His Hostile Takeover

Evan was waiting outside the car, He took her suitcase and put it in the trunk, motioning for her to get in. As the car pulled away, she wondered when she would see her home again; right now, it felt like it would be a long time.

Little did she know that Dmitri Markhoff was thinking very much along the same lines. His nimble mind was calculating how long it would take until she gave into him. His body stirred at the mere memory of Elise Shaw. She had creamy white skin with fine boned features, a small pert nose, cupid bow’s mouth, and eyes an intense dark blue of sapphire. There would have to be changes, he would outlaw any more messy buns that contained her long raven locks and those heavy framed glasses would have to go. He would also happily trash the frumpy suits she wore that covered what he could clearly see was an amazing figure. At five-seven she wasn’t the size two most women tried to be, and he was grateful. Her figure was lush and

curvy and she was a revelation.

Connie, and Thomas, his sources of information on the inner workings of Steeltech, had spoken freely about the overworked woman who was in love with her boss, and whose adoration was taken advantage of at every turn. Even before he met her, he had known he wanted to retain her, and keep her on somewhere within his organization. He would make use of the talent she had shown in maintaining a company above water, while her boss had done everything to sink it for three long years. She was so young, only twenty-four. Without a college education, what she had achieved impressed the hell out of him. Then the moment he had seen her standing there, her eyes tightly closed, taking deep breaths, her chest almost heaving, he wanted her for himself. She had opened her eyes and knocked him for six.

Her eyes had captured him and forced him to take a deep breath of his own to keep from crossing the room and covering her beautiful pouting little mouth with his. Despite a long list of women in his past, he had never felt a need so strong claw at him from the inside out. Forcing himself under control was difficult when he remembered her response to him. She felt the energy between them, it had been there in her confused eyes and pink cheeks. Although, for now, she believed herself in love with her now former boss, she would quickly forget Greg Turner ever existed. He would make sure of that.

His mind had quickly worked through the quickest way to get her in his bed and he had made the decision to do away with the assistant who had replaced Sonia. For a week’s work, the woman had been given a bonus and been sent back to New York to fill in among his staff until another a more permanent position could be found for her. It was worth it, to get and keep Elise close to him.

This alone was something new for him. Normally, employees were strictly off limits to him. He preferred not to dip his pen in company ink when there were so many women to choose from outside of it. He also preferred his women to know the score and be available at all times to him, it was easier with the models he’d had in the past. It was rare for one to pick work over him. He was known to be very generous when a woman pleased him, diamonds and other pretty trinkets were given freely. Each woman also received a nice parting gift that rarely had them clinging. Knowing his parting gift to Elise would be a position high within his company should have deterred him. Who knew how she would be when it was over? But it didn’t, all he could see when he closed his eyes were her soft lips parted in surprise. What would she taste like, he wondered? The thought stirred him all over again.

He checked his watch. Where the hell was she? He demanded a scotch from the attendant and stalked the luxury Learjet until he heard the car pull up outside. He informed the pilot they would be ready in five minutes. Elise entered the plane breathless from her run up the stairs and he forced himself to sit before he pulled her into his arms then and there. His instructions were clipped and he focused on the window.

Ellie was beginning to wonder if she had made Dmitri Markhoff angry somehow. He had barely looked at her and when he spoke, he was short and direct. Later, as she hurried to keep up with him, Ellie made a face at his strong back. The conference room she entered went from buzzing to dead silence at the sight of Dmitri Markhoff. He seated her at his right and the man who had been standing beside the chair moved to the back of the room. What followed over the next half hour opened her eyes to the raw power Dmitri Markhoff had.

She did her best to focus on taking notes of what was said but she kept getting caught up in the lethal intelligence of Dmitri Markhoff and his unwavering control. She was so fascinated by the display, it took a moment after he stood and walked out for her to follow. He waited by the elevator with a heated glare as she rushed to his side. He didn’t say a word on the way down to the waiting car and Ellie swallowed the dozens of questions that floated through her head over what had happened in the conference room. Instead, she wrote them down before she could forget them. Later, when he didn’t look like he wished he’d left her in Alexandria, she would ask him.

When she was finished, he pulled the pad from her hand and studied her writing. Her palms began to sweat as he read through them. He handed it back to her with the smallest tip up of the edge of his beautifully molded lips.

“Good questions Elise, keep writing them down and when I think you’re ready I’ll answer them.” He turned back to the window and she was so relieved she almost let it go but couldn’t.

“Ellie, not Elise, I go by Ellie.” Her voice came out sharper than she intended. The hair on the back of her neck stood up in reaction to the way he said her name. The way he said it, his accent caressing the word, made it sound devastatingly sexy.

He turned to face her, his face gave nothing away. “Ellie is childish and does not connote the woman you are.”

He went back to the window and Ellie fumed. Dmitri Markhoff had taken over the company she worked for, not her. “You can’t just change someone’s name like that. I don’t want to go by Elise.”

“Tell me, when was the first time someone called you Ellie.” His attention was back on her.

She swallowed hard, his eyes met hers, and just as she had that morning, she couldn’t understand why her body vibrated with anticipation. Anticipation of what, her mind fought to understand. “Greg... my great-aunt was the housekeeper for him and his father, Jasper. They were very kind, when she took me in; they welcomed me into their home as well.” Remembering that first meeting when she fell in love with Greg. and he ruffled her hair, called her Ellie teasingly, and had done so ever since. It was easier to remember and think of Greg. Greg was safe.

He was studying her intently and Ellie felt trapped in his gaze, wishing she had kept her mouth shut.

“How old were you?”

“Sixteen.”

“So, for sixteen years you were Elise, until a boy happened along and changed that. Greg Turner is gone and out of your life. I refuse to call you Ellie, it isn’t going to happen.” She wanted to argue but there was a fire burning in his eyes that scared her. The fire began to sink into her and through her. She was hot, her clothes too tight, her skin too tight. What was happening to her? His cell phone rang and she had never been so relieved in her entire life as she was when he finally took his eyes off her and answered the call.

Sucking in air in a rush and struggling to get her body under control, Ellie stared blindly out the window. She wondered what she had gotten herself into and if she would get out of it whole and intact. As she studied Dmitri below her lashes, she didn’t think it was likely.

Chapter Two

Ellie fumbled with the coffee maker and cursed as she splashed coffee over her suit and along the front of her. Instantly, Dmitri was in the tiny kitchenette to see what had happened. She blushed as his eyes roamed over her.

“I told you to order down for coffee.”

Daring to argue with him was stupid, she knew she would never win but she felt safer when she kept him at a distance with an argument. “There’s a coffee maker right here, it seems silly. But now my suit needs to be cleaned, and I don’t have any others that are clean. I sent them down yesterday and they haven’t been delivered.”

“They won’t be returned, I had them thrown away. Change into a pair of jeans and tee shirt for now. We have two hours until our flight is due to leave. I’ll send that down to be cleaned and you can wear it to the meeting we have in Chicago this afternoon. When the meeting is over we’ll go shopping.” He made the announcement as he walked back to the desk set up in the sitting room of the hotel room they had been staying in Miami for the last week.

“What? You had them throw my clothes away! Why would you do something like that? I thought we weren’t leaving until the Hopper deal was done.”

Dmitri sipped the remnants of his coffee and ordered down for more coffee before answering her. “Hopper has played his last hand, he’s bluffing and I’m moving on. Your clothes are awful. Do I seem the kind of man to dress in frumpy, baggy and ill-fitting clothes?”

“N-No.” She stuttered as she fought for control of her anger.