Married to His Business (Millionaire of the Month #5)(19)
Author: Elizabeth Bevarly

Bighead, Matthias thought. Megalomaniac was more like it. Not to mention she was barely articulate enough to string two words together.

"I see," he said. "Well, that’s all good information to have, and I appreciate your coming in today." He stood

and extended his hand to her. "I have your résumé. I’ll be in touch."

She was obviously surprised by the quickness with which he’d concluded the interview, but there was no reason for Matthias to waste any more time—hers or his. The woman had absolutely nothing to recommend her and was in no way suitable.

What was up with business schools these days? Matthias wondered as he watched her leave. Between Tahoe and San Francisco, he’d interviewed more than two dozen people to fill Kendall’s position, and each person had been worse than the one before.

Well, there was nothing else for him to do, he thought. He couldn’t afford to wait for Kendall to come to her senses. He’d just have to do or say whatever it took to get her back. Give her another raise, better benefits, whatever it took. Never mind that he’d already tried to do that. Twice. Never mind that he’d failed. Twice. Matthias Barton hadn’t risen to the level of success he had by taking no for an answer. Unless, you know, no was the answer he wanted to hear. No wasn’t a word he’d heard often from Kendall. Until, you know, recently. He was sure if he made her the right offer, she’d come around. Everyone had their price. Even Kendall. All Matthias had to do was find it.

Fortunately for him, he knew exactly where to look.

Kendall had been waiting for Stephen in the dining room of the Timber Lake Inn for fifteen minutes when she looked up at the restaurant’s entrance once more, hoping to see her new employer there, and instead saw Matthias. He was dressed casually again, this time pairing his khaki trousers with a chocolate-brown polo that lovingly molded

his broad chest and shoulders. She was surprised to see that he’d left his shirttail out, a casual affectation he normally didn’t adopt. Then again, there was something about him tonight that suggested it wasn’t an affectation at all.

She waited for the irritation that should have come at seeing him, but instead, she was filled with a strange sort of relief. Her orientation this week hadn’t been quite what she’d thought it would be, filled as it had been with mostly one-on-one meetings with Stephen. Meetings that had taken place more often in restaurants than in a conference room at the hotel—conference rooms that were better suited to serving high tea than conducting business, anyway. Worse, the meetings had seemed to veer off course on a fairly regular basis, shifting from the policies and procedures of OmniTech to Kendall’s experiences working with Matthias.

She didn’t want to believe Matthias was right about Stephen DeGallo’s only hiring her to uncover information about him. But after the way the week had gone, with her having to sidestep every effort Stephen made to shift the conversation to Barton Limited, Kendall couldn’t quite dissuade herself of the idea that Matthias knew what he was talking about. At best, her new employer’s training methods were unconventional. At worst, her new employer’s intentions were underhanded. Either way, Kendall wasn’t sure she was working for the right man. Either way, she wasn’t sure she was where she needed to be.

Matthias caught her eye just as she completed that last thought, and a thrill of something hot and electric shuddered through her. She recognized it as sexual, but was surprised by its strength. Surprising, too, was how much it differed from the sexual responses she’d had to men in the

past. Because joining the physical sensations that were rocketing through her body was an emotional reaction that was blooming in her heart. She had feelings for Matthias she hadn’t had for other men. And they were stronger, she realized now, than she’d allowed herself to believe.

But this was Matthias, she tried to remind herself. As recently as a few weeks ago, he’d been Mr. Barton. Yes, she’d known she was attracted to him. But she’d thought removing herself from him would put an end to that attraction. Remove the appetite by removing the temptation. But the only thing removing the temptation had done was make her hungrier.

As long as she’d been working for him, Kendall’s ethics hadn’t allowed her to cross the line into intimacy. Office romances, she knew, were a Very Bad Idea, no matter how you played them. So as long as she was working for Barton Limited, her conscience had allowed her to find her boss attractive, but hadn’t permitted her to act on that attraction. By leaving the office environment, any obstacles that had stood in the way of her feelings for him had disappeared. Simply put, now that she wasn’t his employee anymore, her conscience and her brain—not to mention her heart— were letting in things they had locked up tight before.

Not good, she thought as he came to a stop behind the chair across from her and curled his fingers over the back of it. Because how wise would it be to let herself start feeling things—things beyond attraction—for a married man? Especially when what the man was married to was his business?

"Hi," he said. And with that one word, her troubled thoughts completely evaporated.

There would be plenty of time for thinking later, she told

herself. Especially if Stephen DeGallo never showed up. Where was he, anyway? It wasn’t like him to be late. Then again, why did she care when Matthias was here?

That thought, more than any of the others she’d had this evening—this week—told her more than anything else could about herself. And her feelings. And her wisdom. Or lack thereof. What told her even more was how she quickly smoothed a hand over her ivory shirt and brown trousers before running it back over her head to make sure her hair was in place. Somehow, she knew she wouldn’t have bothered for Stephen. Nor would she have removed her glasses to get a better look at him, as she did with Matthias now.

"Hi," she replied, tucking her glasses into her shirt pocket.

"Meeting DeGallo?" he asked.

She hesitated before telling him she feared her new boss had stood her up. Because then Matthias would ask her why, and she’d have to tell him she didn’t know, unless maybe it was because Stephen had decided she wasn’t a team player, even without first letting her into the dugout. So she only said, "Actually, I’m here alone." Which was true. She was alone. She just wasn’t supposed to be alone.

And boy, was that a loaded statement she would just as soon not leave hanging. So she hurried on, "What are you doing here? Again?"

She hadn’t meant for that again to sound as pointed as it had. Matthias either didn’t notice or chose to pretend he hadn’t heard it himself, because he only smiled and replied, "I actually came here to see if you wanted to have dinner with me. When you didn’t answer my knock at you door upstairs, I took a chance that you’d be down here."