Takeover Engagement. Elizabeth Duke
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I wonder? Because…’ he stroked his strongly carved jaw ‘…you aren’t altogether sure how you feel about him?’
‘Oh, that’s ridiculous!’ she cried. But was it? She forced up her chin. ‘If that lift hadn’t got stuck I would have got there before David left.’
‘Maybe,’ he conceded drily, but the dark glitter in his eyes showed he didn’t believe it. ‘Well, don’t worry, Lucy…I may call you Lucy, I trust? And, please, David calls me Case—all my engineers do. You must too.’ He pursed his well-shaped lips. ‘He’ll ask you again, won’t he?’
His tone was sardonic now, the cynical lines round his mouth appearing more marked. As if he was used to female games, and thought she had been playing one with David, deliberately playing hard to get. Did he think she was holding out for a bigger and better diamond ring? Was that it?
She buried her indignation, and said with a sigh, ‘That’s just it. He won’t.’ She hesitated, then admitted, ‘That’s why I had to meet him on time. He said if I didn’t arrive by twelve-fifteen at the very latest he’d know my answer was no. And he wouldn’t be asking me again.’
Case raised a dark eyebrow. ‘So…he’d given you an ultimatum, had he?’ He spoke in a lazy drawl, his eyes narrowing. ‘And yet you were cutting it so fine that even if that lift hadn’t broken down you would have been lucky to have made it.’ He searched her face for a long moment, then asked curiously, ‘Was it his ultimatum you were rebelling against, Lucy? Or was it that you really are unsure…about whether to say yes at all?’
She flushed scarlet. ‘Neither!’ she cried, and wondered at the same time, with a stab of unease, if she was protesting too much, if that was the real reason she’d been running late.
But she was hardly going to admit it to David’s boss! ‘I wasn’t fighting against anything…I was just running late,’ she asserted. ‘People do run late, you know. When they lead busy lives,’ she added pointedly.
He obviously had all the spare time in the world. Time to visit antique jewellers in the middle of the day. Time to change his mind glibly and declare he’d be back later. Time to chat up strange women. But then, he was the big boss. He could do as he liked. It was the people who worked for him who were on the tight schedule, who worked hard for a living. People like David.
‘Not so busy that they have to miss lunch though…surely?’ came the smooth response.
She glanced up at him quickly. Uncertainly. Surely he couldn’t mean—?
‘I’ll buy a sandwich on my way back to work,’ she decided hastily.
‘You’re working this afternoon?’ he asked, waving her out of the lift as it reached ground level.
‘Of course. Why? Aren’t you?’ she asked mockingly as she stepped out into the tiled lobby.
He ignored the question. ‘What time do your afternoon appointments start?’ She felt his hand at her elbow, felt his presence close behind her as they crossed the lobby to the open doorway leading onto Collins Street.
‘Three o’clock,’ she admitted after a slight pause. Normally she had appointments from two o’clock, but today she’d put them back in case David had wanted her to drive him to the airport.
Her lip curled ruefully at the thought. For once he’d meant what he’d said. He hadn’t waited a moment longer than he’d vowed he would. Did he think that tactic would make her come to heel the next time he asked her to marry him? Or had he meant it when he’d vowed it would be over, finished, if she didn’t turn up?
‘Good. Then I’ll take you to lunch. The Regent’s closest. They’re bound to have a spare table.’
She felt a bristle of resentment at the high-handed way he was assuming she would simply fall in with his plans. For Case Travers, she mused sourly, any top restaurant in Melbourne, no doubt, would have a table ready and waiting, any time he asked.
She tossed her head, her silky hair swinging, softly caressing her long neck. ‘There’s no need—’
‘I think there is. It’s the least I can do to make up for your…disappointment today.’ She caught the slight hesitation before the word ‘disappointment’, and the faint mockery in his voice as he said it.
Damn, she cursed silently. I’ve said too much. David won’t relish his big boss knowing his personal problems. I should have shut up…or at least covered up better.
‘Why should you have to make anything up to me?’ she demanded tartly. ‘You weren’t the one who made the lift break down.’
‘True. But your…friend David works for me. And I may be in a position to put things right for you and give you another chance with him.’ He raised a taunting eyebrow. ‘If you want another chance?’
Her chin came up. ‘I can manage my own personal affairs, thank you. But…I appreciate your concern,’ she added, realising how rude the retort must have sounded.
He gave a brief chuckle. Obviously he was thickskinned enough to take it. He was probably used to dealing with abuse—and shrugging it off—in his high-powered, cut-throat business dealings. ‘Nevertheless,’ he said coolly, ‘let’s have a bite of lunch together. I think we deserve a bit of relaxation after our shared trauma, don’t you?’
She was about to refuse when she thought, Why not? It wasn’t every day she had an invitation to the Regent for lunch. And he was David’s boss. ‘I guess so.’ She gave in with a smile. She didn’t feel so sure, though, that she was going to find it relaxing. There was something about this man that made her feel anything but relaxed.
As it happened, there were plenty of tables available at the restaurant he took her to, the luxurious Le Resturant, high up in the Regent Hotel. When they had been shown to a window table, with stunning views over the city and parklands, Case said, ‘Take a look at the view for a moment, Lucy, while I slip out and make a couple of phone calls. Be right back.’
‘Fine,’ she said, thankful that he hadn’t produced a mobile phone and proceeded to use it at the table as she’d seen some businessmen do. ‘In fact…’ she edged away from the table herself ‘…I’ll just pop into the powder room and freshen up a bit while you’re making your calls.’
As they headed off, she in one direction, he in the other, she wondered idly who he was calling. His secretary? His wife? Was he the type of man who would be open and honest with his wife about taking another woman out to lunch, or would he keep quiet about it?Did he have a wife, for that matter? Or was he a free agent, on the look-out, perhaps, for a new woman in his life? She vaguely recalled David mentioning that his new chief was rarely seen out of business hours without a beautiful woman on his arm, but whether he’d meant a wife or a succession of women…Why hadn’t she taken more notice?
Her heart fluttered at the thought of this man—this sexy, attractive hunk—being on the look-out for a woman. Fool! she instantly berated herself. Men like Case Travers didn’t have to go looking for a woman. Women undoubtedly came swarming from all sides. He could take his pick—his pick of the cream of
Melbourne society, if that was his taste. Which, with his staggeringly wealthy, powerful background, was more than likely.
Before returning to her table, she paused at the mirror in the glamorous powder room to gaze for a bemused moment at her reflection…at the face that seemed to have caught his eye for some reason. Nothing too remarkable about it, really. He must know far more beautiful and elegant women he could have invited to lunch. Why was he going out of his way to spend his time with her when he didn’t have to? She’d be a fool to kid herself that it was because he was in any way attracted to her. If they hadn’t got stuck in that lift together, he wouldn’t have looked at her twice.
And yet…he had looked at her twice. She’d caught him looking at her before they’d even stepped into the lift.
Maybe