There, too, she would be alone and pacing with no one to talk to. For the past decade Matt had been her sounding board, but she sensed their friendship would never be the same again, even if she chose to return to House of Hammond.
Paused outside the door to Sonya’s suite, she raised her hand to knock but then let it fall away. Sonya would listen and might even dispense advice on her dilemma, but that guidance would not be impartial. There were two sides, the Blackstones and the Hammonds, with a yawning abyss of misunderstanding between.
The prospect of breaching that gap appealed more than ever after Perrini’s potent speech. Kimberley’s pulse kicked up a beat. For all his talk of dream jobs and the tempting notion of working on the Blackstone Jewellery show, healing the family rift spoke most directly to her heart.
But did she want to return to Blackstone’s, to work for a business founded on her father’s shady acquisition of the Hammond mining leases? To this day the Hammonds claimed Howard Blackstone wooed Ursula Hammond and befriended her father only to get close to the mines. The fact that Jebediah Hammond signed over the lease to Howard on his death bed only bolstered those claims.
Could she work for Blackstone’s now that she knew the full story?
Could she separate the business and the personal and work with Perrini, knowing he aimed to pursue her with the same ruthless purpose he’d employed ten years before? Could she resist the powerful pull of their attraction … and did she even want to?
It was the hardest decision of her life and in the end the choice was hers to make alone. She would not be rushed into it; she would make an informed decision. To do so she needed to see the Blackstone Diamonds of today, to assess the current business structure, to determine whether she even fit anymore.
Did she want to work for Blackstone Diamonds?
Kimberley strode into the ground-floor foyer of the Blackstone Diamonds building the next morning and came to an abrupt halt. Her gaze skimmed from the manned security desk to the high-tech scanners to the ID tag displayed by an employee as he hurried through to the bank of elevators. The nervous anticipation that had swirled in her belly during the taxi ride to the city settled to a leaden weight.
What had she been thinking? That she could simply waltz in the door and wander around at her leisure? Stupidly, she hadn’t thought ahead. She’d wanted to come here, to see what had changed, to test her instinctual response to the workplace she’d left ten years before.
Not that the new security checks were an insurmountable problem. At nine-thirty on a Thursday morning, Perrini, Ryan and Garth would all be entrenched at their desks. A quick phone call to any one of their offices and she would be whisked up to the rarefied atmosphere of the upper levels.
That wasn’t what she wanted.
Belatedly, she recognised the implausibility of her goal. Blackstone Diamonds had grown into a gargantuan corporation, its multiple departments spread over scores of floors in the soaring tower. This was not an atmosphere that invited idle wandering. Imposing, isolating, impersonal, it was a world apart from the House of Hammond.
Kimberley rubbed the goose-bumped skin of her bare arms. In a moment of defiantly dark humour, she’d decided to wear the new dress. It wasn’t nearly as daring as she’d allowed Perrini to believe, but in the air-conditioned confines of the building she wished she had at least grabbed a jacket. Not that she was staying. In fact—
“Can I help you?”
She turned, expecting to see one of the covertly uniformed security guys. Instead she found herself eye-to-eye with the most prettily handsome man she had seen outside the pages of the fashion magazines. Golden hair. Smooth tanned features. Vivid blue eyes rimmed by outrageously long lashes. And a dazzling toothpaste-commercial smile that widened as recognition sparked in his eyes.
“Miss Blackstone,” he murmured. “I couldn’t help noticing that you looked a little lost. Can I help you find your way? If it’s clearance that you need—”
“No.” Then, to soften the nerve-honed sharpness of her answer, she smiled. “Thank you, but I’m not going inside after all. I’ve changed my mind.”
“Your prerogative.” Amazing, but his eyes really did twinkle. Like a perfectly matched pair of brilliant-cut blue diamonds. “I hope we’ll see you back here soon, and if you ever need clearance, call me. Max Carlton. Human resources manager.”
He lifted his hand in farewell, and as Kimberley watched him pause to swap a short greeting and bring a smile to the stern face of the security-desk custodian, she couldn’t help smiling herself. Perhaps she should have taken him up on his offer, but did she want the slick showman’s tour? Not really. Although an hour or two of his pretty face and disarming smile would be no hardship.
Feeling infinitely better for the short interlude and inspired by Max Carlton’s eyes, she walked outside and turned right into the morning sunshine. She hadn’t given up on her day’s task. She was just starting where she should have started all along.
Blackstone Jewellery’s Sydney store was a short walk uptown from the office tower and occupied a prime corner site in a historic sandstone building that also housed the five-star Da Vinci Hotel. Kimberley had shied away from even a passing glance at this and all the Blackstone stores during her business travels. After watching the evolution of the latest over-the-top opulence across the street in Auckland, she’d expected similar here.
How wrong could she have been?
The building was grand, yes, but in a classic, traditional sense. The signage was discreet and window displays spare, spotlighting individual pieces against monochrome backgrounds. She paused, captured by the unique design of a gold-pearl-and-diamond necklace. Around the corner a larger display set a collection of retro-style diamond brooches and earrings against deep ruby velvet.
When she finally swung through the revolving door into the air-conditioned interior, her heart was beating thickly with a strange combination of pride and anxiety. This was how she’d visualised Blackstone Jewellery when she’d brought the plans to her father the very first time. She felt almost at home as she slowly circumnavigated the open downstairs gallery. The air of exclusive, expensive class reminded her of House of Hammond, although she doubted anyone at Blackstone’s would appreciate the comparison.
The click of high heels brought her head up suddenly and snapped her mind out of introspection. A slightly built woman was descending the staircase from the first floor with hurried steps. When she caught sight of Kimberley, her eyes widened slightly in recognition and her worried frown turned tail into a welcoming smile. The smile transformed her face, although her silver-blond hair combined with an austere black dress to highlight her pale air of fragility.
“I’m Jessica Cotter, the store manager,” the younger woman said, as she reached the ground floor. “Welcome to Blackstone Jewellery.”
“I’m Kimberley Blackstone … although I sense that’s superfluous information.”
Jessica nodded. “You won’t remember, but we were at school together,” she continued, a hint of nerves clouding her pretty brown eyes. “You were a senior when I started P.L.C., which is why I recognised you and now I’m making a very unprofessional first impression.”
“I caught you on the hop. I should have let you know I was coming in,” Kimberley said with an apologetic smile. “I was just passing, and curiosity got the better of me.” Which was only a small diversion from the truth. “Would you believe I’ve never been in a Blackstone store?”
“Then you have come to the right one. This is our flagship store, the first location we opened almost ten years ago. Let me show you around.”
“Thank you.” Kimberley smiled. “As long as I’m not keeping you from your work.”
“Not at all. Is there anything in particular you would like to see?”
“The