‘Who decided that?’
‘I thought it was what we agreed!’ Her voice rose slightly. She was totally panic-stricken now. She couldn’t go to Venice with him! It was bad enough thinking about having dinner with him here in London, let alone flying hundreds of miles away with him!
‘I haven’t agreed to anything—yet,’ he reminded her coolly.
She refused to be intimidated by that. ‘Yes, but the hotel here in London would be perfect! It has a great hook because of that masked ball.’
‘And the hotel in Venice has a better hook, because Venice is the home of the masked ball.’
She couldn’t argue with that.
‘So I’ll pick you up in about an hour.’
‘That’s not giving me very much time to get ready! How long is this trip going to take?’
‘You don’t have to pack anything, if that’s what you mean,’ he said laconically. ‘I’ll have the company jet on standby. You’ll be back before midnight. Unless, of course, you would rather stay overnight?’
Their eyes collided across the table.
‘No! I’ve got a busy day lined up tomorrow,’ she told him quickly.
He smiled. ‘Well, you just need to bring yourself, then.’ He tapped the folder on the table. ‘Oh, and a copy of this. We mustn’t forget why we are there, must we?’ he said teasingly.
‘There’s no chance of that, Nicholas.’ She didn’t know why she felt the need to say that, but she did.
He seemed to find the words amusing.
For a moment their eyes held and she could feel her heart thudding uncomfortably against her ribs.
She suspected that he knew she was drawn to him against her will. And he was enjoying the fact that he had power over her senses.
Why? Was it just the fact that he was an arrogant male who saw her as some kind of a challenge?
Probably. If she had to put money on it, that was where she would place her bet. She didn’t trust him. But then she didn’t trust any man, she thought wryly, she knew the deceitful games they could play and Nicholas epitomised everything she most detested in a man—he was arrogant, powerful and interested in only one thing. Money.
But he was interested in her business proposal, she reminded herself swiftly. There was no denying that look in his eye when he had leafed through her work.
That was all that mattered. If she secured him as a client, her troubles at Goldstein would be a thing of the past. She would have proved herself without doubt and the contracts would roll in after that. Her student debt would be paid off in no time.
With that in mind she could cope with everything else, including the demons within who lured her into thinking how wonderful it would be to be wrapped in Nicholas’s arms.
CHAPTER FIVE
WHEN Cat arrived back at her flat it was after five. Getting away from the office early had not been as easy as she had imagined. For one thing it had taken time to have a few contracts drafted ready for Nicholas to sign. Although she had given her boss a copy of her proposals for the Zentenas campaign and had brought her up to speed with the situation, Victoria had kept her hanging around. She had wanted to go through every detail again, her manner agonizingly slow.
In the end Cat had looked at her watch and had told her bluntly that if she didn’t leave now, the deal would probably be in the bin by tomorrow as Nicholas wasn’t a man to be kept waiting.
Victoria had shaken her head. ‘Well, you’d better go, then,’ she had said as she’d closed the files and contracts and slid them back to her. ‘Just don’t mess this up, Cat. I’ll expect a signed contract before you return to the office on Monday.’
The cheek of the woman, Cat thought crossly now as she took the stairs up to her flat two at a time rather than wait for the lift. She had used her own initiative to tempt one of the biggest clients Goldstein had seen in a while and the woman hadn’t even said well done!
As she rounded the corner on to her landing she saw her brother lounging against the wall beside her front door. He brightened as he saw her approach, but Cat’s heart sank; she really wasn’t in the mood for this right now.
‘Hi, sis!’ Michael was dark-haired and rangy, not bad-looking in a sullen kind of a way. He always dressed in designer gear; today was no exception, she noted.
Although his tone was friendly, Cat wasn’t fooled for one moment; she knew he hadn’t come to exchange pleasantries with her.
‘Hi, Michael.’ Her tone was clipped. ‘Sorry I haven’t got time to talk. I’m in a rush; I’ve got a business dinner tonight.’