Natalie Fox - Man Trouble

‘This is Soho, not the Sahara,’ she told him flintily. “The rents are astronomical around here.’

‘Perhaps that’s where you’re failing—not thinking big enough,’ Mel parried.

‘Perhaps I know my capabilities and live within them,’ she retorted sharply.

He made no comment but held the swing door open for her. Her arm brushed his as she passed through. Both were adequately clothed, Jade in a cherry-red suit, the jacket cut in sharply to accentuate her tiny waist, and Mel in a Savile Row creation in silver-grey, but she felt the contact as acutely as if they had both been naked. Her eyes flicking up to his, she wondered if he had been as aware of the contact as she had. His leaden eyes gave nothing away and she despised herself for her own recollection of times long gone when any touch, however slight, had sparked thrillingly between them.

She paused in the tiny foyer outside the studio before entering. Nodding towards the glass doors through which you could see the whole layout of the floor, she told him, ‘As you can see, some of the boards are vacant. I’ve got three key staff off with a flu bug.’

‘Let’s hope you don’t go down with it, then. It only takes a kiss for these things to spread like the plague.’

His eyes were gleaming with mockery as he said it and he was standing close enough for an infectious kiss. Jade didn’t know why that thought had even occurred to her when she was still wondering if that was another stab at her supposed loose morals of four years back. Whatever, she warded him off with her own preventative remedy-biting sarcasm.

‘You’re in for a chronic overdose of whatever’s doing the rounds, then,’ she retorted tartly, turning her back on him to push open the inner door of the studio, his low, not madly amused laughter making the hairs on the back of her neck prickle.

She showed him around the studio, thinking how jaded it all looked when you were forced to see it through someone else’s eyes. New equipment was needed, new enthusiasm, an injection of fresh spirit. Jade stood on the sidelines, listening to what Mel had to say and not interfering but resenting the enthusiasm and keenness he seemed to be drawing from her all-male artistic staff. She supposed word had got round that things weren’t going terribly well in the company and they saw Mel Biaggio’s interest as something positive. If Mel agreed to help she’d have to inform them that he was a trouble-shooter and there would be inevitable changes.

‘Every one of them needs a kick in the rear,’ he told her sourly as they concluded their tour of inspection, Mel holding the door open for her, Jade avoiding brushing against him again.

She swallowed his contempt and kept her objections to herself. He’d warned her what to expect and she’d have to take it or face the consequences. She was learning but it wasn’t easy.

‘ Who occupies the ground floor of the building?’ Mel asked as they returned to the first floor, where the offices were. Jade led him through the main open-plan office, and it was obvious that most of the female staff were stunned at the sight of Mel, tall, charismatic and God’s gift to the young and nubile.

‘It’s vacant at the moment,’ she told him.

He said nothing till they were back in her office and then he shot the lot at her, taking her breath away with his suggestions.

‘You have to be joking!’ she protested hotly. This was ridiculous. ‘I can’t afford to expand. How can I take on another floor when I can scarcely raise the rent for two? As for taking on more staff, there’s scarcely enough work for the ones I’ve got after that creep creamed off my best clients.’ She was almost trembling with rage. This was his revenge once again. His suggestions were crazy. If she took them up ruin would slap her in the face sooner rather than later. Was that his intention? To take his revenge to the very end—total destruction?

His eyes darkened at her protestations. ‘You can’t get any lower than you already are, Jade. There’s only one way out of this situation and that is up. Now, if you are scared of the challenge quit now, because you’re no good to me if you don’t think positively. You’ll need financing and I can help; you’ll need new contacts and I’ll help. I can put key staff in here who will inject new enthusiasm…’

In awe Jade listened to it all, acknowledging the power and energy the man had and realising why he was so successful. She felt her spirits lift for her company but still a deep part of her lamented her emotional loss. She knew she shouldn’t even be considering her own feelings when he was outlining plans for saving her company but she couldn’t help the snap of sorrow squeezing at her heart. With all these changes going on he would be around a lot. Would she be able to cope with the sight of him? With the knowledge that every day was bringing him closer to his wedding day—the day when she would know for sure it was finally over?

Mel picked up his coat from the chair. ‘I’ll turn this company around in three months,’ he told her at last.

‘And…and your price?’ she uttered weakly, still dazed by his restructuring plans.

Slowly he came across the thick carpet to her, something so strange in his eyes that she steeled herself. The crunch was about to come, she sensed, some exorbitant fee that would cancel out any profits that might come from his new plans for the company.

After folding his coat over one arm, his hand came up to grip her chin quite firmly. His touch was paralysing, numbing her limbs and yet making her nerve-endings tingle. His dark, broody eyes captured hers so utterly compellingly that she had no choice but to stare at him, wide-eyed.

‘At the end of three months, if not before, you’ll know my price, sweetheart,’ he said in a dark undertone which made his words sound more like a threat than anything else. ‘But don’t ever forget I don’t come cheap.’

Jade ran the feverish tip of her tongue over her lower lip—the lip he was scorching with his eyes. She felt danger shiver down her spine. It was the way he was looking at her…as if…as if he wanted to claim those lips.

‘I’ll pick you up at nine,’ he breathed softly. ‘Dinner and more discussions before we get this rolling.’ She opened her mouth to protest. ‘Don’t argue,’ he cut in before she could. ‘I’ve warned you. Just remember I always know best,’

He left her suffering yet another indignity, which washed over her like a tidal wave. The indignity of not having any choice but to put up with his arrogant pomposity. No, Mel Biaggio didn’t come cheap. She would pay the price all right, more than she could have envisaged at the outset of all this. In fact she had started the instalments already. She was going to pay dearly for ever having fallen in love with him.

JADE had already decided she wouldn’t invite him up to the apartment when he arrived. He’d buzz and she’d be ready and she’d tell him over the intercom she was on her way down. She wasn’t going to allow him into her space, to suffer him looking around critically and making disparaging remarks about her lifestyle, which she was sure he would, just to be unpleasant.

He saved her the trouble when he buzzed and said to hurry down as he had the engine running. It was precisely nine o’clock. He couldn’t have been more on the dot if he’d been the keeper of Big Ben.

Jade took one last look at herself in the mirror. Why had she bothered to make herself look special? she wondered. Was it for him or just for her own self-esteem? She felt so tight inside, she wasn’t at all sure about her reasons for anything any more. She wore a clingy black velvet dress softened with a cream and peach silk scarf around her throat. Her heels were the highest she could stagger in. They were making a comeback after flatties being in fashion for so long. She’d always worn risky heels with him, though, he being so tall, she so small.