The PA's Revenge (Book 1, The Mackenzie Brothers) Read online

  She was an enigma and it only intrigued him more.

  The usual response to an apology—especially by a new employee—would have been either a polite rejection of its necessity, or a polite acceptance. Which meant Cassandra was neither acquiescent nor polite. Despite a slightly ruffled ego, he liked that.

  He also liked the way her straight, dark hair shone in the candlelight, revealing subtle highlights that couldn’t be reproduced in a hair salon. The depth of color provided a stunning foil to her pale skin and deep blue eyes. Irish coloring, he guessed. Wherever her family originated from, she was very beautiful.

  He took a sip of soda water and placed it carefully back onto the table between them, as he tried to control his visceral reaction to her. He looked up and caught her gaze. He realized his attempt at control had failed; he was incredibly attracted to her. Years ago, he would simply have taken her back to his apartment and they would have made love all night. But he had the feeling one night wouldn’t be enough.

  His errant thoughts of how much fun pleasuring this woman would be, were interrupted by the waiter bringing the drinks and responding to Cassandra’s enquiry about the restaurant’s history.

  Dallas only half listened as his eyes wandered back to Cassandra. Her chin was tilted up as she looked at the waiter, revealing her long neck which, God help him, he had an irrational desire to lick. Her hair fell, straight as a die, down her ramrod straight back. There was a slight stiffness to her elegance as if she were conscious of every movement, not entirely at ease. When the waiter left and she turned back to catch his gaze, he could see the unease in her eyes too. She was holding something back, but he’d find out what it was. Later.

  “So, John Stewart. Do you want me to continue to research his proposal?” Her voice was business like and cool, telling quite a different story to the look in her eyes.

  Of all the things he wanted to talk about, work wasn’t one of them.

  “Sure. John and I go back a long way. He’s hit hard times and wants some financial backing. Check it out for me.”

  She nodded. “I also heard talk of a couple of things tonight that were of interest.”

  “What things?”

  “He was mentioned in connection with a company notorious for asset stripping. Are you interested in that?”

  “Not as a rule. But never say never. Do some more research on it and get back to me tomorrow.”

  “Sure. I just didn’t get a good feel from him about the project.”

  It was as he thought. She was too good to lose.

  “So, tell me, Cassandra, what it is that you get a good feel from? What is it that pleases the aloof Miss Lee?”

  She raised an eyebrow in brief query at his deliberate choice of words. “Doing my job well.”

  “That’s it?”

  “That’s all I assume you’d be interested in.”

  “You presume incorrectly. Tell me about yourself.”

  “Where to begin?”

  “With your dancing?”

  “How did you know I danced?”

  “I can tell by how you hold yourself. Ballet?”

  “It was. An injury put pay to that.”

  “Were you disappointed?”

  “Of course. Ballet was my life.”

  “An early disappointment then. What next?”

  “Study. Finance and management.”

  He waved a hand to dismiss these subjects. He wanted to know about her. “Where were you born and raised?”

  “Massachusetts. Nothing much else to say. It was a happy, comfortable upbringing; I then went on to have a happy, comfortable marriage to a good man who died, and, a few months ago, I came to New Zealand. End of story.”

  “Or, perhaps, just the beginning. I take it you’re now looking for something other than ‘happy and comfortable?’”

  “Most people would have responded with ‘I’m sorry to hear of your husband’s death.’”

  He shrugged. “I’m not most people. I’m sorry if your happiness was curtailed but, you know, somehow I wonder if it was.” Her lips pursed briefly and her glance flicked away, showing an irritation that up till now she’d managed to hide. “I’ve annoyed you.”

  She took a studied sip of her wine. “No. You can imagine as you like. You are not to know the truth.”

  He narrowed his eyes. He didn’t know anything about her past, about her happiness or otherwise. He was just guessing of course. But her phrasing was odd. Her last words sounded more like a directive than an observation.

  “Shame. Because truth is very important to me. And it should be to you, too, while you’re in my employ.”

  Her blue eyes were dark as slate as he met her gaze. “Of course. So I have the job?”

  Again, the prevarication, the lack of a direct answer. “For a trial period, as I said. I’ve not made up my mind about you yet. It will also give you a chance to better understand how I work.”

  “I know how you work.”

  “Really?” He shook his head, as if at a loss to understand how. “Hearsay? Tabloid headlines? That sort of thing.”

  She took her time eating a mouthful of food before she answered. He made the most of that time watching her perfect lips move exquisitely as she chewed the tender chicken and her throat constrict as she swallowed. He glanced up to see that she’d noticed where his attention lay.

  “That sort of thing,” she replied without haste. “And more. So much is available on the internet, so that even from the other side of the world one can watch the progress of business and its players, one can analyze their moves as one would a chess player and one can form judgements.”

  “I’m flattered that you paid such minute attention to me. Tell me, why?”

  “Your property developments are renowned for their innovation and quality. And,” she paused briefly, “from the moment I learned of your latest developments, I’ve wanted to work with you.”

  Something didn’t sit right. “If you’re trying to flatter me, it’s not working. Tell me about your other reasons for coming to New Zealand.”

  She didn’t look up at him immediately and he thought he saw her hand shake slightly before she placed her fork carefully on the plate and dropped her hands to her lap. Then she looked up at him with the full force of her calm, blue gaze.

  “My mother had New Zealand connections, I’ve been wanting to come here since I heard her stories as a child. And, as I mentioned earlier, I had someone in particular I came to see.”

  “Hmm. Killing two birds with one stone.” He could have sworn she blanched as a sheen of cool sweat settled on her forehead. But her eyes barely registered the change her skin revealed.

  “I think that about sums up my reason for being here.”

  There was a long pause while Dallas wondered whether he should push for an explanation. But he was enjoying the intrigue too much to want it to end. There was a lot to be said for prolonging the journey, the process, the foreplay. He wasn’t in any hurry to reach that point where the fascination evaporated into a mirage of dust leaving only emptiness. He finished his soda water. No hurry at all. He flicked a look at his watch.

  “Time we were off.”

  “Where to?”

  “Home with me. 24/7 remember.”

  “I assumed I’d be staying close to your office, on call.”

  “You assumed wrongly. I’ve tried that and it didn’t work. From now on my PA stays with me, at my house.”

  “I hope you haven’t got the wrong idea about me.”

  “I doubt it very much.”

  “I won’t be sleeping with you.”

  He laughed. “So candid and direct. I can’t tell you that it hasn’t crossed my mind. But I don’t always act on every passing thought.” He stood up and pulled the chair from her as she rose, before stepping back. “But this is business. If you still want the job?”

  “I do.”

  “I want you to be with me, 24/7, so we can get on with the business of making money. Agreed?”
<
br />   “Agreed.”

  “Ready to be on-call twenty-four hours a day for the next seven days?”

  She nodded. “Sure.” Her clipped reply betrayed a reluctance to which she obviously refused to succumb.

  “I’d assumed you’d agree. Todd has already collected your case from the hotel. He’s waiting for us.” He looked up into the night sky. “It’ll be a fine ride to the Bay.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  The Bay. His home. This was it. The beginning.

  It was a short walk through the empty streets back to the Mackenzie Building and a silent one. The odd glance Cassandra cast at Dallas showed him to be lost in thought and apparently fixated on the pavement ahead. He walked quickly, withdrawn into his own world and oblivious to the fact she was having trouble keeping up with him. The tight skirt and the ridiculously high heels were keeping her a good few paces behind him and she was trailing fast.

  Not a good look she decided as she attempted to run a couple of steps to make up the ground. But just as she reached him, her foot twisted slightly, sending her flying in front of him.

  As the pavement loomed up in slow motion in front of her eyes, she cried out in surprise and his arm smoothly plucked her from the fall, drawing her to his body.

  She could feel his heart pound with the sudden shot of adrenalin as her cheek rubbed against his satiny-smooth lapel.

  “You OK?” He pulled her up to standing and held her close as he searched her face in concern.

  She nodded, embarrassed at the sudden proximity and at the reason for it.

  “Sorry, not used to the heels.”

  She regretted the words as soon as they left her lips. She’d given something away and his eyes lit up with interest.

  “Really? Your previous position more of a flat shoes kind of job?”

  “Something like that. Luckily the height of my heels didn’t affect my job performance.”

  “Then why bother with them for me? Trying to impress? Or something else?”

  He didn’t have to spell it out. He imagined she was trying to seduce him.

  “Of course I was trying to impress. It was a job interview.” She tried to pull away, grateful for the timely reminder of his arrogance. It distracted her from the touch of his hand—hot through her thin jacket—and the tilt of his usually stern lips, now parted slightly, torn between amusement and arousal. He also smelt divine—a blend of aftershave, outdoors and pure maleness. But he wouldn’t let her move. And somehow, she didn’t want to.

  Long seconds passed before he let his hands stroke down her arms and then drop free.

  “You’re a woman of contradictions, Cassandra Lee. I think I’ve got you figured out and then you go and surprise me.”

  “How so?”

  “A dancer who is both graceful,” he grinned, a disarming and all too rare grin, “and clumsy.”

  She stiffened. “I haven’t danced in years.”

  “Shame. I bet you were good at it.”

  She nodded. “Perhaps, at one time. But now there’s only one thing you need to know about me.” She wouldn’t back down from his gaze. “And that’s that I’m good at my job.”

  “I could see that tonight. You worked the room well, you mixed easily with everyone there, John included. He’s not the easiest of people.” His mouth tightened once more.

  “Then why do business with him?”

  “As I said, we go back a long way. He used to bail me out of trouble when I was younger. I owe him. Even though we’ve been going separate ways for some years now, I never forget where my loyalties lie.” He offered his arm to her. She paused briefly before taking it.

  “I don’t want you lunging after me again. People may get the wrong idea.”

  She flicked him an irritated glance but fell into step beside him.

  “No doubt you think I did it on purpose.”

  “No. Somehow I don’t think a dancer of your grace could ever purposely be so inelegant.”

  “Why, thank you for the back-handed compliment.”

  “My pleasure.” He stopped in front of the building and paused to retrieve his security card. “Sounds like Todd is ready for us.”

  Suddenly she was aware of the sound of rotor-blades slicing the night air high above her. She looked up to see a helicopter warming its engine on the roof. Bright landing lights revealed the shiny red body of the craft, toy-like against a backdrop of dark sky that was slowly lightening with the silver smudge of a rising moon.

  A helicopter. Of course. She knew he owned one but had conveniently forgotten she’d be expected to fly in one.

  She swallowed hard. She hated helicopters.

  But she had no choice. It was the next stage of the journey: a journey, she was increasingly feeling, into unchartered territory.

  “You want to take the controls yourself, sir?”

  “No, not tonight, Todd. It’s all yours. I’ve got, er,” he couldn’t resist a glimpse of her long, slender legs, “business to attend to.”

  “So I can see sir.”

  He sat back, relaxed, and acknowledged Todd’s grin in the mirror before turning his attention to Cassandra once more.

  Shame, really, that she had such a good business head on that long slender neck. From tomorrow he could only look and admire. She was strictly off limits for anything else. But he’d enjoy the view tonight.

  He saw her hands tighten on the seat rests.

  “Nervous?”

  The glance she gave him showed his guess to be accurate.

  “Not at all.”

  He watched her white throat constrict briefly before she closed her eyes, allowing her glossy hair to fall forward, in a vain attempt to obscure her face.

  “Tired then?”

  “A little, maybe.”

  “A sudden change for you. New job, new life—all within hours. No-one you need to contact?”

  She turned to face him once more, all sign of nerves vanished from her dark blue eyes.

  “It’s all sorted.”

  “I like a woman with no complications.”

  She closed her eyes once more.

  In what direction had her thoughts turned? Her brow furrowed slightly, her glossily coated red lips tightened. Something had got to her and he didn’t believe it was the flight.

  It was the air of mystery that fascinated him. What was her background? Not the fabricated rubbish on her CV. That was just telling him what she thought he wanted to know. Why did she want the job? Again, he didn’t believe a word she’d said.

  With surprise he realized that he wanted to get to know the real Cassandra. It would be a novel experience. He’d usually gone out of his way not to know women, other than in the biblical sense. But then his interest had never been piqued on so many fronts before.

  Simply two things to remember: no sex and no long-term relationship, business or otherwise.

  He could do that. Perhaps.

  Doubts assailed him as he watched her push her shoes off and rub her obviously aching feet together before slipping the high stilettos back into place. He frowned as he checked his response to the unconscious act.

  That was the risk. He had his life on track. He didn’t want anyone rocking the boat.

  He chanced a look at her profile as she peered out of the window. A long curl fell forward from behind her ear, incongruously sitting at right angles to the rest of her sleek style. He smiled to himself and felt his gut tighten with attraction. Why didn’t women realize that it was the imperfections that were so sexy?

  He estimated that the sophisticated exterior was probably wafer thin. He wondered how long she would be able to keep it up. It would be diverting to watch.

  Depending on her ability, he’d give her six months max to help clear the backlog of his work. It would give him time to piece together the mysteries of her character and background and then he’d get rid of her. Everyone was expendable, some sooner than others. He had no long-term place in his life for a woman.

  Automatically he check
ed their position as they swooped around the harbor. The Rimutaka ranges rose darkly to their left as they changed direction, following the curve of the coast. The city lights grew small and suddenly vanished as they flew across the hills that enclosed Wellington. There was nothing below but the vast emptiness of rolling hills on one side and the sea on the other. The view by day was mesmerizing and even at night it had its charms which Cassandra seemed to have succumbed to: the sparse scattering of lights along the wild, windswept coastline edging into the inkier blackness of the Cook Strait.

  Cassandra could feel his eyes on her and kept hers firmly on the light-flecked darkness below.

  God, she hated helicopters. Always had. From the menacing throb of their blades to the simple fact of their insignificance when set against a vast sky. She had few physical fears. But dangling in the air with only a flimsy metal structure between her and certain death was one of them.

  It didn’t help that she was being scrutinized by a man who didn’t hide his curiosity—both intellectual and sexual. She could deal with the intellectual. Knowing the arrogance of the man he probably thought he’d nail her in a few short days. He might be cold and calculating but so could she be. It would be a close match but she would win. She had more at stake.

  But, sexually? Her body responded of its own accord with a heat and suspension of wits that threatened her purpose. She wasn’t here for that. She had to re-focus him, get him thinking about something that was important to him—his wealth, obviously.

  “How far does your land extend?”

  Her question roused him from his contemplation. He pointed north. “Out towards the Tararuas. It’s really just an indulgence for me to keep such a large estate so close to the city. The real property’s down south.”

  “Glencoe.”

  “You’ve done your homework.”

  She nodded. “Run by your brother, Callum. Your other brother, James, looks after your overseas investments in New York.”

  “Yep. That leaves me to do what I do best.”