Her Christmas Romeo

White teeth flashed in the darkness. He obviously found her indignation amusing. ‘Or else what?’ he enquired mildly.

He was laughing at her! First he had kissed her, and now he had the effrontery to laugh at her!

Juliette’s anger rose to such a pitch she was actually shaking. ‘Oh, yes, that’s right—let’s laugh at the poor hysterical female! Just because I’m only temporary Christmas staff and you’re obviously part of management doesn’t mean that I’m not going to report your behaviour to your superior!’ As soon as she knew which superior to report him to …

He was leaning back against the opposite wall now, strong arms crossed in front of that broad chest. ‘Why am I “obviously part of management”?’

Her eyes widened. She had just told him off for laughing at her, threatened to report his over-familiar behaviour to—well, whoever his superior was, and all he could come back with was to ask how she had known he was one of Romeo’s executives!

She gave a scornful snort. ‘Probably because I haven’t ever seen any of the sales personnel wearing expensive Italian suits and handmade leather shoes!’

‘No?’ he drawled.

He was still laughing at her, damn it. She didn’t care who this man was. Even if he turned out to be the Managing Director himself, she intended—

‘You said you’re a temporary member of staff for the Christmas period?’ he asked with interest.

‘And as such expendable?’ she challenged him, her voice scathing. ‘Well, just try it, that’s all. I can assure you, I won’t go quietly.’ Getting the sack once had been quite enough, thank you very much.

‘That hasn’t been my experience so far in our acquaintance, so why should I think it will be any different once we’re out of this lift?’ he came back derisively.

‘You—I—’ Juliette glared at him. ‘It’s all right for you. You aren’t the one who’s got stuck in the lift with a pervert!’

There was a tense silence after her last accusation—long seconds when Juliette could only hold her breath at the enormity of what she had just said. She had really done it now. Not only had she threatened to report one of the management, she had just accused him of being a pervert, too.

What would he do?

She heard a noise. A low, husky-sounding noise that she didn’t instantly recognise. And then she did. Rob was no longer inwardly laughing at her, he was actually chuckling out loud now!

It wasn’t funny, damn it. She had ruined a pair of new boots, got stuck in a lift, been kissed very thoroughly and all this man could do was laugh at her.

‘I wish I had never even heard of Romeo’s!’ she ground out with frustration. If even one male customer looked her up and down today, and then decided that his girlfriend/wife/mistress was ‘probably about the same size as you up top’, she would not be responsible for the consequences!

‘Why did you come to work here?’ Rob asked curiously. ‘You don’t exactly sound as if you’re having a good time.’

Oh, she was grateful to have a job at all; although not excessive, the wage did at least pay most of her bills. She just couldn’t remember the last time she’d genuinely had a ‘good time’ …

‘In fact,’ he continued, ‘it doesn’t sound to me as if working in any type of store is what you enjoy doing.’

She didn’t not enjoy it. It was just … There was no way she could even begin to explain to this man how she had moved to London six months ago with such high hopes for her future, her job as a PA to a successful businessman having proved to be every bit as exciting as she had hoped it would. She had travelled with her boss to America, Germany and France, and it had been an amazing experience.

But all of that had ended five weeks ago. And just thinking about that was guaranteed to ensure she didn’t have a ‘good time’ doing anything.

‘Beggars can’t be choosers,’ she responded heavily. ‘Although I may not have this job, either, after today,’ she added, with sudden depressing realisation. ‘I doubt Graham—Graham Taylor—my floor manager,’ she explained, just in case this man’s executive loftiness meant he wasn’t familiar with the floor management, ‘will be at all impressed with my reason for being late.’ Especially as she had already been late when she’d slid into the lift!

But actually Graham Taylor hadn’t seemed impressed by anything she’d done in the last few weeks. The way he had of pouncing on any little mistake she made gave her the distinct impression that he wished Personnel hadn’t employed her in the first place. This morning’s tardiness might just be the excuse he needed to get rid of her.

‘I’ll have a word with him—’

‘No! No, no—please don’t do that,’ Juliette pleaded awkwardly. Graham Taylor ran the fourth floor with the precision of a sergeant-major inspecting his troops. He certainly wouldn’t welcome the intervention of a member of upper management over how he treated his staff. The man was already sarcastic enough without that!

‘Please,’ she added cajolingly. ‘It’s very kind of you to offer—but please don’t.’

‘But—’ Rob broke off as the main light flickered on overhead, followed seconds later by the lift slowly beginning its ascent. ‘At last!’ he murmured with satisfaction.

Juliette was too bemused at the thought of being able to escape this metal prison after being stuck with a man who was anything but reassuring to care too much when the lift came to a rather lurching stop at the fourth floor.

The doors opened slowly, to reveal half a dozen or so concerned people, Graham Taylor amongst them, waiting anxiously outside.

Juliette didn’t hesitate, stepping straight out onto terra firma, her legs shaking with the relief of being rescued. Never again, she vowed. She didn’t care how late she was; she was never, ever—

‘Juliette?’ She turned at the sound of that now-familiar voice, so relieved at being out of the lift that she even smiled at Rob as he stepped out beside her. After all, it really wasn’t his fault that the lift had broken down. She would obviously have preferred it if he hadn’t kissed her, but such was her relief at that moment, she could actually have reached up and kissed him!

But before she could decide exactly what she should do or say now that they had been rescued, someone else spoke and rendered her—much as Rob might find it hard to believe!—completely speechless.

‘Mr Romeo!’ Graham Taylor’s voice was full of shocked recognition. ‘I had no idea! How awful that this should have happened to you, of all people.’

Juliette turned slowly, not even bothered that Graham hadn’t shown the slightest concern for her, and looked at the man who had been stuck in the lift with her.

Mr Romeo?

As in Roberto Romeo? Owner of the international chain of prestigious Romeo’s stores?

CHAPTER THREE

THIS couldn’t be happening to her! Not on top of all the other disasters that had befallen her recently.

‘I’m sure, Graham, that Juliette believes being stuck in a lift was an awful thing to happen to her, too,’ Rob answered the other man derisively, blue eyes dark with amusement at the look of stunned disbelief on Juliette’s face as she stared at him. ‘In fact,’ he added, stepping forward and taking a firm grasp of her arm, ‘I think it might be a good idea if we took Juliette upstairs and gave her a restorative glass of brandy.’

He was Roberto Romeo!

What had she said to him while they were in the lift? Besides calling him an opportunist and a pervert, of course …

Besides calling him those names? Weren’t they enough to merit instant dismissal?

God, yes. And he was suggesting giving her a brandy in order to soften the blow.

Her pale cheeks became flushed as she looked at him with accusing green eyes, her deep red hair loose about her shoulders. ‘I’m sure it’s very kind of you to suggest it, Mr Romeo—’ her tone implied the opposite ‘—but I—’

‘You have no objections to Juliette coming upstairs with me for a while, do you, Graham?’ Rob ignored her refusal and spoke to the fourth-floor manager.

Juliette looked at the older man from beneath lowered dark lashes, able to see, even if Roberto Romeo—Roberto Romeo, for goodness’ sake!—couldn’t, that Graham was far from pleased at the idea of one of his temporary Christmas staff being taken upstairs to that holy-of-holies the executive floor. In fact, he didn’t seem to like it at all as he shooed his curious staff back to their departments in order to give himself time to formulate an appropriate answer.

Well, he didn’t have to worry on her behalf; she wasn’t too thrilled at the suggestion herself. Roberto Romeo was giving every appearance of being a concerned employer, but she very much doubted he was the sort of man to make a scene in public, anyway. And the executive suite on the sixth floor, at only nine-thirty in the morning, would be empty of all but the two of them. An ideal time and place to tell her to seek other employment!

‘I would really rather just get straight back to work.’ She addressed her employer, just wanting to get away. The Christmas music playing over the tannoy system and the extensive Christmas decorations and lights were doing nothing to lighten her heavy mood. But if she could just manage to keep her head down for the rest of the day, perhaps—

Who was she kidding? Roberto Romeo wasn’t likely to forget their time in the lift, or their conversation, any more than she was—let alone allow her to continue working in his store.