He was looking for her to react. Which meant she should stay silent and seated. But it was the first time he had said her name, and hearing it spoken in that soft, sexy drawl caught her off guard.
She jerked to her feet, her body acting independently, tasting the sharp tang of adrenaline in her mouth.
Instantly she knew she’d made a mistake. She was close enough to reach out and touch that beautifully shaped mouth. In other words, too close. Walk away, she shouted silently. Better still, run! But for some reason her legs wouldn’t do what her brain was suggesting.
Instead, she glowered at him, her blue eyes darkening with anger. ‘Yes, that’s right, Mr Walker. That’s exactly what I want. The shirt off your back.’
But it wasn’t. What she really wanted was to turn the tables. Goad him into losing control. Make him feel this same conflicted, confusing mass of fear and frustration and desire.
His fingers were hovering over the top button of his shirt, his eyes holding hers. ‘You’re sure about that?’ he said softly.
The menacing undertone beneath the softness cut through her emotion and brought her to her senses.
At the other end of a table, surrounded by people, Ram Walker was disturbing, distracting. But up close and unchaperoned he was formidable.
And she was out of her depth.
Breathing in sharply, she shook her head, her pulse quickening with helpless anger as he gave her a small satisfied smile.
‘And I thought you liked breaking the rules.’
His eyes gleamed and she knew he was goading her again, but she didn’t care. Right now all she wanted was to be somewhere far away from this man who seemed to have the power to turn her inside out and off balance.
‘Is there anything else you’d like to discuss?’ he asked with an exaggerated politeness that seemed designed to test her self-control.
He waited until she shook her head, and then, turning, he walked towards the door.
‘I’ll speak to the accountants today.’
It was with relief bordering on delirium that she watched him leave the room.
* * *
Back in her office, she sat down behind her desk and let out a jagged breath.
Her hands were trembling and she felt hot and dizzy.
Leaning back in her chair, she picked up her notebook and a pencil. She knew it was anachronistic for a techie like herself to use pen and paper, but her mother had always used a notebook. Besides, it helped her clear her mind and unwind—and right now, with Ram Walker’s goading words running on a loop round her head, she needed all the help she could get.
But she had barely flipped open her notebook when her phone buzzed. She hesitated before picking it up. If it was Ram, she was going to let it ring out. Her nerves were still jangling from their last encounter, and she couldn’t face another head-to-head right now. But glancing at the screen, she felt a warm rush of happiness.
It was Anna.
A chat with her best friend would be the perfect antidote to that showdown with Ram.
‘Hey, I wasn’t expecting to hear from you. Why are you calling me? This is your honeymoon. Shouldn’t you be gazing into Robbie’s eyes, or writhing about with him on some idyllic beach?’
Hearing Anna’s snort of laughter, she realised just how much she was missing her easy-going friend and business partner.
‘I promise you, sex on the beach is overrated! Sand gets everywhere. And I mean everywhere.’
‘Okay, too much information, Mrs Harris.’ She began to doodle at the edges of the paper.
‘Oh, Noles, you have no idea how weird it is to be Mrs Somebody, let alone Mrs Harris.’
‘No idea at all! And planning to stay that way,’ she said lightly.
Marriage had never been high on her to-do list. She was happy for Anna, of course. But her parents’ divorce had left her wary of making vows and promises. And her disastrous relationship with Connor had only reinforced her instinctive distrust of the sort of trust and intimacy that marriage required.
Anna giggled. ‘Every time anyone calls me that I keep thinking my mother-in-law’s here. It’s terrifying!’
She and Nola both burst out laughing.
‘So why are you ringing me?’ Nola said finally, when she could speak again.
‘Well, we were at the pool, and Robbie got talking to this guy, and guess what? He’s a neurosurgeon too. So you can imagine what happened next.’
Nola nodded. Anna’s husband had recently been appointed as a consultant at one of Edinburgh’s top teaching hospitals. He was as passionate about his work as he was about his new wife.
‘Anyway, I left them yapping on about central core function and some new scanner, and that made me think of you, slogging away in Sydney all on your own. So I thought I’d give you a call and see how everything’s going...’
Tucking the phone against her shoulder, Nola rolled her eyes. ‘Everything’s fine. There was a bit of a problem this morning, but nothing I couldn’t handle.’
She paused, felt a betraying flush of colour spreading over her cheeks, and was grateful that Anna was on the end of a phone and not in the same room.
There was a short silence. Then, ‘So, you and Ramsay Walker are getting on okay?’
Nola frowned.
‘Yes...’ She hesitated. ‘Well, no. Not really. It’s complicated. But it’s okay,’ she said quickly, as Anna made a noise somewhere between a wail and groan.
‘I knew I should have postponed the honeymoon! Please tell me you haven’t done anything stupid.’
Nola swallowed. She had—but thankfully only in the safe zone of her imagination.
‘We had a few words about the budget, but I handled it and it’s fine. I promise.’
‘That’s good.’ She heard Anna breathe out. ‘Look, Noles, I know you think he’s arrogant and demanding—’
‘It’s not a matter of opinion, Anna. It’s a fact. He is arrogant and demanding.’
And spoiled. How could he not be? He was the only son and heir to a fortune; his every whim had probably been indulged from birth. He might like to boast that he said no to almost everything, but she was willing to bet an entire year’s salary that nobody had ever said no to him.
‘I know,’ her friend said soothingly. ‘But for the next twenty-four hours he’s still the boss. And if we get a good reference from him we’ll basically be able to print money. We might even be able to pay off our loan.’ She giggled. ‘Besides, you have to admit that there are some perks working for him.’
‘Anna Harris, you’re a married woman. You shouldn’t be having thoughts like that.’
‘Why not? I love my Robbie, but Ram Walker is gorgeous.’
Laughing reluctantly, Nola shook her head. ‘He is so not your type, Anna.’
‘If you believe that you must have been looking too long into that big old Australian sun! He’s every woman’s type. As long as they’re breathing.’
Opening her mouth, wanting to disagree, to deny what she knew to be true, Nola glanced down at her notepad, at the sketch she had made of Ram.
Who was she trying