The Platinum Collection: An Australian Conquest: The Incorrigible Playboy / His Most Exquisite Conquest / His Bought Mistress

She grinned. ‘I love your butterfly blouse. It’s just the kind of thing Harry’s mum used to wear.’

Lucy’s choice, Elizabeth thought. ‘I’ll gladly change it for tropical fish,’ she said. The butterfly blouse represented failure with Michael and trouble with Harry, since he saw it as sexy. ‘I’ll be more comfortable here in the island uniform.’

‘Well, it is easy. You don’t have to think about what clothes to put on. I’ll be off now. You might want to freshen up before rejoining Harry in the office.’

‘Yes, I do. Thanks, Sarah.’

She was relieved to have such a good ally in the head housekeeper. It would surely make this job easier. Sarah’s long association with the Finn family meant that she could be absolutely trusted, too.

What she’d said about the two boys lingered in Elizabeth’s mind as she made use of the bathroom facilities. The plane crash that had taken the lives of Franklyn and Yvette Finn had been frontline news about ten years ago, soon after her own mother had died. She hadn’t known the people so it had meant nothing personal to her at the time, yet it must have been a traumatic period for Michael and Harry, both young men, possibly still at university, having fun, believing there was plenty of time to work out what they wanted to do with their lives. It was admirable that they’d taken on their father’s business empire instead of selling up and shedding all responsibility.

But it still didn’t make Harry good relationship material. She could respect him for what he’d done. He might be very solid in that sense. However, that did not mean he had any staying power where women were concerned.

For the next hour she had to sit beside him at the computer workstation in the office while he went through the Finn Island website, showing her how bookings were made over the internet and their dates subsequently slotted into the island calendar. He explained how to work out all the schedules that had to be kept and Elizabeth had no trouble grasping what she had to do.

However, being so close to Harry—virtually shoulder to shoulder—did make concentration more difficult than it should have been. With their brief encounters in the Cairns office, she’d always managed to keep her distance from him, hating how he could exude a male sexiness that made her acutely conscious of being a woman whose needs weren’t being answered. Now, having barely any space between them made her senses hyperalert to almost everything about him.

Her nose kept being invaded by his smell—a sharp tanginess like a sea breeze somehow mixed with an earthy animal scent. His strong, muscular forearms were a very masculine contrast to her more slender, softly rounded ones and she couldn’t help noticing his long dexterous fingers as he worked the computer mouse—fingers that fascinated her into flights of erotic fantasy. He didn’t touch her, not even accidentally, but she was wound up inside, expecting him to, silently schooling herself not to react as though his touch was like a hot iron scorching her skin.

She had to learn how to behave naturally around him. Whenever he glanced at her to check if she understood what he was explaining, the vivid blue eyes seemed to be tunnelling into her mind and she had to force herself to hold his gaze as she assured him everything was clear to her. Then he smiled approval which made her stupid stomach contract. He was an extremely disturbing man even when he wasn’t teasing or flirting and she didn’t want him to be. Hopefully his wretchedly unsettling effect on her would gradually fade away over the next few days.

People started strolling by on the path outside, heading towards the bar for predinner drinks. Harry named them as they passed. Of course he had been here over this past weekend, but it was impressive that he could identify every guest on the island and tell her where they came from, as well as how they’d come by their wealth. Elizabeth tried to commit most of what he said to memory but it was a struggle—too many of them, too quickly.

‘You’ll soon have them down pat,’ Harry said confidently. ‘I told Daniel we’d be eating in the restaurant tonight. I’ll drill you on everyone at the other tables while we dine, then introduce you around before they leave.’

‘That would help a lot,’ she said gratefully.

‘Hope you can find some more appetite than you had for lunch. Daniel will be miffed if you don’t do justice to his gourmet creations.’

He knew she’d been too upset to eat much lunch but tonight she wouldn’t have to watch Michael and Lucy gobbling up each other and she wanted to stop Harry from poking any further at the still-raw place in her heart. ‘Actually I’m rather hungry. Must be the sea air,’ she answered airily, resolving to eat everything put in front of her and show appreciation of it, regardless of how she felt.

His eyes glittered satisfaction. ‘Remarkable what a sea change will do.’

Well, it won’t extend to sharing your bed, she silently promised him as she rolled her chair back from the desk and stood up. ‘Speaking of change, I’ll go and swap these clothes for the island uniform before we go to the restaurant.’

Two young women on Sarah’s staff—Maddie and Kate—had brought everything she needed while Harry had been teaching her the ins and outs of the website. The way they’d looked at Harry—telegraphing they thought he was hot—had made her wonder if he played musical beds on the island.

‘Good idea!’ He eyed her up and down in that lingering way that made her skin prickle. ‘We wouldn’t want our lady guests going pea-green with envy at how gorgeous you look in that outfit,’ he drawled. ‘Nor would we want their guys seeing you as more desirable than their partners.’

‘Oh, really!’ she huffed, crossing her arms defensively.

‘Just telling you how it is, dear Elizabeth.’

‘Don’t dear me!’ she snapped, still very much on edge from having to weather the sexual pitfalls of his proximity and wanting to cut off his flirting routine.

His eyebrows arched provocatively. ‘What? I can’t express how I feel about you?’

One of her hands sliced out in negative dismissal. ‘I don’t want to hear it.’

‘Wrong time, wrong man, but that doesn’t make it any less true.’

She rolled her eyes in disbelief. ‘Let’s keep to business, Harry.’

‘Okay.’ He gestured at the door to the apartment. ‘Go and change. It will be a start to fitting in with me instead of Mickey.’

She felt purpose underlying those words, spine-crawling purpose as she turned her back on him and walked quickly from the office into the apartment, closing the door very firmly behind her.

It caused her to work up some steely purpose of her own. She would do her best to fit in on the island but fitting in with Harry on any personal basis had to stop. It had been a purely defensive move, going along with him today, using him as a shield to hide her distress. From now on she should take control of whatever happened between them. Her mind was very clear on that. She certainly didn’t want to invite any sexual complications with him, which would only mess her around more than she was already messed up by the situation with Michael and Lucy.

It was a relief to shed the clothes that had fed her hopes this morning. She had a quick shower to wash away the misery of the day and give herself the sense of making a fresh start. It felt liberating donning the island uniform. This was the end of maintaining the professional image of an executive PA, at least for the next month. The casual, carefree look of shorts and T-shirt was suddenly very welcome to her.

It seemed she’d been carrying a heavy weight of responsibility for many years, ever since her mother had fallen ill with terminal cancer and her father had deserted them. The need to hold everything together for herself and Lucy had been driving her for a long time. Somehow it didn’t matter so much anymore. She was on an island, away from the life she had known up until now, all by herself...except for Harry, who’d be gone as soon as she was on top of the job.

That was her main priority now—demonstrating to Harry that his guidance was no longer needed. Once she was free of his presence, this place might very well work some magic for her—time out of time to find herself again—no hanging on to what Michael thought or felt about her, no worrying about Lucy, just Elizabeth.

CHAPTER SEVEN (#ulink_70bc701a-9883-5f4b-9c2a-6d4d0dc50375)

HARRY watched her come out of the apartment, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, determined to get on with the job and do it well. He admired her strength of character, her refusal to be utterly crushed by disillusionment. On the other hand, he had kept her mind very occupied these past few hours and would continue to do so until they parted for the night. That would be crunch time for her, when she was lying in bed, alone in the darkness. It would all be about Mickey and Lucy then.

He was strongly tempted to give her something else to think about—something she couldn’t dismiss as easily as she had in the past, writing him off as of no account. He didn’t like it. He never had liked it. Tonight might be too soon to pounce but...what the hell! She was never going to be ready for him. Her mind-set against getting personally involved with him was so fixed, perhaps physically shaking her out of it was the best way to go.

If he set the scene right...

An idea came to him. A private word to the chef before dinner, concentrate on business over the meal, wait until the guests had drifted off to their villas or the bar, then spring the surprise.

He grinned at her as he rose from the office chair. ‘Time to see if the stars are burning bright tonight.’

She shook her head at him. ‘It’s not dark enough yet.’ Her tone denied any interest in an activity which probably smacked of romance to her.

‘Well, we can watch for them to appear from our table in the restaurant. You are allowed to enjoy the ambience of this island, Elizabeth.’

He could see her consciously relaxing, working up a smile. ‘I will, Harry. I’m glad I have the opportunity to do so.’

‘Good! I want you to be happy here.’

Happy...

Why not? Elizabeth thought. She should let everything else float out of her mind and embrace this experience—tropical night, stars burning bright, glorious food, lots of interesting people to meet. All she had to do was ignore Harry’s insidious effect on her, and with the ready distraction of the guests around them, surely that could be kept at bay.

He led her out of the office, locked the doors and handed her the key, which made her feel secure about any unwanted attention coming from him later on in the evening. As soon as they entered the spacious, open-air restaurant, he was called over to a table where two couples were very happy with their day of diving near the reef, happy that Harry had arranged such a marvellous experience for them.

Elizabeth was introduced as the new manager. It was easy to smile at these people, easy to smile at all the other guests when other introductions were made throughout the evening. They were all having a great time and their mood was infectious, and however they’d filled in their day, the evening meal certainly topped it off.

Every course was superb. Elizabeth really enjoyed the food and complimented the chef on it, praising the attentiveness of the waiters, too. Daniel Marven definitely ran a high-class restaurant. Elizabeth couldn’t see any problem arising on this front during her management month, and she was sure Sarah and Jack Pickard handled their roles just as efficiently. This could very well be a happy position for her.

‘You have a great set-up here, Harry,’ she complimented him over coffee. ‘The guests are so clearly enjoying themselves.’

He leaned back in his chair, smiling at her. ‘You’ve handled everything extremely well, Elizabeth.’