Master of Fortune (5 page)

“Daniel Martin.”

Suddenly a lot of things fell into place. Astrid’s old boss was more than her boss. No wonder she’d been reluctant to talk about him.

“I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“You, as well. Steph Cordo was quite a coup for you. A lot of producers are envious they didn’t get the drop on you.”

Henry smiled affably. His time in the spotlight taught him how to conceal what he really felt about others. And he didn’t like the brash American Daniel. He rubbed Henry the wrong way.

“Henry’s got an eye for talent.”

“Let’s hope he can also spot the slackers,” Daniel said.

Astrid flinched and drew her handbag closer to her body. “I’ve always known how to build winning teams. There’s our car. Good evening, Daniel.”

Daniel nodded, and Henry led Astrid to the valet stand where his car waited. She was eerily silent for someone he’d come to expect to be sassy and spunky. Was the cheeky girl he’d come to know just a façade, and was this introspective woman the real Astrid?

“Daniel was the reason you left your last job,” Henry said.

“It was attendance, like my record stated. I know that Daniel wouldn’t have given me a recommendation.”

“He didn’t.”

“Figures.”

“How long were the two of you involved?” Henry asked.

“Why do you think we were?”

Henry gave her a shrewd look. “Ex-lovers make everyone react differently than ex-bosses. So…how long were you two involved?”

“Too long,” Astrid said. “I…I’m not normally like that. I really thought that Daniel was a different man.”

Henry sensed that about Astrid. She was funny and outgoing, but he had noticed earlier in the evening that she kept a barrier between herself and others. He’d recognized that trait mainly because he always did the same.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Henry asked.

She shook her head and clenched her hands tightly on her lap. He knew that she was trying to control her reaction to seeing her ex-lover.

Henry said nothing, just kept driving. He didn’t know where Astrid lived, and he didn’t want to interrupt her in the middle of whatever she was going to say.

“I always thought… Well, that hardly matters. Where are we going now?” she asked.

“Home. But I’ll need your address.”

“You can drop me at the nearest Underground.”

“No, I can’t. They’ve stopped running at this hour.”

She glanced at her watch and then shook her head again. “You’re right. I live in Woking.”

He put her address into his Sat Nav system and then followed the directions of Mr. T’s voice. As he expected, Astrid laughed a little the first time the recorded voice told him to “turn around, fool.”

“I can’t believe you have that rude voice on your Sat Nav.”

“It’s Mr. T. That’s his persona—big tough guy.”

“I don’t get it. But then Americans are very different, aren’t they?”

“Some. They don’t get rugby, which makes no sense at all to me.”

She smiled again, and he felt good for having made her smile. “I guess they are just daft.”

“Must be. Do you follow rugby?” he asked.

“Some,” she said, blushing the slightest bit. He could only see the rise in color as he braked to a stop for the traffic light. “I used to when I was younger.”

“Which teams?”

“England, of course, in the 6 Nations.”

“Have you been to any games?” he asked.

“A few. I used to be really into going to the games at Madejski Stadium to watch the London Irish play.”

“Why’d you stop?” he asked. His old team was still a contender.

“My dad got too sick to go. And it was always something I did with him.”

“Your family must be very close,” he said.

“Why do you say that?” she asked.

“You had lunch with your sister, went to games with your dad.”

She shrugged. Something he noticed she did a lot when she was evading answering a question. “I suppose we are. What about you? Your mum is Tiffany Malone. That had to be exciting.”

“She’s still my mum,” he said. “We’re quite close, actually. She loves being a mum and smothers my brothers and I with her mothering.”

Astrid smiled again. “Are you a bit of a mummy’s lad?”

“What do you think?”

She tipped her head to the side as she studied him and, having lightened her mood, he felt as if he was seeing the return of Astrid. Not that tight-lipped stranger whom Daniel Martin had evoked.

“I think you are a man who knows very much what he wants and probably doesn’t look to anyone for approval.”

He nodded. “Damn straight. Now which place is yours?”

She pointed to a modern block of flats and he pulled into the parking lot. She reached for her door as he turned off the car. He got out and met her as she exited the car. It had started to drizzle on the drive, and the rain made her hair curl.

She stared up at him for a minute, chewing on her lower lip. “Thank you for the ride home. And for…well for being so nice about everything. You made seeing Daniel again bearable for me.”

“You’re welcome,” he said. He cupped her elbow and led her to the entrance of the building.

“Well, good night, then,” she said.

“Good night, Astrid,” he said. But instead of doing the smart thing and letting her enter her building, he touched the side of her face and lowered his head to kiss her.

The reaction of his mouth on hers sent tingles down her body and she opened her mouth on a sigh. She tasted the minty crispness of his breath before his tongue brushed over hers. Forgetting everything, she felt only his mouth on hers.

The hand on her face slid to the nape of her neck, and he held her firmly as he took complete control of their kiss.

She couldn’t think.

She didn’t want to. She’d watched Henry all day and night wondering what it would be like to be in his embrace, and now she knew. It was intense.

He smelled earthy and masculine. His cologne was expensive and crisp—she suspected it was custom-blended just for him. She closed her eyes to focus her senses in the experience.

He pulled back, and she opened her eyes to see him staring down at her. He said nothing but rubbed his thumb over her bottom lip and then stepped away from her.

“Good night, then,” he said.

She watched him walk back to his car and realized she was still standing there like a ninny. She unlocked the lobby door to her flat building and walked in without looking back at him.

Danger loomed—real danger of falling for Henry Devonshire. A man who would never see her any differently than Daniel had. How could he? His mother was a pop star, his father was a billionaire entrepreneur and she was the daughter of a schoolteacher and a taxi driver.

When was she going to learn?

Why did she have a weakness for men who were…

“Not good for me,” she said out loud.

She kicked off her shoes as she entered and dropped her keys on the kitchen counter. It took her fifteen minutes to get ready for bed, but once she was there she couldn’t sleep. She just kept reliving, not the encounter with Daniel, which she’d expected, but the kiss with Henry.

She’d never been kissed like that before. It had been too intense. Her vows to herself about not getting involved with men she worked with melted away.

She drifted off to sleep and woke early for work. She dressed in an ultraprofessional suit that she’d worn to her interview with Malcolm Devonshire’s assistant Edmond. That suit was her armor when she needed to be professional. Bethann called, but Astrid let it go to voice mail because Bethann could always tell when something was going on in Astrid’s life. Her older sister had known her affair with Daniel had gone wrong just from the way Astrid had said hello.

The train was busy, but that was normal for the morning. She knew she was going to have to figure out an alternate way to handle her commute once she started going out at night with Henry. She tried to fill her mind with to-do lists and other meaningless tasks, but the one thought that kept circling around was what would happen when she saw Henry.

How was he going to treat her today?

Her mobile rang again and she hit the quiet button. The part of the train she was on was a quiet zone, so she couldn’t talk to Bethann even if she wanted to. A minute later she received an instant message on her Smartphone. They each had a BlackBerry so could use the Messenger on that.

She stashed her handbag and started to work. Tried to get into the flow of the office. There were a couple of coworkers that she’d started being friendly with in the kitchen area where the coffeepot was kept, but this morning she kept to herself. Stayed at her desk and just worked.

She had made mistakes with Daniel. At first their relationship had been like this one with Henry, and now she was afraid of repeating those same mistakes. She refused to let that happen.

Just because they spent every eight hours together in the office and then most evenings together didn’t mean they were growing closer. She had to remember he’d been happy last night because she’d helped convince Steph to sign with Everest Records.

Daniel had been happy with her too, and then she’d started to fall for him. Or rather let him seduce her. She couldn’t make that mistake again. Henry was her boss and unless she wanted to go back to Farnham with her tail tucked between her legs she needed to make this job work.

She wasn’t going to have that fairy tale happily-ever-after with Henry even if he was different from Daniel. She had to remember that she wasn’t like other women—not anymore—and she didn’t have the option of being a wife and mother to fall back on. For her it was a career or nothing.

She needed to keep to her vow. She needed to remember that if she had to leave
this
job, her only option might be working for her sister.

She didn’t want to have to start over yet again. The only way she was going to keep this job was to be firm with herself and focus on doing the best she could.

She almost believed herself that she could do it, she could keep her vow—until Henry walked through the door.

“Morning, Astrid. Have you got any messages for me?”

She looked up into his bright blue eyes and forgot what he’d asked. All she could remember was the way his shoulders had felt under her hands last night. The softness of those firm lips of his against hers. And the way he’d twisted his fingers in the back of her hair.

“Astrid?”

“Yes, Henry.”

“Messages?” he asked.

She handed him the messages and realized she’d done it again. Allowed her crush to interfere with her professional career.

But the moonlight had been too entrancing…. Hell, the moonlight had absolutely nothing to do with why he had kissed her. It had been Astrid—her lips, her body and her sexy smile that had tempted him. That and the fact that he didn’t like that Daniel Martin had touched her. That the other man had at one time claimed Astrid as his own.

He was first and foremost a competitor. The need to win had been burned into the fabric of his being at a very young age. His mother had often blamed Malcolm for the fact that he was so competitive, but she was just as aggressive when it came to her career.

There was a rap on his door.

“Come in.”

“Sir, I mean, Henry. Davis from accounting is here to see you.”

“Close the door, Astrid,” Henry said.

She stepped inside and closed the door behind her. “Yes?”

“Does he have an appointment?”

“No. But he says its urgent. You do have ten minutes if you wanted to see him. Just a reminder—Steph Cordo is due here in twenty minutes and I know you want to be available then.”

He smiled to himself. She was very efficient and the best assistant he’d ever had. Okay, the only one, but she was still good.

“Thank you. When Steph gets here, escort her to the conference room. We’ll bring in everyone she needs to talk to. Also, Steven will be stopping by toward the end of the hour with her.”

“Steven?”

“My half brother. We are going to set up an in-store performance for Steph at the Everest Mega Store located in Leicester Square.”

“Sounds good. Do you want me to interrupt if Davis isn’t out of here in ten minutes?”

“That’d be great.”

She turned to leave, and though he was trying to keep his mind on business, he couldn’t help but notice the way her slim-fitting skirt hugged the curves of her backside.

“Henry?”

She paused in the doorway. “After Steph’s appointment, I’d like five minutes of your time.”

“What for?”

“We can speak later. I don’t want to mess up your schedule.”

“Davis can wait. Tell him I’ll have time tomorrow morning and then come back in here.”

“Really—”

“I’ve made my mind up.”

She left without another word. It was good to be the boss. Since he’d earned the top spot on the team and here at the office, he got things his way. Something that Henry freely admitted he liked.

She reentered his office less than a minute later, closing the door behind her, but remaining in the doorway.

“Sit down.”

She did.

“What’s on your mind?”

“Last night.”

“What about it?”

She took a deep breath and looked him straight in the eye. His respect for her rose a notch.

“I like you, Henry. But this job…I’m aware that this is probably my last chance to make a go at the music industry. And I don’t want to mess this up.”

“Why would last night have anything to do with that?” he asked. “I’m not your last boss. If I kiss you, I’m not going to fire you.”

She glanced down at her lap where her fingers were tightly laced together. “I wasn’t fired due to our affair. Daniel kept me on after things ended. I don’t want you to get the wrong impression of Daniel.”

Henry didn’t like her defending the other man. That reaction made little sense to him so he ignored the source. “Why then?”

“I was sick. And I did take a lot of time off from work. That was what made him sack me.”

“Did you find it difficult to work with him after your affair ended?” he asked. Then realized he was prying into very personal areas. He could work with Astrid, kiss her and whatnot, without knowing any of the details of her past. Except he wanted to know more.

“No. It was something else entirely. But I like you and I really like this job. I don’t want to make another decision based on lust and end up regretting it.”

Henry leaned back in his chair. “So you lust after me?”

“Henry, please, I’m trying to be serious.”

“Sorry, Astrid, but you brought up sex and I’m a guy. That means my mind is going to automatically shut down.”

She smiled. “You are more than some sex-crazed maniac. That’s why I’m talking to you. I know you want to beat your half brothers and I think we have a chance of doing that, but only if we both concentrate on business.”

“This is all in my best interest?” Henry asked.

“Well, it’s not going to be bad for me, either,” she admitted.

His respect for Astrid rose even more. And he realized she wasn’t the kind of woman he’d always been attracted to. She was so forthright. She wasn’t just out for herself and what she could get.

That was more refreshing than he would have imagined.

“I just want us both to be successful,” she said.

He stood up and walked around to the front of his desk, leaning back against it so that he faced her. “Thank you, Astrid. I will do my best to keep my baser instincts in check, but I’m not sure I’ll be successful.”

“I’m going to keep dressing in my ultraprofessional suits,” she said.

He laughed. It wasn’t the clothing or her sexy body that was making him want her, though they definitely played a part. It was the woman she was, but he doubted telling her would help either of them.