Brazilian's Nine Months' Notice

‘And if I won’t?’

His voice was a soft caress. Right now she would have preferred the whiplash of command. It was so much easier to counter. ‘If I don’t leave this room now, you will consider it a victory and think that gives you a licence to walk all over me in future. That isn’t going to happen, Luc. This is a very serious situation for me, as it should be for you. But be assured that, whether you’re my boss or not, I will give this job my very best.’

Now she could only wait.

It seemed a long few seconds before Luc finally stood aside and opened the door to let her go.

* * *

‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’

‘What the does it look as if I’m doing?’ On her hands and knees, Emma glanced up at the storm cloud that was her boss, Lucas Marcelos, and then she carried on mopping up the spill.

‘We have cleaners to do that,’ he rapped. ‘You are no longer a chambermaid, Emma.’

Her inner imp laughed. Luc’s tone made it sound as if he’d waved the magic wand and she had been instantly transformed into a fairy princess—except that might be boring, stuck away in some stuffy palace. ‘Excuse me?’ Standing up, she straightened her skirt before confronting him. ‘Is there some way this hotel could operate without its expert cleaning staff? Or are you suggesting I’ve somehow been elevated by our association into some new, rarefied sphere, where cleaning isn’t necessary?’

‘You know what I mean.’ His jaw firmed.

‘I don’t think I do. There isn’t a job in this hotel I wouldn’t be prepared to do myself, but you haven’t asked me to do anything. So what am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to sit upstairs in my apartment, reading magazines and painting my nails?’

‘Now you’re being ridiculous.’

‘Am I?’

‘You’re overreacting. All I’m saying is that I don’t expect to find you on your hands and knees, cleaning floors.’

‘So there are jobs in this hotel you expect your staff to do that you wouldn’t do yourself?’

‘Of course I’m not saying that.’

‘Then why can’t I do this? What am I here for? What does everyone else think I’m here for? If it’s to manage people, as you suggested back in Scotland, I have to understand every job, as well as the stresses the people doing that job have to face. And if a waiter has an accident with a tray because he’s rushing from one room to the next, I not only have to help him, I have to understand how we can make the rota work more smoothly for him in the kitchen so he’s not rushing around. Understand this, Luc. I am not going to stand by, watching something going wrong and doing nothing about it. And I’m not going to wait until you give me permission before I move.’

‘Is that it?’ he demanded mildly when she paused for breath.

‘For now, but there are some very simple things that could be improved here. We need to talk.’

He huffed a laugh. ‘You are so right about that.’

Luc’s grip on her arm was non-negotiable. Dropping her used floor cloth on the cleaning trolley as he hurried her past it and on down the corridor, she flashed a reassuring smile at Karina, who was standing with a group of their colleagues in the lobby, watching this mini-drama play out with her mouth wide open.

Luc didn’t let go of her until they had walked past his shocked secretary and into his office, where he closed the door and paused as if gathering his thoughts.

How best to deal with a rebellious woman who had no official duty to fulfil was probably uppermost in his mind, she thought, taking the chance to look around. Office was a term she’d use loosely in this instance. The master of this building’s eyrie was a fabulous light and bright space with an incredible view over the city to the sea. It was surprisingly optimistic if you had to pin down the mood.

That would be because of the mega-money business deals conducted here, Emma reasoned. No expense had been spared. She didn’t need to examine the art to know that every picture would be an original, or sweep her hand across the polished surface of Luc’s desk to know that everything he owned was of the best—with the possible exception of Emma Fane, lately chambermaid with pride intact, now person of no account in Luc’s eyes.

But he didn’t own her. And she wasn’t one of his possessions, Emma thought, spearing a glance at Luc. ‘You’ve given me no proper job to do,’ she said, getting in first when he swung around.