And of course, business-wise, he was right. He was the most impressive and important client to step over her threshold since she had been here.
‘Come through to my o
ffice.’ Cat led him down to the room that had been assigned for her to use when meeting clients. It was effectively the size of a broom cupboard and she left the door open behind them so as to minimise the intimacy of the situation.
‘Please sit down.’ She waved him towards the leather chair opposite her desk. ‘So how has your week been?’ She tried to maintain a friendly yet impersonal attitude. ‘Have you acquired your new hotel?’
He leaned back in the chair and regarded her laconically. ‘The deal is going well.’
‘Good.’
Nicholas watched as she manoeuvred herself behind her desk without touching him. The suit looked great on her; the tailored lines of the waistcoat scooped low over her breasts, giving subtle emphasis to her curves. She sat down and reached to open a drawer and he noticed the way her blonde hair spilled silkily over her shoulders and the way her white blouse was unbuttoned, giving a glimpse of a lacy bra and firm rounded flesh. A business outfit had never looked so sexy. He was aware that his mind had moved away from practicalities. It was probably just the thrill of the chase, but Catherine McKenzie was the most attractive woman he had come across in a long time….
‘I take it you’ve had a chance to think about some of the ideas I mentioned last week?’ she asked.
He smiled at that.
‘Obviously they were just sketchy outlines,’ she continued swiftly. Despite the brisk confidence of her tone, there was a sudden vulnerability in her demeanour, her skin flared with heat and the green eyes were shadowed with uncertainty as she slanted a glance towards him.
He knew there was nothing remotely vulnerable about her, but she played the part well, the illusion was tantalizing.
‘Anyway, I took the liberty of filling out some of the details for you in case you would be interested.’
He watched as she opened up a file and brought out sheets of paper.
‘Now, what I thought was …’ She turned the pages around and slid them towards him so that he could see. ‘If we started focusing on one hotel and then developed the idea …’ She turned over more of the pages. ‘We could make a fantastic impact.’
‘You have been busy.’ Nicholas leaned forward and studied the pages intently.
Busy was an understatement. Cat had worked all last weekend to finish this for Monday in case he came in. When he hadn’t, she had taken it home in the evenings and had honed it some more. It had occupied her every spare minute of the week.
She watched restlessly as he read it and then re-read it. ‘Not bad,’ he said at last as he sat back.
Not bad! Cat fought down the annoyance that flared at those words. ‘I think it will be a massive success,’ she said instead with quiet confidence.
‘Maybe.’ He regarded her for a long moment. Despite his non-committal tone, he was impressed. He just didn’t want to tell her that. He intended to make her work a little harder for him first. ‘So you recommend concentrating on one hotel—’
‘Just to start the ball rolling, because it will give the whole campaign a more personal slant and it will stress the individuality of your hotels.’
Nicholas didn’t say anything for a while. Cat could feel the nervous tension knotting inside her but she refrained from pushing her point. She didn’t want to sound desperate.
‘You might have something with this,’ he said finally.
‘I know I do.’
‘However, selecting the right hotel might be tricky.’
‘I don’t see why.’ Cat picked up the pencil that she had been using earlier and tapped it against the papers. ‘You have a lot to choose from. All your hotels are sumptuously upmarket yet unique. But you should select the one with the most character, the most romantic … Yes, that’s it. Go for the most romantic.’
He shrugged. ‘They say Paris is the most romantic city in the world and I have a superb hotel there overlooking the River Seine, but—’
‘A little obvious,’ she said quickly.
‘Just what I was thinking.’
She smiled at him but it was clear that her mind was racing ahead as she gave the question some thought.
She tapped the pencil against her lips for a second, then ran it softly over the inside of her lower lip.