Abigail Gordon – In the Boss's Arms: Having the Boss's Babies / Her Millionaire Boss / Her Surgeon Boss (страница 15)
‘That’s exactly what I’m telling you.’
‘Alice, I’ve discussed this with your workmates, who know you and love you. And we all agree you’re a one-man girl. You haven’t got it in you to flit from guy to guy. You fall heavily for a man and that’s it.’
Alice sighed. ‘Can I ask where this conversation is heading? Are you trying to warn me off Liam?’
Shana’s eyes glinted knowingly, as if she was privy to a nasty secret, and Alice’s stomach sank as she remembered her workmate’s original question about whether there was a wife in Liam’s past.
‘If you’ve got something to tell me, spill it,’ she said. ‘Don’t treat me like I’m a naïve teenager with stars in my eyes.’ She’d just been through a horrible divorce, for heaven’s sake. She wasn’t going to rush into another mistake.
‘Well, do you know whether or not the boss has been married?’ Shana persisted.
‘I know he’s not married now, and that’s good enough for me.’ Alice was pleased that her voice was calm in spite of the frantic way her heart galloped.
She wasn’t thrilled that Liam had not volunteered any information about the women in his past, but she’d decided not to press him. Instead she’d chosen to trust him. She’d trusted him from the first moment she met him in the Hippo Bar and so far he hadn’t let her down.
‘OK, can you answer this?’ Shana asked. ‘Why has Liam Conway never driven a motor car?’
‘What?’ Alice gaped at her. ‘Are you crazy? Of course he drives cars. The man landed a plane, for heaven’s sake.’ And he’d produced his driver’s licence as proof of his birthday on the night they met.
It was possible that Shana’s smile was meant to be sympathetic, but it didn’t quite work. ‘The
‘That’s nonsense.’ Shana was only trying to stir up trouble. ‘Now, if you’re quite finished, I have work to do.’ She couldn’t stomach any more of this conversation.
‘I was only telling you this for your own good, but if you’re bent on defending the man no matter what, I’m wasting my time.’
Letting out an angry sniff, Shana turned and flounced back to her desk and positioned her chair and computer screen so there was no chance of eye contact.
Good, Alice decided, noting the other woman’s stiff, angry back. Now she could get on with her own work.
Movement at the bottom of her computer screen caught her eye and she saw a string of new email messages arrive.
Enquiries about the outback tours had been flooding in, thanks to the publicity Liam had attracted. He’d handled the media interviews brilliantly—was charming, articulate and perfectly comfortable in front of the cameras. And as a result they’d already drawn more interest in Kanga Tours than they’d dared to hope for.
It would be best to deal with the email messages quickly before she moved on to the list of phone calls she had to make. She scanned the email list and her heart bounced. One message leapt out from the screen—a private communication from Conway, Liam C.
Oh, heavens. Her skin flashed with nervous excitement as she clicked on it.
Alice felt her face burst into flames.
No way could she wipe the smile from her face. Thank heavens Shana wasn’t looking her way.
Liam’s mind was not on his work. He should have been dealing with everything that had piled up while he was away, but his concentration was shot to pieces. He couldn’t stop thinking about Alice. He sat in his office, staring at his computer screen, hoping she wasn’t too busy to answer his email immediately.
Perhaps he
He’d come to this city with a single-minded purpose, prepared to do everything that was needed to secure his company’s viability. But from the very moment he’d seen Alice in the Hippo Bar, he’d been a marked man.
He hadn’t believed it was possible to be so distracted, so obsessed. Alice was a miracle, his perfect woman. And to think he’d had to come way up north to find her. Right now all he could think about was this evening.
Actually, in a perfect world he wouldn’t wait till this evening. He would summon Alice to his office, lock the door and explore the possibilities his wide desk offered. But of course that wasn’t going to happen, so he kept picturing other fantasies about tonight—the way he would rush through Alice’s front door, dump the takeaway food on her kitchen counter and start to undress her.
Alice stared at the message from her boss, thinking thoughts so lusty and steamy she could hardly sit still.
All it took was a few words on a screen—
Surely this wasn’t normal. Maybe it was some kind of post-divorce reaction? Perhaps, after almost a decade of struggling inside a failing marriage, she was finding Liam’s attention just too exciting. The whole situation was getting out of hand. Their relationship was heating up way too quickly.
With this much fire, someone could get burned. And guess who it would be?
Not the boss!
She should be cooler and calmer about the whole thing. She wasn’t a teenager. She was an adult in her thirties and she should be able to manage a relationship in a super-cool and controlled
Taking a deep breath in and out, she scooped up her hair, gave it a little twist and used the butterfly clip from her top drawer to secure it away from her collar.
Not that it helped to make her feel any cooler or calmer. This was a fire that wouldn’t be easy to tone down. Maybe she should speak to Liam. She could suggest they take things more slowly, talk more, rather than rushing straight into bed.
Right. Taking another deep breath, and with one eye on Shana, she began to type a carefully worded, super-polite and admirably restrained reply to Liam’s request.
‘I’ve printed out these spreadsheets for you to look over,’ the company accountant told Liam.
‘Good, Merv; thank you.’
Merv began to set his work on Liam’s desk and, as he did so, three emails appeared on Liam’s computer screen. One was from Alice.
‘They’ll be fine,’ Liam said a touch impatiently as Merv carefully made sure that each document was placed neatly and precisely and in exactly the right order.
‘You might like to take a closer look at the projections for wages over the next six months, Mr Conway.’
‘Yes, yes, sure.’ Liam’s eyes darted back to the screen.
‘From these figures I’d suggest you consider leasing more of our IT equipment rather than owning it.’
Liam’s hand hovered over the mouse, eager to click on Alice’s response. ‘I’ll consider that. Yes, thank you, Merv.’
‘And then there’s the—’
‘I’ll give this report my thorough attention and then get back to you.’
At last Merv got the message. ‘I’ll leave it with you, then.’
Within a split-second of his turning to leave, Liam clicked on Alice’s message.