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Billie stiffened. ‘That’s not necessary—’
‘Look in the mirror. You are a frump,’ Alexei countered bluntly, ‘and I always decide what’s necessary.’
Feeling cut off at the knees, Billie took the card and went that same afternoon to an upmarket store, where she was kitted out with the sort of figure-hugging clothing and high heels that she had always deemed unsuitable in a working environment. On the third day she wore a skirt well above her knees that outlined the curve of her hips and a jacket that nipped in at her waist, accentuating the shape and size of her breasts. She didn’t like her reflection; she thought it was unprofessional.
‘Turn round,’ Alexei instructed casually during his morning coffee break and he studied her with assessing cool, oblivious to her blushing discomfiture. ‘That’s a major improvement.’
‘I prefer a more formal look,’ she told him starchily.
Dark golden eyes alight with amusement as he absorbed her rigid stance and tight mouth, Alexei laughed out loud. ‘You’re young and pretty. Make the most of it while you can.’
As Billie looked at his vibrantly handsome features she felt the sensual buzz of his compelling attraction right down to the centre of her bones and it unnerved her, for she did not want to feel that way around her boss. But even though she fought it, she was flattered by the simple fact that this man, who kept company with some of the world’s most beautiful women, could deem her ‘pretty’. Suddenly the high heels and the short skirt no longer felt like such a bad idea.
Alexei’s business team was all male and she was assiduously ignored until the first time Alexei phoned her in the middle of the night to help him handle a minor crisis and the team then discovered that they had to liaise with Alexei through her. Later that week, with the ice broken, she took the opportunity to ask one of the men why she was excluded to such an extent.
Panos gave her an uneasy glance. ‘Sooner or later the female staff on the team end up in bed with Alexei,’ he told her reluctantly. ‘And that makes us all uncomfortable. After a week or so, Alexei always transfers that person out of the main office to another job. We know the score. Four women have already come and gone in your particular role in a short time.’
Billie managed a calm smile. ‘It’s not going to happen that way with me. I’m here for the long haul.’
But that warning also put her on her guard around Alexei, even though she soon appreciated that the fault was rarely his. A phenomenal number of women, exposed to Alexei’s charismatic good looks and wealth, literally threw themselves at him the first opportunity they got. His sex life frequently shocked her, for the very nature of her job and her need to work closely to him meant that she saw virtually every woman he had in his life. During the second month after employing her, he spent the night on his yacht with twin blonde models, Katia and Kerry, who could barely string an intelligent sentence between them.
‘Take them out shopping,’ Alexei instructed Billie the next morning, tossing her a credit card. ‘And don’t look at the price tags. I’m not on a budget.’
Billie travelled to shore in the launch with the two giggling blondes, who seemed not to have a care in the world. Indeed, acting as Alexei’s entertainment for one night only appeared to have energised their spirits. While she escorted the twins round the exclusive boutiques on shore, she was forced to listen to a great deal of sexual banter about what Alexei was like in bed. Her every attempt to change the subject was turned aside and by the time she thankfully parted from his effervescent lovers she was very angry and determined never to have to repeat the experience. She wasted no time in tackling the subject when she found Alexei out on deck on her return to Sea Queen.
‘Please don’t put me in a position again where I have to escort your lady friends around while they discuss your sexual performance during the night before,’ Billie framed in a tone of tremulous rage, her green eyes as bright as emeralds, her face pink and set in censorious lines.
Alexei dealt her a startled glance and then burst out laughing, astonishing her with his reaction almost as much as she had astonished him with her verbal attack. ‘How did I rate? Did I figure as a hero or a zero?’
‘That is not something I would wish to discuss with my employer,’ Billie assured him thinly, rigidly un-amused by his attitude for he was refusing to take her objection seriously.
‘You’re a real prude.’ Alexei lounged back against the rail, a darkly handsome and graceful presence in a lightweight beige summer suit. ‘I’m surprised. We both have liberal parents in that regard and yet the experience seems to have affected us very differently. A good time was had by all and sex was not a serious subject when I was growing up. I prefer to keep it that way now—’
‘I’m not a prude,’ Billie proclaimed sharply, her voice rising a little because she was deeply embarrassed by his reference to her mother’s promiscuous lifestyle. That was part of the past she had left behind her and she very much resented any reminder of it.
‘Billie…the sight of me having breakfast with two women this morning offended you,’ Alexei countered drily. ‘But you are not required to exercise your moral convictions while you work for me. I’m not interested in what you think. My private life is just that—mine. My sole expectation of you is that you do your job—’
Her slim shoulders straight as a ruler, growing tension bubbling through her small frame, Billie breathed, ‘And I’ve told you that I have limits. This morning, Katia and Kerry crossed them. I was embarrassed to be out in public with them. They dress, behave and talk like hookers—’
‘I don’t sleep with hookers,’ Alexei cut in, his rich dark drawl harsh in reproof. ‘One more suggestion along those lines and you’re fired.’
Outraged by his attitude and white hot with resentment, Billie snapped, ‘Because I’ve got standards? Because I expect to be treated like a professional during my working day?’
‘You don’t have standards, you have a narrow mind. I warned you before I hired you that I would expect you to cope with everything I throw at you—’
Determined not to be intimidated by the anger in his scorching dark golden eyes, Billie lifted her chin. ‘Katia and Kerry were a step too far—’
‘If I can’t count on you to follow orders, you’re no use to me. I will not tolerate any member of my staff telling me what I can and can’t do, or complaining about the responsibilities I give them,’ Alexei delivered coldly. ‘So, if that is how it is, clear your desk and I’ll have you flown back to Athens.’
Billie had gone too far to back down and, her head held high, she went indoors to pack her belongings. How dared Alexei Drakos christen her a prude? Just because he slept around and looked for nothing more than beauty and sex from his partners!
Lauren’s habit of bedding every
man she met had made Billie very cautious in her dealings with the opposite sex. How could she not have been influenced by the distaste and contempt that Lauren’s lifestyle had roused in so many people? In every way possible Billie drew a clear boundary line between her life and her mother’s. She never wore revealing clothes. She didn’t flirt with other women’s men. Casual uncommitted sex was anathema to her. She’d only ever had three relationships—Damon, and two at university that had come to nothing after her boyfriends sought easier conquests. A highly sexed and very handsome philanderer like Alexei Drakos was Billie’s worst nightmare in the partnership stakes.
Billie returned via Athens to the island of Speros, where Lauren soon dragged the story of her dismissal out of her daughter.
‘Why didn’t you just laugh at those women? Why do you take everything so seriously?’ Lauren demanded, her incomprehension patent. ‘You’re your own worst enemy—you land the job of a lifetime and straight away you screw it up!’
