Kate frowned, but before she could rise to the bait he interceded with a grin.
‘And, before you jump down my throat, I wasn’t being sarcastic...’
‘I wasn’t about to imply that you were.’ But she had been. And that made her feel a little uneasy. Either she was as transparent as a pane of glass, which was a bad thing, or else he could read her mind—which was a bad thing.
And what had he meant when he had hinted that it wasn’t true that he wouldn’t know what it might feel like to have an insecure background?
She felt her pulse race at the thought of him confiding in her and had to yank herself back to the reality that, when all was said and done, he was her boss and they had nothing in common.
Maybe he was right about that ivory tower, she thought feverishly as she fetched the file and headed back to the kitchen. Not as it applied to her in an office scenario but as it applied to her in a life scenario. Maybe she had lived life in the safe middle lane for too long. Maybe she had detached herself too much from the highs and lows of getting involved with people...with men. Maybe that was why she was behaving like this with him: disobeying common sense and flirting with something dangerous...
Flirting with an impossible attraction.
Shoot me in the head first, she thought.
But she had to take a deep, steadying breath before she pushed open the door and stepped inside where, thankfully, he was still in the same place and not snooping through the kitchen drawers and making himself even more at home.
‘Would you like some coffee?’ she asked politely, and Alessandro raised his eyebrows.
‘I don’t need sobering up,’ he told her drily. ‘So no, thank you. Besides, what did I tell you about caffeine after six?’
‘Yes, you did say that—but I do remember you helping yourself to several cups of strong black coffee a few months ago, when we were working with George and a couple of others on that deal late into the night...’
‘I didn’t realize that you had been keeping a watch on what I was eating and drinking...’
God, but she was sexy when she blushed like that and looked away, as though she was in danger of giving away state secrets if she met his eyes. He felt himself stir again, aroused by images that had no place in his head.
He waved his hand for her to hand over her findings and started reading. There wasn’t a great deal to get through—less than he had been expecting.
‘So all in all,’ he said slowly, raising his eyes to hers, ‘he hasn’t been at it for very long...’
‘Which I think is in his favour...’
‘We’ll have to agree to disagree on that one. The fact is that the man has stolen from me...’
‘He must have had a reason.’
‘Of course he must have had a reason. Greed. Possibly linked to a debt which had to be paid off. My money is on a gambling debt. Unless you’ve noticed anything out of the ordinary? Vodka bottles in his desk drawer, perhaps?’
‘I can’t imagine that George is a gambler,’ Kate persisted, thinking furiously, trying to remember if she had noticed anything unusual about his behaviour over the past six months and coming up with nothing. ‘And he certainly isn’t an alcoholic, if that’s what you’re implying!’
‘How would you know, unless you socialize with him out of work? On a regular basis?’
‘He’s a good guy.’
‘Who has just happened to steal over a hundred grand from me over a five-month period. His halo’s slipping slightly, wouldn’t you agree? Still, he will have the opportunity to explain his borderline saintly status to a court of impartial jurors, and you are more than welcome to sign on as a character witness.’
‘Sometimes—’ She swallowed back something she would instantly regret saying and took a deep breath. ‘Surely you could at least hear what he has to say before you condemn him and throw away the key...?’
Could he? Well, under any other circumstances there would be no question as to what course of action he would take. There could never be any excuse for fraud. Life was full of people forgiving the idiocy of other people, but in the end idiots deserved the punishment they got. The feckless deserved their fate.
He looked at that earnest face. That beautiful, earnest face. She should be as tough as nails—immune to feelings of empathy given her background. But she wasn’t.
She was complex, intriguing, quirky... And all of this despite the fact that she was so desperate to be just the opposite.
He liked that.
Was there anything wrong with that?
When it came to women he had always been able to have what he wanted. This woman introduced a challenge to his jaded appetite and what was wrong with that? What was wrong if he wanted to explore that just a little bit further?
‘I could...’ he admitted, watching her carefully. ‘Everyone has a story to tell...’
‘I know!’
She hazarded a smile, leaned forward.
‘You think I’m mad, but I just know that George isn’t a bad guy. He...he’s actually one of the kindest men I’ve met in my entire life! Although...’ She laughed, and the sound was light and infectious, ‘Compared to some of the guys I’ve had the misfortune to meet, thanks to my mother, that’s not hard! Not that any of them threatened me in any way,’ she added hurriedly, ‘but I certainly grew up having first-hand knowledge of how scummy guys can be...’
She smiled shyly at him, marvelling that underneath that forbidding exterior and arrogant self-assurance he might not be quite as unrelenting as she’d thought.
‘I’m really glad you’re prepared to at least listen to what he has to say.’
Alessandro made a non-committal sound under his breath and smiled at her lazily. ‘And wouldn’t it be so much fairer if I had this discussion with him face to face? Outside the office? After all, the last thing I want is for the world to see him being marched out in handcuffs...’
‘Absolutely,’ Kate agreed, delighted at his turnaround. ‘That sort of thing would just...destroy him...’
‘Which is why we are going to fly to Canada and confront him there. Find out just what the hell has been going on. Surprise him, so to speak. But it will be a far less unpleasant surprise than if I do it in the office, with all those curious eyes peering through the glass, people jumping to conclusions and gossiping...’
‘Sorry...we...?’
‘Of course!’
He smiled broadly at her while she stared back, her brain moving sluggishly to compute the message it was receiving.
‘You’re the one who has influenced me into a decision I would never have otherwise taken. It’s only right that you be there when the questions get asked...don’t you agree?’
‘Well...’
‘Congratulations on changing my mind! It’s a rare occurrence. I’ll get my secretary to book flights out first thing on Monday morning. I take it you have a current passport? Yes? Well, then...’ He looked at her with satisfaction. ‘That’s settled...’
CHAPTER FOUR
ALESSANDRO WAS WAITING for her five days later at the first-class check-in desk at the airport.
Kate spotted him from a mile away. Not hard. He stood out even in a packed terminal, where people were either rushing around frantically or else standing in long queues with blank How much slower can this line move? stares.
He was frowning at his smartphone, scrolling through messages, leaning against the counter with a solitary, very expensive holdall on the ground next to him. The picture of understated elegance in cream trousers, a white shirt and a lightweight jacket which he had tossed on top of the holdall.
Having planned on arriving bang on time, if not early, Kate was unavoidably running late and she was hassled.
She thought her neatly pinned-back hair might be unravelling. and her suit and pumps felt stiff and uncomfortable—unsuitable for the heat here in London, never mind abroad. Lord only knew how they would fare on a long-haul flight, but she had been determined to dress appropriately because, crucially, this wasn’t a holiday.
She had allowed her rules to slip. She had found herself losing her self-control. It was going to be very important that she re-establish that self-control while she was in Toronto on this business trip.
Comfy trousers and a casual cotton jumper with loafers had thus been ruled out as suitable travel gear.
‘You’re late,’ were the first words Alessandro greeted her with as he snapped shut his phone and straightened.
‘Traffic. I’m sorry. It would have been quicker for me to have come by tube. But I’m here now, and I hope I haven’t kept you waiting too long.’ She managed to say all that in a cool, polite voice whilst not actually looking at him at all. ‘Have you checked in?’
‘I was waiting for you.’
‘Is that all the luggage you’ve brought?’ Kate asked incredulously.
Next to his holdall, her suitcase was the size of a small mountain—but they were going for a week, and she hadn’t quite known which clothes to take for which occasion. So she had packed to cover every eventuality.
They had found out where George was staying with his wife without actually contacting him for the information—because, as Alessandro had persisted in telling her, the element of surprise would afford him no time to start thinking up fancy stories to cover up what he had done.