meeting shouldn’t be too difficult. Only the future counted now, she fiercely told herself, and neither Carver nor the pirate king held any part in that. She was on her own.
Definitely on her own.
She had to go into the meeting with Robert Freeman and prove an investment in her business would be worthwhile. All the necessary papers were in her attaché case. She simply had to pull them out and…
“Miss Beaumont?”
Katie’s heart leapt at the call from the receptionist, a pleasant young woman with a bright, friendly manner, obviously trained to put people at ease. She had auburn hair, cut in a short, chic style, and her navy suit, teamed with a patterned navy and white scarf knotted around her throat, looked very classy. The perfect frontline person for an investment company, Katie thought, and forced an inquiring smile.
Laura—that was the name Carver had given her—responded with an apologetic grimace. “I’m sorry. Mr. Freeman is tied up with some urgent business.”
“That’s okay. I don’t mind waiting,” Katie quickly inserted, relieved to be given more time to calm her nerves before she had to perform at her best.
“As it happens, that isn’t necessary, Miss Beaumont.” Her mouth moved into a conciliatory smile. “One of the other partners is free to take over your meeting with Mr. Freeman. In fact, you came in with him… Mr. Dane.”
“Mr.…Dane?” Katie could barely get the words out. Her tongue felt as paralysed as the rest of her at the thought of facing Carver across a desk, spilling out where she was in her life and asking him for money.
“He’s very experienced at assessing presentations,” Laura assured her. “Your time won’t be wasted with Mr. Dane, Miss Beaumont.”
“But I don’t mind waiting for Mr. Freeman. It’s no problem for me,” Katie babbled, unable to quell a rising whirl of hysteria.
“The arrangement has already been made.”
Without any discussion with her? Didn’t she have any right to decide whom she dealt with? Not that she actually knew Robert Freeman, so she couldn’t claim an acquaintance with him. And Carver was a partner, so she couldn’t very well protest on the grounds of being handed to someone of lesser authority.
Having announced this official decision, Laura came out from behind the reception desk, clearly intending to gather Katie up and deposit her in the appointed place. Katie froze in her chair, her mind in a ferment of indecision, her body churning with sheer panic as her future and past collided head-on.
A benevolent smile was directed at her, along with the words, “I’ll show you to Mr. Dane’s office.”
What was she to do?
Somehow she levered herself out of the chair and picked up the attaché case, grasping the handle with both hands and holding the square of leather in front of her like some shield against the arrows of fate.
“This way…” An encouraging arm was waved towards the corridor Carver had taken.
The past was gone, Katie frantically reasoned. If she didn’t take this chance, she faced a future of always being an employee without any prospect of really getting ahead in life. Besides, this was a business deal. There shouldn’t be anything personal in it. If Carver turned it into something personal, she could walk out, with good reason to demand a more objective hearing.
“Miss Beaumont?”
Laura was paused in front of her, a slight frown questioning the delayed reaction from Katie.
“Sorry. I’m a bit thrown by the change.”
An understanding smile. “There’s no need to be, I promise you. Mr. Dane follows exactly the same company policies as Mr. Freeman.”
Katie expelled a long breath to ease the tightness in her chest. “Okay. I’m coming.”
Laura nodded approval as Katie pushed her feet into taking the path to Carver’s office. The carpet was dove-grey. It felt like sand dragging at every step she made.
She told herself Carver wouldn’t want this meeting any more than she did. He’d been landed with it because he was available and Robert Freeman was busy. Which surely meant he would keep it strictly business, totally ignoring the intimacy of their former relationship.
Or was the intimacy the buccaneer had shared with Carmen as sharply on his mind as it was on hers?
Katie instantly clamped down on that thought. But her stomach contracted at the memory and to her horror, some wanton rush of excitement attacked her breasts, just as Laura came to a halt, gave a courtesy knock on a door, and opened it.
“Miss Beaumont for you, Mr. Dane,” she announced.
“Thank you, Laura,” came Carver’s voice.
It had the same deep timbre of the pirate king’s! Why hadn’t she noticed that before? Because she’d been in too much of a flap over running into Carver and she hadn’t smelled the cologne until he was on the point of leaving her. But now…her heart started thundering in her ears.
Laura stood back and waved Katie forward.
She had to walk into Carver’s office, face him, and pretend everything they’d ever known together was water under the bridge, including a fantasy that was fast gathering too many shades of reality.
Having constructed a somewhat rueful smile to ease her over the next few moments which were fraught with pitfalls, Katie willed her legs to move without wobbling, thanked Laura for her services, then stepped into what she couldn’t help thinking of as the torture room.
Like going to the dentist.
Only worse.
No one here was going to give her an anaesthetic to kill pain.
She heard the door shut behind her. Goose bumps rose on her skin at the realisation she was once again enclosed in a space shared only with Carver Dane. At least it was bigger than an elevator, she hurriedly told herself, and there was furniture to keep them separated.
“Hello, again.”
The greeting forced her to fasten her gaze directly on the man himself. He’d been on the periphery of her vision, standing to the side of his desk. She’d felt him watching her, probably assessing her reaction to the changed appointment, and a sudden surge of stubborn pride tilted her chin in defiance of any judgement he might have made.
“I wasn’t expecting this, Carver,” she stated bluntly.
“I do appreciate that, Katie,” he returned, his quiet tone aimed to soothe frazzled nerves. His mouth quirked into whimsical appeal. “Will it help if we pretend we’re meeting for the first time?”
Impossible! He’d taken off his suitcoat. Her mind’s eye was already measuring his shoulders, matching them to old and fresh memories, and her body felt as though it was pulsing to the imprint of every hard muscle in his very male physique.
“Why aren’t you a doctor?” she blurted out, totally incapable of putting him in a business frame.
He shrugged and moved to the front of the desk, propping himself against it in a relaxed pose that suggested he was prepared to be patient with her. “That was a long time ago, Katie. I might well ask what you’re doing here, seeking a business investment? Why didn’t you pursue the course you were taking to become a kindergarten teacher?”
Because I couldn’t bear being in the same city as you after the break-up. Not even in the same country! The words screamed through her mind but couldn’t be spoken. As he said, it was a long time ago.
“It’s just that I always thought of you as working towards that goal,” she said to explain her intemperate outburst. “To find you here…”
Carver stared at her, a hard bitterness coiling through him. How much had she thought of him? Certainly not enough