Heiress on the Run. Sophie Pembroke
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any man alive, surely he knew better than most the perils of giving in to temptation and forgetting obligations. Faith was here to work, and that was all. He had to remember that.
‘Yes. Work,’ Faith said, bringing his attention back to the topic at hand. ‘I wanted to run through a few things with you, actually.’ To his surprise, she whipped a small notebook from her bag, uncapped a pen and sat poised to write down his answers. ‘First, can your office send me an itinerary for the week so I know exactly what you’ve got planned for your guests, and I can work around it? Also, it means I can make myself available if anyone has any questions between meetings.’
‘I’ll ask Kevin to fax one over,’ he said, trying to remember if Kevin even knew how to work the fax machine.
‘Great. Once I have that, I’ll put together a tentative itinerary and email it to you for your approval.’
‘You’ll need a laptop,’ Dominic realised, belatedly.
‘No need.’ Pulling a tablet computer from her bag, she waved it at him. ‘I use this.’
He blinked at her. ‘Well, great. Okay then.’
‘Next, do you have any background details on the clients themselves? Their lives, their families, their businesses, anything that I can use to get to know them?’
‘You do realise you’re a tour guide, not a dating service, right? You don’t need to find them their perfect match.’
Her face turned stony, and he regretted the joke. She was trying to do a good job, after all. He should be encouraging her, not ridiculing her.
‘These people are a long way from home for almost two whole weeks. It’s my job to make sure they enjoy themselves and feel comfortable here. Knowing a little about them makes that easier. I’ll talk to them myself when they arrive, of course, but a little forward knowledge would mean I can get going sooner.’
‘Of course,’ Dominic said contritely. ‘Well, their businesses I can tell you about. But, as for the rest of it...’ He spread his hands out. ‘Katarina used to handle that sort of thing, I’m afraid.’
* * *
Faith paused with her mini cinnamon swirl halfway to her mouth. Katarina. That was a new name. ‘Is Katarina your secretary?’ If so, she could call and ask her for all the gossip.
‘No. Not my secretary.’ Dominic shifted in his chair, looking sorry he’d ever mentioned the woman. Not a secretary. Then...
‘Your wife?’
He sighed, and reached for the coffee. ‘My ex-fiancée, actually. But, more pertinently, she runs the company we usually use for this sort of thing.’
‘But not this time,’ Faith said.
‘No. Not this time.’
‘Because you split up.’
Dominic gave her an exasperated look. ‘Can’t you ever take a hint to stop asking questions?’
Faith shrugged unapologetically. ‘I like to know exactly where I stand with things. Makes life a lot less complicated.’
‘Well, she doesn’t matter any more. She’s gone. You’re here now to take her place,’ Dominic said, entirely matter-of-fact.
Faith felt a peculiar squirming feeling in her stomach. ‘As a tour guide. Not as your fiancée.’
Dominic looked up, appalled. ‘That goes without saying!’
Faith flushed. ‘You don’t have to be quite so horrified at the prospect,’ she muttered.
‘Right. No. I just meant...’ He sighed. ‘This is a business arrangement, for both of us. Katarina...she’s out of the picture now, and I’m afraid you can’t really call her for insights on our guests.’
Now, that was interesting. Surely the woman would have an assistant or something that Faith could call for some notes. For Dominic to be so certain she wouldn’t help, something pretty dramatic had to have happened between them.
‘Bad break up?’ she asked.
‘The worst,’ Dominic groaned, and for the first time since she’d met him in that airport bar he seemed human. Normal. As if he had actual emotions and feelings, rather than a sensor that told him when to be disapproving of something.
‘Want to talk about it?’ she asked.
‘Not even a little bit.’ He didn’t leave any room for discussion.
Oh well. Human moment over.
‘Okay, well, if you can’t tell me about them as people, you must be able to tell me why they’re here. What’s the very important business you have with them?’
Dominic leaned back in his chair. ‘I’m looking to expand the activities and operations we have running on the Beresford estate. We’re considering buying up some neighbouring land to build on, as well as utilising the Beresford family’s London properties.’
In which case, Faith thought, they’d be one of the only aristocratic families to actually increase their family estates in generations. ‘So these guys are your investors?’
Dominic nodded. ‘Potential investors. But also potential clients. They want to see what we have on offer, and possibly use Beresford Hall in the future for international corporate retreats.’
‘Okay, that helps. Now, they’ve visited London before, right? I don’t suppose you’ve got a record of what they’ve seen and done...?’ Dominic winced. ‘No. Of course not.’
Faith sighed. Looked as if she was doing this the hard way. In which case, she really needed a kick-ass outfit to give her confidence.
‘Okay, since you can’t actually give me any practical help to do my job—’
‘I gave you the job itself, didn’t I?’ Dominic’s words came out almost as a growl, and Faith decided to change tack.
‘And in order that I can do it to the best of my ability and present the right impression of your company to your clients...I was wondering if there might be some sort of clothing allowance involved...’
His eyes did that quick flash over her body again, and Faith gave thanks she hadn’t put the other, scoop neck, T-shirt on that morning. Not that he’d have noticed, of course. All he seemed to care about was that she wasn’t wearing some boring suit.
‘You’re right,’ Dominic said. ‘I do need you to make the right impression.’
Faith perked up a bit. ‘So you’ll give me money to go shopping?’
Dominic shook his head, and the smile that spread across his face was positively devilish. ‘No. I’ll take you shopping to find something suitable.’
Something suitable. Faith slumped down into her chair a little.
Why did she suspect that Dominic’s idea of ‘suitable’ would translate into something she’d never usually wear in a million years?
CHAPTER FOUR
‘I’M NOT WEARING THAT.’
Dominic sighed and turned towards his newest employee with his best ‘I’m the boss’ face in place. Faith stared back at him, unaffected.
He hadn’t expected the airport to be a shopping Mecca—he was normally more concerned with finding a quiet spot in the first-class lounge to work when he passed through. Still, he knew that there were plenty of shops, and that people enjoyed taking advantage of them.
Sadly, it hadn’t occurred to him that most of them would be selling holiday apparel, especially at this time of year. Options for professional attire were somewhat limited.
‘It’s a suit, Faith. An inoffensive grey suit. It’s