‘Especially a foreign woman?’ suggested Rose, with a wry smile. ‘I can imagine.’
Oraz Odekov was ushered in next—and a different breed of man entirely. For a start he was aged just thirty and Rose’s line of questioning produced quite different answers from those of Serdar.
‘And how do you see the future of Areeku?’ she asked him at the end of the interview.
And where Serdar had basically said that he wanted more of the same, Oraz was concerned with minimising the effects of pollution.
‘You think that’s important?’ enquired Rose.
‘I know so,’ he answered simply. ‘That is the way of the world today. Countries who do not fight to keep the planet clean will ultimately be discriminated against.’
‘Thank you,’ she said, and scribbled it down.
He hesitated by the door, and his handsome young face gave a small smile. ‘May I be so bold as to say how refreshing it is to have a woman involved in the selection procedure? This, too, is the way forward.’
Go and tell Khalim that, thought Rose irreverently as she smiled back.
Khalim appeared just seconds later. Had he been waiting out in the corridor? thought Rose in wonder. Like a boy waiting outside the headmaster’s study.
‘Made your mind up?’ he asked.
Well, he was certainly to the point when it came to business, thought Rose with some admiration.
‘Yes.’
‘And?’
‘It has to be Oraz.’
There was silence. ‘Because he’s young and good-looking, I suppose?’
‘Please don’t insult me, Khalim!’
He sighed. ‘Because Serdar is set in older ways than yours and because you are a feminist, is that it, Rose?’
She looked at him steadily. ‘I never bring my own personality or prejudices into the selection process—whether or not I think I could get on with them is irrelevant. I’m not going to be here, am I? And please don’t start calling me a “feminist”, Khalim, especially in that derogatory tone.’
‘Oh?’ His eyes held a mocking challenge. ‘You’re saying you’re not?’
‘I’m saying that I don’t like labels! Of any kind! I’m just a woman, who believes in equality, that’s all.’
The very last kind of woman he should be attracted to! And yet he was intelligent enough to realise that her unsuitability was part of what made her attractive to him. Her lively mind and keen wit and her refusal to be cowed were qualities he was unused to. Qualities which were proving more aphrodisiac than plump oysters!
‘So you’re in a dilemma now, aren’t you, Khalim?’
He looked at her from between narrowed eyes. Had the minx now managed to read his mind? ‘A dilemma?’ he stalled.
‘Of course. You clearly want Serdar to be the next director, while my advice to you is to appoint Oraz.’
‘Because?’
‘You want my reasons?’
His smile was coolly assessing. ‘That is what I’m paying you for.’
She didn’t react, but why should she? He spoke nothing but the truth. She was here on a professional basis—solely on a professional basis, she reminded herself—and he was paying.
‘Okay. Serdar has the greater experience, I grant you that, but Oraz has vision. A vision to carry the Areeka well into the middle of this century, and to make it a refinery to be reckoned with.’