But she simply could not leave her mother even for a few nights. It would be far too dangerous.
Her daring clearly astonished him, though. A deep frown grooved his brow and narrowed his grey eyes. And when he spoke his voice had developed a hard edge that she was not accustomed to hearing when he spoke to her. ‘There is no such word as can’t in my vocabulary, Miss Redman. I’m sure you’ve worked for me long enough to know that.’
Of course she had, but her priorities were equally important. ‘I—I appreciate what you are saying, but I do have a life outside work and—’
‘And that life is so important that you cannot dedicate yourself to your job?’
Kara quivered at the caustic harshness, at the bullet hardness of his eyes, which had turned almost silver, but nevertheless she stuck to her guns. ‘Mr Benedict, I do not think you can ever say that I do not do my job properly.’ She had worked late so many times that she sometimes felt she spent more time at work than she did at home.
‘Maybe not. In fact you’re very good,’ he admitted.
Grudgingly, she thought. Praise did not come easily from this man. He was a fair employer, though. His staff were treated fairly and paid high wages and they rewarded him by doing their jobs well. Few people left his employ.
Why couldn’t he see things from her point of view? Did he not think that his staff had lives of their own?
‘So who is it that has priority on your time? A boyfriend, perhaps?’ The lift to his brows told her that he clearly thought this was not a good enough excuse.
Kara knew he would not rest until she had told him the truth, or as much of it as she cared to reveal. ‘If you must know, I look after my mother. She cannot manage without me.’ And she prayed that he would not try to delve any deeper into their circumstances.
For a fraction of a second he hesitated—this was evidently something he had not expected or even thought about. Kara wondered whether he had a mother who equally relied on him. Or maybe not. Blake’s work was his life. During the eleven months she had worked for him he had not taken one single day’s holiday.
‘And there is no one else who can look after her? No other family member?’
Kara was tempted to say, Would I be talking like this if there was? Don’t you think I’d jump at the opportunity of going to Italy? But she didn’t. She lifted her chin instead and met the glare in his eyes with one of her own. ‘I’m an only child and my father’s dead.’ And felt her heart pound as she waited for his response.
His brows lifted fractionally. She would not have noticed if she had not been staring him in the face.
‘I see. That is unfortunate. I am sorry.’ And he actually looked it. ‘What is wrong with your mother?’
‘It’s her health,’ she answered. ‘It is not good. She depends on me.’
‘And you are sure that there is no one who could possibly keep an eye out for her?’
Kara hesitated. There was her mother’s sister, who had always said that she would love to have her stay any time Kara wanted a break, but she had never taken her up on it. It hadn’t seemed fair. She wasn’t sure that her aunt realised how fragile Lynne had become.
But she’d hesitated too long, and Blake Benedict seized the opportunity, his eyes narrowing on her face. ‘I can see from your expression that there is someone.’
Kara compressed her lips and nodded. ‘Actually, there is my aunt. Possibly! I would have to ask her.’
‘Then do that tonight, Miss Redman. And if the answer is no then I will personally hire a nurse.’
Meaning that he intended her to go to Milan with him whether she wanted to or not! Kara wasn’t sure whether to feel annoyed or flattered—it was impossible to decide between the two. She hadn’t told Blake the whole truth when she’d said that she could not leave her mother because of her health; it was something far more serious than that. But it was none of his business and she had no intention of talking about it. ‘I’ll see what my aunt says. Is that all, Mr Benedict?’ She kept her eyes level on his in an endeavour to look more confident than she felt. She did not want him to know exactly how fearful she was about leaving her parent.
‘That is all.’ And already his head was bent over paperwork.
Kara’s mother was all for her going. ‘Of course I’ll stay with Susan. She’ll love to have me. She’ll let me stay for as long as I like.’
‘It will only be for a few days,’ Kara hastened to assure her. ‘I would get out of it if I could, but Mr Benedict is adamant that he needs me.’
‘You worry too much about me, my darling.’ Her mother’s blue eyes, so much like Kara’s, smiled tiredly. ‘The change will do me good.’
‘Of course I worry,’ insisted Kara. ‘I have every reason to. You don’t think he’ll find out where you are?’
Her parent’s lips thinned and a deep shadow crossed her lined face. “You mean the rat who’s hounding us for money? Your father certainly didn’t do us any favours, did he? But it’s unfair that you should have to shoulder the burden. Why all your hard-earned cash should—’
‘I don’t care about that as long as you are all right,’ Kara insisted.
‘I’ll be safe at Susan’s,’ her mother assured her. ‘It’s you I’m thinking about. It will do you good to go away.’
Kara tossed her head, her eyes flashing dismissal. ‘You’re making it sound like a holiday. It won’t be, I assure you. Mr Benedict will probably work my fingers to the bone.’ The mere thought of going, of being at his beck and call all day, every day, of spending even more time with him than she already did, was not her idea of fun.
‘He’s realised your true potential, that’s what. I bet you’re the best PA he’s ever had.’
Kara shrugged and smiled, but she didn’t tell her mother that Blake Benedict had implied that as well.
‘Where are the others?’
Blake had sent a car for Kara and met her at a small private airfield, and as she stepped up into his executive jet she expected the other managers to be already on board. Instead it was empty. The engines were running, they were ready for take-off—and there was only the two of them!
‘They’ve gone on ahead. I thought we could use the time to talk. You have worked for me for almost twelve months and yet you are still a mystery to me.’
His smile told her that he had planned this all along: a smile designed to put her at her ease, but instead setting alarm bells off in her head. A one-to-one with Blake Benedict was the last thing she wanted. And she could not understand why he was taking this sudden interest. Unless there was something else he was after!
Rumour had it that the last two PAs who had gone with him on these trips had been given their marching orders as soon as they had got back. The rumour machine also said that he’d had affairs with them while they’d been away. Was that what he had in mind? An affair? Did he think it was about time he broke through her personal barrier?
Sheer, cold horror shot down her spine. She had not thought of this before, and it was too late now to back out of the trip. She would need to be careful—erect a shield and not let it slip for even one second.
She felt uneasy at the thought of being at his mercy for the duration of the flight, and when they were cleared for take-off and rose into the air she felt as though she had left her stomach behind. And it wasn’t because of the altitude!
It was a luxurious plane, with deep comfortable seats—not that she would have expected anything less—but being on it alone with her employer made everything fade into insignificance. Blake Benedict filled the whole space. It felt as if they were the only two people in the universe.
Which