Chapter One #2
He nodded to one of the sofas. Erin obligingly sat down and waited for him to join her—much as she didn’t particularly want to have him so close to her right now.
She was fine sitting next to him, arm brushing arm, if they were poring over a report or looking at something on his computer, but in this setting…
Instead, though, he topped up their champagne glasses, then strolled over to the gleaming console by the window. He perched against it and looked at her with keen interest.
‘I beg your pardon?’ Erin said.
‘You and the lawyer. Something else I noticed. You can tell all, although I have to warn you that I’m not a fan of intra-office affairs…’
‘What are you talking about, Raffaele?’
‘Colin. Grey suit…neat hair…good brain, I admit, but looks like his social life might revolve around dogs and long country walks in bad weather…’
‘There’s nothing going on between myself and Colin. And, by the way, that’s not a very nice description of him! He happens to be a lovely guy! Also,’ she spluttered furiously, ‘it would be none of your business anyway if Colin and I were dating!’
‘You both work for me.’
‘There would be no conflict of interest! And I don’t even know why we’re talking about this because…because…’ Erin gulped down a mouthful of champagne and then waved one hand in a dismissive, annoyed gesture.
‘Okay! It was simply an observation. I wouldn’t want my invaluable secretary to start hearing wedding bells and thinking babies.’
‘I don’t believe I’m hearing this. And not that it’s at all relevant, but I’m not the sort of woman who goes on one date with a man, hears wedding bells, thinks babies and immediately decides to hand in her resignation!’
‘Thought not,’ Raffaele said smugly. He sipped the champagne and walked towards her, sitting down and relaxing back on the sofa next to his PA.
She looked, he thought, a little ruffled but he was pretty sure that she was telling the truth.
Not that it really was any of his business if there was anything going on between her and Colin.
Co-workers were free to date one another.
It was hardly as though Erin could clamber onto Colin’s shoulders to get a promotion or to be given any special treatment.
The clambering on shoulders would have to be for a different reason entirely, he thought, slanting a wicked, sideways glance at her.
Still, he felt quietly satisfied that they weren’t dating, or about to start dating. Was he possessive when it came to his prim and very proper secretary? Only, he decided, insofar as he didn’t want to lose her to any heady romantic nonsense. Who else could fill her shoes?
He looked at her for a few seconds through lowered lashes.
He could understand Colin’s interest in her.
Underneath the neatly groomed exterior, Erin Fisher was a lot sexier than first impressions seemed to suggest. Something about those calm, greeny hazel eyes, the silkiness of her poker-straight shoulder-length chestnut hair, the slightly cool expression, the surprisingly husky voice…
and the fact that she did nothing to promote herself.
She could be as sensual as any woman a thousand times more overt.
He shifted and cleared his throat.
‘So onto the Archer business. Seems like there might be a prospect of another takeover in the offing although this one would be completely out of my comfort zone. Wouldn’t mind hearing your thoughts on it but nothing leaves this room. Understood?’
‘Before we get onto work, Raffaele, and I do wonder if we should stick to talking about another acquisition on Monday in the office…’
‘Those walls have ears. And, like I said, this is just something I’m toying with…’
‘Right. But I stayed behind because there’s something I wanted to talk to you about.’
Erin noted the way Raffaele stiffened, the way his eyes narrowed. ‘I’m not sure I like the tone of your voice. Tell me you’re not handing in your resignation.’
‘Why would I be handing in my resignation? What makes you say that?’
‘It’s not like you to pull me aside to have a word.’
Erin took a deep breath. Was she so predictable that deviating from business talk was something that might set off warning bells in his head?
Yes, she was, because she was the employee with no personal life.
She was one-dimensional. Maybe that was why he’d been so disconcerted to see Colin flirting with her.
‘I happen to be very happy in my job,’ she told him firmly.
‘If it’s a pay rise you’re after…’
‘I’m not after a pay rise and maybe you could just let me finish?
’ She’d brought her small cross-body bag in with her and now she dived in, retrieved her phone, unlocked it and handed it over.
The screen displayed the relevant thread of texts, the same messages that had been making her phone beep at her throughout the cocktail party. All from Raffaele’s ex-girlfriend.
‘Ah.’
‘“Ah”?’ Erin parroted. ‘Is “ah” all you have to say, Raffaele? “Tell Raffa I adore him… Could you arrange a meeting…? I know I could get him back if I get the chance…”’ She took the phone and stuck it back in her bag.
‘Is “ah” your only response to all those texts that have been pinging every five minutes while I’ve been here? ’
Her lips thinned and she drew back and folded her arms.
‘You’re doing your head-teacher look.’
‘This isn’t a joke, Raffaele. I resent the fact that your ex-girlfriend thinks it’s okay to text me about your relationship!’
‘We don’t have a relationship.’
‘I know that,’ Erin said, torn between unbridled resentful sarcasm and a modicum of restraint because he was, after all, her boss. ‘I know that because you get me to do the dirty work for you all the time.’
‘Sorry? I’m not following you.’
‘Raffaele, how is it that I always seem to know when you change girlfriends?’ She met his perplexed frown with a look of frustrated impatience. ‘I know because at the end of every fling, you get me to send them some kind of overblown parting gift.’
‘Ah, yes. Occasionally I admit I’ve asked you to buy them something…’
‘“Occasionally” is an understatement.’
‘Well,’ he said thoughtfully, ‘you’re a woman. Wouldn’t you instinctively know what another woman might like when a relationship comes to an end?’
‘That,’ Erin snapped as temper overrode restraint, ‘is possibly the most sexist thing I’ve ever heard you say.
’ She saw his lips twitch and realised that he was gently poking fun at her, which only made her angrier.
‘Buying parting gifts for all those women who enter and exit your life through a never-ending revolving door was never in my job description!’
‘“Never-ending revolving door”? I had no idea you had such strong views on the matter, Erin.’
‘Well, I have.’ Jumping in and out of relationships wasn’t Erin’s own style.
She had been brought up to respect the sanctity of love.
Her parents might have had their unusual ways, might have had a taste for moving around and for adventure that was a little too highly developed given they were parents, but they adored one another and they adored her. In their own, eccentric way.
‘But that’s not even the point. All this…these texts from Alexa. Raffaele, it’s an invasion of my privacy.’
‘Why would she have decided to text you? Have any of my exes texted you in the past? Tried to get in touch? You’ve never mentioned a word of it to me. If you were unhappy about the situation, then you should have said something, Erin. You don’t find me that unapproachable, do you?’
Erin realised that she had drained her glass of champagne and that he was pouring her another, his expression solicitous and concerned.
Was she overreacting? She cast him a jaundiced look and accepted the glass, gathering herself to get to the point she was determined to make.
That any involvement in his fast-paced, superficial love life was beyond the bounds of her employment and that the endless string of texts tonight had only brought that home to her.
Was she now supposed to play ad hoc therapist to all those women he picked up and then dispatched the minute he got bored with them?
She had met Alexa a couple of times. A very nice girl with an excellent clothes-horse, legs-up-to-armpits figure and a posh cut-glass accent.
She had been to the office a handful of times and Erin had always winced at the unconcealed adoration in her big, blue eyes every time she looked at Raffaele, knowing what must be coming all too soon.
Honestly, Erin had often thought, he really doesn’t deserve it.
She’d said nothing, of course. But now she was determined to lay down a few laws. Better late than never.
‘I don’t find you unapproachable,’ she said coolly, ‘which is why I’m now taking this opportunity to tell you that you need to find someone else to do the present buying for you.
I’ll continue to arrange the theatre and the opera and wherever else you want to take those poor girls you date, but buying them farewell gifts to ease your guilty conscience isn’t something I want to carry on doing. ’
She saw the shutters instantly slam down on those hooded deep blue eyes. His expression cooled and Erin flinched, not only because she thought that she might have crossed a line but because…
Because this was an area into which their relationship never strayed and she didn’t like it.
She was accustomed to his careless teasing, the warmth of his charm.
Not this remote expression in his eyes as he looked at her unsmilingly.
This was an expression he had always reserved for other people, people who didn’t live up to his exacting standards. Never her.
‘I apologise for…overstepping the mark, Raffaele. I suppose those texts from Alexa were the final straw and also…’
‘Also?’
‘Nothing,’ Erin said quickly as her thoughts turned to her parents again and this time anxiety nudged past the rose-tinted memories.