Boardroom Proposal Read online

  “Sufficient irons out the kinks,” he commented dryly. “Come on, Eve. This isn’t a difficult assignment. We’re simply having a quiet meal.”

  During the daytime the city was vibrant with tropical beauty born of cloudless cobalt skies, brilliant sunshine and the splendid flowering of all the ornamental trees, shrubs and soaring palms that adorned the many parks and the lush Botanical Gardens near the city centre.

  At night under an indigo sky pierced with a trillion stars, it assumed a soft seductive air, the breeze warm and langorous, the broad deep river that wound through the city heart opalescent with the dazzle of the glittering towers and buildings, the floodlit arches and tiaras of the bridges that spanned the river’s impressive width.

  Blessed with the perfect climate for outdoor living, the traffic-free City Mall was alive with people crowding into the shops and cinemas, dining al fresco, listening to the organised entertainment or the surprising depth of talent from the city’s buskers, with young lovers holding hands sitting on the garden benches and rotunda, or around the beautiful fountain crowned by life-size statues of a young mother keeping watch over her two small sons as they sported in the pool. Others stood staring into the scintillating windows of the jewellery stores with their massed trays of engagement rings, diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires, dreaming of a time one would grace a beloved hand. Many more were walking the short distance to the casino housed in the magnificent old treasury building, or continuing on to the Performing Arts Centre for a concert. There were a number of international artists in town. The Russian virtuoso pianist, Demidenko, Eve particularly wanted to see.

  As Drew joined the smooth flow of traffic onto the Riverside Expressway, Eve looked out the window at the City Cats busy ferrying passengers to and fro across the river. The Kookaburra Queen, the luxurious paddle-wheel cruise boat was all asparkle wending its way upstream, the music on board drifting to the banks.

  Brisbane had a unique relationship with its beautiful river, Eve reflected, friendly for the most part but together with its network of major tributaries and many creeks, a mighty force in times of severe flood. Eve herself had been born in the year of the last great flood of 1974 triggered by the infamous cyclone Tracy that levelled the city of Darwin in the Northern Territory on Christmas Day. Everyone in the city loved their river as she did, but they all had a healthy respect for its power especially when a cyclone threatened. Tonight it was at its most beautiful and benign.

  They found parking opposite Leo’s. It was one of those small exclusive riverside restaurants Eve had never visited. I lead such a spartan private life, she realised. The maître d’ greeted them with delight, escorting them to a table for two by the window.

  “Would you like a drink to unwind?” Drew asked.

  “Perhaps. Just one. A dry white.”

  “You can handle a Riesling?”

  She nodded. “No problem.”

  “You have your car?”

  “Ordinarily I do, but not at the moment.” She let her light laugh run, minimising her lack. “It held on as long as it could but the motor gave out.”

  “You mean you don’t have a car?” He cocked a brow. “Aren’t I paying you enough?”

  “No more than I’m worth.” Her green eyes sparkled.

  “Ah. You’re asking for a raise?”

  She answered without hesitation, conscious of a rising excitement. “I’m sure I’ll get one when I’m worth it.”

  He stared at her, in the soft lighting his eyes as dark as night. “Actually I’ll get onto it tomorrow. You’ll need a work car.”

  Something flared inside her. A wariness, a kind of perverse anger. “I wonder if you made the same offer to Jamie?”

  “What gets into you, Evie?” He snapped the words out. “Jamie comes from a very wealthy background. Didn’t you know?”

  “I didn’t, actually,” she admitted, dipping her blond head.

  “Really? You’ve spent so much time together. I thought he might have revealed it in passing.”

  “He might have, but I missed it. Jamie doesn’t flaunt that sort of information.”

  “You get on well together?”

  Eve smiled and sank back in her chair. “He reminds me of Ben in a way. They’re both extremely intelligent. Both have a sweetness of nature.”

  “And Ben is the most important person in your life?” His dark eyes were full of interest.

  “We need one another desperately,” Eve freely admitted, toying with an empty wineglass.

  “But you’ll both marry in time.”

  “Are you criticising?”

  “No. I’m making a perfectly reasonable remark.”

  “And you want an answer?” She glanced at his dynamic face. “I’m hoping Ben will, yes. When he’s completed his studies.”

  “And not before then?” he answered with a trace of mockery.

  “I hope not.” Eve’s fine-boned face was serious. “Ben has always wanted to be a doctor. Nothing must stand in his way.”

  “You mean, he can’t fall in love until you say?”

  “I want the best for him.”

  “I realise that, Eve.” His vibrant voice deepened. “So what about you? I know you’re less than impressed with your own beauty, but surely you’ve had your share of boyfriends?”

  “Of course,” she said smoothly when it wasn’t strictly true. “I’m not much good at relationships, I’m afraid. I prefer not to get involved.”

  “Why is that, Evie?”

  Some note in his voice made her raise her eyes. “What makes you so interested?”

  He shrugged, held her gaze. “There’s so much more to you than I can see. I have a naturally investigative nature.”

  “But you’re my boss. We’re not friends.”

  “No, we’re not,” he said as if he cared, causing her to crush her fingernails into her palm. Seduction could happen to anyone. She didn’t want it to happen to her.

  “I think you set your mind against me right from the beginning.”

  “That’s not true.” Even so, her hand shook.

  He gave her the shadow of an ironic smile. “Now that it’s no secret, I’ll tell you. Lady Forsythe had suffered a miscarriage at that time. She was pretty cut up about it. Not herself for quite a while. She felt she had let my father down. He was thrilled at the news, delighted to father another child at his age. But it wasn’t to be.”

  Eve lifted her head and looked at him in open apology. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

  “But you fell into the trap.”

  She flushed, eyes shimmering. “Of jumping to conclusions?”

  “It might have been easier for you. And me if we’d. met after the interview.”

  “Possibly.” She was aware a waiter was advancing. “Is there something about my manner you don’t like?”

  “There’s something about your manner I can’t analyse,” he corrected, his gaze unwavering.

  Eve sat quietly for a few moments while he ordered a bottle of wine. “I suppose we all have our secret places,” she murmured eventually, picking up the conversation. “Places we don’t let anyone else into. Don’t you?”

  “That’s insider stuff, Evie.”

  The way he used her name raised goose bumps on her skin. “If this is a private conversation, you’ve asked me a lot of questions. What about you?”

  “What do you want to know?” He smiled at her through narrowed eyes.

  “I think it’d be wise not to put it into words.”

  “Come on,” he challenged her.

  “No. I can’t forget you’re my boss”

  “And you’re proving yourself too damned fast. In fact, you’re rapidly becoming invaluable,” he conceded.

  “As good as Jamie?” It was said with a faint taunt “I recall you told me he’d be a hard act to follow?”

  He let his eyes linger on her, coolly beautiful, a touch away from outright challenging. “Somehow or other you combine all Jamie’s abilities with a few more o
f your own. You’re very good, Evie, only you’re a little too intense.”

  “Shouldn’t that make me more interesting? Anyway, I can’t help my nature.”

  “I don’t think that’s the answer.” He was watching her so closely she might have been some exotic creature he wished to study. “Who do you resemble?” he asked. “Mother? Father? Where did you get your eyes, that patrician nose and your contradictory mouth, those long delicate bones?”

  She inhaled sharply despite herself. “Who do you resemble, then?”

  “Surely my father,” he suggested. “Most people think so.”

  She allowed herself to stare back at him. “Certainly, the height and the colouring, but you have a look about you of someone entirely different.”

  “Now that is perceptive.” He laughed. “My mother used to say I had her father’s style. He was a very glamorous figure within the family. Unfortunately he was killed many years ago flying his own plane over the New Guinea jungle.”

  “What was he doing there?” Eve asked.

  “He owned a couple of coffee plantations. He was always flying around New Guinea and South East Asia. My grandmother used to say he was wedded to that plane.”

  “Like you’re wedded to your yacht?” She recalled all his press coverage.

  “It’s my father’s yacht, really.” He smiled. “But I’ve always enjoyed sailing since I was a boy.”

  The waiter returned with their wine, moments later. An excellent choice. Eve felt its freshness on her palate. Their order was taken, the magnificent summer seafood for both.

  “This is nice.” Eve let her eyes travel around their end of the room, taking in all the details.

  “One of my favourite places to eat.” As Eve stared off, he allowed himself to study her. “You’ve never been here before?”

  “I rarely dine out. Can’t afford it.”

  “What about those boyfriends?” Whether she liked it or not she had a devastating effect on men. He had seen it.

  “I think they’d be shocked by the prices.” She smiled.

  “What does Ben do in his spare time?”

  “Sleep,” she said wryly. “He hasn’t much spare time. It’s a long haul getting to be a doctor. Years.”

  “And you’ve been finding it tough since you’ve been on your own?”

  She was silent for a while. “We get by.”

  “I’d like to meet Ben.” He tried to draw her back again.

  “Why?”

  Something about those cool green eyes wrenched his heart. “I’m not just being polite, Eve.”

  “I didn’t suppose you were. I think it has to do more with your investigative nature.”

  “Maybe.” He smiled.

  Easy, so easy, to lose herself in its magic. Careful, Eve told herself, breathing common sense and caution into her soul. This man exerted the strongest of attractions. The expert on women. Expertly playing the game of fascination. Hadn’t she sensed in some small part of her, from that very first moment, he would come into her life.

  Under the effects of two glasses of fine wine she began to tell him a little more about herself while he listened as though he was truly interested. She could have been the most captivating woman in the world instead of Eve Copeland. Wasn’t that part of his magnetic charm? It’s a game with him. But I don’t play games, she thought. For this short time they weren’t boss and employee. They were most definitely a man and a woman learning more about each other.

  They were finishing coffee when a young woman stopped by their table, ultra-slim, ultra-fashionable, separating herself from her group who all smiled, waved at Drew, looked at Eve with open curiosity, before moving on.

  “Well. How nice.” The woman spoke directly to Drew. “You haven’t been answering my phone calls.”

  For a minute Eve thought he was going to totally ignore her. “Why do you make them?” he finally asked.

  “You were my husband.” She shot another glance at Eve. “Cradle snatching, are we?”

  “Don’t expect me to rise to that.”

  “At least you can introduce me,” she said quickly, liht blue eyes drilling holes in Eve.

  “I could. But I’m not going to,” he replied. “Was it a nice birthday party?”

  The ex-Mrs. Forsythe looked brighter, as if excitement had shot through her. “So you do remember?”

  “Lots of them,” he said, his voice harsh. “You must go, Carol. You’re keeping everyone waiting.”

  Carol Forsythe shook her head, still staring at Eve. “Are you lovers? You are.” She seemed amused by Eve’s quick flush. “I know he’s idyllic, darling, extraordinary but he’s quite terrifyingly without a heart.”

  “You’ve had too much to drink, Carol.” Drew Forsythe sounded very bored.

  “All I’ve ever done is love you,” she said, her pale blue eyes scouring his face for some kind of reaction.

  He stood up, looming tough and suave. “You have such ability to deceive yourself.” His voice had a faint rasp. “I’d go if I were you before you turn us both into a joke.”

  That brought forth another response. The woman bent low over their table, murmuring directly to Eve, “You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into.”

  “Forgive me, but you have no idea what you’re saying, ” Eve answered mildly. “I’m only an employee.”

  “You shouldn’t have told her even that,” Drew said later, grasping Eve’s arm and guiding her across the car park.

  “I felt sorry for her. Obviously she was terribly jealous.”

  “Carol hates not to be the centre of attention,” he said flatly.

  “Whatever happened?”

  “Both of us made a rotten choice.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “So be damned careful where you give your heart,” he advised her.

  “Careful is my middle name.”

  He suddenly laughed, turning to her as she stood in the bright light from the TCR building. “With a mouth like that?”

  Emotions are more powerful than the strongest defenses. Eve felt her whole body quiver. She might have been a stringed instrument and he the virtuoso. It was a warning sign, a forceful reminder that that had been no nice quiet dinner. There was nothing remotely nice and quiet about Drew Forsythe. He was dynamite and it shook her badly she was far from immune.

  “Look, you’re upset,” she said quickly, anxious now to make her escape. “There’s a cab rank over there.”

  He was all coiled energy. “You know damn well I’m driving you home.” A distinct change had come over him since the confrontation with his ex-wife. He always appeared so supremely self-confident, so much in charge of himself. Eve was surprised to find him emotionally vulnerable. Perhaps he still loved her? Perhaps as much as he wanted to he couldn’t suppress that love? Human relationships were so fragile. One good reason why she shied clear of them.

  “Where to?” he asked as his Jaguar slid smoothly into the traffic. The streets were full of people off to restaurants, theatres, pubs, the movies.

  She inhaled nervously, loving the rich leather tang of the car, the comfort, but dogged by a sense of unreality. What was she doing here in this cool, confined space with her boss? It was like being caught in a powerful vice. In the semi-darkness his handsome face had a brooding look that, if possible, made him even more attractive. “I’m absolutely certain I’m taking you out of your way.”

  “That doesn’t matter in the least, Eve. The suburb will be enough,” he prompted, giving her a sideways glance.

  “I’m sorry.” Eve gave him the address of her quiet street on the south side of the city. Everyone knew the Forsythe Anglo-Indian colonial mansion set high on a jacaranda-covered hill overlooking the river. The family home from the 1890’s it was Sir David and Lady Forsythe’s residence. Drew Forsythe’s former home was almost as well known, a striking modernist villa set in the rolling western hills. Eve had read somewhere the villa had been part of his ex-wife’s divorce settlement. Drew Forsythe himse
lf had the penthouse in arguably the finest apartment block in the city.

  All of which was a far cry from the six-unit block Eve and Ben rented. The family home had to go years ago for a much smaller retreat. After their mother died they had sold that, unable to cope with all their painful memories.

  “I’m sorry you had to witness that,” he said, breaking a rather fraught silence.

  Eve shrugged. “These things happen.”

  “Carol’s behaviour alters when she’s had too much to drink.”

  Eve, too, had lost some of her light control. “She still loves you. She’s feeling abandoned. Ripped from her moorings.”

  “One of her fantasies,” he replied bluntly.

  “I doubt that very much.” Me, so sensitised to loss.

  “Eve, you don’t know.”

  It was almost, for him, a deep sigh.

  “Forgive me. I’m overstepping the mark,” Eve apologised.

  “And maybe giving away quite a lot. I’m not such a fool I don’t know you consider me both wicked and dangerous.” There was an amused edge to his voice.

  “I do not,” she burst out.

  “Yes. Oh, yes, you do. There’s no point in denying it. I suppose an explanation lies in your past.”

  “Heavens, you’re not going to try to psychoanalyse me?” She forced herself to reply lightly.

  “You’re very unusual. I’m interested in you, I admit.”

  “As a case study?”

  “As a colleague and a friend. We have to become friends, Eve, if we’re going to work closely together. Anyway I’d like to apologise on Carol’s behalf. She always did see any good-looking woman as competition. It’s just the way she is.”

  “There’s no chance you may have given her good reason?” It came out so quickly she couldn’t pull the words back.

  “A real little man hater, aren’t you?” His handsome mouth twisted.

  “No.” Eve’s response was quick and firm. “I just don’t think men regard things like fidelity as all-important.”

  “Is that why you’re frightened to fall in love?” He glanced very briefly at her.

  “I object to that.”

  “Really?” He laughed. “That’s rich, when you’ve just written me off as a womaniser.”