was proving wrong everything he had thought of her. From capable, controlled, private, inoffensive but slightly frosty secretary to sexy, new style, new look, suddenly ambitious woman with a core of fire, to, apparently, vamp who would sleep happily with a man who barely registered as acquaintance on the How Well Do I Know You? chart.

      Did she really imagine that he wanted to conduct a conversation about her nobody date when he had important things on his mind?

      ‘Is that female speak for the perfect gentleman?’ Gabriel asked sneeringly.

      ‘I take it that in the world of Gabriel Gessi, being the perfect gentleman is considered something of a crime?’ Rose asked, bristling.

      ‘Not a crime. Just ever so slightly…dull…’

      ‘Joe is anything but dull, as a matter of fact…’

      ‘There’s no need to sound so defensive, Rose! I believe you! I can’t imagine you would ever go out with someone as dull as dishwater. In fact, I can’t imagine anyone dull would know how to handle you!’

      ‘I don’t need handling. I’m not a wild animal.’

      ‘Well, you’re not most men’s idea of submissive either.’

      ‘I am not going to get embroiled in this.’ She took a few deep, steadying breaths. Until recently she had been submissive enough. At least on the work front. ‘I don’t want to discuss Joe.’

      ‘You’re the one who brought him up.’ Gabriel shrugged. Perfect gentlemen didn’t usually seduce their women into bed on date number one. So, whatever it was that had constituted their brilliant evening, it probably hadn’t been a vigorous romp in the hay, and that was enough to put him in a better mood. ‘But you’re right. There are more important things to discuss. When you’ve sorted out flights and transfers, let me know immediately and also I’ll need to have an hour or so with the boys in Finance, just to brief them on a few things they’ll need to handle in my absence…’

      His attention was already far away from the subject of her and her date. Having chipped in with his uninvited opinions, he had now forgotten the matter and was moving on. Typical. He rattled her cage and, while her teeth were still clattering from the shock, he had disappeared off into the distant horizon, leaving her to gather her untidy, scattered thoughts.

      ‘I still don’t know what you think you can do over there if a hurricane does strike,’ Rose said, standing up and once again focused on the dreadful thought of Gabriel caught up in the elements. ‘You might joke about camping on a beach but there’s nothing funny about the situation, Gabriel.’ Her heart squeezed painfully. ‘People die in situations like that and it’s just stupid to pull a macho stunt and think you can deal with it.’

      ‘Somebody has to,’ Gabriel told her seriously, ‘and it’s not going to be the foreman on the site. My venture, my responsibility.’

      ‘That is so bloody typical of you, Gabriel Gessi!’ Rose finally exploded from a combination of sickening fear and sheer frustration. ‘You think you can handle anything! That you’re invincible and you’re not!’ Tears wanted to spring from the back of her eyes but there was no way that she would allow that level of emotion to seep through. ‘It’s not a sign of strength to never admit to being weak!’

      ‘You’re worried about me?’

      ‘Of course I’m worried about you!’ And, just in case her response was too dramatic, ‘Anyone would be!’

      ‘There’s no need,’ Gabriel said gently. He itched to go over to where she was standing in tight-lipped silence and hold her close against him. For once, he wasn’t finding it claustrophobic to have a woman openly show her concern for him. ‘The building may not be complete but what’s there should be structurally sound. It’s taken long enough but it’s been constructed to hold firm against the elements, even though the island СКАЧАТЬ