Best of Bosses 2008(108)

With increasing frustration, Nick realised that he was gradually being reduced to the level of a schoolboy, unable to stop sneaking looks at her in her tee shirts and shorts and then fantasising about her late at night when he lay in bed staring at the ceiling and telling himself that he was behaving like a lunatic.

He could have anyone and yet when he tried to think of the many women he could have, he found his thoughts blurring and finally there she was, in his head yet again.

And here he was now. Facing another night of frustration because Rose had retired early, this time claiming the perennial headache excuse.

He looked at his watch and discovered that it was after midnight. One fifteen, to be precise, and he considered his options. Remain in bed, scowling into the darkness, or else get up and at least solve one of his problems by having a very cold shower.

He slid out from under the covers and felt the pleasantly cool touch of tiles under his bare feet. Overhead, the fan whirred rhythmically, drowning out the little noises of night creatures outside. The prospect of a cold shower was about as appealing as the thought of switching on his computer and catching up on work, which was usually his routine when he couldn’t sleep.

Nick moved quietly, without bothering to switch the lights on, and stuck on some drawstring cotton trousers, which were the closest thing to pyjama bottoms he possessed.

Making very little noise, he opened the sliding door that led onto his private veranda, from which the landscaped gardens stretched before him as a series of darkened shapes.

Borneo was proving to be a marvel of surprises. Few places, he thought, could provide such a winning combination of white sandy beaches, blue, calm sea and the spectacle that was the wonder of the rainforest.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something move. It was just a flicker behind the trellis separating his veranda from his neighbour’s. In this instance, Rose. Normally, the leafy fronds clambering over the wooden trellis acted as a very successful screen, but in the inky blackness of the night whatever she was wearing must have been of a light colour.

Nick felt a rush of adrenaline surge through him. Without pausing to think, just acting with the unerring instincts of the predator, he circled the patch of lawn and appeared in front of her, bare backed because the night was balmy but, other than that, decently clad, if lacking shoes.

‘Well, well, well,’ he drawled, ‘come here often?’ He sprinted up the two wooden steps, not giving her time to beat a hasty retreat.

Whatever she was wearing, it was obvious she had not dressed for an accidental meeting with her boss. Her nightie was ultra thin and barely skirted her thighs. The light trickling from the room behind her was her cruellest enemy because it showed the full, rounded outline of her bare breasts. With a little leap of the imagination, Nick could almost see the shape of her nipples.

Rose looked at him in horror. ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing here?’ she demanded, too shocked by his sudden appearance to even think of what she was wearing.

‘Same as you. Couldn’t sleep.’ Ever one to take full advantage of the opportunities presented to him, Nick sat on the chair next to her and grinned. ‘I know why I couldn’t sleep, but what about you?’

Rose was literally lost for words. Never in a million years had she expected this. She could have wept with frustration because she had done so well over the past few days. She had behaved with impeccable and detached politeness and pointedly ignored him whenever she could get away with it, and when she couldn’t she had fallen back on talking about work. Yes, it was an ordeal, but at least the nights were hers. And now…How dared he invade her down time? Behaving for all the world as though he had every right?

‘I think you should go,’ Rose said coldly, rising to her feet. She snatched up the glass of water she had brought outside with her and spun round on her heel.

‘Not so fast.’

Before she knew it, he was standing in front of her, his hand biting into her arm.

‘What are you doing? Let me go.’

‘Tell me why you’re running away from me.’

‘I am not running away from you.’ If only she could sound a bit more convincing, but her voice was a high whisper and, Lord, her legs were like jelly.

‘You mean you’ve suddenly and coincidentally realised that you’re very tired and need to go to bed immediately?’

‘I mean…’ She took a deep breath to steady herself. This situation felt so intimate. Just the two of them, eyes locked, while the rest of the world slept. His semi nudity was an affront to all her senses, filling her up until it seemed to be the only thing she could see even though she was making every effort not to. ‘I mean that this is my private time and I don’t want you in it. I may work for you, Nick, but when I’m in my own quarters I don’t really expect you to barge in as though you own the place.’