Harlequin Presents January 2015 Box Set 3 of 4(78)

Lacking in money and poorly travelled as she was, Alice had still heard of this hotel. She paused and stared at the impressive building facing her and was even more impressed when she followed Gabriel inside.

Marble, chandeliers and stunning paintings and tapestries announced its enviable status as the very best anyone could get for their money.

‘We’re staying here?’ she breathed, and Gabriel turned to her with a slight smile.

‘If you can afford the very best, why not have it? You know by now that that’s my mantra.’

Alice glanced at him. He was the very epitome of a man at ease in his surroundings. He accepted the sudden flurry of activity around him as his due. No one could bow too low or scrape too hard and she felt a thrilling little flutter at being the woman at his side.

Even if she was only here in her role as his valuable secretary.

‘There’s something I need to ask you,’ she whispered as they were shown up to their adjoining suites.

‘No need to whisper,’ Gabriel whispered back. ‘I very much doubt the bellboy is interested in anything we have to say. A poker face is essential in places like this. The truly wealthy seldom like to be gawped at.’

Alice’s eyes flashed and he laughed. ‘Should I apologise for my arrogance?’ He briefly turned away and spoke fluently to the bellboy in French, who faded away with a slight bow and an ingratiating smile at the huge tip placed in his hand.

‘I guess you’re only being honest,’ she reluctantly conceded. From what she could glimpse behind him, the room was spectacular. Huge, big enough for a separate little sitting room, and everything was decorated with decadent opulence.

‘One of life’s few true virtues: honesty. You said you had something to talk to me about...’ He walked into the room, paying no attention at all to his surroundings, leading her to assume that he had been there many times before. ‘Come in and spit it out.’

Alice hovered by the door as he pulled his jumper over his head and flung it on the bed which, like the room, was super-sized. In the process, his shirt was tugged out of the waistband of his trousers and she glimpsed a tantalising sliver of bronzed stomach, as flat and as hard as a washboard.

‘Well?’ Gabriel prompted. ‘Don’t just stand there.’ He turned away and began scrolling down his Blackberry, frowning at emails as Alice tentatively walked into the room.

The presence of the bed was disconcerting. It brought back memories of the last time she had been in a bedroom with him, which was not what she wanted to think about.

When she was stranded in the middle of the room, he eventually glanced up and indicated one of the chairs which formed a little cluster by the window.

‘I’m afraid I hadn’t banked on us doing anything as fancy as dining out with...dignitaries,’ she said without beating around the bush. ‘I was under the impression that this was going to be all about work.’

‘So you packed your grey suit, a couple of white blouses, some black tights and your black patent shoes...’

‘I know it’s boring, Gabriel, but I don’t see work as a fashion parade!’ Her face stung from the implied insult. ‘If you had told me that—’

‘You knew we would be entertaining this client,’ Gabriel pointed out flatly. ‘Surely you wouldn’t have assumed that your work suits would do the trick?’

‘Why not? They’re smart and professional—’

‘They’re bland and drab.’

‘I don’t think that’s fair at all!’

‘You get exactly the same clothes allowance as the rest of my employees on your level, yet you don’t appear to have spent a penny on clothes.’

Because she spent the money paying a professional to help her mother with her problem. Because, however much she was paid, by the time that money left her hands, given all the other bills, plus the little nest egg she was slowly accumulating, there was precious little left and none at all for jackets that cost five hundred pounds and designer shoes that could run to more.

‘How do you know I haven’t?’

‘Well, unless you’re throwing money at an exotic out of work wardrobe, it shows.’

‘I didn’t realise that there was a certain dress code to work for you.’ But it was apparent all around her. She had noticed it on day one. ‘And I don’t think I should be channelled into wearing stuff I don’t like because you say so.’

‘Before this conversation starts drifting into territory I know I won’t like,’ Gabriel informed her coolly, ‘I suggest you use what remains of the day to go shopping.’

Alice thought about the paucity of her funds and blanched. ‘I...I would have to dip into my savings...’