‘Good morning, Jake,’ she said primly, ignoring his comment on her new outfit.
She was probably ticking off in her mind that she’d met the image standard once again. Miss Efficiency never failed. But Jake had a challenge for her today.
‘It is, indeed, a good morning, Mel,’ he rolled out cheerfully. ‘I’ve had some ideas. Got your notebook with you?’ She was holding it in front of her like a shield, but Jake was just as good as she was at ignoring what he didn’t want to acknowledge.
‘Yes,’ she answered, refusing to be baited, as usual.
Always being correct was a shield, too. Jake dearly wanted to blow that shield apart and get to some really vulnerable part of Mel Rossi—revelations of the woman within. ‘Take a seat,’ he invited with relish.
Only bucket armchairs in blue-grey leather were available so she had to settle in one of them. Jake suspected she would have preferred a straight-backed wooden kitchen chair. Instead of relaxing into the chair, she perched on the front of the seat and crossed her legs so she could prop her notebook on her uppermost knee.
The fullness of her skirt fell on either side, and Jake discovered, with satisfaction, that he actually could see her legs through the floaty floral fabric. Not that he’d never seen them before. It was simply more alluring to view them this way.
‘I’m ready,’ she declared—a warning that he should stop looking at her legs and get on with business.
Jake lifted his gaze to hers and smiled. ‘Of course you are,’ he almost sang, overflowing with good humour. ‘Ready, willing and waiting for the challenges I’m about to put to you today.’
And his smile grew into a huge grin.
I hate him.
The thought burned through Merlina’s mind.
Jake Devila was never going to take her seriously as a person, or as a woman, or even as another human being who had feelings to be considered. He didn’t care about her. He simply amused himself playing with her.
It was just plain crazy to be sitting here with her heart thumping like mad and her stomach all gooey because he had looked her over with very male appreciation, and his dimples were winking at her. That grin on his face was a sure sign he had diabolical mischief on his mind.
He rolled his chair forwards and lay his forearms on the desk, leaning towards her, his eyes twinkling, and she waited like a besotted fool to hear his brilliant ideas, then ran around like a maniac to meet whatever challenges he threw at her today.
I’m just a puppet on a string dancing to his tune, she told herself. Which probably wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t the only tune in her life but it was. And she had to move on from it. Her sense of self-worth insisted it was the only way to survive as an individual. But right now he had her locked into this moment, almost breathless with anticipation for what would come next.
‘We need a think-tank meeting later this morning,’ he said. ‘All departments to attend. I want to throw around ideas for targeting the older market.’
It was a relief to hear him talking business. ‘What time for the meeting will I put on the memo?’ she asked matter-of-factly.
‘Eleven-fifteen. After morning coffee to get their brains active and before lunch so they can then chew over what’s been discussed,’ came the prompt reply.
‘Right!’ she said, making a note of the time.
‘Get that memo out first, Mel.’
‘Will do. Anything else before I attend to it?’
‘Yes. Yes, there is,’ he drawled, a wicked gleam in his eyes.
She concentrated on keeping her composure while waiting for him to elaborate.
He sat back in his chair, waving one hand casually as he said, ‘My grandfather’s birthday is coming up.’
So is mine, she thought.
‘He’ll be eighty.’
I’ll be thirty.
‘I want to do something special for him.’
He paused, watching her like a hawk, waiting to see which way its prey would jump.
Merlina patiently returned his gaze with limpid eyes, deliberately emptied of all emotion. She wasn’t going to let him feed off her this morning! However, he paused for so long, she finally said, ‘Are you asking me for suggestions?’
He laughed. ‘Oh, I doubt very much you’d be tuned into what entertains my grandfather, Mel. He still drinks champagne at breakfast. In fact, when I was a little boy, he told me to call him Pop instead of Grandpa because he was such an expert at popping corks.’
Her tightly guarded mind had a malfunction and lost control of her tongue, letting wayward words roll off it. ‘Perhaps you also have an equally pertinent reason for calling me Mel instead of Merlina.’
‘Lethal weapon,’ he rolled out, grinning at her again.
‘I beg your pardon?’
‘The movie, Lethal Weapon. Stars Mel Gibson.’
‘You associate me with a male actor?’
Granted Mel Gibson always gave great performances in his movies, but he was a man, and how on earth could Jake Devila look her over the way he did if he thought of her as a man? Merlina wished she hadn’t opened up on this sore point. She was just sick to death of being called Mel instead of her proper name. That particular thorn had been in her side throughout the whole period of her employment at Signature Sounds and obviously the urge to take it out and deal with it had got the better of her.
‘Never mind,’ she muttered, raising her guard again. ‘I apologise for deviating from your grandfather’s birthday. Please go on.’
‘Believe me…the image I have of you has nothing to do with Mel Gibson’s masculinity,’ he said provocatively.
‘I’m relieved to hear it.’ Though she didn’t want to hear any more. Clearly he was enjoying himself at her expense and frustrating him by not rising to the bait was the safer course. However, she couldn’t resist a hit back before dismissing the subject. ‘I was beginning to wonder how perverse your perception was. But again I apologise. Totally irrelevant. You were saying you wanted to do something special for your grandfather,’ she reminded him with determined purpose.
‘You don’t want your curiosity satisfied?’ he teased.
‘I’m quite sure I don’t,’ she said dismissively.
‘Because curiosity killed the cat and you won’t risk it?’
His eyes danced mockingly.
Her brain overheated. Retaliation steamed straight out of it. ‘When you were a little boy, Jake, someone should have taught you not to toy with cats. They have claws.’
‘You’re right,’ he agreed. ‘I should have had a nanny just like you, Mel. No doubt you would have turned me into a fine upstanding man.’
He was loving this exchange. Absolutely exulting in it.
She kept her mouth firmly shut. Not another word was going to escape her lips until he got back to business. His lips were twitching with amusement and his dimples were flashing devilment. She couldn’t stop herself from glowering back at him but she did keep her mouth firmly shut.
He pointed a finger at her. ‘Now that’s just what I mean…why you remind me of Mel Gibson. Lots of pent- up energy that you know is going to explode into action when its fuse is lit.’
His eyes were dancing with excitement at the prospect of her losing her cool and blowing up. Merlina was sizzling inside but she wouldn’t