He saw that her shoulders had slumped, and her hand was across her mouth to stop herself from crying. He broke the silence, which was heavy with tangled emotions.
‘The reason I asked to see you,’ he said, more quietly, ‘is that I want to retain you as my personal assistant. It’ll be hard work, which will take you away from home sometimes, and that may be a problem for you, but—’
‘No, thanks! And I wish to hand you my resignation now! Cryssie cried defiantly. ‘I’m not used to working for ogres—however successful!’ She marched over to the desk, looking frantically for something to write on, and he followed her, gripping her arm with a ferocity that frightened her.
‘Stop! Don’t be so ridiculous!’ he said, raising his voice again. ‘Hear me out—for God’s sake, Cryssie, calm down!’
‘Calm down? I’ve never been calmer in my life!’ she retorted angrily. ‘Just find me a pen and…the back of an envelope will do! I’m finished here! I’m the first one out!’
‘No, you are not,’ he said sternly, still gripping her tightly. ‘Listen to me! What you decide in the next few minutes may affect you for the rest of your life! I’m offering you the best chance you’re ever likely to have! I want you to stay here and pour oil on obviously troubled waters until the last orders are completed. And after that to be my right-hand woman. And I’m trebling your present wages as an incentive.’
That last remark made Cryssie hold her breath for a split second. Treble her wages, had he said? To think of that sort of money being at her disposal was the stuff of unlikely dreams. But her hesitation didn’t last long! He was not going to buy her off like that!
She stared up at him, and by now they were so close that she could actually hear his heart thudding against his chest, matching the agonised throbbing in her own.
‘Keep your job, Mr Hunter,’ she said, trying not to shout. ‘And keep your money! Money isn’t everything in life.’
‘It is in business, you little idiot,’ he said, and suddenly his arms were around her waist.
He dragged her towards him, forcing his mouth over hers, the full weight of him almost making her knees buckle. Completely amazed, Cryssie felt her lips part in shock, and the moist warmth of his tongue against hers. And then there was no other sound in the room except the pounding of her heart in her ears. No other sensation except the awareness of his masculinity, the overpowering thrust of his body against hers, and after a split second’s realisation as to the enormity of what was happening to her, all Cryssie’s forthright determination seemed to desert her. To be held tightly, like this, was strangely comforting, even under these circumstances, subduing her volatile expressions of anger and resentment, and she automatically leaned into him, the smell of his hot flesh reaching her nostrils, arousing her senses so that for this particular moment in time she was, once again, under his complete control.
How long they remained in that very intimate position Cryssie could not afterwards remember, but eventually he released her, with a sigh that was more like a shudder, and held her away from him, visibly upset at his unusual lack of self control. When he spoke, his voice was harsh.
‘I advise you, very strongly, to think carefully about what I’m offering you.’ He drew his lips together in a forbidding line. ‘I do not do such things lightly,’ he added tersely. He didn’t look away from her flushed face, and the green eyes that seemed to have become as wide and wild as a cat’s. ‘Don’t be impulsive,’ he repeated. ‘I need you—not just here, for the immediate future, but for our other companies elsewhere. I’ve been looking for someone for a long time—a woman with a head on her shoulders, a clear mind, and opinions she’s not afraid to express. Do you understand what I’m saying?’
‘Why don’t you ask Rose?’ Cryssie asked, trying desperately to keep a grip on herself, on her fluctuating emotions.
‘Why should I want an over-made-up grandmother—a “yes” woman?’ he demanded, and Cryssie was fleetingly surprised that he’d even noticed Rose’s thick orange foundation and gash of red lipstick. ‘I want someone to challenge me sometimes—perhaps to make me see things in a different light!’ He shook his head angrily, annoyed that he was having to persuade her to see things his way. ‘Women like you are rare. You’re the person I want, and I’ll make sure you have a good package.’
Cryssie listened quietly to all this, glad of the chance to reconnect with her self-control. Then she said, ‘Well, so far I haven’t managed to make you see things in a different light,’ she said, trying to keep the sarcasm from surfacing.