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share any information until she had something concrete. A little tendril of guilt wrapped around Lucilla’s heart but she ignored it. What was there to feel guilty about? She wasn’t going to maim him, for God’s sake. She just wanted him to resign and move on to the next company.
    She gripped her tablet to her chest and leveled a cool gaze on him. He made her insides flutter, damn him. “Did you need something from me?”
    One eyebrow lifted and heat slid over her skin.
Oh, heavens …
Talk about a loaded question.
    She expected him to remark on it, but he did not. Rather, he spoke imperiously, as if he’d never had his tongue in her mouth and his hands on her body. “Only to remind you that the shareholders’ meeting is next week, and we will be leaving immediately after.”
    It was as if the kiss had never happened, and for some reason that irritated her. She would at least like to know he’d spent half as much time thinking about it as she had. Not that she ever would know it. He’d left that night as he’d arrived: with his supermodel on his arm. Laughing at her, no doubt, for being so flustered when Jessie caught them.
    “I know that.”
    “Though you have not bothered to reply to my email.”
    She got the distinct feeling he wanted to irritate her. It was working, too. “What is there to reply to? You sent a detailed itinerary. I assumed I was to salute sharply and click my heels.”
    “Yet a reply in the affirmative is expected. If I assumed that all my memos were received and agreed to without confirmation, I wouldn’t be much of an executive, now would I?”
    “Then I shall have Jessie respond immediately.”
    “See that you do.”
    “You could have just called,” she said as he turned away. How dare he show up and put her on the spot, then walk away as if nothing disturbed him?
    He pivoted back to her. “You didn’t answer your phone. I wasn’t prepared to assume you would answer a follow-up.”
    “I’ve been busy.”
    His eyes gleamed. “As have I. Which makes this meeting damned inconvenient, I assure you.”
    Now he was just making her mad. “So why didn’t you pick up the phone and call my office? You know the number. Or, betteryet, have your assistant call my assistant. You didn’t have to disrupt your excruciatingly
busy
day to come find me.”
    He glanced over her shoulder, presumably at the kitchen staff who were busily going about their duties peeling vegetables, preparing dishes, washing pots and generally prep-ping the kitchen for the evening service. No doubt they were paying attention keenly as Lucilla was well aware that both their voices had risen as the conversation went on.
    “It seems as if we are attracting attention, Ms. Chatsfield. Would you care to continue this discussion in my office?”
    She swallowed. If she refused him, she would look weak to whoever was watching. If she accepted, she would then be alone with Christos. She didn’t want to be alone with him. Not because she didn’t trust herself, but because it was damned humiliating. She’d spent the past two weeks thinking of his body pressed against hers, his arms wrapped around her. Clearly, he’d been troubled by no such thoughts.
    Still, there was only one choice. This was her hotel, damn him. Her birthright.
    “Of course,” she replied, sweeping past him so that he had to follow her from the kitchen. She hurried down the hallways,aware of him behind her, aware of eyes on them as they swept through the offices. She had no idea if Jessie had repeated what she’d seen that night of the gala, but Lucilla was always conscious of the possibility. Jessie was a good assistant, but all it took was one stray comment and the whole thing could explode like a wildfire. That was simply the nature of office gossip.
    Lucilla marched past Christos’s assistant, Sophie, just back from her excursion to Chatsfield House, and into his office, turning when she heard the door click shut behind her. Her pulse tripped and