their products the attention they crave. Perhaps I’ll let you keep them.’
Her eyes had been widening with each condemnation. Slowly, shock replaced her anger. And this time, when she looked around at the trophies and pictures that decorated his office, her interest was genuine.
Draco knew the moment the penny dropped.
Her lustrous hair flew as she whirled back to him. ‘You’re Draco, the super-agent.’
‘I’m Draco Angelis, yes.’
She swallowed. ‘You represent Rex Glow.’
‘Your former sponsors? Yes.’
She inhaled sharply, but the next question wasn’t what Draco had expected it to be. ‘And my father works for you?’
‘You’re surprised by that.’
A frown clamped her brows. ‘Well...yes, to be honest.’
‘Why?’ he fired back, his need to probe the reason behind Nathan Daniels’ disappearance returning.
‘Because...’ She hesitated, a trace of pained bleakness flitting over her features. ‘Let’s just say the world of competitive sports isn’t his first love.’
He folded his arms, alarm bells clanging loudly. ‘Well, he was my chief financial officer up until two weeks ago, when he seemed to fall off the face of the earth.’
‘And you’re looking for him because...?’
‘There’s a small matter of a half a million pounds that seems to have evaporated from my company’s accounts. I would very much like to speak to him about that,’ Draco replied, his eyes narrowing at the mixture of guilt and trepidation that froze on her face.
REBEL KNEW SHE’D given herself away a split second before Draco straightened to his imposing six-foot-plus height and took the single step that brought him to within a whisper of where she stood. His broad shoulders and the cloak of power draped around him eclipsed her every thought and action. But even without them, the expression on his face as he stared down at her dried the words that rose to her lips.
This man was responsible for Rex Glow dropping her. While a significant part of her was enraged by the blatant admission, the greater part of her was shocked by the other information he’d imparted.
He was her father’s boss. A father who, for all intents and purposes, had disappeared. Along with the uncomfortably exact amount of money that had landed in her bank account. The shock of it rendered her attempt to keep a neutral expression hopelessly futile.
‘Tell me where your father is,’ he pressed.
In that moment, Rebel understood why this man was named The Dragon. His steely grey eyes were cold and deadly enough to freeze the Sahara. And yet his nostrils flared with white-hot anger that promised volatile, annihilating fire.
‘I...I don’t know where he is.’
Black eyebrows clamped darker. ‘You expect me to believe that?’
‘You can believe what you want. It’s the truth.’
‘You admitted to having been in touch with him lately. And you came here to meet him, did you not?’
‘We spoke briefly on the phone a couple of days ago. Lunch was mentioned, and I thought I’d surprise him today...’ She trailed off, unwilling to elaborate that she’d done most of the talking, while her father had remained stonily monosyllabic. Rebel struggled to hide the hurt that lanced her heart from knowing her father would’ve probably rejected any firm plans had he known she’d intended to come here today.
‘I urge you to come clean now, Miss Daniels, before things get worse for you and your father,’ Draco Angelis threatened.
The first tendrils of fear clawed up her spine. ‘If you must know, we didn’t make any firm plans. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision to stop by and see if he was free for lunch. I haven’t seen him in a while and I thought—’
‘How long is a while?’
‘That’s between my father and me, and none of your business.’
Firm, sinfully sensual lips pursed. ‘You don’t think my CFO’s sudden disappearance and you turning up unannounced in my building is any of my business?’
‘So he’s taken a brief vacation. So what?’ she speculated wildly, her unease growing as suspicion mounted in Draco’s eyes.
‘Considering he hasn’t taken one in the five years he’s worked for me, you’ll pardon me if I find his sudden need for one, without speaking to me first, more than a little suspect. Besides, we have a procedure for absences. My employees don’t make a habit of just not turning up to work when the mood takes them.’
‘Because that would guarantee them an on-the-spot sacking?’
‘Perhaps not on the spot. I would demand an explanation first before the sacking ensued.’
Rebel forced an eye roll, which was far from the nonchalance she tried to project. ‘So you’re not just a dragon to work for, you’re an ogre as well? Congratulations.’
Sharp grey eyes, surrounded by the most lush eyelashes she’d ever seen on a man, lasered her. ‘You find this subject amusing?’
Anger surged through her. ‘About as amusing as discovering that you seem to have a personal vendetta against me when we’ve never even met before.’
His face tightened, his expression growing even more formidable. ‘We didn’t need to meet before I knew exactly what sort of person you are. Your antics in the last half an hour have only confirmed it.’
‘Really? Would you care to share it with me or should I take a few wild guesses?’
‘You’ve barely scraped through into ski finals for the last few years because your work ethic is average at best. You’re more concerned with headlining in the tabloids with your extracurricular activities than putting in the hard work to secure yourself a position in the championships.’
She swallowed hard before her temper got the better of her. ‘I’ll have you know I was an under-twenty-one record holder for two years.’
‘But you haven’t placed higher than fifth in the last six years. Your position in the rankings has fallen in direct proportion to the rise of your notoriety. It doesn’t take a maths genius to work out where your true interests lie. Which is why I wonder why you even bother.’
Anger gave way to bewildered hurt, but Rebel locked in her emotions, determined not to show him how his words affected her. ‘I’m still at a loss as to how all of this or anything in my private life concerns you.’
‘If it concerns my client, it concerns me. Besides, it’s only a matter of time before your reckless actions have a direct impact on another athlete,’ he retorted pithily, his gaze boring harder into her, condemnation stamped in every pore.
Draco Angelis’ reaction was too strong for Rebel to believe his motivation stemmed from concern for his client alone. But she was too busy struggling not to react to the accusation of recklessness to pay it much heed.
The only thing Rebel wanted was to leave his office and his oppressive presence. She needed the head space to ponder exactly what her father was up to. And whether the money he’d sent her was indeed embezzled funds as her every instinct shrieked it was. The enormity of what that would mean struck cold dread inside her.
‘I think we’re done here, Mr Angelis. Rex Glow is no longer my sponsor, so I don’t have to listen to you or your groundless accusations about my life. If you choose to believe whatever nonsense you read in the papers, then that’s your problem, not mine.’
He