‘THIS ISN’T PART of my job description.’
Gregorio quirked one dark eyebrow as he looked at Lia, standing in the doorway to the office in his penthouse suite. ‘My PA has called in sick this morning. I’m not sure it’s altogether wise for you to refuse to assist your employer on only your second day of employment.’
Lia wasn’t sure it was either. But neither did she think it was coincidence that Gregorio had requested she be the one to assist him. Although he certainly looked businesslike, in one of those perfectly tailored suits—dark grey today—with a pale grey shirt and striped blue tie.
After a very disturbed night’s sleep Lia had tried to put yesterday evening from her mind and treat today as a new start. It had proved not altogether possible when—as promised—Cathy had telephoned her first thing this morning, wanting to know all the juicy details of Lia’s relationship with Gregorio.
Lia had told her friend what she felt comfortable with Cathy knowing. Mainly that she really had no idea what last night had been about. Only that she wasn’t going to allow Gregorio that close to her again.
After making another phone call Lia had forced herself to shower and dress before coming in to work today. Knowing that Gregorio might appear at any moment and shake what little self-confidence she had managed to dredge up and wrap around herself like a protective cloak.
Having Michael Harrington send her up to the penthouse floor to assist Mr de la Cruz within minutes of her arrival at the Exemplar Hotel had succeeded in tearing a great hole in that protective cloak!
‘Is this what you meant when you spoke about punishing me?’
Gregorio narrowed his eyes as he sat back in his chair to look across the width of his desk at Lia. She was once again wearing a black business suit and a cream blouse—the uniform of all the hotel receptionists—and her hair was swept up in that confining style he didn’t like. Mainly because it hid all the gold and cinnamon highlights amongst the red. Her face was slightly pale, but there was a defiant glitter in those dark grey eyes.
‘You consider assisting your employer to be a punishment?’ he challenged.
‘That would depend on what he wants my assistance with.’
‘The history and accounts of some of the companies I am interested in buying.’
Her eyes widened. ‘And why would you think I have any knowledge on either of those subjects?’
Gregorio gave a confident smile. ‘Because your father told me you very often assisted him when he worked at home in the evenings.’
Her hand reached out blindly to allow her fingers to grasp hold of the doorframe for support. ‘My father told you...?’
‘Jacob and I met several times.’ He nodded. ‘Once we had finished our business discussions you invariably came into the conversation.’ He stood up to move around to the front of his desk. ‘He was very proud of you.’
Lia could find no answer to that statement. Instead she blinked back the tears stinging her eyes and prompted briskly, ‘Just tell me what I can do to help you.’
Gregorio had to bite back his immediate response. Which was, you can get down on your knees and relieve me of the throbbing ache of arousal that kept me awake all night. He was pretty sure that wasn’t the sort of help Lia was offering.
He had been coldly angry when he’d left Lia’s apartment the evening before. Something that seemed to have become a common occurrence around Lia. A couple of glasses of brandy had eased some of that anger, but nothing had succeeded in taking away the sexual tension that had kept his body hard and throbbing for release.
Not even a freezing cold shower.
The moment he thought of Lia again—and that was becoming an occupational hazard too—his desire sprang back to life as if it had never gone away.
Receiving a phone call earlier this morning from Tim, his PA, explaining that he was sick with the flu, had seemed to set the tone for today too.
Until Gregorio had realised exactly which member of the hotel staff he could ask to assist him in Tim’s place...
Was it a punishment for Lia for the fact that he couldn’t seem to stop wanting her?
Maybe. Whatever his motive, Gregorio already knew that the next few hours were going to be as painful for him as they would for Lia. If for different reasons.
He had been aware of Lia’s perfume the moment she entered the penthouse: that light floral scent with an underlying note of womanly musk. And he couldn’t stop his gaze from returning again and again to the swell of her breasts, visible where the top two buttons of her blouse had been left unfastened.
They had been interrupted yesterday evening before he’d had a chance to remove any of Lia’s clothing. He had not been allowed to see those breasts bared. His jaw clenched and his teeth ached with how much he wanted to remove her blouse and bra before gorging himself on her naked breasts. Starting with her plump and soon-to-be-aroused nipples...
‘The files are on Tim’s desk,’ he said stiffly instead.
If he had set out to punish Lia, as she’d suggested, then during the course of the morning, working so closely with her, Gregorio knew that his intention had come back to bite him on the butt. Or on another part of his anatomy that was even more sensitive.
Despite the fact that she was sitting across the room from him, at Tim’s desk, her perfume continued to fill the air and invade his senses. And Gregorio was aware of every move she made—especially when she stretched her back and arched her neck to ease the tension of sitting at a desk for several hours.
Physical awareness danced along his skin every time she spoke to him, even on such a mundane subject as company accounts.
Flu or not, Tim had better be back tomorrow, or he could start looking for another job!
‘I’m scheduled to have an early lunch today.’
‘What?’ Gregorio scowled across the room at her.
‘Michael has given me an early lunch today,’ Lia repeated as she glanced at her wristwatch. ‘I’m meeting someone just after twelve.’
‘Who?’ The demand was out before Gregorio’s brain had connected with his mouth. ‘We still have work to do,’ he added with a scowl.
‘I’m entitled to a lunchbreak,’ she reasoned. ‘I’ll make sure I finish here when I get back.’ She stood up to push her chair neatly beneath the desktop, making no attempt to answer his query as to who she was meeting for lunch.
Gregorio scowled his frustration. He wanted to tell Lia that she couldn’t go. That it was more important that they finish this work and he would order lunch for them both to be brought up by room service.
Most of all I want to know who she’s having lunch with!
‘Say hello to Cathy for me,’ he tested lightly.
Lia’s smile was enigmatic. ‘I’m not meeting Cathy for lunch, but I’ll be sure to pass your message along the next time I speak to her.’
Gregorio stood, feeling too restless to remain seated at his desk. ‘Are you going anywhere nice?’
She shrugged. ‘Just a little Italian bistro quite close to here.’
Gregorio thought he knew the place she meant. It was tucked away in a side street a couple of blocks from here, and run by a middle-aged Italian couple. The food was both good and inexpensive. Something Lia no doubt now took into consideration with her changed circumstances.
‘I could order some chocolate cake from Mancini’s to be delivered here,’ he tempted.
Her smile was rueful as she shook her head. ‘I’m happy with the selection of cheesecakes at the bistro.’
Gregorio’s eyes narrowed. ‘Do you go there often?’
‘I used to in the past, yes,’ she answered cautiously.
‘With David Richardson?’ The offices of Richardson, Richardson and Pope weren’t too far from here, so it seemed logical to assume that Lia might have met her fiancé for lunch at the bistro for the sake of convenience.
Lia frowned. ‘You may be my employer, but I don’t believe that where I have lunch and who with, in my own time, is any of your business.’
Of course it wasn’t. And Gregorio was well aware that his questions were intrusive. It wouldn’t even have occurred to him to ask another employee about their lunch plans. Tim had worked for him for two years now, and the two men worked well together, but he had zero interest in Tim’s private life.
But Lia wasn’t only his employee.
She was also the woman Gregorio wanted, and he wanted her more the more time he spent in her company.
Which meant it was time—past time—to call one of the women he’d occasionally had lunch with in the past. An afternoon in bed with another woman would certainly ease his physical frustration.
Having made that decision, Gregorio found himself still in his office fifteen minutes later, waiting for the call from one of his security team to tell him exactly who Lia was meeting for lunch.
* * *
Lia hadn’t known how she would feel when she saw David again—the first time they had met since the evening he’d broken their engagement. David had been in Scotland—conveniently?—when she’d buried her father, and his own father had represented Richardson, Richardson and Pope. It had been an awkward situation for both of them, and they hadn’t spoken apart from Alec Richardson’s murmured condolences as he moved along with the procession of other people offering their sympathies for her loss.
Her first thought, when David entered the bistro where they had agreed to meet for lunch, was that he looked different from how she remembered him.
Or maybe she was just looking at him from another perspective? Through lenses that were less rose-coloured? After all, she had once thought herself in love with this man.
What a difference three months could make. What a difference one evening had made: David had shattered every one of her illusions about him when he’d walked out of her life and left her to the mercy of the media wolves.
He was still male-model-handsome. His hair was the colour of ripened corn, his eyes as blue as the sky on a summer’s day. His body looked lithe and fit in his tailored dark suit, and he wore a blue shirt that was perfectly matched in colour for his eyes, and a meticulously knotted navy blue tie.
Yes, on the surface David still gave the appearance of being a confidently handsome lawyer. But Lia was able to look past that veneer today. To see the lines of dissipation beside his eyes and mouth. The slight laxness to the skin about his jaw. To note that his strides through the bistro seemed less purposeful and more full of nervous energy.
Was that an indication that David was far from comfortable with this meeting that Lia had requested when she’d rung him earlier that morning?
It was a meeting he had tried to avoid, and only acquiesced to once Lia had explained that she had found some papers amongst her father’s things she thought David might be interested in seeing. It wasn’t true, of course, but the fact that he had changed his mind about the meeting based on that comment had filled Lia with misgivings. Perhaps the things Gregorio had told her about David were the truth, after all.
David was a thief and a liar...
‘You’re looking well,’ David commented, but he made no move to touch her or to kiss her in greeting before sliding into the seat opposite hers in this relatively private booth at the back of the bistro.
Lia didn’t return the compliment. Mainly because it wasn’t true. ‘I’m very well, thank you,’ she answered with cool formality.
He waited until they had placed their drinks order with the waitress and she had left them menus before asking, ‘Are you still living with the Mortons?’
‘I have an apartment of my own in town now. And a job,’ Lia added.
‘One that pays actual wages or another job at one of your do-good charities?’
Cathy was right, Lia realised. David did condescend. He was doing it right now.
Her fingers itched to wipe the mocking smile off his lips.
When had she developed these violent tendencies?
She had never struck anyone in her life until she’d lashed out at Gregorio in that restaurant. Now she wanted nothing more than to slap David too.
Was it because she knew, deep down, that Cathy’s comments about him had been correct? That Gregorio’s suspicions about David’s involvement in her father’s downfall might also prove to be correct...?
‘I’m a hotel receptionist.’
The words instantly made her think of the morning she had just spent, working in Gregorio’s penthouse suite.
The suite was furnished differently from the others Lia had been shown around on her first morning—it was part of her job as a receptionist to know exactly what each of the rooms had to offer people wanting to stay at the hotel. And the office was definitely personal to Gregorio, indicating that he really did live there all the time.
It made a certain sense. Gregorio had all the conveniences of the hotel—like room and laundry service, restaurants, a spa, et cetera—and none of the inconvenience that came along with owning his own house or apartment.
Even if it had seemed a little strange to know that his bedroom was just down the hallway from where the two of them were working...
‘How the mighty have fallen,’ David sneered.
The gloves really had come off today, hadn’t they?
It made Lia feel slightly foolish for not having seen David’s true nature before now. No doubt he had hidden the worst parts of himself from her while they were dating and then engaged, but even so Lia had always believed herself a good judge of character. Obviously she had been wrong.
Had she been wrong about Gregorio being the bad guy?
She’d already acknowledged that might be the case.
Now she was convinced of it.
Quite what she was going to do about it, she had no idea. Gregorio was...overwhelming. Forceful. And he made no secret of his desire for her.
At least he hadn’t...
But the way they had parted last night, and the stiltedness between them this morning, seemed to indicate he might have put that feeling behind him and moved on.
Could she blame him?
He had been very polite and friendly with Cathy and Rick last night—she was the one who had been rude and dismissive towards him. In front of the other couple. No wonder Gregorio had been so angry.
She owed him an apology, Lia realised.
‘Lia...?’
She narrowed her gaze on the man sitting opposite her. ‘Did you ever love me or were you just using me from the start?’
David looked taken aback by her direct attack. ‘The niceties are over, I take it?’
‘Very much so.’ She nodded abruptly. ‘So answer the question. Were you using me, and my father’s name and wealth, right from the start of our relationship?’
His scowled. ‘I only agreed to meet with you today because you said you had some papers you needed to discuss with me.’ His eyes narrowed. ‘There are no papers, are there?’
‘No.’
‘Damn it.’ He swore softly under his breath. ‘I have no intention of hashing over ancient history—’
‘It’s only been a few months, David,’ she snorted. ‘I would hardly call that ancient anything!’
Their conversation stopped briefly while the waitress put their drinks down on the table. Lia shook her head when the young girl asked if they were ready to eat yet. Lia very much doubted they would get as far as eating anything. Just the thought of food made her feel nauseous.
David leaned forward across the table once the two of them were alone again. ‘I don’t appreciate being spoken to by you in this insulting manner.’
Her eyes narrowed. ‘And I don’t appreciate learning that I was going to marry a dissolute gambler!’
David reared back, a look of total shock on his face. ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’
But he did, Lia realised. The truth was there in his guarded expression and in the way his face had paled.
‘Let’s not play any more games, David,’ she scorned. ‘Your parents can’t possibly know about your gambling, or they would have done something to help you.’
She had always liked the couple she had believed would one day be her in-laws, and knew that Daphne and Alec Richardson would be devastated to learn the truth about their only child.
‘Are you threatening me?’
Lia felt a shiver down the length of her spine at the underlying malice in David’s tone. It reminded her of something her father had once told her: a cornered animal almost always attacked. The look of rage on David’s face said he was getting ready to do just that.
‘Not at all,’ she assured him smoothly. ‘I was merely thinking how disappointed they would be if they knew the sort of man you really are.’
‘Stay away from my parents!’ David grated.
‘I intend to. Oh, I almost forgot.’ Lia turned to search through her handbag. ‘You might want to give this to the next unsuspecting idiot.’ She placed a ring box down on the table in front of him. The engagement ring inside had belonged to his grandmother. ‘Or perhaps you could just sell it to pay off more of your gambling debts? But then, you don’t need to, do you?’ she continued in a hard voice. ‘Not when you have the money you stole from my father’s company stashed away in an offshore account.’
‘You don’t... I didn’t... You can’t possibly know...’ David’s face was now an ashen grey rather than just white.
‘I do know. And, yes, you did do exactly what I’ve just accused you of doing. I don’t have all the proof as yet, but I will. Believe me, I will,’ she assured him vehemently.
She would never wish to harm Daphne and Alec deliberately by revealing the truth about their son, but neither could she allow David to get away with having destroyed her father.
‘I don’t think so,’ David sneered as he recovered quickly. ‘You’re no longer the privileged daughter of the wealthy and powerful Jacob Fairbanks. Now you’re just Lia Fairbanks, who has to work for a living. You have all the power and influence of a toothless dog.’
‘You—’
‘Sorry I’m a little late, Lia.’
Lia had recognised Gregorio’s voice the instant he spoke, but that didn’t stop her from staring at him as he slid into the seat beside her. Or drawing in a shocked breath as he kissed her lightly on the lips before turning his narrowed gaze on the man seated on the opposite side of the table.
‘Richardson.’ He nodded tersely.
If Lia was surprised at Gregorio’s being there then David had obviously gone into complete shock. So much so he couldn’t even answer the other man.
Gregorio turned to Lia, one dark brow raised in innocent query. ‘Have you said something to upset your ex-fiancé? What’s this?’ He picked up the dark blue velvet ring box and flicked the lid open to reveal the two-carat solitaire diamond ring David had given her on their engagement. ‘No wonder you gave it back—it isn’t right for you at all.’ Gregorio snapped the lid closed and put the box back where he had found it. ‘I much prefer the natural yellow diamond ring I have picked for you.’
The ring Gregorio had picked for her?
A natural yellow diamond?
Lia had only read about natural yellow diamonds, and seen photographs of them. They were so unique, so rare, that most reputable jewellers claimed they never expected to see one in their lifetime, let alone have the privilege of selling one.
Gregorio reached over and linked his fingers with those of her left hand before lifting it up and kissing her ring finger. ‘It’s going to look perfect on you.’
‘What...? I... You... Are the two of you...?’ David at least made an attempt at speech, even if not very successfully.
Talking was still beyond Lia. It was surprise enough that Gregorio had come to the bistro at all, but that he should now be giving David the impression that the two of them were... That they were...
‘Yes, we are,’ Gregorio stated challengingly. ‘Have the two of you ordered yet?’ he continued, as if he hadn’t just rendered the two people seated at the table with him dumb. ‘I worked up quite an appetite this morning.’
The look he gave Lia could only be called intimate.
Except...
When Lia looked into his eyes she could see the dangerous glitter so at odds with his pleasant tone and demeanour. Gregorio was angry. Coldly, furiously angry.
With her? Because she had met up with David?
Lia was pretty sure that was the reason.
Earlier she had refused to tell Gregorio who she was meeting for lunch, but she’d never had any intention of keeping the identity of that person a secret: how could she when she knew one of Gregorio’s men would have followed her when she’d left the hotel earlier? Lia had known that the other man would report back to Gregorio as to who she was meeting. She just hadn’t expected it to be so soon—or that, knowing she was meeting David, Gregorio would decide to join them.
Or that he would intentionally give David the impression that the two of them were together.
What on earth was all that about?
Did Gregorio think David would physically hurt her?
Why else would he have assigned one of his own bodyguards to protect me?
Before today Lia would have dismissed the idea of David ever hurting her as ridiculous. But the dangerous glitter in his eyes a few minutes ago, when he had taken her comment about his parents as a threat, said she would have been wrong.
David was more than capable of hurting her.
And Gregorio was obviously taking no chances.
His protectiveness really was quite... Well, not sweet, because Gregorio was the least sweet man Lia knew. But his concern for her definitely gave her a warm and fuzzy feeling inside.
‘No, we haven’t ordered yet.’ She gave him a warm smile. ‘I’m not sure David is staying.’
Her ex-fiancé was still staring at Gregorio, and at their linked hands, as if he had seen a ghost. Or his own demise? David must surely realise that with Gregorio beside her—literally—she wasn’t the defenceless little nobody he had implied she was earlier.
He gave himself a visible shake before answering her. ‘You’re right. I have to get back to the office.’ He slid to the end of the bench seat.
‘Don’t forget to take this with you.’ Gregorio picked up the ring box, but retained his hold on it as David would have taken it from him. ‘Stay away from Lia in future, Richardson.’ Gregorio spoke softly, but he was no less threatening because of it. ‘If I see you near her again I might not be quite so understanding.’
David’s face flushed with annoyance. ‘She was the one who asked for this meeting.’
‘Lia always tries to see the good in everyone.’ Gregorio nodded. ‘I don’t suffer with the same affliction.’
The other man’s chin rose defensively at the challenge in Gregorio’s tone. ‘You don’t frighten me.’
‘I have no intention of frightening you,’ Gregorio said pleasantly as he finally released the ring box. ‘But they can—and will if I think it necessary.’ He gave a nod in the direction of the two men standing outside the restaurant.
Lia had to choke back a laugh as she saw the look of horror on David’s face as he looked at the two burly bodyguards. One of them had obviously accompanied her, and Gregorio had brought the second man with him. Both men were at least five inches over six feet in height, with shoulders that looked to be almost as broad.
David didn’t say another word, pushing the ring box into his jacket pocket as he turned on his heel and strode out of the bistro. Lia saw him give the two bodyguards a wary glance before he hurried off in the direction of his office building.
Leaving a tense silence behind him.
Lia shot Gregorio a nervous glance from beneath her lashes. She could feel his tension, and see it in the stiff set of his shoulders. His eyes were narrowed, his lips thinned.
She breathed in deeply before speaking. ‘I thought—’
‘You didn’t think at all,’ Gregorio rasped. ‘If you had then you would have known not to arrange to see or speak to Richardson alone.’
‘I—’
‘You will not defy me in this way again, Lia,’ he bit out evenly. ‘Do you understand me?’
‘But—’ She broke off as the unfortunate waitress chose that moment to come back and take their order.
‘We are not staying,’ Gregorio informed her abruptly as he took out his wallet to remove some money, handing it to the waitress as he slid out of the booth and pulled Lia with him.
‘Where are we going?’ She just had time to grab her shoulder bag as he marched them both towards the exit.
‘Somewhere we can talk privately,’ came the grimly determined reply.
Lia didn’t like the sound of that.
At all.