Hastily she looked away and tried to pretend that she was studying the swimming pool and the terrace, but she was aware that his eyes were still on her.
She felt out of place in her silk evening dress, as if she had been summoned like a lady of the night for his pleasure.
Abruptly he ended his phone call. Cat understood enough Greek to know he had promised to ring whoever it was back.
‘Forgive my manners, Cat. That was an important business call.’ He switched to speaking English with fluent ease. ‘How did you sleep last night?’
The polite tone contradicted the way he had been looking at her, making her wonder if she had imagined that raw sensuality.
‘Very well, thank you,’ she lied with a smile. In truth her troubled thoughts had kept her awake until the early hours.
He indicated the seat opposite his again. ‘Join me and have some breakfast.’
‘Actually I won’t, if you don’t mind,’ she said firmly. ‘I have to organize a locksmith so I can get back into my flat, so I thought I’d head straight off.’
‘Pity—I wanted to ask you a little about Goldstein Advertising. You work for them, don’t you?’
‘Yes.’ She frowned. ‘How do you know that?’
‘It wasn’t such a hard deduction; most of the people at the wedding party last night work there.’
‘I suppose they do.’ She was nonplussed at this sudden turn in the conversation. ‘Why are you interested in Goldstein Advertising?’
‘Why is any businessman interested in advertising?’ He fixed her with a wry look. She was very suspicious and the barriers he had sensed around her last night seemed to be raised even higher. Why was that? Maybe she had been involved in so many dishonest deals with her brother and father that she naturally assumed everyone was as crooked as she was?
‘A company called Mondellio handled my last campaign,’ he continued nonchalantly. ‘Maybe you saw it; it featured some of my hotels in the Caribbean—the tag line was “Relax in style”.
Was that his chain of hotels? Cat’s eyes widened. She was impressed; everyone in the advertising world knew that campaign. It had been huge and the envy of all its competitors. ‘Yes, I saw the ads; they were good. Mondellio are very well thought of in the business.’
‘It was successful,’ Nicholas continued smoothly. ‘But I think it’s run its course. I’ve been considering changing tack this year, switching accounts.’
Cat found her business mind clicking on like an illuminated sign. If she could bring in a large account like the one Nicholas was talking about, it would be a major boost for her career.
A waitress appeared and placed a pot of coffee on the table.
‘But if you have to rush off …’ Nicholas concluded with a shrug. ‘Goldstein was only a passing thought, anyway—’
‘No, I have a few minutes.’ Cat found herself walking over towards the table, pulling out a chair.
Work-wise, this could be a lucky break. Things hadn’t been going too well for her at the office so far. The money wasn’t bad but a lot of the pay was structured around bonuses and she had felt frustrated by the fact that accounts were given to favourites—people in the know who networked. She knew that she was the new girl on the block, but she had student loans to pay off and living in London was expensive. She needed an opportunity to show her bosses just what she was capable of and this might just be it.
Nicholas tidied away some of the papers whilst the waitress poured them both coffee. That had been almost too easy, he thought with a smile. The lure of a lucrative deal was something a McKenzie never could resist.
The waitress handed Cat a menu before discreetly withdrawing.
She glanced down at the choice of food but didn’t feel like ordering. She couldn’t eat anything—not with Nicholas watching her so closely from across the table. Her burst of enthusiasm for work had suddenly been overshadowed by her awareness of him again. Maybe she should have followed her instincts and left. She could have asked him to come into the office on Monday to discuss business.
But then maybe he wouldn’t have come, she told herself sensibly. And an opportunity that she badly needed would have been missed.
She frowned and put the menu down. ‘So in what way exactly were you thinking of changing tack with your advertising?’
Nicholas noted that instead of trying the hard sell she was making an effort to find out what he wanted. Obviously she had a shrewd business mind. ‘Do you want to order some breakfast?’ He deliberately ignored her question and glanced down at the menu.
‘Actually, Nicholas, I don’t eat much in the morning but the coffee is most welcome, thank you.’
He looked over at her in amusement. ‘You know the first rule of making a good deal is never to negotiate on an empty stomach.’
‘Well, as we are just chatting and I’m not looking to make a business deal, that’s all right then.’