Chapter Four
The silence stretched.
‘Me, work for you?’ She stared at him, her eyebrows hitting her hairline. ‘Have you been drinking?’
‘No, but if you’re offering…?’
Her lips tightened. ‘I’m not,’ she retorted unsmilingly. ‘Unless it’s escaped your notice, I already have a job.’
‘I imagine it must be tough coming down in the world—a hard landing.’
She lifted her chin. ‘I’m not complaining.’
‘Your margins must be very tight.’
She stayed silent, likely sensing something was coming. The something made her visibly tense in anticipation.
‘What I’m suggesting is temporary.’ Long enough to enjoy the satisfaction of seeing her in his world, out of her depth. Because, despite the fact that she had lost everything, she had retained the innate attitude of a winner. Where the hell did her strength come from?
He pushed away the stab of admiration that came with the thought, focusing instead on the inexplicable way she had defended her father. When she wanted to fight for something, she did so like a tigress.
Yet she hadn’t fought for him.
Amy shook her head and gave him a stubborn blank look.
‘I need a chef for an upcoming event.’
‘Is that meant to be a joke?’ She pointed to her face. ‘I am not laughing. There are a lot of chefs out there, Leo.’
‘It’s a tough gig and I understand if you don’t feel up to the challenge.’
‘It isn’t a matter of feeling up to anything. Nothing in the world would make me work for a man who…’
‘Was your social inferior?’
The colour flew to her cheeks. ‘I wasn’t going to say that.’
‘It’s true, though.’
‘You never forgave me, did you?’
‘I almost forgot you existed,’ he lied without hesitation.
She flinched, but after a split second and a convulsive swallow she lifted her chin.
There was a reason why Leo had risen to the heights he had, a reason why the business world revered him. His ruthlessness was unrivalled, so it was infuriating that he felt the need to remind himself that nothing about Amy was authentic, not the bitten lip or the unshed tears.
‘And then your father’s case hit the headlines, and you stayed a daddy’s girl to the end. It reminded me that we have unfinished business, Amy.’ He paused, his contemptuous dark eyes narrowed, trained on her face for a long moment before he asked, ‘Are you, Amy?’
The lethally soft question made her shiver. ‘Am I what?’
‘A daddy’s girl. What would you do for your father? How far does your devotion and blind loyalty go?’
‘What do you mean?’ she asked, even though she was pretty sure she didn’t want to know.
‘We have established that working for me is not something that sets your soul alight with joy. The question is, would you work for me in order to save your father from another stint in jail? For a second offence, he might not have the option of an open prison.’
The possibility that he wasn’t bluffing sent an icy chill through Amy. In her mind, she could see the scattered pills on the floor amidst empty bottles and her father’s body on the floor, unmoving. She knew with total certainty that if faced with that shame again, he wouldn’t get as far as prison.
‘He’s not going back to prison.’ Amy could hear the note of panic in her voice. ‘He’s turning his life around.’
Leo refused to recognise the stab of guilt that speared him when he saw the fear in her eyes—that, at least, was authentic.
‘Those new friends your father made behind bars, they have friends on the outside who have large quantities of cash made illegally, which they need to launder through a legitimate business.’ He arched a speculative ebony brow.
‘Have your accounts been looking more healthy of late?’
She looked at him, loathing shining in her eyes, hating how what he was saying made sense. ‘How do you know any of this?’
‘It’s easy to know things when you know where to look.
Your father is not a master criminal, although in his arrogance and greed I’m quite sure he thinks he is.
’ His voice dropped to a foreboding purr as he tilted his head and scanned her face with a clinical detachment that made her feel like a bug under a microscope. ‘Are you in on the scam, Amy?’
She stepped forward and lifted her arm in the same moment. The action was pure reflex and she barely registered what she was about to do until fingers like steel wrapped around her wrist.
Her eyes widened in shocked horror, which was supplanted when instead of releasing her hand he dragged her towards him. He bent his head and she literally stopped breathing, her eyes drifting closed as his head lowered.
The warmth of his breath on her palm sent a shiver through her body and then she was free. Apart from the tangled emotions churning inside her as she rubbed her palm hard against her thigh.
She made herself meet his gaze. His taunting smile made it obvious he knew she had thought he was going to kiss her.
The only question was, did he also know she had wanted him to?
‘What do you want, Leo?’ she asked, making her voice cold, even though it did nothing to lower her internal temperature.
‘I’ve already told you I need a chef… I think a six-week contract will suffice.’
Six weeks of working for him and he would have the satisfaction of seeing her fail. Amy would be begging to leave; she had developed unexpected steel, but in a war of attrition there was only one winner.
‘My business…?’
‘I will pay for a temp to fill in for you. I am assuming that your alcoholic helper will be able to cope without you.’
Anger blazed in her soft eyes as she drew herself up to her full height.
‘How do you—’ she began and stopped. It was pointless to ask why Leo’s position gave him a reach that she couldn’t even begin to imagine.
‘Ben hasn’t had a drink in ten years and he is my business partner, equal partners.
He put money in, and his knowledge has made all the difference. ’
‘An older man to lean on,’ he mused, pressing a finger to his chin. ‘Am I seeing a pattern here…?’
‘My father is trying hard—’
‘To do what, exactly? Set himself up as the go-to man for drug dealers with some cash to launder?’
The blood drained from her face, the colour change so dramatic that any doubts that she had any involvement in George’s extracurricular activities vanished.
‘Drugs?’ she stuttered out. ‘He wouldn’t!’ Hearing the question in her own voice, she rounded on him furiously. ‘I suppose you don’t believe in second chances.’
‘I believe they’re wasted on most people.’
‘God, when did you get so cynical?’ she flared.
‘I think you can take some credit for that, cara.’
He managed to make the endearment sound like a mocking insult. ‘Stop calling me that!’ she hissed in frustration.
‘I’ll take that as a yes, shall I?’ He smiled and turned towards the door, pausing as he swung back. ‘Oh, and as my employee I think a bit of courtesy might be in order for our working relationship.’
She lowered herself into a mocking curtsey.
‘I’ll have the contract sent over for you to sign.’
‘What, in blood?’ she snarled.
He laughed and she remembered a time when his smile had not been an exercise in cynicism. Remembering all the times he had teased her and made her laugh, she was seized by a quite crazy sense of loss.
She had lost Leo years ago.
‘We leave on Friday.’
She shook her head, her brow pleated in a perplexed frown. ‘Friday? Where to?’
‘For Tuscany.’
‘Tuscany in Italy?’
He arched a brow and regarded her as if she’d just made a totally facile comment.
‘That’s too soon. I will have things to—’
He brushed aside her objections. ‘You don’t have to do anything except just be ready. You do have an up-to-date passport?’ he asked, already moving through the door.
She nodded and he was gone.