Jessica Hart - A Bride For Barra Creek

‘I see.’ For some reason Tye was studying her with a new kind of interest. ‘Are you busy at the moment?’

‘I’ve got several projects in the pipeline,’ she said with feigned nonchalance.

Her project for Monday involved buying the paper and scanning it for a job—any job—that would pay her bills and mean that she didn’t have to go crawling back to her old boss to ask for her old job back. No need to tell Tye Gibson that, though.

‘I don’t suppose you know of anyone who might be interested in a…special assignment?’ he asked casually.

Lizzy stared at him. ‘You’ve got a job?’

‘I guess you could call it that.’

There was a distinctly dry note to his voice, but Lizzy was too excited to notice. Tye Gibson might not be the most popular boss in the world, but there was no doubt that GCS was a hugely prestigious company. If she could put GCS in her portfolio, clients would be queuing up to employ her as a consultant.

‘What kind of a job?’ she asked, trying desperately not to sound too eager.

Tye hesitated slightly. ‘It’s highly confidential,’ he told her. ‘I don’t want to give too much away until I’m sure I’ve got the right person.’

Confidential? That sounded promising. Lizzy moistened her lips. ‘As it happens, I’ve got a window coming up,’ she said airily. ‘I might be interested.’

The cool grey eyes studied her, and she forced herself to meet his gaze calmly. ‘We’re talking about an important position,’ he said eventually. ‘I need somebody with the right instincts.’

Lizzy bridled at his dubious expression. ‘I’m completely professional!’

‘Professional is easy.’ Tye waved a dismissive hand. ‘I’m looking for someone who isn’t afraid to stand out from the crowd. Someone with ambition. Someone who’s prepared to do anything to get the job done.’

‘I’m all of those things,’ she assured him.

‘Are you? I asked around about you earlier, and all anybody would tell me was that you were a nice girl. Now, there’s nothing wrong with nice girls, but they don’t last long in a competitive commercial situation. I think you’re too nice for me,’ he told her bluntly.

‘Not always.’ Lizzy was dismayed. It looked as if the fantastic opportunity that had arisen so unexpectedly was already fading from her grasp. Working for GCS would be the end of all her problems, she thought grimly. She couldn’t let it go.

‘It’s my sister’s wedding,’ she said crisply. ‘Of course I’m being nice today, but I’m quite different when I’m at work.’

Tye looked unconvinced. ‘I haven’t got time to deal with tears and tantrums and wounded feelings,’ he warned her. ‘I’ve only got time for results. Are you telling me that you’re hard-nosed enough to play ball with me?’

‘I know I am,’ said Lizzy with a show of confidence that effectively disguised her inner qualms. She wasn’t going to back down now. She needed that job. ‘What do I have to do to convince you?’

Tye didn’t answer immediately. He considered the matter, looking around the woolshed before his gaze came back to settle speculatively on Lizzy’s face.

‘I’ll do anything,’ she said rashly.

‘OK,’ said Tye. ‘Kiss me.’

‘KISS you?’ Lizzy flushed in embarrassment as she heard her voice rise to a squeak, and she cleared her throat quickly.

‘Why should I do that?’ That was better. Deeper, steadier, just a touch of amusement to show that she recognised that he was joking. Much more like the sophisticated PR consultant she was supposed to be.

‘You said that you would do anything,’ Tye pointed out.

Without quite knowing why, Lizzy’s assurance began to trickle away, and she eyed him uneasily. ‘Well, I know I did, but…’

‘Are you trying to tell me that you’re not prepared to do anything?’

‘You’re not serious!’

‘Don’t I look serious?’

He did. Absolutely serious.

Lizzy swallowed. ‘Do you interview all your prospective employees like this?’

‘Only those with the potential to fulfil a very special role.’ Tye’s face was still perfectly straight, but Lizzy seized on the glimmer of amusement she could see in the grey eyes.

‘You are joking!’

‘No, I’m not,’ he said. ‘You asked what you could do to convince me that it was worth giving you a chance, and I’ve told you. You can kiss me.’

‘But how can you possibly tell anything about my PR skills from a kiss?’ Lizzy objected, trying to ignore the way her heart was racketing around her chest at the mere thought of kissing him.

‘I’m not interested in your skills,’ said Tye. ‘I want to know whether you’re the kind of person who’s prepared to stand out from the crowd—and I don’t just mean by wearing ridiculous shoes. Look around you, Lizzy,’ he went on, nodding his head in the direction of the other guests. ‘See how many people are watching us while trying not to make it obvious. They don’t like the fact that you’re talking to me.’

It was true. Lizzy, following his glance, noticed how friends that she had known for years averted their eyes while others were eyeing her covertly. It was an uncomfortable feeling, and she turned back to Tye, an uncharacteristic frown in her blue eyes.

OK, so he wasn’t the most charming man in the world, and his reputation certainly didn’t bear close scrutiny, but he wasn’t that bad. Lizzy wouldn’t go so far as to say that she liked him. He was cold and callous, and he had made little attempt to conceal his contempt for her family and friends, but there was something intriguing about him, something that stimulated and provoked and disconcerted her all at the same time.

‘I’m not welcome here,’ Tye was saying, not sounding at all bothered by the fact. ‘No one has been prepared to come right out and say it, but it’s obvious. I don’t belong here, and if I’d given them the slightest excuse there would have been plenty of people more than happy to throw me out. It’s been bad enough for them to see you standing here with me all this time. How do you think they’d react if you kissed me?’

Lizzy tried to picture the scene, but although she could imagine kissing Tye with startling clarity, somehow she couldn’t get past that to visualise the reactions of anyone watching.

‘You’d be breaking ranks big time,’ Tye answered for her. ‘You’d be saying you didn’t care what anyone thought, that you’d do whatever it took to get what you want.’ He looked into Lizzy’s face, a faint smile on his lips as doubt wrestled with determination to prove herself in the blue eyes. ‘And that’s the kind of person I’m looking for,’ he said.

‘And if I don’t want to break ranks?’

Tye shrugged carelessly. ‘You walk away. I leave. I find someone else.’

He might at least sound as if he cared one way or another, thought Lizzy with something suspiciously close to petulance. She looked away from him, edgily running a finger around the base of her glass.

She had always prided herself on her refusal to fit the mould. As a young girl she had grumbled endlessly about the old-fashioned attitudes of her parents and their friends. The district might cover vast distances but it had a distinctly small town mentality.

Lizzy hadn’t been able to wait to leave home for the city. She thought of herself as cosmopolitan, and whenever she came home she made a point of looking as stylish as possible. Her transformation into city girl was treated as something of a standing joke in the community, and Lizzy played up to it. She knew that the teasing was affectionate, and she liked the fact that they thought of her as unconventional.

You’d be saying you didn’t care what anyone thought. Tye had issued a challenge, and she longed to take it up, but deep down Lizzy knew that she did care. These people were her family and friends. She might not choose to live in the outback, but that didn’t mean she wanted to shock or offend them unnecessarily. When it came down to it, Lizzy just wanted everyone to like her.