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‘Not this job. Harrington’s.’
He frowned, his befuddled mind struggling to keep up with her thinking. ‘Why would your job at Harrington’s be at risk?’
‘Maybe not at risk—at least I hope not—but everyone would assume that you hired me because I was sleeping with you.’
‘Who cares what other people think?’
‘I do,’ she said stiffly. ‘Your reputation might not mean much to you but mine means a lot to me.’
‘Well, far be it from me to ruin your reputation printsessa,’ Lukas scathed, irrationally angry that she was putting work ahead of him. Irrationally angry that he would put nothing ahead of her right now and didn’t that just show him that he hadn’t learned the hard lessons from his childhood as well as he’d thought he had.
As soon as Lukas stormed from the room Eleanore realised he had taken her comment the wrong way.
Grabbing a T-shirt from her drawer she quickly shoved it on and saw Lukas pacing around the living room in search of his jacket that was right in front of him on the back of a dining chair. ‘I didn’t mean it like it sounded. It’s just that if rumours started up about us and Isabelle heard...’
When she hesitated Lukas easily filled in the blanks. ‘Your sister wouldn’t offer you your precious promotion.’
She made a rueful face. ‘Let’s just say sleeping with you isn’t going to win it.’
Logically he told himself that her attitude wasn’t personal, that it was about her more than him, but as far as he was concerned logic could go to hell. ‘Maybe she hasn’t given you the promotion because you’re not ready,’ he sneered.
‘I am so ready.’ Her slender shoulders stiffened righteously and he immediately regretted the need to deflect his irritation onto her. ‘I have a double degree and years of business experience. I started working at Harrington’s during my summers when I was fifteen. I know the hotel industry inside out.’
‘Are you trying to convince me or yourself? Because from where I stand neither one of us can give you what you want.’
‘God, you can be hateful.’
He took in her flushed cheeks and her sparkling eyes. Saw once more that youth attacking her, felt again that knot of fear he hadn’t felt for so long and never for someone else, and knew he had to get out of her apartment before he showed her that hate wasn’t the only emotion he could make her feel.
‘I’ll organise the car to pick you up in the morning.’
‘I can walk,’ she said stiffly.
‘After what happened tonight you’ll take the car and if I hear you’ve ignored my instructions while I’m in London it won’t be your job at Harrington’s you’ll have to worry about.’
Her chin lifted toward him. ‘Is that a threat?’
‘Yes, it’s a threat. One you’d be wise to heed.’
She looked like she wanted to argue. She looked like she wanted to rip him a new one but instead she marshalled all those polite manners she’d been born with and kept her eyes steady. ‘Have a good trip.’
Before tonight Lukas had intended to put off visiting his UK offices until after the ice hotel was completed. Now he decided it was the best thing he could do if for no other reason than to regain some of that iron-clad self-control his business rivals complained about. And maybe he’d rid himself of some of his pent-up sexual frustration with a woman who would appreciate it. ‘Oh, I intend to,’ he said before he turned and strode out of her apartment.
CHAPTER NINE
ONLY LONDON WASN’T the solace Lukas had hoped it would be. It was grey and tedious. So was Germany and so was Switzerland. And so were the women he had contacted and subsequently turned down.
He drummed his fingers on the walnut conference table and listened to his Swiss team talk about some of the exciting projects they were planning for the following year.
He should have been giving them his full attention but his mind wouldn’t focus. Instead it kept drifting to a conversation he’d had with Petra an hour ago.
‘The hotel is finished and everything is in place for the big party tomorrow night. The crew are all going out to celebrate tonight.’
He flicked a discreet glance at his watch. Were they already celebrating? It was still early but they’d just pulled off an impossible build that had taken long hours, including weekends, so he knew they’d have a lot of steam to let off. ‘I hope you told them everything is on the house,’ he’d told Petra.
