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And where the fuck was Neil Harrison?
In the year that she had been dealing with the man he never missed a meeting. He never missed a phone call. Because of this track record, she was starting to think that something might be terribly wrong.
She pulled out her BlackBerry and checked her messages one more time. Still nothing.
“Quite rude of Mr. Harrison to miss a meeting.” Martin sidled up to her in the front foyer of the restaurant. “Is there something going on that I should know about?”
“Maybe there was some kind of emergency. He would be here otherwise.”
He inched closer, a little too close for her liking. “I would say that maybe you didn’t tell him about the meeting except…” His hand reached up and brushed a stray piece of hair away from her neck. The light touch of his skin to hers made her nauseous.
With his flawless blond hair and average frame, Martin was the complete opposite of Neil’s commanding physique.
Even the fact that she once contemplated allowing him to touch her in a more intimate manner almost made her viol
ently ill. To this day, Martin still had the wool pulled over her father’s eyes and, despite her repeated brush-offs, still imagined that one day he’d be a legitimate member of the family. “Dad did tell him I’d be here.”
Dad? She hated when he called her father Dad. Didn’t he have his own blood-sucking, slave-driving, know-it-all asshole parent who didn’t respect him? She stepped away and whirled around to face him.
“How dare you accuse me of sabotaging a meeting. You know Martin, I—”
“Ms. Kelly.” The inspector approached them from behind. “Everything looks great. Once again your inspection is spotless.”
She heard Martin scoff under his breath.
“Thank you Mr. Banks. It was a pleasure seeing you again. And I apologize on behalf of Mr. Harrison. There was an emergency and he wasn’t able to make it this time.”
“That’s all right. I will send over the finalized documents and the certificate of occupancy. This place is ready to open for business.”
She always had good luck when it came to Carl Banks. There were a few inspectors on the city payroll that liked to stir up trouble just because they could. But not Carl. He came in, did his job and walked out. She appreciated that.
“Mr. Harrison will be happy to hear the good news.”
Carl walked away leaving Carson to deal with an even bigger problem—her father’s spy.
“Your father will be very disappointed to hear that Mr. Harrison ditched this meeting. He was hoping to get some insider information on the job you’ve been doing.”
“All he has to do is ask. And you can tell him that I don’t appreciate his lack of confidence. This job has been done right, and done well.”
Martin gave her an amused look. “All this tension and competition. You know it doesn’t have to be like that.” He meant they could get married and he could steal her family’s money. “We can work together.”
She laughed. “You mean you can steal the company out from under me.”
“We’d make a good team you and I.” He sidled closer. “In the boardroom and the bedroom.”
She had resisted his advances far too long to fall for his niceties now.
“Look around. This restaurant is the best work I’ve ever done. It’s modern, it’s functional and most importantly, it’s exactly what the client wanted.”
Martin had no retaliation. No quick comeback.
“And when this place grabs the media attention like I know it will, Kelly Designs will be named in every prominent architecture magazine and blog on the continent. So he can thank me later for knocking this one out of the park.”
One point to Carson. Where were those words when she was talking to her father? Where was the confidence and determination to prove her point when Carson Kelly II was shoving his opinions down her throat?
“And just how close did you have to get to Mr. Harrison in order to…” He coughed. “Give him exactly what he wanted?”
She hoped her face didn’t give her away because inside she cringed. There was no concrete evidence that Carson and Neil had hooked up. He was fishing for anything he could use against her. But he wasn’t going to get it.
