Read Online The Boss's Proposal by Cathy Williams - Free Book Online

‘and at the risk of sounding impertinent on my first day here, I should just like to say that I resent your prying into my private life…’
    â€˜I didn’t realise that I was prying into your private life, I thought that I was making a general statement…’ Her tone of voice didn’t appear to have put him off his stride and she saw, with dismay, the gleam lurking seductively in his eyes. ‘Of course—’ he dropped his eyes and inspected his nails briefly ‘—you’re entitled to your privacy, and if you have something that you’re ashamed of…’
    â€˜I am not ashamed of anything !’
    â€˜Okay! Okay!’ It was the oldest trick in the book and she knew it. He was making a show of backing away fromconfrontation while simultaneously appearing doubtful of her protestations of innocence.
    â€˜What could I have to be ashamed of?’ she couldn’t help demanding indignantly, and this was met by a theatrical shrug of his broad shoulders.
    â€˜Nothing.’
    Vicky made the inarticulate sound of someone whose feathers have been severely ruffled.
    â€˜Unless,’ he said as an afterthought, ‘it’s something to do with a man.’ He flicked a quick look at her to see how this one registered but her normal serenity was well and truly back in place. ‘You know, you’re entitled to have whatever relationships you want, be they with married men…’
    Vicky, recognising that he was fishing for information, maintained her studious silence, chewing her lip as she peered down at sheaths of paper in a business like manner.
    This was what she had feared most, this willingness on his part to cheerfully overstep the mark. He had no respect for anyone’s limits. If he got it into his head that jumping over them was what he wanted to do, then jump over them he would, and with a grin on his face.
    â€˜Or even married women…’ He didn’t seriously believe that that was a possibility but he decided to voice his thoughts anyway, if only to keep this enticing conversation on the go. As expected, she shot him a dry look and didn’t bother to say anything.
    â€˜Or perhaps it’s a toy boy? These things do happen…’
    â€˜I’m not old enough for a toy boy,’ Vicky pointed out with a sigh of resignation. ‘No married men, or women, for that matter , no toy boy, no geriatric in his seventies, no skeletons , in fact…’ She sounded pleasingly truthful and couldn’t resist a smug smile in his direction.
    â€˜Everyone has a skeleton or two,’ he said quickly, and she raised her eyebrows at him.
    He wasn’t going to get anywhere with this one. She was now looking at him with crisp efficiency, raring to get going with whatever folder she’d been fingering for the past fifteen minutes. He admitted defeat, and for the next two hours they worked alongside one another. Instead of wasting time going through files individually, he dictated letters, briefly giving her a lowdown on each account as he covered them.
    She picked things up fast. He’d spent so many months battling with various levels of incompetence that it was sheer bliss to work with someone who was capable of following his pace. Her questions were clipped and relevant, she grasped what she needed to do without requiring a lengthy process of repetition, and by the time Maria on Switchboard began putting through his calls once again he felt confident enough to leave her on her own to get on with things.
    Through the office partition, he could see a sliver of her at her desk, one hand holding a pen, which she lightly tapped as she inspected whatever she had just typed onto the computer. She had shoved her hair into a bun, and ever so often she would absent-mindedly reposition her rebellious curls.
    Max rolled his chair a few vital inches to the left, without altering the tenor of his conversation on the telephone, and