The Billionaire's Ruthless Affair

The word ‘lacking’ would never apply to the boss of Ark Properties. He had everything that any woman would want. In a boyfriend, that was, but not in a prospective husband.

So lock this unwanted attraction of yours away again, Harriet, and look elsewhere for your life partner. Because it’s never going to be Alex Kotana!

Perversely, however, as soon as he sat back down at their table, she opened her silly, jealous mouth and said waspishly, ‘I suppose that happens to you all the time.’

‘What?’ he said, sounding perplexed.

Whilst kicking herself, Harriet quickly found a wry little smile and a more casual tone. ‘The brunette behind the counter didn’t half make it clear that you could have put her on your order, if you’d been so inclined.’

Alex smiled. ‘She did, didn’t she? Unfortunately, she’s not my type.’

‘You don’t like brunettes?’ Now that she thought about it, his last two girlfriends had been blondes. She’d never met the first one, who’d come and gone within a month of her becoming Alex’s PA, so she didn’t know if she was a blonde or not.

His eyes held hers for a rather long moment, making Harriet feel decidedly uncomfortable. She hoped her momentary jab of jealousy hadn’t been obvious earlier. If it had, then she might not be lasting long in her job. It was a depressing thought. Her job meant the world to her. It was interesting and challenging and very well paid. Now that she didn’t have Dwayne in her life, she needed her job more than ever.

‘Sorry,’ she said swiftly. ‘I shouldn’t be asking you personal questions like that. It’s none of my business.’

Alex shrugged his powerful shoulders. ‘No sweat. I’m about to ask you a personal question or two.’

‘Oh?’

‘Come now, Harry, you don’t expect me not to be curious over why you broke up with Dwayne. That’s why I brought you down here away from the prying eyes and ears in the office. To worm out all the grisly details. You must know that.’

Harriet sighed. ‘There are no grisly details.’ Just mundane ones.

‘So you didn’t discover he was a secret drunk, or a drug addict?’

‘No!’

‘You didn’t come home and find him in bed with your best friend?’

‘Lord no,’ she said and laughed.

‘Then what on earth did the man do?’

Harriet knew it was going to be difficult to explain without her seeming like some kind of nutcase. But she could see she would have to try. When Alex wanted to know something, he was like a dog with a bone.

‘He just didn’t measure up as husband material.’

‘Ah,’ Alex said, as though understanding perfectly what she was talking about. ‘I rather suspected that his golf playing might have become a problem.’

Harriet just stared at him. ‘I had no problem with Dwayne playing golf,’ she replied, feeling somewhat confused. ‘Though it didn’t go down well when he bought a very expensive set of clubs the same day he suggested I buy my wedding dress on the Internet.’

Alex’s brows lifted. ‘He wanted you to buy a second-hand wedding dress?’

‘Yes,’ she admitted tartly.

‘Ah,’ he said in that knowing way again, Harriet gratified that her boss understood that Dwayne’s penny-pinching suggestion might have been a deal breaker.

‘My father was a mean man with money,’ she found herself elaborating. ‘I vowed when I was just a teenager that I would never marry a scrooge.’

‘I fully agree with you. But didn’t you know Dwayne was tight with money when you first started dating him?’

‘He wasn’t like that then. He used to spend money on me like water. Took me to the best restaurants, the best concerts, the best of everything.’

‘Yes, well, a man like Dwayne would have had to pull out all stops to impress a girl like you. And he succeeded, didn’t he? You fell for him and agreed to marry him. But once he had his ring on your finger, he dropped the ball. Am I right?’

‘Very right,’ Harriet agreed, then frowned. ‘What do you mean by “a girl like me”?’

Alex smiled a crooked smile. ‘It must have been very upsetting to find out that your Prince Charming was nothing but a frog. And a stingy frog at that. What I meant was that you were always a cut above Dwayne, not only in looks but in intelligence and personality. He must have known on first meeting you that he would have to lift his game in every department if he wanted to win the heart of the beautiful Harriet McKenna. But the fool couldn’t keep it up, which is what happens when you play out of your league.’