PROLOGUE

      HE WOULD NOT be hiring Cecelia Andrews.

      Property magnate Luka Kargas had already decided that Candidate Number Two would be his new personal assistant.

      ‘Ms Andrews is here for her interview,’ Hannah, his current PA, informed him.

      ‘There’s no need for me to meet her,’ Luka responded. ‘I’ve decided to go with Candidate Two.’

      ‘Luka!’ Hannah reproached, a little braver now that she was leaving. ‘At least have the decency to see her. She’s been through two extensive interviews with me, and as well as that it’s pouring outside. She had to come across London in the middle of a storm.’

      ‘Not interested,’ Luka said, because he didn’t buy into sob stories. ‘It’s a waste of my time.’

      And a slice of Luka’s time was precious indeed.

      But then Luka suddenly remembered that Ms Andrews had been personally recommended by Justin, a contact he wanted to keep onside.

      ‘Fine, send her in,’ Luka said, deciding to see her briefly but then to get rid of her as soon as he could.

      Impatient fingers drummed the desk as he waited, and then Candidate Three was shown in.

      ‘Ms Andrews.’ Luka stood and shook her right hand, noticing that on her left she wore an engagement ring.

      Nothing would induce him to hire her, for she would have to have the most patient fiancé in the world to tolerate the ridiculous hours she would have to devote to him.

      And everyone knew his reputation.

      He just had to give her a few minutes of his time so he could tell Justin that he had interviewed her but gone with another candidate.

      ‘Please,’ he said. ‘Take a seat.’

      Cecelia knew that although he had called her Ms Andrews he was awaiting correction and an invitation to call her by her first name.

      There would be no such invitation to do so.

      Ms Andrews would do just fine, Cecelia had decided.

      She had read about him, thoroughly researched him, and even been told by his current PA during two prolonged interviews about his bad-boy ways.

      ‘You would have to deal with his girlfriends, or rather his exes,’ Hannah had explained. ‘It can