Her Italian Boss’s Agenda

A young man was standing there, watching her with interest.

He was very tall with slightly shaggy brown hair, dark brown eyes and a wide, firm mouth. He seemed to be regarding Olympia with some amusement, but perhaps that was only her imagination. She hoped desperately that her lips hadn’t been moving.

‘Can I help you?’ she asked coolly.

‘I’m looking for Olympia Lincoln. They told me downstairs that I’d find her here.’

The Central Staff Office was downstairs. After the first surprise Olympia recovered. Male secretaries were quite common these days.

‘I am Olympia Lincoln,’ she said. ‘I’m glad you got here quickly. They said they’d send me a replacement in five minutes, but-’ She shrugged.

‘Replacement?’

‘Well, not permanent replacement, of course. Just temporary until my regular secretary is feeling better. Have you been here long-with the firm, I mean?’

‘No, a very short time,’ he said. He was watching her keenly and picking his words with caution.

‘Never mind, you’ll soon get the hang of it. We’re in the middle of an upheaval at the moment. Curtis has been taken over by an Italian firm called Leonate Europa, and soon someone will arrive from Italy to make it official. We’re all waiting in fear and trembling to learn our fate.’

He raised his eyebrows. ‘Fear and trembling? You?’

She gave a half smile, pleased by the implication. ‘Yes-well-I can do a good imitation of it if necessary.’

‘Will it be necessary?’

‘I’ll tell you that when I’ve met His Majesty.’

‘Who’s he?’

‘Primo Rinucci. The “great man” who’s coming to whip us all into line. Damned cheek!’

‘Isn’t it a bit soon to blame him? He might be all right.’

Suddenly her carefully cultivated pose fractured under the burden of her anger.

‘He’s not all right. He’s a predator who thinks he can snatch whatever he wants and to hell with everyone else. Ooh, I wish he was here so that I can give him a piece of my mind!’

‘It’s only a moment ago you were going to pretend to fear and tremble.’

‘I’ll do that first. Then I’ll tell him what I think of him, coming here, disrupting my life, taking my promotion just when it’s in my grasp, thinking his money can buy anything.’

‘Money has a way of doing that,’ he observed mildly. ‘It’s one of its virtues.’

‘To hell with virtue, to hell with money and to hell with Primo Rinucci.’

The sight of her eyes, blazing with indignation, held him entranced. Men had lost their heads for eyes like that, he thought. As he was in danger of doing.

‘I can see that this is going to be a meeting of Titans,’ he murmured.

She returned to sanity, and sighed.

‘Well, keep what you’ve just heard to yourself. I suppose I shouldn’t have spoken so freely in front of you-’

‘My lips are sealed,’ he promised. ‘I swear never to tell Primo Rinucci what you really think of him.’

‘Thank you, but be careful. Since we don’t know what he looks like, you might find yourself talking to him without knowing it’s him. He’s probably the sort of low life who’d keep his identity secret just to be mean.’

‘Yes,’ he said, with a touch of guilt. ‘I suppose that’s possible.’

‘But then, his being Italian would be a giveaway.’

‘Maybe not,’ he couldn’t resist saying. ‘Not all Italians say Mamma mia! and wave their hands. In fact, I believe some of them are indistinguishable from normal human beings.’

Try as he might, he couldn’t keep a note of irony out of his voice. Luckily she was too preoccupied to notice.

‘But he’d have an accent,’ she persisted. ‘He wouldn’t sound English like you and me.’

He cleared his throat, then seemed to go into a kind of trance. In truth he was struggling with a temptation more overwhelming than any he’d known in his life. A wise man would tell her the truth before it was too late.

But it was already too late, and never had he felt so reluctant to be wise.

‘By the way, I should have asked your name,’ Olympia said.

He played for time.

‘What?’ he asked vaguely.

‘Your name.’

‘My name.’

‘That’s right. What is it-your name?’

She spoke patiently, and her eyes showed that she thought she was dealing with a halfwit. Was that better than telling her that he was Primo Rinucci?

For one wild moment he teetered on the brink of the truth.

Tell her who you really are. Be honest. Play safe.

He took a deep breath. To blazes with honesty! As for safety-nuts to it!

‘Jack Cayman,’ he said.

It had been the name of his English father. It was many years now that he’d lived in Italy as a Rinucci. But his early years had left their mark, and he could still speak English without a trace of Italian accent. So it was easy for him, now, to look Olympia in the eye and claim to be Jack Cayman.

She extended her hand. ‘Well, Mr Cayman-’

‘You can call me Jack.’

‘You can call me Miss Lincoln,’ she said firmly, feeling that it was time she reclaimed the ground she’d lost in that burst of frankness.

‘Yes, ma’am,’ he said meekly.

‘Now, the sooner we get down to work the better.’

‘Would you just give me a few minutes first?’ he asked hurriedly. ‘I’ll be straight back.’

‘Of course. It’s just down the corridor on the right.’

‘Thanks,’ he said, hurrying out of the door.

It was several moments before it dawned on him that she’d directed him to the gentlemen’s convenience.

For the past week Cedric Tandy had been in his office half an hour early, so it was plain misfortune that when the crucial day came he was half an hour late.

‘Oh no,’ he moaned at the sight of the man waiting for him. ‘Signor Rinucci-I assure you-’

‘It’s all right, Cedric,’ Primo said pleasantly. ‘I just thought I’d drop in for a chat.’

‘Perhaps I can show you around and introduce you-’

‘That can come later. I’ve been looking over the financial arrangements Enrico and I made for you, and it struck me that they were rather on the mean side. I’m sure you deserve something more generous.’

‘Well-that’s very good to hear but-Signor Leonate said that your firm couldn’t pay any more-’

‘You leave him to me. If he won’t fund an increase I’ll do it myself.’

Cedric gaped as Primo walked to the door and looked back.

‘By the way,’ he said, as if something had only just occurred to him, ‘I’d rather nobody knew who I was, just at first. They think I’m Jack Cayman. It’ll give me a chance to meet people in a more spontaneous manner. I know you’ll back me up.’

Cedric might not be a genius at running a company but he’d learned shrewdness. He understood bribery. But he also understood about gift horses.

‘Count on me,’ he said.

Olympia looked up from the computer as he entered her office.

‘You’d better come and study these files,’ she said. ‘They’ll tell you a lot about how Curtis and Leonate have interacted since they started doing business a year ago.’

‘I think it was actually more like fifteen months,’ he said. ‘It began when Curtis tendered to manufacture a new kind of computer plug.’

‘Excellent,’ she said. ‘You’ve been doing your homework.’ She rose and indicated for him to sit at the computer. ‘Are you familiar with this system?’

‘I think so,’ he said, choosing his words with care. It was the same as the system in use at Leonate’s head