by Penny Jordan
Nodding his head, Vasilii led the way back to the suite. He had a pretty good idea what the ‘delicate matter’ might be—a request for a bribe. Vasilii was no stranger to this kind of negotiation—he’d encountered such tactics in many different parts of the world. It wasn’t something he liked or approved of. Nor had he ever asked for or accepted any kind of bribe himself. But this contract was large enough and important enough for him to recognise that in order to secure it he was going to have to play the game by the contract giver’s rules.
In the sitting room of his suite he sat down, and then invited Gang Li’s assistant to sit down himself. As the one with the higher status of the two of them it was important for him to show that status and take control.
Gang Li’s assistant spoke quickly, as soon as Vasilii had indicated that he should do so, telling him, ‘Gang Li is aware of the importance of this contract to your business. As you will know, his uncle relies on his good judgement and advice.’
‘I have seen that Gang Li is very close to Wei Wong Zhang,’ Vasilii replied diplomatically.
‘Gang Li wants you to know that he feels you and he can work well together, should you be granted the contract. You are very ambitious for the success of your proposal—but then what is a man if he does not have such desires? Gang Li also has a desire of his own.’
Here it comes, Vasilii thought grimly. The only thing he really needed to know was exactly how much he was going to be asked for.
‘And that desire is …?’ he asked, continuing to play the game by its rules.
‘Gang Li is very much taken with your assistant. Naturally as a married man, with a family and a reputation to maintain, he is not free either to approach or become involved with Miss Westcotte publicly. However, a word from you to advise her of Gang Li’s … desire, and the importance he places on having that desire satisfied as speedily as possible, would be taken by him from you as a mark of good friendship, and it would significantly increase the chances of the successful completion of your negotiations with his uncle.’
Gang Li had sent his assistant here to tell him that Gang Li wanted him—Vasilii—to make Laura available to Gang Li for sex?
Fury, and a very male surge of something he didn’t want to identify, surged through Vasilii.
No. Never. No way. No way was any man going to be allowed to possess her. No other man. Ever. The thought of any man taking Laura to his bed filled him with such a possessive fury that he could barely contain it.
What?
The blind, automatic, gut-deep immediacy of his response shocked through him with lightning speed, burning away his defences. What was he thinking? What was he allowing himself to think? What was happening to him? Nothing. Nothing at all. His reaction was a momentary aberration, that was all. The very idea of him feeling possessive about any woman, never mind Laura Westcotte, was ridiculous, and something he would never allow to happen.
And yet even as he tried to deny it, oblivious to the nervousness of the man waiting for his response, Vasilii was forced to accept and battle with the reality of his reaction. It was because as his employee Laura was his responsibility, and that responsibility meant that he had to protect her, Vasilii told himself. Because Gang Li’s suggestion was an insult to him as much as it was to Laura herself. He already knew how Laura felt about Gang Li. It had nothing to do with any desire for Laura on his own part. How could he desire her? He couldn’t. To do so would be to break his own rules, and he never did that.
Inside his head Vasilii had a mental image of Laura’s expression when she had let him see her revulsion for Gang Li. It was easier to focus on that than to analyse his own feelings. He had a duty to protect her from the other man’s unwanted interest, he told himself, since in effect she was here under his protection. And right now, as far as he could see, there was only one way in which he could effectively do that and bring a halt to Gang Li’s advances to her.
He looked at the waiting man and told him in an icy voice, ‘That will not be possible.’
The assistant was frowning, and looking very anxious and concerned. ‘Gang Li will be very unhappy about this.’
‘As I would be myself if I were to give up my own mistress to him,’ Vasilii told him coldly.
The look of dismayed shock on the other man’s face said it all. He started to stumble over a halting apology as he backed away towards the door. Vasilii watched him in grim silence. He was simply playing a part he had chosen to play. It gave him no satisfaction to claim that Laura was his. After all she wasn’t his—and nor did he want her to be.
CHAPTER SIX
IT HAD been an exhausting but an informative day, Laura thought tiredly as their limousine pulled up outside the hotel.
Wu Ying had turned out to be well informed about viticulture, and Laura had been surprised to be told by the other woman that she had recently set up a winery of her own in China.
‘One day our wines will be sold all over the world, but for now we take small steps. The winery is my own investment—with the help of my cousin, who is my partner in the venture,’ she’d told Laura on their way back to the hotel.
But it was what she had told her about the contract that Laura felt would be of more interest to Vasilii, and she was very grateful to Wu Ying for her unexpected frankness in discussing it with her.
‘My husband places a great deal of faith in the judgement of his nephew,’ she’d said. ‘However, there are those who care a great deal for my husband’s reputation and who do not share that faith.’
By that Laura took Wu Ying to mean that she did not share it. But then she had gone on to say, ‘My cousin in particular feels that Wei Wong’s judgement is being clouded by his … natural affection for someone who is close to him through the family bond they share.’
Here Wu Ying had paused, and Laura had wondered if that pause was a delicate way of hinting that that family bond was not so much one of uncle and nephew as father and son. But tactfully she hadn’t pressed the matter.
Then Wu Ying had continued. ‘My cousin does not believe that it would be to my husband’s advantage or that of our country were Gang Li to be allowed or encouraged to take to himself too much involvement with the proposed contract with Vasilii Demidov.’
Wu Ying had then leaned over and, with an extraordinary gesture of intimacy for someone of her status to a foreigner, actually patted Laura’s hand. She had smiled at her as she dropped what for Laura had been a total bombshell, announcing, ‘I think that Vasilii Demidov holds you in high esteem, and when a woman holds the ear of a powerful man she can be wise for him in ways that his pride might not always allow him to be wise for himself in guiding him in the right direction.’
The car drew smoothly to a halt. ‘I have enjoyed our day today, Laura,’ Wu Ying said now, stepping out of the limousine and into the care of her waiting entourage, leaving Laura still sitting where she was, and still trying to take in the message she suspected Wu Ying had been trying to give her.
As she got out of the car and followed the other woman into the hotel, to be greeted by the uniformed staff opening the doors for her, Laura wondered how much of what she had been told was real hard fact and how much might be wishful thinking on Wu Ying’s part. There was no doubt in Laura’s mind that there was a very deep division between Wei Wong’s wife and his ‘nephew’, and that a power struggle was going on between them.
She must, of course, report what Wu Ying had told her to Vasilii as soon as she could. As always the thought of seeing Vasilii and of being with him produced a rash of stubbornly female sensations that Laura knew had nothing to do with her work. She hated the way her senses were so vulnerable to his masculinity. It brought her far too close to the girl she had been—a girl who had coloured up in the secret darkness of her own bed because of the longing created by her own senses for a man who didn’t even know she existed. It made her think and do things that were far more appropriate to that girl than the woman she ought to be. Foolish, idiotic things that only incre
ased her existing vulnerability. Things like looking at Vasilii’s hands and mouth whilst her throat went dry and her pulse raced, just as though her body was still aching for his kiss.
She walked into the sitting room of their suite, her heart thudding in such immediate betrayal when she saw him that she had to look away, just in case he saw that reaction in her eyes. Was this what happened to teenage dreams that were never fulfilled? Did they always come back to haunt you or was she just unlucky? Unlucky and foolish, Laura chided herself, and she reminded herself of her real role in Vasilii’s life and tried to hide her real feelings with an outer air of professional confidence.
Vasilii hadn’t had a good day. Unsurprisingly, Gang Li had cancelled their meeting, and then Wei Wong had cancelled their lunch—a sure sign, Vasilii suspected, that Gang Li was punishing him for denying him Laura. Looking at her now, as she stood in front of him, smiling confidently, her eyes sparkling and her general air that of someone who had had a very enjoyable and successful day indeed, only increased the angry confusion the way she made him feel seemed to engender inside him.
‘You’ll never guess what Wu Ying has told me—’ Laura began, without any preamble.
‘There’s something I need to discuss with you.’ Vasilii cut across Laura’s speech curtly.
She’d done something wrong. Laura knew that immediately. And Vasilii’s manner towards her was so cold and harsh that it must be something very serious indeed. Her heart started to thump uncomfortably heavily and fast. Whatever it was Vasilii wanted to say to her she wasn’t going to enjoy hearing it, Laura knew.
Instinctively wanting to divert his attention she asked him quickly, ‘How did your lunch with Wei Wong go? Wu Ying says—’
‘It didn’t. Gang Li pulled out of our pre-lunch meeting and then Wei Wong cancelled.’
Now the harshness in Vasilii’s voice was even stronger.
‘Why?’ Laura asked, even though her heart was racing even faster. She could tell from Vasilii’s expression that somehow or other she was to blame.
‘Gang Li sent his assistant to see me this morning, to pass on to me the terms under which Gang Li was prepared to persuade his uncle to agree to a contract. It seems that Wei Wong is inclined to favour us, but that he depends on Gang Li for directional advice and confirmation of his judgement.’
‘Gang Li sent his assistant to ask for a bribe?’ Laura asked. She could understand that Vasilii might not like that, but it wasn’t exactly unheard of—and neither could she see how it could possibly involve her. Especially not in a way that could evoke the anger against her she could see so plainly in Vasilii’s manner towards her.
‘Yes.’
‘How much money did he ask for?’
‘It isn’t money he wants,’ Vasilii told her. ‘It’s you.’
Vasilii had heard the expression ‘the blood drained out of her face’ but this was the first time he had witnessed the visual impact of it for himself. Laura looked at him with huge shocked eyes, her expression filled with horrified disbelief and revulsion.
‘Me? He wants me?’ Laura wanted to deny what Vasilii had told her, to say that it couldn’t possibly be true, but she could see from his expression that it was. ‘No,’ she told Vasilii in a shaky voice, her natural inner strength coming to her rescue as she gave a vehement shake of her head, and repeated unequivocally, ‘No.’
Vasilii hadn’t said anything. He was simply watching her. Uncertainty and apprehension gripped her. Disorganised thoughts raced through her head. She might know Vasilii as a brother who was incredibly protective of his sister, but that did not mean that his male protection would ever be extended to include her. Quite the opposite, in fact, given his opinion of her. No man had ever protected her—not even John. Because she had never been important enough to a man, never had the kind of close relationship with one after the death of her father, not one would instinctively and automatically protect her. She knew that. She had grown up knowing it. She had even weathered the realisation that John wouldn’t protect her. So why now, with Vasilii, did she feel such a sharp stab of pain? It was up to her to protect herself and she would do exactly that.
‘I don’t care what you’ve told Gang Li. I won’t do it. You can sack me if—’
‘You think I’d agree? That I’d allow anyone to abuse someone who is in my employ in any kind of way? Never mind suggest something like this?’ Vasilii was furious. ‘Do you dare to believe that I am the kind of employer—the kind of man—who could accede to such a loathsome request? Well, let me inform you that anyone who works for me in a business situation is my responsibility. I take that responsibility very seriously—just as I take equally seriously the behaviour of my employees in any way that it might reflect upon my business or on me. Naturally I told his messenger that what he was asking was out of the question.’
He was protecting her. He was angry with her, but he was protecting her. He was keeping her safe—just as she had longed for him to do all those years ago.
As he spoke Vasilii came towards her. Immediately Laura stepped back from him, afraid that her emotions would betray her. Her every instinct was to go to him and thank him, to cling to him and be held close to him. And of course she couldn’t do that.
‘There’s no need for that kind of play-acting with me,’ he told her acidly. ‘That look of panic is more suited to a virgin fearing the possession of her first lover than an experienced woman in her twenties and it is wasted on me. After all, I know the truth about you.’
She realised that he had misinterpreted her reaction. Not that she was going to tell him that. She couldn’t. Vasilii might think he knew the truth about her, but of course he didn’t. In fact she was beginning to wonder if she even knew the truth about herself any more. She had come to work for Vasilii confident that he couldn’t possibly affect her as a man, but increasingly he was proving to her that that was exactly what he was doing.
‘In order to ensure that Gang Li knows there is no point in him trying to pursue you, and to bring an end to the matter, I told his messenger that you are in fact already under the protection of another man.’
Laura’s heart skipped a beat. She had a very bad feeling about what was happening. A very bad feeling indeed. A bad feeling that came from far more than the revulsion that Gang Li’s proposition caused her.
‘What other man?’ she asked Vasilii warily.
‘Me,’ he answered curtly.
‘But it’s not true,’ Laura objected. Vasilii her protector? She his mistress? The two of them lovers? Oh, how foolish the female mind and heart were—allowing their owner to be taken from the brutal reality of being a piece of flesh to be traded for financial gain by men to whom she meant nothing to a place where she was a cherished, desired, longed-for woman loved so much by one man that he would do anything to protect her.
‘Not for you or me. But for Gang Li it has to be seen to be true and accepted as true,’ Vasilii warned her grimly.
‘I’m your PA. If people start thinking that I am also your mistress then my professional reputation will be called into question,’ Laura protested.
‘As it has already—via your relationship with your last boss,’ Vasilii pointed out to her unkindly. ‘It may not be a situation that either of us wants, but as far as I am concerned it is the best way of dealing diplomatically with things.’
Vasilii had had time to cool down from the heat of his earlier emotions, and he certainly wasn’t going to tell Laura that his decision had been motivated by a desire to protect her. How could he when he didn’t even want to acknowledge that himself?
Instead he continued, ‘So tonight over dinner it might be as well if you were to act a little more as though you are my mistress—for Gang Li’s benefit.’
He suggested that she should act as though she was his mistress—not both of them act as though they were lovers, Laura noted.
She didn’t want to do it, but what alternative did she have? As Vasilii’s recognised and acknowledged mistress she kne
w that she would be safe from Gang Li’s unwanted attentions. Safe from Gang Li’s attentions—but how safe would she be from her own desires? Desires which she was being forced to recognise were being fed by simply by being with Vasilii, never mind behaving as though they were lovers?
‘Very well,’ she agreed.
It was only later, when she was in her room preparing for the evening’s final gala dinner, that Laura realised she hadn’t briefed Vasilii fully on the conversation Wu Ying had had with her. She would tell him later over dinner, she decided. Right now she needed some time to herself, to come to terms with the new role she was going to be playing in public. That of Vasilii’s mistress.
Her heart leapt inside the cage of her chest. Vasilii’s mistress. And she a virgin who had no idea of what it took to please a man of Vasilii’s sensual maturity. And if she had had that experience? What then?
The intimacy of the shudder of sensation that trembled through her locked the breath in her throat. This was too much. She shouldn’t be feeling like this. It was a legacy of the past and had no place in her present. It was dangerous, humiliating and self-destructive, and it must be ignored.
The gala dinner intended to be the highlight of the negotiations, with a successful conclusion to the deal being celebrated even if the contract had not been officially signed, was now going to be more of an ordeal than a celebration, Vasilii recognised as he fixed the gold cufflinks that had originally been his father’s into his dress shirt. Tonight was to be a formal dress event, and Alexei had assured him that their meal in the private dining room would have the full supervision of the hotel’s head chef.