Breaking the Boss's Rules

‘That’s easy for you to say,’ she said, coming to a stop in front of him ‘If I lose and Graham wins there’s a bigger chance you’ll sell Langley to Ivan. For you that’s just business—another day on the job. But for me … I will have let Peter and Harry down. They will be devastated, and in their state of health that will have a knock-on effect. And I will always wonder if I should have called Belinda in.’

He shifted backwards slightly—not a good plan to have the lush curve of her breasts in his line of sight. ‘That was my call, and no matter what happens I stand by that decision. You are taking too much on yourself. Both Peter and Harry have seen this proposal and they love it.’

‘That doesn’t guarantee I’ll win. And if I don’t, Langley is one step further to ending up in Ivan’s hands. That’s a fact, isn’t it?’

To his own surprise Joe felt a prod of guilt, even as he forced his features to remain neutral. No way could he let emotional reasoning affect a business decision.

‘Yes.’

‘There you go, then. My responsibility. My bad if it goes wrong.’ Her hair shielded her expression as she continued her relentless striding across the room.

He rose and strode towards her, blocked her path as she paced. ‘Stop.’

This was important enough that he would force himself to ignore the way her delicate scent enveloped him, would allow himself to get close to her.

‘It will not be your fault if Langley ends up in a buy-out situation. You will not have let Peter down—or Langley. Promise me you get that.’

Her chest rose and fell, her blue-grey eyes were wide as she stared up at him, and suddenly he felt all kinds of a fool. What was he doing, overreacting like this? If only she wasn’t so beautiful—ink-stains, smudged eyes, creased T-shirt and all.

Stepping backwards, out of temptation’s way, he forced himself to sound casual. ‘I will be making the decisions as to Langley’s future—no matter what happens you can absolve yourself from blame. In fact I’ll provide you with a life-size photograph of me and a set of darts. How’s that?’

‘It sounds like a plan.’

A thoughtful frown creased her brow—almost as if she were trying to figure something out. Join the club.

‘Joe?’

‘Yes?’

‘I’ll still be throwing those darts, and I’m still a bit of a wreck, but … you’ve made me feel better. Thank you.’

‘No problem.’ Embarrassment still threatened and he shrugged it off. ‘In the meantime, if you want to head home now I’ll call you a taxi.’

Imogen shook her head. ‘I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep—I’m too wired on coffee and adrenalin. And what if Richard gets back to us now? I’ll stay here—but you don’t have to stay as well.’

As if he’d leave her in a deserted building at this time of night. Hell, call him old-fashioned, but he wouldn’t leave any woman in that situation. Anyway …

‘I want to hear Richard’s decision too.’

It was no more than the truth—he did want Langley to win this bid as a stepping stone on its way to recovery. And he did also want to be with Imogen when the verdict arrived—to see her lips curve into her gorgeous smile if they won or to offer comfort if they hadn’t. That was fair enough. They’d worked incredibly hard for this proposal—had bonded professionally.

‘Why don’t you order a pizza? I don’t think we remembered to eat today.’

‘Sounds like a great idea,’ she said.

His tablet pinged to indicate the arrival of an email. He glanced down and supressed a groan. Leila again. This was now officially out of hand and he had no idea what to do about it.

‘Your mystery caller again?’ Imogen asked. ‘The one who makes you sigh every time you get an email?’

Nearly choking in an attempt to inhale a puff of air, he shook his head. ‘She’s not a mystery caller.’

For a nanosecond Imogen’s shoulders tensed, and then she turned the movement into a shrug. ‘If she isn’t mysterious why don’t you tell me who she is?’ She hesitated. ‘It may help to talk about it.’

‘No.’

He regretted the curtness of the syllable as soon as it dropped from his lips, but the thought of explaining the Leila situation in full had moisture sheening the back of his neck.

With an expressive upturn of her palms she rolled her eyes. ‘Fair enough. It was just a tho