Viktor:Heart of Her King(3)

The rest of the banquet had been a blur, just as the last three months  had been. Kat spent every day and most of every night preparing her  presentation, while running Roma Tech and trying not to lose her sanity  from the nightly visits of her dream lover.

Just as she'd expected, it was Viktor's voice she heard in every dream,  more compelling with each appearance. So real that every time she awoke,  her hand automatically searched the other side of the bed for him.

Kat knew from all her research into Katsaros Industries that only  blurry, out of focus photos existed of its withdrawn owner. But that  simple fact did not keep her from searching at least once a day with the  hopes that something she'd missed before would magically appear. Of  course, nothing had, so she'd depended on her incredible imagination  while constantly reminding herself it was unprofessional to mix business  with pleasure.

But oh, what pleasure I imagine it could be.

Grinning at her own joke, she planted her best black stiletto on British  soil for the first time and headed to retrieve her luggage. Apparently,  the heavens were shining down on her, because her bags were the first  onto the carousel. Her luck continued to hold as she walked out into the  dreary London morning and straight into a waiting cab to be immediately  whisked away to her hotel.

Viktor had offered to have his car pick her up at the airport when she'd  sent her itinerary to him and Roman a week after their phone  conversation. Once the initial shock of a personal response from the CEO  himself had worn off, Kat had politely declined. She needed him to see  her as a capable, worthy partner despite her age and gender. It was a  daily battle and one she would not let stop her from taking Roma Tech to  the top.                       
       
           



       

As her taxi stopped in front of the Corinthia, Kat had a moment of  wide-eyed awe. Never in a million years would she have guessed the  building before her had at one time housed the Ministry of Defense. The  restoration the building had undergone left it in absolutely gorgeous  condition. It was like nothing she'd ever seen.

For just a second, she felt like a princess finally arriving at her  castle. Sadness threatened her mood as Kat thought of all the fairy  tales her mom had read to her over the years and the times her dad had  played the part of the horrible beast keeping the princess captive in  the bell tower. She missed them so very much but knew they were looking  down on her with pride. Life had dished Kat up a bushel of lemons and  she was making lemonade as fast as she could.

The fact that she was a country girl at heart would always be her best  kept secret from the professional world. Sure, as an only child taking  over the family business had been in her thirty-year plan. Right along  with marrying the man of her dreams and having two beautiful children.  She'd always imagined she and her spouse running the company together  after her parents had retired but destiny had other plans, and now it  was time to take her father's dreams worldwide.

Smiling to herself, she jumped as the hotel attendant opened her door  and extended his hand. Quickly paying the cabbie, Kat gently accepted  the bellman's help and exited the vehicle. There were several other  stewards unloading her luggage while she was escorted through the  pristine glass double doors into the hotel lobby.

If this is any indication of what my suite looks like, I may never go home.

It was all she could do to keep from gaping at the opulence before her.  There were chandeliers as far as her eyes could see, glittering like  diamonds against the silver and white ceiling. Marble columns  strategically placed around the perimeter of what she counted to be at  least ten separate alcoves stood at attention like palace guards  protecting the groups of patrons who sat either at delicately adorned  tables sipping morning tea, or in the more informal settees. A splash of  pink decorated every tabletop as a light, fresh fragrance from the  bright fuchsia flowers kissed the air around her.

Kat's heels lightly tapped the geometrically patterned marble floor as  she made her way to the front desk. A cute young woman with short brown  hair whose nametag read Cecily looked up and smiled as Kat approached.

"Checking in?" the younger woman asked with a thick British accent.

"Yes. The name's Romalesky."

"Katarina?"

"Yes, that's correct."

It took only a few moments for Cecily to confirm Kat's reservation,  secure her credit card, and hand over the key to her suite, but as she  was waiting-Kat couldn't help but feel as though someone was watching  her. Looking over her shoulder, first one way and then the other, she  saw only hotel patrons enjoying their stay. No one looked out of place  or seemed to be paying an inordinate amount of attention to her.  Shrugging, she returned her attention to the clerk.

"Enjoy your stay, Miss Romalesky. The bellman will be waiting in your suite with your belongings."

"Thank you, Cecily."

Kat entered the first mahogany paneled elevator, ‘lift' as Cecily had  called it, she came to. As the doors closed, she shoved her key into the  slot as she'd been instructed and let out a deep sigh of relief. The  slow upward motion helped to soothe her increasing anxiety. She took  another deep breath and leaned back, letting her eyes slide shut for  just a moment. It was the first time she'd been alone in nearly fourteen  hours.

Not that Kat was a hermit or a recluse like the man who was quickly  dominating her every thought, it was nothing like that. She enjoyed  being around people. Had always loved the comradery of friends and had a  blast chatting with the people at Roma Tech. Goodness knew she could  talk to anyone and had on many occasions struck up a conversation with  another shopper at the grocery store over whatever product they were  both looking at.

But this was not the Piggly Wiggly and she wasn't in Texas anymore. This  was real life and she was about to enter the race with the big dogs.  Correction, the biggest dog of them all, the one that not only won every  race, but also owned the racetrack. The future of her company, the one  her father had built from a workshop in the back of their garage to one  with its shares traded on the NYSE, was at stake. The one she saved from  bankruptcy after both her father and mother were killed in an  unexplained single car accident on a clear fall night would be sold to  the highest bidder if she failed. The one that had the only interactive  graphic chip with artificial intelligence capabilities in the world  would fall to the wayside if KI declined. It all depended on her ability  to convince an elusive billionaire, who to the best of her knowledge  never did partnerships-only believed in takeovers- to take a chance on  her. It was all more than a little daunting.                       
       
           



       

It was only one more evening's preparation, one more night's sleep, and  one short car ride before she came face to face with the Viktor  Katsaros. Kat was not afraid to admit she was nervous, maybe even a  little scared. Saying a silent prayer for guidance, she exited the  elevator and found herself standing right in the middle of the most  imposing entrance hall she'd ever seen...and she'd been in the Texas  Governor's mansion. As if that wasn't enough, she looked out into a  gorgeous expanse of living space she knew damn good and well was bigger  than her house and was sure she was in the wrong place. Her perusal was  cut short when the sound of someone clearing their throat had her  spinning on her heels.

"Pardon me, ma'am. (Which sounded more like mum than ma'am.) Didn't mean  to startle you. I'm Jordan, your steward. Let me take your coat and  then you can tell me where you'd like your belongings."

Taking a step back as Jordan took his first step towards her, Kat asked,  "Are you sure this is my room? I think there must be some mistake. This  looks more like a...well...I guess I'm not sure what it looks like, but  I know it's a lot more than the suite I booked online."

Pulling a card from his uniform pocket, Jordan carefully followed his  finger over every word Kat could see printed on the paper before he  looked up, smiled, and announced, "No mistake at all, ma'am. The Royal  Penthouse has been reserved for Katarina Romalesky, who judging from the  picture I have here, is you." He turned the registration card so she  could see that it did indeed have her picture from the Roma Tech  brochure on it.

"But there has to have been some mix up. I reserved the Junior Suite.  Let me call down to the front desk and I'm sure Cecily will get it all  worked out."

Kat stepped to the glass-topped table where the phone sat and picked up  the receiver as Jordan continued reading. "Your Junior Suite has been  upgraded to the Royal Penthouse with the compliments of the hotel  owner."