Doukakis's Apprentice

‘That’s enough!’ His face was red and angry. ‘If it weren’t for the fact that you’re the boss’s daughter, you would have been fired long ago. You have a real attitude problem. And as for the way you dress—’

‘How a person dresses doesn’t affect their ability to do a job, Mr Anderson. Not that I expect you to understand that. With the exception of the board—’ she cast a derisive look around the boardroom table ‘—this is a young, vibrant, creative agency. I don’t need to wear a boring suit with an elastic waistband to accommodate a four-course business lunch paid for by your unsuspecting clients.’

Scarlet-faced, Michael Anderson looked as though he was at high risk of a stroke. ‘I’m going to overlook your behaviour because I know how difficult this week has been for you. And I’m going to give you some fatherly advice as your own father seems to take his responsibilities in that area so lightly. Take your redundancy money, go on a good long holiday and rethink your future. Apart from your extremely unfortunate temper, you’re a nice girl. Beautiful.’ Sweat beading his brow, he dragged his eyes away from her legs. ‘You’re only working on client accounts because of your father. In any other company you’d be a secretary. Not that there’s anything wrong with that,’ he said hastily as he saw Polly’s expression darken. ‘All I’m saying is that a girl with your looks doesn’t need to spend her nights with her head in a spreadsheet playing with business—isn’t that right, gentleman?’

A murmur of agreement spread through the watching board members. The only person not smiling was Damon Doukakis. He stayed silent, his eyes hooded as he watched the antics from the far end of the table.

Polly saw nothing through the red mist of anger that clouded her vision. ‘Don’t you dare criticize my father. And don’t you dare make those sexist, misogynistic comments when we all know who’s doing the work in this company. You sold out to the highest bidder for personal gain. You’re now multimillionaires and we’re unemployed.’ She tried and failed to keep the emotion out of her voice. ‘Where was your sense of responsibility? Shame on you. Shame on all of you.’

Michael Anderson’s mouth was slack with shock. ‘Who do you think you are?’

‘Someone who cares about the future of this company and the people who work for it. If you make one single one of them redundant before at least considering other options then I’ll—’ What? What could she do? Aware that she was utterly powerless, the anger suddenly left her and Polly turned and stalked back round the table, furious with herself for losing control. She felt spent and exhausted and utterly dispirited. She’d let everyone down. Instead of making things better, she’d made them a thousand times worse.

Damn, damn and damn. Why couldn’t she stay cool and calm like these fat, overblown men in suits? Why hadn’t she gone to bed last night? Being tired always lowered her burn threshold.

Deafened by the extended silence, Polly felt misery slide through her veins. Her anger had blown itself out, but not before she’d ruined everything. ‘Look—I’ll go, OK? I’ll walk out of here right now without a fuss. Just don’t make everyone redundant.’ Mortified by her behaviour, she directed her words at Damon Doukakis, who still hadn’t made a move. ‘Please don’t make anyone redundant because of me.’ Horrified to feel the hot sting of tears, she closed her laptop and was about to leave the room when Damon Doukakis spoke.

‘I want to see that presentation. Send it to my handheld.’ His voice hard and inflexible, his eyes locked on Polly with the deadly accuracy of a laser guided missile. ‘I want to see everything you’ve put together.’

Mute with shock, Polly couldn’t move, and it was Michael Anderson who recovered first.

‘She’s just a glorified secretary, Damon. Honestly, you really shouldn’t—’

Damon Doukakis ignored him. He was still looking at Polly. ‘You can tell the staff they have three months to prove their worth. The only immediate job losses will be the board.’ That unexpected bombshell sent ripples of consternation across the room.

As the meaning of his words sank home, Polly felt lightheaded. He wasn’t getting rid of the staff. They had a stay of execution.

Making a strange choking sound, Michael Anderson tried to loosen the collar of his shirt. ‘You can’t get rid of the board! We’re the engine of this company.’

‘If my car had an engine like you it would have been scrapped,’ Damon said grimly. ‘You revealed your commitment to the company when you sold me your shares. I don’t want anyone working for me who can be bought. Nor do I want to find myself slapped with a lawsuit for sexual discrimination, which will undoubtedly come my way if you stay with the company.’

Watching the other man crumble, Polly felt like cheering, but Damon Doukakis was still speaking, listing his demands with a complete lack of emotion.

‘I’m moving the entire operation into my London offices. I have two floors empty and a team ready to facilitate the move.’

Polly’s desire to cheer instantly faded. ‘But the staff have been here for ever and—’

‘I don’t deal in “for ever”, Miss Prince. In business, the best you can hope for is “for now”. My second in command, Carlos, will take over the day to day running of business for the foreseeable future.’

‘But Bill Henson has been in that post for—’

‘For far too long,’ came the smooth reply. ‘He can work with Carlos for the next three months. If we’re impressed, we’ll take him on. I never lose good people. But I run a meritocracy, not a charity.’

Michael Anderson’s face was a strange grey colour. ‘Damon—’ He cleared his throat. ‘You need someone to show you our systems. Explain how the company is run.’

‘It took me less than five minutes with your balance sheet to assess how the company is run. The word is badly. And I’ve already decided to keep someone on who has inside knowledge.’

Michael sagged and his smile was slack and desperate. ‘That’s a relief. For a moment there I thought—’

‘Which is why Miss Prince will come and work alongside me for the next three months.’

Work alongside him? Oh, no, not that. ‘I’m ready to step down, Mr Doukakis.’

‘You’re not stepping anywhere, Miss Prince. You and your laptop are going to be right by my side as we sort out this mess together.’ His words were deliberately ambiguous and Polly wondered which mess he was referring to—the company, or her father’s relationship with his sister.

‘But—’

‘My people will be here within the hour to organise the move into my offices. Anyone who would rather not move is, of course, free to leave.’

‘Wait a minute—’ Polly felt as if she’d been flattened under a heavy object. She’d assumed she’d be the first out of the door. She was ready and willing to make that sacrifice. In fact she was desperate to put as much distance as possible between her and Damon Doukakis. ‘I resign.’

His eyes locked on hers. ‘Resign and I’ll make the entire workforce redundant this afternoon.’ The suppressed anger in him licked through the room, sizzling everyone around the table to a crisp.

‘No!’ Polly felt dizzy with horror. ‘They haven’t done anything.’

‘Having glanced at your balance sheet, I find it all too easy to believe you. I’m asking myself what anyone in this company has done over the past year. It’s only fair to warn you that I don’t hold out much hope that these people will still be working for me in three months. I’ve seen more activity in a graveyard.’

Polly’s limbs weakened. She thought about Doris Cooper, who had worked for her father in the post room for forty years. Recently widowed, the woman made a habit of giving the wrong post to the wrong people, but no one wanted to upset her so they quietly reorganised everything when she wasn’t looking. Then there was Derek Wills who couldn’t spell his name but made lovely cups of tea to keep everyone going. If she walked out they wouldn’t even make three weeks, let alone three months. ‘Fine,’ she croaked. ‘I’ll work for you. But I think your behaviour is appalling.’

‘Your opinion of me is unlikely to be lower than mine of you.’ He came right back at her, the full power of his anger slamming into her shaking frame with the force of a hurricane.

Polly stood rigid, impossibly intimidated despite her attempts not to be. There was something terrifying about that splintering dark gaze and the raw power of the man in front of her. She didn’t need to see the contempt in his eyes to know he had a low opinion of her and even the heels on her boots didn’t help. He still made her feel small in every way possible. But none of that was as scary as the other feelings she was trying so desperately to ignore. The quickening of her pulse and the strange melting sensation inside her tummy. ‘You’re not being fair.’

‘Life isn’t fair.’ His tone was hard and uncompromising. ‘Like it or not, you’re all now part of my company. Welcome to my world, Miss Prince.’

CHAPTER TWO

HE’D never encountered such a shambolic operation in his life.

Infuriated at having landed himself with a company that offered him no benefit whatsoever, and angrier still at the wanton carelessness the Prince board had demonstrated towards people’s job security, Damon cleared the room with a single movement of his hand.

It frustrated him to have to deal with this situation when all he really wanted to do was track down his sister and protect her from the fallout of her own mistakes. Even after an intense week of reflection, he was no closer to understanding what had driven her to make such an appalling decision. Was her choice of Peter Prince just another ploy to prove her independence? Challenge him? He stood for a moment, bracing himself against the crushing weight of responsibility that had been his closest companion since he’d been forced to take charge of his sister’s welfare in his teens.

As Polly Prince stalked towards the door with the board members, he intercepted her. Slamming the door shut behind the last suited man, he turned on the woman he hadn’t laid eyes on for a decade.

‘Wherever you are, trouble is always close behind.’

She was taller than he remembered. Other than that, she didn’t seem to have changed much from the rebellious teenager who had stood sullen and defiant in the school office hearing her fate.

Damon scanned her from head to foot in a single sweeping glance, taking her choice of dress to be just another example of her careless, irresponsible attitude to life.

Everyone else had chosen to wear a dark suit to the meeting. It was typical that Polly Prince had favoured fashionable over formal, her short dress revealing incredibly long legs showcased in hot pink tights and black ankle boots. She looked fresh, young and—sexy.

The sudden explosion of primal lust was as unexpected as it was unwelcome and Damon dragged his gaze up from the heels of her cheeky black boots to focus on her face.

Accustomed to mixing with women who dressed with understated elegance, he was exasperated that the self-discipline he exerted over his own responses appeared to have deserted him. Even as he was telling himself that he had more sophistication than to feel sexual attraction for a girl with great legs, he was wrestling with a powerful urge to shrug off his jacket and cover those slender curves.

To kill those unwanted feelings stone-dead, he focused on the issue of his sister and her father. ‘Where the hell is he?’