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Mac pulled an irritable face. ‘Loved them, but held them in contempt, then,’ he amended shortly, adding deridingly, ‘You know, like you do me!’
‘I’ve never said that either!’ she denied. ‘We just—never understood each other very well, that’s all. But now we do.’
‘Who—me? Or your parents?’ he mocked.
‘My parents!’ she snapped. ‘I’ll never in a million years come to understand you! And will you please tell me if I am still having this conversation with my boss?’ she then demanded impatiently. ‘Because it naturally makes a difference to how I reply!’
Mac sighed and scraped an angry hand through his hair. ‘How the hell should I know?’ he muttered. ‘I’m just one person to everyone else; it’s only with you that I seem to become two.’
‘Then that should teach you to keep your hands off the paid staff, shouldn’t it?’ she mocked, regaining her self-confidence and her anger as his died away. ‘Which reminds me,’ she added, her chin coming up to challenge him. ‘Zurich,’ she said. ‘And the so-called Brunner deal?’
‘Ah.’ He glanced at her thoughtfully, and saw in her accusing eyes that she knew the truth. ‘I’m not going to apologise to you, Roberta,’ he said ruefully. ‘So you may as well drop the frozen doll act.’
‘So you did have me sent to Zurich for your own purposes!’ she gasped.
His black brows rose at her way of putting it. ‘I had you sent to Zurich,’ he responded, ‘to give us some time alone together to try to resolve our problems.’
‘You mean to try to get me back in your bed!’ she corrected him bitterly.
His dark eyes hardened at that. ‘Oh, of course!’ he agreed sardonically. ‘What other possible reason could I have for plotting to get you alone there if it wasn’t to get you into my bed?’
‘My God, Mac!’ she breathed shakily. ‘You’re a devious swine!’
‘True.’ His curt nod acknowledged it, but then he added with withering sarcasm, ‘But what a waste of time and effort it turned out to be, when all it took was one concerted attack on your supposedly determined sense to have you falling straight into bed with me! Which makes you—what, exactly?’ he hit back ruthlessly.
Easy, she thought, lowering her eyes to hide the shame evident in their depths. ‘How did you do it?’ she whispered thickly. ‘How did you close that Brunner deal so quickly?’
He shrugged, his whole demeanour arrogantly dismissive. ‘My arrangements to meet with Brunner were sorted out before I even left London,’ he informed her. ‘We talked, and exchanged contracts over dinner—while you kindly kept Loring busy by letting him seduce you over the red wine!’
Her chin came up at his deriding choice of words. But as for the rest, it fell neatly into place. Just the mere mention to Brunner that the great Solomon Maclaine was taking over the deal must have been enough to make him grovel in panic. Just as the same name had made Karl Loring rush out in panic, she remembered bitterly. Eager to make his warning phone calls to Brunner, only to discover, no doubt, that Karl himself had been sold down the line!
A bit like she had herself—which reminded her, and, walking stiffly forward, she laid the white envelope on his desk. ‘Joel was too frightened of you to accept this, so I’m giving it to you myself. My resignation,’ she explained.
Mac stared at it, then at her. ‘Is this another of your sweet ways of telling me we’re finished?’ he questioned cynically.
‘There was never anything to finish,’ she returned. ‘As you’ve just taken great pains to explain to me, I was there to be used, and easy in the process.’
Mac let out a heavy sigh. ‘You know I didn’t mean a single word of it,’ he said. ‘I was being nasty—telling you what you like to believe! Hasn’t it ever occurred to you, Roberta, that it isn’t me who has a low opinion of you, but you who has one of yourself?’
She looked down and away. Perhaps he was right. But it wasn’t his opinion or even her own that had beaten her in the end. It was his daughter’s.
‘My resignation stands, Mac,’ she inserted firmly.
‘Not while I’m around to block it, it doesn’t,’ he countered.
Refusing to take any notice, she turned away.
‘Don’t you damned well dare,’ he bit our threateningly, bringing her determined stride to a halt. ‘You’ve walked out on me once too often already, Roberta. This time you see the fight through to the end.’
‘And what are we fighting about this time, Mac?’ she demanded as she spun back. ‘My leaving your company or my leaving you? Only, I’d really like to know, because I’ve lost the thread of this one!’
‘Both!’ he snapped. ‘Neither! Since you aren’t going to do either!’ Grimly he came towards her. ‘Two bloody weeks I’ve waited to have this out with you!’ he growled when he reached her. ‘Two weeks! And what do you do? You calmly walk in here with your resignation all typed out and a look of outraged indignation on your face!’ His hands gripped her shoulders and gave her a shake. ‘What is it with you, Roberta, that I feel as if no sooner have I taken one step forward than I’m taking two steps back?’
‘Explain what the step forward is towards and I’ll answer the question,’ she countered tartly.
His eyes darkened, the look beginning to burn in them one she knew of old. ‘You!’ he muttered. ‘They’re always towards you, you fool! Why can’t you see that?’
‘Because a huge great obelisk called “family” stands in the way, that’s why!’ she snapped, and watched him as he gave a short, weary sigh.
