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‘You’re one of our most active members,’ she offered, widening her eyes at Jess. ‘So I’m sure you’ll sacrifice your time to help Mr Calahan back from the dark side. Goodness, Jess, you have to agree that the world can never have too many men trying to be more sensitive to a woman’s needs.’
Jess stared at Kath, her blood pounding in her veins. She was conscious of her mouth being open, of it drying, and of no words coming out.
‘You can’t tell me that you’d refuse to help a womaniser who’s addressing his problems?’ Kath took Jess to one side and rubbed her shoulder as though she could warm her to the idea. ‘Come on. You can sit in on his meetings,’ she said with a seductive lilt in her voice, ‘and follow him around as he talks with potential clients and stuff. Instruct him on where he’s getting it wrong. Won’t you?’
‘Will I?’ she said cautiously, then registered Kath’s words as they spun around her head, their significance seeping into every pore.
It made perfect sense. If they were ever going to have a chance of competing for business with this guy’s empire they had to know how the enemy ran his camp. And if, in the process, she happened to hear what companies were looking for representation, it wouldn’t be out of the question to use that information and offer them an alternative. Would it?
Jess bit her bottom lip to stop the smile threatening her cool expression. She was sure Calahan wouldn’t mind…It was business, and when it came to business with Calahan anything was fair. She turned to face him again.
‘I’d be awfully grateful,’ Calahan said smoothly, offering Jess a business card. ‘If you could get out of your usual job for a day and come to my office…say Wednesday…we’ll get on with it.’
Kath snatched the card from Calahan and nodded enthusiastically. ‘She’ll be there.’
Jess watched the most arrogant, irritating man in Sydney saunter back to his group, his head held high, his shoulders back, his irritating confidence oozing from every pore.
‘Oh-my-God.’ Jess forced herself to move, stalking to the front door of the fancy restaurant. ‘I can’t.’
Kath followed a step behind. ‘You can.’
She swung around to face her friend. ‘What did you do? Did you wake up this morning and decide that today you were going to destroy my life?’
‘You’re being melodramatic. This is going to save us.’ Kath linked her arm in hers, grinning. ‘Our prayers have been answered.’
Jess sighed. ‘I don’t think I can deliberately go and steal his clients…’ That would make her no better than him, and if there was one thing she never wanted, it was to be like Alexander Calahan.
‘What about you just get some dirt on the guy, then?’ Kath leant close. ‘You said yourself that the article had to be a lie. Get the proof.’
‘That would put a spanner in the works,’ she said slowly, mulling over the idea, feeling a weight lifting from her shoulders at the thought that she could do some good.
‘There’s no other way we can put one there.’
What could she say to that? Kath was right. This was a boon and a half. She just wished it didn’t involve her going anywhere near the man she loathed.
‘It’ll be fine. You’ll love it. You can point out all the guy’s faults and get paid for it too.’
Jess bit her lip, her body chilling. ‘But that would mean the article is genuine, wouldn’t it? If he really wants to change himself?’
‘Could be just another stunt?’
‘Yes.’ Kath was right. Cripes, it was what they’d come to expect from the guy—and if she was going to have to spend time with the handsome jerk she was going to make it count.
She’d spent long enough keeping score. It was time she took a shot herself.
Alexander Calahan wouldn’t know what hit him.
CHAPTER THREE
‘WHAT the hell is this?’ Lucas slapped the magazine down on the desk between them. ‘Have you gone mad? You’ve got everything. Why throw it all away by getting married?’
Alex shrugged. ‘You may be happy living the bachelor life indefinitely, but I, personally, am getting tired of it.’
His friend leant forward, leaning heavily on his desk. ‘How? You’re rich, you’re pretty good-looking, and you’ve got every woman in the city falling all over you. Why mess with perfection?’
Alex shrugged. ‘I need more. I’m bored.’ And his thirty-third birthday had been a turning point in his life—his father had been married by this age; it was time to step his life up another notch.
He swivelled the magazine around to face him. Declaring his new intentions to the women of the city would give him a head start. They’d know he was seriously thinking about settling down, so when he found one who touched him deeply she’d know he was serious.
And in the meantime he had Jess.
He leant back in the seat opposite Lucas, letting his gaze wander around the man’s office as his mind wandered over Jess again.
She was all woman—stubborn, but seriously sexy, with that long loose hair, as though she had no restrictions in her life. Her attempt at conservative clothing had taunted him with the passionate woman that pulsed underneath, just waiting for the right man.
What a challenge.
But not his. She was coming for one reason and for one reason only: to show him the art of a sincere seeker of love.
His blood warmed at the thought of seeing her again, his mind playing with him as he wondered what she’d be like. As forceful as last time? Or gentler, more understanding, as her realisation of his wanting to move to the next step in relationships sank in?
He tipped back on his chair. The woman had no business hating him—she didn’t even know him. Yet.
Alex folded his hands behind his neck. He would remedy that—and find out what in hell made the woman tick.
He couldn’t wait to see her—start bending her to his charms, softening her heart…
He shook himself. No. That wasn’t the idea.
He looked at his watch. Time was moving too slowly today. Hell, for the last five days. Why had he thought he could wait so long before his lessons began?
Logic ruled that the woman probably had a life to reschedule, but the waiting was killing him. It was hard to imagine he could be doing anything wrong—anything that would put a woman off falling head over heels in love with him—but for some reason it just wasn’t happening.
Lucas stood up and stalked across his office, stroking his goatee. ‘You’re delusional. The last thing you need in your life is a wife.’
‘You’re wrong, Lucas.’ Alex shook his head, kicking back in the chair and lifting his feet onto his friend’s desk. ‘I need a woman. A lover. A mate. I need to put the sort of time and commitment into a relationship that I have into building this business.’
‘No. You’ve had plenty of relationships and look at you. Still single.’ Lucas inclined his head. ‘And still smiling.’
Alex swung his feet down to the floor and stood up, smoothing down his trousers and buttoning his jacket. ‘I’m not smiling when I go home to an empty apartment.’
‘Get a dog.’
‘I have a dog. It’s time for me to marry.’ Alex strode to the door.
And it was time to show his father he could do better than him in his personal life—as he had in his business one. He would have the perfect life that his parents had failed at, and give his children the stability that he hadn’t had.
He gripped the door handle, glancing at his friend. He wouldn’t mind coming home to someone who was going to be interested in his day, his goals, and his dreams for the future.
‘No.’ Lucas pointed at the magazine still lying on the desk. ‘I can’t believe it. Tell me it’s a ruse.’
Alex shook his head. ‘I assure you that I’m hellbent on this. There’s no way on the planet that I want to continue with these shallow flings for the next few decades. They leave me with nothing but a bigger void to fill.’
‘Get a girlfriend, then. A proper one. One who isn’t looking for a good time and a large bank account.’
Alex threw up his arms. ‘That’s the idea. And if she works out then I’ll make her permanent.’
Lucas ran a hand through his short hair. ‘So I’m guessing you have a game plan for how to achieve this insane goal of yours, like you usually do?’
‘Absolutely.’ Alex strode down the hallway to his own office. ‘Like with everything else in my life, I’m the one in control—and I’ll have the future I make for myself by using all the resources available to me.’
Lucas followed him. ‘So what are you planning? I don’t like surprises.’
Alex had to like Lucas. He was his best friend, vice-president and his corporate lawyer, and always looking out for his best interests. ‘It’s all about actions reflecting goals. I know what I have to do.’
‘You have something up your sleeve?’ Lucas eyed Alex with narrowed eyes. ‘I can see you’re up to something already.’
Alex couldn’t help but smile. ‘I’m all over the problem.’
‘How?’
He slowed, slipping his hands into his trouser pockets. ‘You know I have a reputation as a womaniser?’
Lucas gnawed his bottom lip. ‘As evidenced by that woman on Friday night. What I would give for a woman like that to come up to me…minus the drink in the face, of course. And that outburst—that was harsh.’
‘She was perfect.’
‘She was crazy.’ Lucas stroked his goatee again, shaking his head. ‘Ignore her.’
‘Not a chance. She’s perfect,’ he said slowly, the memory of the fire in her eyes sliding through him like warm honey.
‘Well, she was certainly beautiful.’ Lucas nodded. ‘And feisty. And she’ll make wonderful babies with you…if only she didn’t hate you.’
He had to smile. ‘Not a problem since all I need from her is her wisdom and advice on ousting my womanising ways.’
‘You’re going to make her fall in love with you, aren’t you?’ Lucas leant against a wall. ‘Because if you can make her love you then you can make anyone?’
Alex frowned. ‘I hadn’t thought of that.’
‘Think about it.’ Lucas crossed his arms over his chest, a gleam shining in his eyes. ‘Then you could make a try at the big one.’
Alex closed his eyes. ‘Natasha Bradford-Jones,’ he said slowly, thinking about the woman who had evaded his charms and advances by being tantalisingly unavailable, with this fiancé or that one. Until now.
But somehow he couldn’t get enthused about Natasha with Jess filling his mind and senses.
Jess and him.
The thought of romancing Jess sang in his veins, but the thought of anything more—that he could get anyone, maybe even Natasha Bradford-Jones of the Double Bay Bradford-Joneses—was incongruous.
‘Natasha’s available,’ Lucas said softly.
‘Now you’re being crazy.’
Lucas threw up his hands. ‘But I’m right. Come on. I know you…how can you resist a challenge?’
Alex wasn’t going to argue with his friend. Lucas had listened, given his views, and now it was up to him and him alone to make a decision—no matter how flawed.
‘Here’s the first challenge now.’ Lucas stepped back so Alex could see her, standing in the foyer. ‘Hell, she’s a looker.’
Lucas was right. She was stunning. And passionate. And from the way she was glaring at him—her eyes narrowed and her mouth pulled thin—he’d have to do a lot of smooth talking to get her to like him, let alone fall for him.
He strode up to her. ‘Jess.’
‘Calahan.’
He ignored her cool tone. He hadn’t expected anything less. Had he? Had he hoped in some juvenile way that just meeting him again would change her mind about him? That somehow his suave ways and charms would thaw the brick of icy armour she had standing between them?
It didn’t matter. She’d come round eventually. They were going to spend a fair bit of close time together, that would give her a better perspective of him, show her what she was missing by hating men.
‘This is my good friend and colleague Lucas,’ Alex offered, straightening his tie.
She clasped Lucas’s hand. ‘Pleased to meet you.’
Lucas shook her hand, his smile widening and his chest filling out. ‘I hear you’re going to try to straighten out this lad and his debauched ways.’
She shrugged. ‘I’ll do what I can.’
Alex had to smile at her lack of enthusiasm. But he’d show her he was seriously committed to this, and then things would change.
Lucas slapped him on the back, his eyes on Jess, his face all smiles for the woman. ‘I’ll leave you to your lost cause.’
She nodded, watching Lucas leave as though she wanted him to stay.
A chill ran through Alex’s chest as he watched her gaze follow Lucas all the way back down the hall. Did she like Lucas? That would be a disappointment. For her. He was worse than Alex at finding love, and had no intention of changing his reputation or his ways with women at all.
Alex shrugged, turning his attention solely to the woman he’d hired to help him. She was simply dressed, making the point that she hadn’t gone to any extra effort for him—just cream trousers, a tunic and the same taupe jacket as last week.
She looked incredible.
‘Is that what you think I am?’ he asked, unable to resist probing her thoughts. ‘A lost cause?’
She lifted a finely arched eyebrow.
‘Do you think I’m just some arrogant playboy looking for a good excuse to tie up a beautiful woman by my side all day?’
She pursed her full lips. ‘I wouldn’t put it past you.’
‘At least you’re honest.’
