It was subtle. It was clever. It was beautifully calculated to butter him up and soothe him down and, heaven help him, he knew he was going to fall for it even while he could see her pulling the strings.
‘Congratulations!’ he said admiringly. ‘At least I’ve had my warning. You’ll use me for practice, until the real prey turns up.’
She turned on him, eyes shining gleefully, head on one side.
‘You don’t mind, do you?’
‘How kind of you to ask! Would it make any difference if I did?’
‘You could always refuse.’
Sure, he could refuse! Like a drowning man could refuse to go down for the third time!
He met her eyes.
‘I’m considering my options,’ he said. ‘But have you thought of the practical difficulties?’
‘How do you mean?’
‘Aren’t you going to find it a little hard, running a lion and a bear in tandem?’
‘Ah, but suppose the bear’s on my side and he’s helping me, discreetly of course?’
‘Helping you-how?’ he asked, with well-founded caution.
‘Inside information. Practical advice. We could be a great team.’
‘A team implies an equal bargain,’ he protested. ‘Advantage on both sides. What do I get out of it?’
‘What do you want to get out of it?’ she teased.
Suddenly his head swam. What did he want to get out of it?
When the wild dance of his senses had calmed a little he managed to speak.
‘If that means what I think it does,’ he said softly, ‘you’re a shameless hussy.’
‘Not at all. You know the score.’
‘Maybe I have my own method of scoring.’
‘That will only make it more interesting,’ she murmured, so softly that he had to strain to hear, and her breath whispered across his face.
Out of sight, he gripped the table.
‘You’re a wicked woman,’ he said appreciatively. ‘Scheming, manipulative, dishonest-’
‘No.’ She laid a finger over his lips. ‘I’m not dishonest. I’m completely upfront about what I want and what I’ll do to get it. That’s honest. It doesn’t make me a very nice person, but it does make me honest.’
‘Olympia, for heaven’s sake! What a way to talk! Anyway, what do you mean by “inside information”?’
‘What’s the best way to approach him? What kind of woman does he like?’
‘The kind he’s married to,’ he replied, straight-faced.
Her eyes opened wide. ‘He’s married?’
‘Suffocatingly married for the last twelve years. He has five children and his wife’s a dragon with gimlet eyes. She’s a jealous fiend who inspects all his female employees with a machine-gun in her hand.’
‘But Cedric says-’ She checked herself, finally seeing the glint in his eyes. She leaned back in her chair, glaring at him.
‘I ought to squirt something at you for scaring me like that.’
‘It’s all true, I swear it.’
‘True, nothing! He’s a bachelor. Cedric told me.’
‘So you’ve been pumping poor Cedric?’ he exclaimed in unholy delight. ‘I can’t wait to hear what you offered him.’
Suddenly she could no longer meet his eyes. ‘The usual,’ she murmured.
‘And just-what-is the usual?’ he asked, smothering his unease.
‘Well-you know-’
‘Tell me.’
‘Whatever his heart desires. It has to be that, or there’s no point.’
He drew a long, painful breath. If she didn’t answer soon, so help him, he was on the point of violence.
‘And what did Cedric’s heart desire?’ he asked with a deadly smile.
Olympia looked around in both directions before replying in a low voice. ‘Cedric has a particular interest. He doesn’t talk a lot about it because-well, people are so quick to make judgements-’
‘But he knew you’d understand?’ Primo said grimly.
‘Oh, yes. He’s shown me his whole collection, and I was able to complete it. He was really pleased.’
‘Complete it?’
‘Yes, he collects videos about dinosaurs, and there was one he’d never been able to get hold of. Luckily my father had it, so I copied it for him. Cedric eats out of my hand now.’
He stared at her. ‘Dinosaurs,’ he said, dazed.
‘Yes.’
‘You got him a video about dinosaurs?’ he repeated slowly.
‘That was what his heart desired.’
Her eyes were full of fun, telling him he’d been well and truly had. He tried to quell his laughter but it welled up inside him, finally bursting out loud enough to startle a passing waiter.
‘You tricky, devious-’ he choked.
‘But whatever did you think I meant?’ she asked, wide-eyed and innocent.
‘I daren’t tell you. You’d probably slap my face.’
Of course she’d followed his every thought, because she was a black-haired witch who could tease a man into her glittering snares, even when he knew he ought to run a mile. That was the sensible thing to do.
But he’d been sensible all his life, and suddenly it was impossible.
CHAPTER FOUR
IT TOOK him a while to stop choking with laughter and sit shaking his head as he regarded her in delight.
‘You should be ashamed of yourself,’ she said sternly.
‘So should you,’ he riposted at once. ‘Now tell me, was Cedric’s information worth the price?’
‘No, I’m afraid Cedric’s knowledge is limited. He couldn’t even say what Signor Rinucci looked like, although he’s met him. “Tallish”, is the best he could do.’
‘Yes, I don’t think noticing details is poor Cedric’s strong suit.’
‘But you’ll know. Is he good-looking? What sort of things does he enjoy? Come on. Tell.’
‘Are you planning to seduce him?’ he asked, avoiding her eyes.
‘Certainly not. I’ll be far more subtle than that. Seduction merely complicates things. Besides, when you say seduction, what exactly do you mean?’
‘I’m disappointed in you, Olympia. I thought you were a strong woman, not one who backed away from facts. You know exactly what seduction means. The whole thing. Admit it. You haven’t thought this through.’
‘Not thought it through? If you knew just how many hours, waking and sleeping, I’ve spent working out this-’
‘But you’ve never gone as far as the logical conclusion.’
‘Look, there’s seduction and there’s seduction-’
‘No, there isn’t. There’s only seduction, and you’d better know what you mean by it before you set out after this man. He’ll want far more than a dinosaur video. Just how far are you prepared to go?’
‘Not that far. What do you take me for?’
‘A woman prepared to put her ambition before everything else. Before love, before happiness, before being a person.’
‘That depends on what you mean by being a person. To me it means being a success. I want to impress him with my knowledge of business, my ability to speak his language, my willingness to commit myself to the job one hundred per cent.’
‘And you’re not going to use your womanly wiles at all? Is that it?’
She shrugged lightly. ‘I may not be the kind of woman he likes.’
‘Oh, he likes them all,’ Primo said, throwing caution to the winds. ‘He’s dangerous.’
‘Dangerous, how?’ she asked eagerly.
He racked his brain, searching for ways to describe his ‘other’ self. He was beginning to find this exhilarating.
‘He’s a womaniser,’ he said recklessly, ‘a man without discrimination. If you’ve got any sense, you won’t tangle with him.’
‘Oh, but I love a challenge.’
‘But he won’t be a challenge. It’s too easy to attract him on that level, but what happens afterwards?’