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His usually self-contained assistant, who saw herself more and more as a mother figure in his life the longer they worked together, seemed almost stunned to be faced with the exuberant Eleanore Harrington. ‘I’m Petra. Lukas’s PA.’
‘It’s nice to meet you, Petra.’
His assistant cut her eyes to his, sparkling merrily. ‘Lukas, you have a mountain of work on your desk. I’ve been through most of your messages for this morning and prioritised them for you with notes attached. Also, your meeting schedule for tomorrow has been sent to your phone. Sorry it’s late. I was waiting to hear back from the bank before confirming it.’
‘Thank you, Petra. If you wouldn’t mind organising coffee. Miss Harrington has hers white with one sugar.’
‘Oh, that’s okay,’ Eleanore said quickly. ‘I don’t feel like coffee right now and you sound like you have a lot to catch up on.’
Lukas frowned. Was he being dismissed? ‘When can I see the drawings you spent the whole flight working on?’ And why did he sound like a petulant child when he should have been glad she had so easily blocked him out during the long flight?
She pulled a face. ‘They’re not ready for public consumption yet. I still need to walk around the site before I finalise anything. Didn’t you organise a site visit for this afternoon?’
‘Yes. My foreman will meet you there and tomorrow morning you will meet the rest of the team.’
‘Great. Then if you wouldn’t mind showing me where I’m to work I’ll go prepare for it.’
‘It’s right this way,’ his PA cut in, and Lukas realised that hell yes, he was being dismissed. And he didn’t like it.
* * *
Eleanore connected with Petra’s matronly, down-to-earth friendliness right away. And she really liked the office she’d been assigned. ‘Oh, I have a view.’ She stared out the window at the elegant snow-covered city below. In New York her view was of a rusty fire escape on the high-rise directly opposite.
‘Mr Kuznetskov wanted all the offices to have a view,’ Petra began in her heavily accented voice, ‘and as we are the tallest building in the district he accomplished it.’
‘You like working for him.’
‘I love it.’
For some reason that surprised Eleanore but maybe Petra was just blind to his faults. She glanced around at the neat office and noticed a large white box on her desk. ‘I think someone might have left something in the office.’
‘No, that’s a coat, hat and gloves. Lukas asked me to arrange it before you left Singapore.’
‘That was very thoughtful of him,’ she said, wondering why he would do such a thing.
Inside she found a lovely black jacket lined with real fur. Something that meant she would never be able to wear it.
‘I know.’ Petra pulled open a drawer and started setting up the desk for her. ‘He’s always thinking of others.’
‘He is?’ Was this the same man who was known in the press for his ruthless takeover of smaller companies and who went through women the way florists went through rosebuds?
‘Oh, yes. When my mother needed surgery for a bad fall last year we couldn’t afford it and he helped out by providing a nurse for three months. And of course this ice hotel is for charity.’
‘Charity?’ That was news to her.
‘Did he not tell you?’
‘No.’ And then she wondered if maybe there was a language barrier and charity didn’t mean the same as it did in America. ‘Are you sure?’
Petra gave her a funny look. ‘Of course I’m sure. And last year he opened a crèche at the office for the parents who were struggling with child care.’
‘I did that,’ the man himself drawled from the office doorway, startling both her and his PA, ‘so that my employees wouldn’t waste time commuting and worrying about their children. It was efficient.’
Now that made sense to what Eleanore knew of him.
Petra gave Eleanore a don’t-believe-him look. ‘The staff loved you for it.’
‘Then it was worth every penny. And speaking of staff, a few of the key people you need to meet have to leave the building site early today so we need to get moving now.’
Eleanore pinned a smile on her face when she realised he was coming with her. ‘You’re coming too?’
‘Da. Is that a problem?’
Yes. After a long flight where she’d struggled to concentrate on work she needed some time away from him. ‘Of course not,’ she said pleasantly, more for Petra’s benefit than for his.
