The Platinum Collection: An Australian Conquest: The Incorrigible Playboy / His Most Exquisite Conquest / His Bought Mistress. Emma Darcy
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shook his head. ‘Bad publicity. Besides, it wasn’t major criminal stuff.’
‘How did you find out he was crooked?’
‘Our sommelier in Cairns remarked to me that our island guests drank an inordinate amount of wine and spirits. Surprisingly inordinate, despite the fact that we run an open bar. It rang warning bells. When Sean had his mainland leave this past weekend, I did a thorough check of all supplies and usage, and bingo! No doubt he was robbing us and has been doing it for some considerable time.’
‘Will he know you were checking on him?’
‘He knows I was there but I didn’t tip my hand to anyone. Mickey and I still had to decide what to do about it. Any disruption is not good for business.’ He flashed a grin at her. ‘Which is where you come in. No disruption.’
She nodded. ‘I’ll do my best to make it appear a smooth transition, but I’ll need some help to begin with.’
‘No problem. I’ll be your guide for the first few days, until you’ve familiarised yourself with how everything runs.’
A few days in close contact with Harry had to be tolerated. The groundwork for this management job had to be laid if she was to carry it through successfully. It was the measure of closeness she had to watch. If he started taking liberties with her person...somehow she had to deal with that if and when it happened.
‘I’ll get on top of it all as soon as I can,’ she said with strong resolution.
Harry chuckled, his vivid blue eyes dancing with teasing knowledge as he slowly drawled, ‘I’m sure you will, Elizabeth. Can’t get rid of me fast enough, can you?’
She felt heat rushing up her neck and turned her face away, looking out to sea, hating how he could read her mind and provoke this reaction in her. ‘I’m sure you have to keep a check on other things besides the resort,’ she said flatly.
‘True. Though I am aware that I’m throwing you into a position you haven’t held before. I’ll spend a few days with you, then drop in from time to time in case you have any problems that I can resolve.’
She wished she could say, Don’t. I’ll call you if I need your help. But he was her boss now and what he was laying out was reasonable. Problems could arise that she didn’t even recognise because of her inexperience. ‘Do you have accommodation kept especially for you on the island?’ she asked, worrying about how close he was going to be to her.
‘No. I’m happy sleeping aboard this yacht. The Pickards have their own private villa as they are the only ones on the staff, apart from the manager, who actually live on the island full-time. The rest work on a rotation basis—ten days here, four days on the mainland—and they’re accommodated in a series of motel-like structures.’
‘Is that where I’ll be staying?’
He shook his head. ‘You’ll have your own private quarters in the administration building.’
Where Harry could make private visits.
Elizabeth grimaced at that thought. She was getting paranoid about the man. He could not get her into bed with him unless she allowed it. All she had to do was keep him at a sensible distance. It was only for a month and he wouldn’t be there all the time.
‘Don’t be worrying about clothes for tomorrow,’ he suddenly tossed at her. ‘I’ll get Sarah to issue you with the island uniform.’
‘What’s the island uniform?’ she queried, not having seen that on the video.
‘This...’ He indicated his T-shirt and shorts and pointed to the emblem just below his left shoulder—a stitched line of waves in blue over which Finn Island was written in a small flowing multicoloured script to match the multicoloured fish across his chest.
She hadn’t noticed the emblem before, distracted by the way the T-shirt clung to Harry’s very male physique. ‘I hadn’t realised. Of course, you came from there this morning.’
So much had happened today, her state of hopeful eagerness this morning felt as though it had been wiped out a million years ago. Another life ago.
‘Makes it easier for the guests to know who’s staff and who’s not,’ Harry explained, adding with one of his devilish grins, ‘That won’t take care of your undies, though.’
He was probably having a fantasy of her naked beneath her outer clothes.
‘I’ll manage,’ she said through gritted teeth.
He laughed. ‘You can probably pick up a bikini from the boutique. Sarah can provide you with a hair-dryer and a toothbrush. Don’t know about make-up.’
‘I have some in my handbag.’
‘No worries then.’
Only you, she thought.
Yet when they arrived on the island and confronted Sean Cassidy in his administration office, the playboy image Elizabeth had of Harry Finn in her mind was severely dented. Right in front of her eyes his easygoing attitude disappeared, replaced by a formidable air of authority. There was no semblance of light banter in his voice as he set about firing the crooked manager with ruthless efficiency.
Sean Cassidy had risen from the chair behind his office desk to greet his visitors, a smile on his face that didn’t quite reach his eyes, which skated over Elizabeth and settled warily on Harry. He was a tall, lean man, dark-haired, dark-eyed, and the unheralded appearance of his boss clearly caused some tension in him.
‘You’re out, Sean,’ Harry shot at him before the manager could say a word. ‘Move away from the desk. Don’t touch anything in this office. A helicopter will be arriving shortly to fly you to the mainland. Go and collect all your personal effects from your apartment. You won’t be coming back.’
‘What the hell...’ the guy started to expostulate.
Harry cut him off. ‘You know why. I have evidence of all your skimming activities. Providing you go quietly, I won’t hand you over to the police at this time. If you know what’s good for you, Sean, you’ll stay quiet. Any bad-mouthing of the Finn family and its business operations will have consequences you won’t like. Do you understand me?’
The threat had a steely edge to it that would have intimidated anyone. Sean Cassidy sucked in his breath, swallowed whatever defensive words he might have spoken and nodded. He looked shell-shocked.
‘Let’s go then.’ Harry waved commandingly to a door in the rear wall of the office. ‘I’ll accompany you into the apartment to ensure you don’t take anything that doesn’t belong to you.’
As the man started to move as directed, Harry turned to Elizabeth, his blue eyes ice-hard, not a vestige of a twinkle in them. ‘Take over the desk, Elizabeth. You’re now in charge of this office.’
She nodded, her mouth too dry to speak. Her heart was beating faster than normal. The air felt charged with electricity. She was still stunned by the strike-anyone-dead energy that had emanated from Harry. In her two years of working for Michael, she had never witnessed anything like it coming from him, and she had always thought he was the stronger brother.
It wasn’t until Harry had followed Sean into the apartment and closed the door that she could bring herself to actually move her feet. The desk was large and L-shaped with a computer workstation on one side. She sat in the chair that was now hers, grateful for its firm support. Witnessing the formidable side of Harry Finn had shaken her. The man was lethal, and she suddenly felt very vulnerable to whatever he might turn on her, now that she was locked into this situation with him.
That nerve-quivering blast of forcefulness... A shiver ran down her spine. Though surely he would never force a woman. He wouldn’t have to, came the instant answer in her head. He was so innately sexy he could make her feel hot and bothered with just a teasing look. But he needed her here for business so maybe he would refrain from pushing anything sexual with her. Teasing was just teasing.