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He’d been hard almost the entire time they’d talked last week and it looked like he was going to experience the same phenomenon again. He couldn’t remember reacting like this to another woman in years. If ever.
Either he’d allowed too much time to pass since practicing that particular stress-reliever, or this woman was something special. Cynicism directed he lean toward the former.
Audrey moved with an unconscious grace he liked and Enzu allowed himself the minor pleasure of simply watching her finish her journey across his intimidatingly large office. It was one of the many calculated ways he used to establish his dominant role in any meeting that occurred in this room.
Audrey did not appear intimidated.
He found that reaction, or rather lack thereof, intriguing.
She stopped in front of his desk. “Good morning, Mr. Tomasi.”
Enzu did not reply immediately, his brain fully engaged with controlling his body’s unholy reaction to this woman.
“Thank you for considering me for this position.”
Typical, well-used words in an interview, and yet Audrey’s sincerity inexplicably touched him.
Her voice was soft, arousing. Not weak.
The subtle strength of a woman. His many summers in Sicily had taught him to appreciate it and never to underestimate the steel that ran through the spine of a woman who had learned to sacrifice for her family.
Unlike most of his Sicily-based family, Enzu had never once heard his great-aunt raise her voice. But there had never been any doubt in his mind who ran the family. His great-uncle could yell with amazing volume, even at eighty. And yet it was the old man’s wife whose quiet orders no one in the family dared to disobey.
Enzu’s silence must have lasted too long for Audrey’s comfort.
Uncertainty glowed in her chocolate gaze as it flicked between him and Gloria, who remained near the door, an assessing look in her pale eyes as she watched the exchange in silence.
Enzu forced himself to speak, allowing none of his response to this interesting woman to show in his voice. “Have a seat, Audrey.” He indicated the chair she’d occupied the week prior.
She nodded, silent, and then sat down in a rush as if her legs didn’t want to hold her up. The evidence of nervousness on her part surprised him.
“I assume you understand why you are here?”
“You want to interview me for the position of mother to your children?” she asked, her tone implying she found that particular eventuality very difficult to believe.
“Yes.”
A sound escaped her. “Oh. Okay.” She seemed to relax, though Enzu could not have identified exactly what gave him that impression.
He was as much an expert at reading body language as any psychologist with a PhD. It was a little unnerving to realize he could not pinpoint the change in hers that indicated her more relaxed state.
It occurred to him that this woman would be a challenging adversary across the boardroom table. He would do well not to forget it, either.
“You are still interested in the position?”
“Yes, I am.”
“I am glad to hear it.”
“You are? I was pretty sure you had no intention of considering me for the position,” she offered candidly. “I thought you’d have a stack of files on women you would find a lot more suitable.”
“You are not the only candidate, naturally.”
“No, of course not.” Her perfectly shaped lips twisted wryly.
A sudden inescapable desire to see how they would look swollen from kisses assailed him.
“I’ll bring some coffee,” Gloria inserted smoothly.
Enzu nodded his approval of that plan, but Audrey turned her head to meet Gloria’s eyes. “I’d prefer tea, if it’s not too much trouble.”
A spark of admiration shone in his PAA’s pale gaze. “No trouble at all.”
Enzu appreciated Audrey’s willingness to assert her own preferences, albeit politely, as well. His years of experience and study of business psychology had taught him that a person who was capable of that combination usually made a reasonable if strong negotiator.
“Thank you.” Audrey gave Gloria a small smile before turning back to face Enzu.
The door to his office closed quietly in Gloria’s wake.
Enzu glanced down to the interview questions he’d prepared. “Right, then, let’s get started.”
“Before we do, I have a question for you.”
He frowned, irritated. Did she not realize who was doing the interviewing here? Not that he expected her to have no questions of her own, but to insist on having the first one indicated either a lack of understanding of business protocol or significant self-importance.
Curious in spite of himself, he inclined his head.
Serious brown eyes met his. “My brother is gay and he will always be welcome in my home and my life.” There was no give in her voice or the square set of her lovely shoulders.
“That is not a question.” But it might well explain certain circumstances he had discovered on reading her dossier.
Her hands clenched in her lap. The only indication Audrey was worried about his reaction to her revelation. “Is that a problem for you?”
“Hardly.” He might be the controlling and arrogant powerbroker some accused him of being, but Enzu wasn’t a bigot.
Her eyes widened, his answer obviously a surprise to her.
“I take it your parents are not as accepting?” That would explain the fact that Audrey had been raising her brother for the past six years despite the fact their very wealthy parents were still living.
“That’s putting it mildly.”
“So, your brother came to live with you. Why not your older siblings?” She had two, both successful professionals who presumably would have found it much easier to provide for a twelve-year-old boy.
“They share my parents’ prejudices.”
“That is unfortunate.” And unforgivable, in his opinion, but he left that unsaid.
It was the job of parents and older siblings to protect. Enzu had spent a lifetime protecting his younger brother Pinu, but in the end even he could not prevent tragedy.
Audrey shrugged. “It is what it is.”
The flat line of her lips and the hardness that briefly masked her features said Audrey was not as insouciant in the face of her family’s betrayal of the youngest child as she appeared.
“Is this also the reason your parents cut you off financially halfway through your junior year at uni?” He’d been trying to figure out the dynamics that had led to that set of circumstances.
She’d been attending one of the most prestigious and one of the few remaining female-only institutions of higher learning in the country. Her grades had been good. Her behavior exemplary. Her known associates had all been from good families with no hint of scandal to their names.
There was no record or even hint of inappropriate behavior on Audrey’s part that might have caused such a move on the part of her parents.
“Yes.”
“You were forced to get a job?” At his family’s bank. For some reason the fact that his bank had given her the means to support herself and her brother pleased Enzu. “You had to transfer from Barnard to the state university in your final year and pursue your degree part-time?”
“Yes.”
“That could not have been easy.” In any aspect. “And still you chose to take Tobias in.”
For a moment anger burned in her dark gaze. “He would have ended up in foster care or living on the street. Would you have let that happen to your younger brother?”
“No.” He’d tried to protect Pinu even from himself. Grief pierced Enzu.
“I’m sorry.” Sincerity and honest sympathy infused her tone and demeanor. “I should not have said that.”
“It is truth. Tobias is a lucky young man to have you for his sister.”
“Toby. He hates Tobias.”
No doubt because it was their father’s middle name.
Enzu allowed his lips to curve in a half-smile. “Duly noted.”
“Toby is my family.” Her tone implied an only in there.
He could not blame her for the sentiment. “I find your loyalty and tenacity in the face of the many challenges you’ve faced admirable.”
“Just how detailed is that dossier?” she asked with an edge of annoyance.
“Very,” Gloria answered for him as she placed tea things on the table beside Audrey. “Tomasi Enterprises employ only the best. The investigative firm we use knows how exacting Mr. Tomasi’s standards are.”
Far from looking impressed, Audrey was clearly disgruntled. “I don’t suppose it occurred to you to simply ask me about my life?”
“You might lie. My investigator has no impetus to do so.”
“I guess most men as high up on the corporate ladder as you are cynical.” Again, Audrey didn’t sound particularly impressed by that observation.
He took his coffee, already prepared to his specifications, from Gloria. “In my experience, that is true.”
Audrey opened her mouth to reply and then seemed to think better of her words. She focused on putting sugar and just a dash of milk into her teacup before pouring the hot beverage.
“What were you going to say?” he asked, curious.
If nothing else, he had not yet found himself bored in this woman’s company. He could not say that about a great many people he was forced to spend time with in the name of business.
Her brow furrowed in thought. “It’s just that I’m not sure I see the point of this interview if you already know all the answers to your questions.”
He almost smiled, but held the expression in. She had no idea how much a simple meeting could reveal, even if the only thing discussed was the temperature outside.
“You do not think it is important to establish whether or not there could be a possible rapport between us?”
“Well, if you had the children here, that particular consideration would make more sense.”
“You do realize that being their mother mandates also becoming my wife?”
Or hadn’t she?
Was it possible that, however she had learned about the position, Audrey had not been made aware of that particular aspect? The stunned expression on her lovely features implied just that.
She jolted, setting the teacup down without taking the sip she’d planned. “What?”
“Surely you can see that you must be my wife in order to actually be their mother?”
“I hadn’t thought about that.”
“Does the knowledge mean you would like to withdraw your application for the position?” he asked, with no doubt about the answer.
Who would not want to be married to a billionaire?
To his chagrin and grudging appreciation, Audrey took several moments to consider the question.
Finally she said, “Not immediately, no.”
He frowned, less than pleased.
“I’m sorry if that offends you. I just hadn’t considered...”
Her voice trailed off and he realized Audrey was seriously rattled.
“Yes, well, consider it.”
She nodded, still looking a little dazed. “You’re not looking for a real wife, though? Right?”
“The woman I choose will share my home, my family and many aspects of my life. In what way is that not real?”
“Oh, I...uh...I just thought...” Her lovely features went an interesting shade of pink before something seemed to occur to her and they paled to an alarming level.
Nonplussed that the idea of becoming his wife was more daunting to her than parenting two small children, he asked, “Are you all right?”
“Y-ye...” She cleared her throat. “I mean, yes.”
