Chapter One #3
‘Okay. The conference room is…’ she nodded past the toy section to a bank of mahogany doors ‘…over there. If you like, we can recap on everything and then perhaps we could work out how best to put you to use?’
‘Of course.’
He gave her a mock salute, which she ignored and walked towards the doors, stopping on the way to check out various displays that needed tweaking, aware of interested glances shot in their direction.
She would be composed and informative with him. She would work out where he could be placed—somewhere that wasn’t in her immediate radius. In her own time, she would try and figure out why he had this effect on her and what it told her about herself.
Walking alongside her, Rocco had already taken in everything he needed regarding the state of the once-grand department store.
He liked Ron, and had promised a fair deal, but it would be back to the drawing board on the price because he reckoned a full structural survey would reveal a lot more serious wear and tear than was on the surface.
Probably more than Ron was aware of. He lived in Dubai and had left the running of the store to various board members—always a mistake.
She would normally have left the door to the conference room wide open. Stepping in behind her, Rocco half-closed it with his shoulder and then took the offered chair. He was amused to note that she made sure to sit in one that was broader and slightly higher than his.
Trying to assert her authority? Understandable.
But there was an electric current zapping between them, making her skittish and on edge.
He hadn’t banked on any of this, but he was enjoying it.
He felt a little skittish and on edge himself.
Freedom from the responsibilities that came with wealth and power was liberating.
Rocco’s life had always been propelled on a very specific trajectory.
His family might not be of royal blood but they were wealthy enough always to have mixed with the most elevated of Spanish society.
Theirs was old, inherited wealth going back generations.
One smallholding had grown over the decades and spawned tentacles that reached into every business concern imaginable.
As an only child, Rocco had been brought up to realise the importance of carrying on the family tradition.
An empire needed a guiding hand and he’d had no choice in the matter.
He was clever and ambitious enough to have thrived on the pressure.
Had he ever wanted to break free? No. Not because he lacked the imagination for it but because he had an unerring contempt for where that path led.
His uncle, older than his father and the natural heir to the Mancini empire, had gone off the rails.
In the process he’d come close to ruining not just the family fortune but all the livelihoods that depended on the jobs the Mancini empire supported.
He had found drink, drugs and women too irresistible, and the wealth at his disposal had made acquiring all three far too easy for an inherently weak man.
Maybe he could have ridden that tide until he got too old to maintain it or ran out of steam, but he had made the mistake of marrying one of his hangers-on—an avaricious woman in her forties who had fleeced him for so much money that she had almost brought the company to its knees.
After less than two years of a volatile and desperate marriage, she had hired a clever lawyer who had done his utmost to slice off various arms of the company as part of the settlement.
His uncle had also signed over part of his own holdings to her at some point, presumably when he was high on drugs. It had been a mess.
It had also been a learning curve for a teenager who had watched from the sidelines and taken it all in.
Control had become Rocco’s byword. His parents’ marriage might have started life as a business arrangement, but it had worked perfectly.
There had been no room for misunderstandings.
His mother, from a similar background, had known from the start what duty and responsibility looked like.
She had been the perfect wife. She had known how to entertain the clients and how to be supportive without expecting any reward.
Rocco found that he was curious about Ella’s life.
He’d always mixed in a circle that was small and reflected his own life.
Had he been lazy in that respect? Maybe.
But Jose Rivero, as he now was, was seeing a side to life he didn’t have much experience of, and it had whetted his appetite to see a little more.
And a little bit more of the woman sitting opposite him, looking at him with narrowed eyes and a professional coolness that couldn’t quite conceal an awareness of him that was pleasingly titillating.
‘So…’ Rocco drawled.
‘So?’ Her eyebrows arched upwards. ‘I think it might be a good idea to set you on some of the little jobs that might seem boring but are crucial to the successful running of a company.’
‘Tell me more. I’m eager to learn.’
‘Filing.’
‘You want me to do the filing?’ Rocco couldn’t hide his honest reaction to that suggestion.
‘Yes. There’s a lot of it waiting to be done.’
‘Surely you don’t still use those antiquated things called filing cabinets?’
‘We’re gradually transferring everything online.’
‘When did you start doing that?’
‘There’s no need to sound so incredulous. Hailey’s is an old-fashioned store. Perhaps it could have moved more quickly in that respect but as soon as I got here, and saw how archaic the IT systems were, I looked into an upgrade…’
Rocco considered her for a few seconds in stretching silence until she reddened and began to fidget under his unwavering stare.
She really was incredibly pretty, he thought. Sexy in a way that wasn’t obvious. Sexy without wanting to be sexy.
Why was she still single? Or was she? Curiosity was in charge.
He wasn’t sure he liked that, because he was so accustomed to his head ruling everything, but this was a moment in time that would never come back, so why not enjoy it?
He settled lower into the chair, crossed his legs and loosely linked his fingers together on his stomach.
Ella thought he looked totally relaxed. He looked like the guy calling the shots, which was ridiculous, because she was the one in charge here. She might not feel quite as in charge as she would have wished but she was still the boss.
But the way he was looking at her… Her mouth went dry, and for the life of her she couldn’t drag disobedient eyes away from his face.
‘So,’ she said weakly. ‘Back to the filing…’
‘What did you study at university?’
‘I beg your pardon?’
‘I was just interested. Interested in knowing how you ended up working here, at this store. Did you study business? Accounting?’
‘Geography,’ Ella heard herself say abruptly.
‘I guess that’s a generic enough subject.’
Ella wanted to pull back from the conversation but something was urging her on.
She hadn’t much experience of this—of opening up, of straying out of her comfort zone…
Her life had been on hold ever since she’d returned here.
Maybe part of her life had always been on hold because she’d always played it safe.
She licked her lips and felt a slow fire inside her as those deep, dark eyes continued to look at her in silent appraisal.
‘I didn’t get the chance to finish my degree,’ Ella confessed in a rushed undertone. ‘I…my mother died. She’d been ill for a while—cancer. I was twelve at the time and I remember what that was like…but the cancer had gone into remission.’
‘I’m sorry, Ella.’
The genuine sympathy in his voice opened up something inside her. Did she want that something to be opened up? Maybe not, but for the first time she wanted to confide.
‘It returned in little baby steps,’ she said, glancing down at her hands, which she then balled into fists. ‘But then it seemed to snowball until she couldn’t fight it any longer. When she died I came back here but…’
‘But…?’
‘But I guess this wasn’t where my dreams lay.’
‘Where did they lie, those dreams of yours?’
‘I fancied getting involved in efforts to combat climate change.’ Ella suddenly laughed. ‘I was a big dreamer.’
‘Sounds like a perfectly reasonable dream. But landing this job…it must have seemed like a stroke of luck. Like I’ve said, you’re young to be in such a position of seniority.’
‘I worked here over the holidays from the age of fourteen,’ Ella confided.
‘My mum worked in the haberdashery department and she pulled a few strings to get me temp jobs in the store so that I could have pocket money for the summer hols. After my Leaving Certificate, I came back and worked for a few years to save for my tuition fees at university. I didn’t want to have a student loan outstanding. ’
She cleared her throat and, when she yanked herself back to reality, she was appalled to consider how much she had revealed to a perfect stranger. Appalled and just a little bit…alarmed. What on earth was going on with her?
‘Apologies. I went off-topic,’ Ella said briskly. ‘You’re here for practical advice so, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask provided they pertain to the reason you’re here.’
‘Just the one.’
‘What’s that?’
‘Can I shadow you for the duration of my stay here? I think I would learn a lot more with one dedicated mentor than if I flitted from department to department under the supervision of random people, picking up all the boring back-room jobs no one is interested in doing.’
‘How do you know I won’t lumber you with the same back-room jobs?’
‘I don’t, but I’m willing to take the chance.’
‘I really can’t promise that you can spend your time here under my sole supervision.
’ But her heart was thudding and she felt as though she needed to clear her head.
Right now she wasn’t in charge of her emotions.
She was behaving unprofessionally and allowing him to get under her skin.
If she didn’t get some air, at the risk of appearing rude, then she was going to explode.
No, worse—she was going to carry on waging war with common sense and that wouldn’t do.
She thought of Steve and what he had put her through. She had been led astray by her emotions into ignoring red flags and handing her heart over to a guy who had never deserved it. Right now, the ground was shifting under her feet, and it was imperative that she didn’t allow that to happen.
‘Look at the time!’ She stood up, leaving him no choice but to follow suit.
He stood up slowly and she followed that easy, graceful motion with fascinated attention.
He looked at his watch. ‘Time flies when you’re having fun,’ he drawled and Ella felt that, yes, he couldn’t have hit the nail on the head more accurately. She’d been having fun! It was crazy. She was supposed to give orders and do a job!
‘I’m afraid I have some important chores to do in town but I’ll hand you over to one of my colleagues at the staff canteen and you can grab some lunch there.’
‘And when you get back…?’
‘When I return, I’ll settle you in front of some…’
‘Filing. I can transpose everything onto the system.’
‘Would you know how to do that?’
‘I can confidently tell you that it won’t be a problem. And if I have more questions…?’
‘Naturally, that’s what I’m here for.’ Ella’s eyes locked with his and her heart picked up pace.
‘I’m glad to hear that. And would you be prepared to answer them over dinner with me…?’