Out of Hours...Her Ruthless Boss: Ruthless Boss, Hired Wife / Unworldly Secretary, Untamed Greek / Her Ruthless Italian Boss

Lizzie’s sense of discomfort and guilt at deceiving these people returned with a sharp pang. As if he knew, Cormac reached out and clasped her hand, twining her fingers with his as she had done earlier. It was an intimate, proprietary gesture and Hilda saw it and smiled.

As Cormac had known she would.

‘You must be tired,’ she said, still smiling. ‘Let me show you your room.’

Room. Not rooms. And no doubt with one bed. Of course they would be sharing a room; they would most likely be sharing a bed. Lizzie had been dimly aware of this earlier, but now it came to her with nauseating force as Hilda led them down the corridor, hibiscus and orchids spilling from pots, their sweet fragrance heavy on the air, making Lizzie’s stomach roil all the more.

Hilda opened a mahogany door and Lizzie took in the room—a wide wooden bed with linen sheets the centrepiece. The tiled floor was scattered with colourful woven rugs and the windows had only shutters, like the rest of the house, now thrown open to the sea.

‘I hope you will be comfortable,’ Hilda murmured. ‘Your bags will be here shortly. Dinner is at eight; we like to gather in the lounge at seven. But please, rest. Enjoy.’ She left them quietly, amidst their murmured thanks, and the door closed with a soft click.

‘Not bad.’ Cormac strode to the window, loosening his tie. Lizzie sank on to the bed. She felt exhausted, strung out. She trembled with tension.

‘I can’t do this.’

‘You just did.’

‘I’ll never be able to keep it up all weekend,’ she protested vainly, for Cormac simply raised his eyebrows.

‘You don’t really have any choice,’ he stated coolly, ‘do you?’

He’d loosened his tie and now he tossed it on to a chair. ‘Just enjoy yourself,’ he continued. ‘I plan to.’ His fingers went to his shirt, but Lizzie’s mind was buzzing too much to notice.

Had he meant that he would enjoy himself or enjoy her? Somehow she had the feeling he wanted her to wonder.

‘There must be a hundred women in Edinburgh who you could have asked to do this,’ she said. ‘They would have been glad to. Why me?’

He paused, eyeing her thoughtfully. ‘I thought it would be simpler.’

‘Simpler!’ Lizzie gave a bark of laughter. Nothing about this weekend felt simple. ‘How?’

‘Because we haven’t slept together,’ Cormac explained with a little smile. ‘Yet.’

Lizzie was left staring, gaping at him, the breath robbed from her lungs, her brain…

‘Close your mouth, Chandler,’ Cormac said, laughter lacing his voice. ‘There are flies in the Caribbean. Big ones.’

‘We’re not…’

‘No,’ he agreed, the laughter replaced with a thoughtful smile, ‘we’re not.’

Yet. Did Cormac actually want to sleep with her? Have an affair…Flirting was one thing, but this…

This was dangerous. This was scary.

Lizzie knew she was innocent—more innocent than Cormac even realised. What she didn’t know was how to handle this situation. How to handle Cormac. She laughed tonelessly. Cormac wasn’t the kind of man to be handled.

If anyone was going to be handled, it was her. She was so out of her depth, she was drowning.

And Cormac was the only one who could save her.

He watched her now, smiling faintly, and Lizzie hated the way he seemed to know what she was thinking, as if her thoughts and fears—not to mention her desires—flashed across her face in neon lights.

Maybe they did.

She rose from the bed, unzipped her suitcase and began to hang up the clothes Cormac had bought her. She needed to be busy. She needed to stop thinking so much. Imagining so much. Cormac. Her and Cormac.

Stop.

‘You can always do that later,’ Cormac said mildly, and Lizzie shook her head.

‘The clothes will get wrinkled.’

‘There are servants here, you know.’ His voice was lazy, low and rumbling. Lizzie shook her head again; she felt like a marionette.

‘I don’t want to make a fuss.’

‘No,’ he murmured, ‘you never do.’

A flash of agonised awareness jolted her, made her realise afresh just how expertly Cormac had judged her. Played her.

‘Do you use everybody?’ she asked, trying to keep her voice conversational. ‘Or just me?’

Cormac was silent for a moment; she concentrated on the clothes. ‘Everybody,’ he said after a moment. ‘So don’t take it personally.’

She gritted her teeth, guarded herself against the little stab of hurt. ‘Oh, I won’t.’

Cormac strode towards her, plucked the garment she’d balled uselessly in her hand. ‘Talk about wrinkles.’ He smoothed it out; it was a filmy silk negligee.

Lizzie snatched it back. ‘I’m not wearing that,’ she warned him. ‘I only brought it because you told me to.’

‘Good girl.’ His smile was so mocking it made her want to scream. To slap his face.

Then she noticed he had no shirt on. His chest was smooth and brown, taut with muscle. Just a glimpse of the flat plane of his stomach had Lizzie swallowing and gulping and desperate for air.

‘Where is your shirt?’ she demanded shrilly.

‘On the floor.’ He raised one eyebrow. ‘We’ve been flying all night and I’m tired. I’m going to sleep. You should, too.’

She shook her head. ‘Cormac, don’t…don’t try to intimidate me.’

‘I thought I was trying to undress.’

They amounted to the same thing, but she wasn’t going to say it. He knew, anyway. Somehow she found the strength to drag her gaze to his face which, even though it was sardonic and knowing, was safer. ‘We need to lay some ground rules.’

‘Such as?’

‘You wear clothes in my presence,’ Lizzie snapped, ‘for starters.’