Page 8 of A Wedding Negotiation with Her Boss

Sensible questions and yet, looking at her as she stood in front of him, the very essence of matter-of-fact practicality, he couldn’t resist lowering his eyes to say with a contrived frown, ‘I think it could work very well, having everyone here in these pleasant, informal settings. My cottage is bigger than this. There’s a very useful table that seats six. As an alternative, we could always choose to discuss the details by the pool...have drinks and food brought to us. The restaurant here comes with an excellent reputation.’

His lips twitched as she stiffened and he burst out laughing. ‘Relax, Helen. I have suitable arrangements in place at one of the hotels in the city which is close and convenient. I also have a timetable, you’ll be pleased to know. Tomorrow, meetings are lined up with the lawyers. Day after, we consult with the finance guys. Day after that, we can run through the finer details, after which you are free to leave. I will see Arturio on my own to explain what’s in place and work through any further concerns he might have regarding the rights of all his employees—all the business stuff that’s quite separate from everything else. Especially considering a fair few of them are related to him.

‘Everything is in writing and pored over at length, but my gut feeling is it’s something that will be raised again, and I want to make sure signatures are all in place before I return to London. So, formalities will be strictly observed, rest assured. Although...you’ll have ample free time to practise your swimming in the pool. There’s no need be shy about that.’

Looking at him, Helen suddenly felt the ground shift ever so slightly beneath her feet.

Of course he was gently teasing her about everything being in place work-wise, just as he had gently teased her about the formal clothes she had opted to wear for the trip over. Why on earth was she so uptight about a little bit of banter? It wasn’t the first time he’d smiled and said something he knew was mischievous, knowing that it would get under her skin. So why was she unsettled now? Was it the change of scenery? She was going to be here for three days, after which she would head back to London and, as he’d made clear, their days would be accounted for.

So, relaxing around a swimming pool? Not going to happen. She hadn’t brought a swimsuit with her, anyway.

She smiled and nodded.

‘Sounds good.’

‘I expect you’re tired, and you’ll probably find that jet lag might kick in tomorrow, so I’ve made sure that nothing kicks off until late morning. You can lie in.’

‘I’ll be fine.’

‘Have you ever done a trip of this length before to a country with this time difference?’

Helen reddened. She thought of her dad, his fussing and his worrying when she’d been younger. And then in the blink of an eye she’d been making all her girlish plans for a wedding that had never happened. In between all of that, she and George hadn’t given a moment’s thought to travelling anywhere, because they had been too busy putting money aside to leave their rented accommodation and buy somewhere of their own once they were married.

So much planning, and yet he had walked away, and the woman with whom he had settled down in record time had been the very opposite of Helen.

‘No,’ she admitted shortly.

‘Then don’t underestimate the effects of jet lag,’ Gabriel murmured softly. He looked at her for a few long, silent seconds. ‘I don’t want you to feel that you have to snap to attention if you’re exhausted, Helen.’

‘I wouldn’t do that.’

‘Sure? Because everybody needs to unwind now and again, especially when they work in a high-stress environment as you do, and you won’t be judged if that happens.’

With Helen making no response to that, Gabriel straightened and continued briskly, ‘Right. I’ll leave you to it. You can order in whatever you want and I’ll let you have breakfast whenever you please tomorrow morning. You can have it delivered to the cottage, or you can head to the restaurant, which is through the clearing and straight ahead in the building alongside where we checked you in.’

‘Thank you. And where and when shall we meet to head into town?’

‘Eleven. Reception. My driver will be on standby to take us for our first round of meetings.’

He half-saluted with his bandaged hand, and she breathed a sigh of relief as he vanished into the night, leaving her to get on with the business of getting her thoughts in order.

Racing pulses and a foolishly hammering heart, because she happened to have been swept away from her usual safe environment for ten minutes, just weren’t going to do.

She’d grown up since George and had had time to evaluate her choices and firmly establish herself as a woman with her head very firmly screwed on. Her sexy, charming boss wasn’t going to mess with any of that.

Gabriel was waiting for her at eleven sharp the following morning. Helen spotted him chatting to Pammy, of the long, blonde hair, and from her heightened colour and bright eyes she could see that the twenty-something woman was thrilled to bits to have this striking Italian guy flirting with her.

Because flirting was surely what he was doing, half-leaning on the counter, with his bandaged hand making him even sexier than he already was for reasons she couldn’t fathom.

Honestly. No sooner had one girlfriend disappeared through that revolving door than another potential was in the offing. Didn’t the man need any breathing space at all? Ridiculous. Superficial. Typical!

She cleared her throat and looked at him coolly as he slowly turned to her, gave her the once over and then strolled unhurriedly in her direction.

Again, he was casually dressed. He wore a different pair of trousers, grey this time, and a grey-and-white-striped polo shirt with a distinctive logo on the pocket. Helen instantly felt uncomfortable and over-dressed in her dark-blue knee-length skirt and, to accommodate the heat, a short-sleeved shirt buttoned to the neck, the little pearl buttons somehow feeling like the height of frumpiness.

She had her laptop bag slung over her shoulder, along with her handbag.

‘Ready?’ Gabriel raised his eyebrows but said not a word about her choice of clothing, another nod to the fact that she was here to work.

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