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CHAPTER ONE
'You aren't Bennett and Bennett? Tell me you aren't Bennett and Bennett.' The hard grey gaze was uncompromising as it swept over their faces, and Miriam swallowed deep in her throat before forcing a smile to her lips.
'The very same.' She gestured to her brother. 'Mitch Bennett, and I'm Miriam. How do you do?' As she held out her hand the tall dark figure in front of her turned abruptly, stepping back into the sumptuous hall with a cursory flick of his head.
'You'd better come in.' The tone was rude and aggressive, and for a moment they stood in bewilderment on the top step before following Reece Vance into the gorgeous, lavishly decorated surroundings.
'Mr Vance, I think—'
'Look, there's been some sort of a mistake.' Again he turned and fixed them with that icy glare. 'I was told I was going to meet the joint partners of a successful and thriving catering firm who could get me out of the mess I'm in with the minimum of fuss.' He eyed them angrily. 'Not a pair of teenagers who clearly—'
'My brother and I took over our father's catering firm on his death five years ago, Mr Vance, as I'm sure Mr Craven explained,' Miriam cut in quickly, desperately holding onto both her temper and her aplomb by the skin of her teeth. 'I'm aware we don't look our age, but that's hereditary, I'm afraid. However, we've had plenty of experience—'
'How old are you?' He almost ground his teeth at them. 'Both of you?'
'My brother is twenty-six and I'm twenty-five—'
'For crying out loud!' It was meant to be insulting, and as Miriam felt her face flame she remembered what Frank had told her.
'The man's under a lot of pressure, Miriam—his sister's wedding only two weeks away and the catering firm he'd employed under investigation by the police for fraud. He might be a little… touchy, but nothing you can't handle.'
'Excuse me,' Mitch said at her side, his tone almost as aggressive as Reece Vance's. 'It might have escaped your notice, Mr Vance, but no one dishes out any favours these days. It's dog eat dog. When my sister and I took ova: the business it wasn't doing too well.' The understatement of the year, Miriam reflected silently as she remembered the mound of debts and unpaid bills. 'And now we employ five other people besides ourselves—'
'Very creditable, I'm sure.' His tone was scathing. 'But this particular job would entail a staff of at least twenty on the day, not to mention all the preparatory work.'
'Of course it would.' Miriam smiled at him sunnily as she reflected that he was easily the most obnoxious, unpleasant, detestable individual she had ever met in her whole life. 'And my brother was just about to add that we have part-time employees prepared to work at very short notice.' Why have you done this to us, Frank? she asked silently as the grey eyes held her own violet ones in a vice. We might need work, but no one needs it this bad!
'And you think you can cope with this contract?' he asked icily.
'I've no idea, Mr Vance.' Her own smile died now and she stared at him straight-faced, her eyes disdainful. 'You haven't even begun to tell us what it entails, have you? Catering we can supply, but mind-reading comes extra.' Steady, Miriam, steady, she warned herself quickly as the grey eyes chilled further. This job could establish Bennett and Bennett for good if you pull it off; don't blow it on a temper tantrum.
'I would have thought Frank would have explained,' he said after a long moment of taut silence.
'He merely phoned us with a minute to spare as he boarded a plane for the States and gave us a time and your address,' Miriam tried another smile but it would have had more effect on a block of stone. 'He said you'd had some difficulty with the present caterers,' she added tactfully.
'You could say that.' He glared at her as if it were all her fault. 'Well, now you're both here you might as well come in the study for a moment and I'll explain what the job entails.'
His tone said, quite succinctly, that such a procedure was a waste of time, and as they followed him into a huge room just to the right of the stairs, which seemed to stretch forever upwards, she had the mad urge to kick him hard up his dignified and very regal backside.
'Now.' He sat down behind a large and expensive desk in beautifully polished walnut and gestured towards two easy chairs placed strategically in front of it. 'Do sit down.' He spoke as if he was bestowing an honour of the utmost proportions, and just for a moment Miriam's irrepressible humour asserted itself. What a stuffed shirt! What an overwhelmingly pompous stuffed shirt. He made her feel as though she wanted to do something outrageous to get through the hard outer skin that clothed this man like a barrier: take her clothes off and dance on his desk naked, maybe?
Her mouth curved slightly at the thought until she met the silver-grey eyes again, her gaze taking in the hard, high cheekbones and aquiline nose that at the moment was flared with something approaching distaste. No, perhaps not. On reflection, the thought of appearing anything but fully dressed in front of this man sent a little shiver snaking right down to her toes.
'Now—' the splintered gaze took in Mitch too '—I don't know how much Frank has told you, but let me fill you in on the details. My sister is getting married at the beginning of December—the second to be exact— and
she is marrying an Australian with a host of relatives who are coming over en masse for the nuptials. Something, quite frankly, that I am not particularly looking forward to. With me so far?' They nodded silently; the tone was biting.
'The actual wedding breakfast for the two immediate families, which at the last count numbered just over one hundred and fifty, is no problem; that has been arranged separately at an excellent hotel.' He mentioned a name that made Miriam's eyes widen. She knew the place; one needed to take out a second mortgage to eat there, and this man had arranged a wedding breakfast for half of Australia on its premises? Rothschilds, eat your hearts out, she thought faintly as she tried desperately to concentrate on the precise, cold voice.
'However, Barbara, my sister, wanted to continue the rest of the celebrations in the family home—a buffet through the afternoon and evening, with dancing in the big hall and a firework display at night.'
The big hall? Miriam tried desperately to look unimpressed.
'We have over three hundred family and friends descending on this house, expecting food and drink in vast quantities, and at this time I have no idea how I'm going to accommodate them.' He eyed them grimly. 'The directors of the catering firm I had employed are at the moment in police custody, so I don't expect any help from than.'
With anyone else it would have been an attempt to lighten the conversation, but Miriam saw that he was speaking with no shred of amusement in either his face or voice, just a cold iron-hardness that was beginning to deflate even her natural optimism.
'I would expect a large selection of seafood and English dishes, another section devoted to Chinese and Indian cuisine, with at least nine hot dishes in each be-sides the attendant cold foodstuffs, and, of course, the appropriate choice of desserts. The whole lot would be cleared by six o'clock and cheese and biscuits, fresh fruit and strawberries and champagne served at precisely nine o'clock, when the firework display has finished.'
He looked at them both sitting in front of him, their bodies completely motionless, and as the cool, ironic gaze lingered on her face for an instant Miriam shut her half -open mouth with a little snap.
'You think you can handle all this? Before you reply, a word of warning.' The arctic gaze chilled further. 'The present catering firm will rue the day they let me down; prison will suddenly become an oasis in the desert I intend to make of their lives.'
He wasn't joking, Miriam thought faintly; he really wasn't joking.
'I pay for, and expect, the test—both in quality of service and the speed and efficiency with which my smallest wish is carried out. If you took this contract on and I was satisfied, you would find me most generous, both with your remuneration and the references that would be your due. If you failed me…' The icy grey gaze washed over their attentive faces and Miriam had to stop herself gulping like a schoolgirl.
'So?' He smiled grimly and rose from behind the desk. 'I presume you would like some time to think about your answer.' He didn't expect them to take it. As Miriam looked up into the patronisingly superior expression that the hard features had settled in she found herself speaking before she could stop herself.
'I would have thought time was of the essence, Mr Vance.'
'It is.' Just for a moment she saw a flash of surprise in the silver-grey eyes.
'Then I think, certainly from our side, we can let you know our answer immediately.' She felt rather than saw Mitch stiffen by her side, but something outside herself was driving her on and she was powerless to stop her next words, which she heard with a shred of horror. 'We would be pleased to take the contract if it is offered and we can assure you that all your requirements would be met most satisfactorily.'
'I see.' The silver gaze narrowed. 'And do I take it you are in agreement with your sister, Mr Bennett?'
Mitch's voice was slightly strangled but he backed her to the hilt. 'Of course.' He rose as he spoke and Miriam was conscious that Reece Vance dwarfed her brother's six-foot frame by a good few inches. 'We are a partnership.'
Black eyebrows rose a fraction, but beyond that Reece Vance didn't comment.
'We'll leave you our particulars, Mr Vance, and some brochures you may find of interest—'
'Why?' He cut into her polite farewell speech abruptly. 'If you are taking the job you will surely need to inspect the premises?'
