He was impressed.
‘How was I?’ she asked.
‘Not bad at all. You’ve been working hard.’
‘You bet I have! Not just since I knew about the take-over, but before that, since the first deal. I knew your firm was going to be important to us, and I wanted it to be me that did the wheeling and dealing.’
He was amazed at the intensity in her voice and the flashing of her eyes. Here was no ordinary ambition. There was a driven quality to her.
‘Leonate had better look out,’ he said. ‘Before they know it you’ll have taken over. Perhaps I should warn them.’
‘No need. I can make my point for myself.’
‘I’ll bet you can,’ he said with a touch of admiration. ‘The question is, would they be wise to take you on?’
She laughed, but then sighed.
‘It’s easy to talk, but I thought the prize was within my grasp this time, and look what happened.’
‘Curtis?’ He shrugged. ‘A minor prize. But now there are others, bigger, more glittering.’
‘Exactly,’ she said, brightening again. ‘It’s just a question of making the right moves and convincing the right man.’
‘And who is the right man?’
She took a deep breath. Her eyes were gleaming with the thrill of the chase.
‘Primo Rinucci,’ she said.
He stared, jolted out of the happy dream that had begun to swirl around him.
‘Who?’
‘Primo Rinucci. He’s the power in Leonate Europa, even I know that.’
‘Yes, but-you hate him.’
‘How can I when I don’t know him?’
‘Well, you sure gave a good imitation of it yesterday. “To hell with Primo Rinucci” was the kindest thing you said.’
She made an impatient gesture as if to say this was an irrelevance.
‘That was just talk. Now it’s time for serious business.’
‘And he comes under the heading of serious business, does he?’
‘Winning him over does, although it’s going to be harder than I thought, since he isn’t here.’
‘That would make it more difficult,’ he agreed solemnly.
‘I suppose he didn’t bother to come to England himself because we’re not big enough to take up his attention.’
‘You’re not doing very much for my ego,’ he complained.
‘I didn’t mean-’
‘Of course you did. Be brave. Admit it. You reckon Signor Rinucci hasn’t got time to inspect his English acquisition, so he sends the small fry, like me.’
‘Not at all,’ she said quickly. ‘He sent you because you’re an Englishman and therefore better able to understand what you find here.’
‘Thank you, ma’am. That was a very clever recovery. You don’t mean a word of it, of course, because if you thought I mattered a bean you’d be trying to impress me instead of waiting for my boss.’
She laughed and didn’t deny it.
‘I wouldn’t get far trying to impress you now, would I?’ she teased. ‘It’s too late. You already know the worst of me. But he doesn’t.’ She looked at him in sudden anxiety. ‘You won’t tell him, will you?’
‘What, that you abused him?’
‘No, that I’m lying in wait for him. I don’t want him to be one step ahead of me, always knowing what I’m doing, do I?’
‘No, you don’t want that,’ he agreed awkwardly.
‘So you won’t tell him about me?’
‘Not unless he asks me direct questions,’ he said ‘which I’m sure he won’t.’
‘Good. Then I’m going to lure the lion into my den.’
He grinned. ‘I guess I don’t qualify as a lion.’
‘I see you more as a bear,’ she agreed, giving the matter serious thought. ‘Brown and grizzly, with a growl that you have to listen to very carefully to work out what it means today. Is he ferocious or is he in a mood to have his fur stroked? Better get it right, or who knows what could happen?’
It was subtle. It was clever. It was beautifully calculated to butter him up and soothe him down and, heaven help him, he knew he was going to fall for it even while he could see her pulling the strings.
‘Congratulations!’ he said admiringly. ‘At least I’ve had my warning. You’ll use me for practice, until the real prey turns up.’
She turned on him, eyes shining gleefully, head on one side.
‘You don’t mind, do you?’
‘How kind of you to ask! Would it make any difference if I did?’
‘You could always refuse.’
Sure, he could refuse! Like a drowning man could refuse to go down for the third time!
He met her eyes.
‘I’m considering my options,’ he said. ‘But have you thought of the practical difficulties?’
‘How do you mean?’
‘Aren’t you going to find it a little hard, running a lion and a bear in tandem?’
‘Ah, but suppose the bear’s on my side and he’s helping me, discreetly of course?’
‘Helping you-how?’ he asked, with well-founded caution.
‘Inside information. Practical advice. We could be a great team.’
‘A team implies an equal bargain,’ he protested. ‘Advantage on both sides. What do I get out of it?’
‘What do you want to get out of it?’ she teased.
Suddenly his head swam. What did he want to get out of it?
When the wild dance of his senses had calmed a little he managed to speak.
‘If that means what I think it does,’ he said softly, ‘you’re a shameless hussy.’
‘Not at all. You know the score.’
‘Maybe I have my own method of scoring.’
‘That will only make it more interesting,’ she murmured, so softly that he had to strain to hear, and her breath whispered across his face.
Out of sight, he gripped the table.
‘You’re a wicked woman,’ he said appreciatively. ‘Scheming, manipulative, dishonest-’
‘No.’ She laid a finger over his lips. ‘I’m not dishonest. I’m completely upfront about what I want and what I’ll do to get it. That’s honest. It doesn’t make me a very nice person, but it does make me honest.’
‘Olympia, for heaven’s sake! What a way to talk! Anyway, what do you mean by “inside information”?’
‘What’s the best way to approach him? What kind of woman does he like?’
‘The kind he’s married to,’ he replied, straight-faced.
Her eyes opened wide. ‘
‘Suffocatingly married for the last twelve years. He has five children and his wife’s a dragon with gimlet eyes. She’s a jealous fiend who inspects all his female employees with a machine-gun in her hand.’
‘But Cedric says-’ She checked herself, finally seeing the glint in his eyes. She leaned back in her chair, glaring at him.
‘I ought to squirt something at you for scaring me like that.’
‘It’s all true, I swear it.’
‘True, nothing! He’s a bachelor. Cedric told me.’
‘So you’ve been pumping poor Cedric?’ he exclaimed in unholy delight. ‘I can’t wait to hear what you offered
Suddenly she could no longer meet his eyes. ‘The usual,’ she murmured.
‘And just-what-is the usual?’ he asked, smothering his unease.
