Heiress on the Run

‘Have you taken clients on the London Eye before? What about up the Shard? I haven’t done that yet, but I’ve read reports...’

Grabbing another file from his briefcase, in the vain hope that the growing stack of them on the table in front of him might suddenly make her realise he was trying to work here, Dominic tried to tune out the chatter from the seat beside him. It wasn’t as if she took a breath long enough for him to answer anyway.

Why did she have to sit next to him? First class was practically empty. There were plenty of places for her to stretch out, watch a movie, sleep. Not talk.

‘Do you know if they’re theatre buffs? I can do some research on what’s the hottest show in town when we land. Or maybe the opera?’

Of course, there were plenty of other questions he should have asked, too. Like why she was so eager to come work for a total stranger for over a week. Did she need to get out of Rome? Or was she just homesick? Jobless? He should have asked for credentials, for references, for anything that proved who she was. He hadn’t even managed a glimpse of her passport as she handed it over to the ticket clerk.

It wasn’t like him to be so impulsive. Yes, he’d been in a corner and needed a quick fix. And okay, he’d wanted to prove to Shelley and Kevin that he could manage quite well without them, thank you. He was still the boss, after all.

But if he was honest with himself, he knew the real reason he’d hired Faith was because of her attitude. It took guts to walk up to a stranger in an airport and tell them to give you a job. Guts and desperation, probably. But if she had a reason for needing this job, she hadn’t let on. She’d focused entirely on what she could do for him, and it had worked.

Coupled with her curvaceous, striking appearance, that courage and determination meant she’d probably go far, in whatever she decided to do—if her blunt, frank manner didn’t get her into trouble first. She was the exact opposite of anything he’d look for in a woman normally, but Faith wasn’t a woman. Not to him, anyway. She was an employee, and that was a completely different thing.

Of course, she wasn’t exactly like his other employees, either. Shelley, outspoken as she could be now, hadn’t started that way. For the first year she hadn’t questioned anything, hadn’t complained, hadn’t offered an opinion. And she’d still never be seen dead in a skirt as tight as Faith’s. No, Shelley was beige suits and pastel blouses, where Faith was red lipstick and high heels.

Dominic didn’t even waste time on a mental comparison between Faith and Kevin.

‘And, uh, actually...I should have asked...’

Good grief, was there a question she hadn’t blurted out already?

With a sigh, Dominic looked up at her, only to find her plump lower lip caught between white teeth, and an uncertainty in her eyes for the first time since they met.

‘Yes?’ he asked, surprised by her sudden change in demeanour.

‘Will you want me to stay at the hotel with your guests?’

He blinked. ‘Well, yes. That would be easiest.’ He’d need to get an extra room, he realised. Efficient as she seemed to be, he could hardly leave his most important clients with a stranger for the next week. No, he’d need to stay there too, that much was obvious. But if Faith was staying in the hotel, at least he could delegate their more mundane requirements to her. ‘Unless you have a pressing need to stay somewhere else?’

‘No, no, it’s not that.’ She gave him a smile, an understated, nothing to worry about here smile. One he didn’t entirely trust. His mother had smiled like that, in the weeks before she left. ‘It’s just that I’ve been living in Rome for the last year and a half. I don’t actually have anywhere to stay in London.’

It was only when the muscles in his shoulders relaxed that Dominic realised they’d tensed at all. Of course she didn’t have anywhere to stay. That made perfect sense.

It didn’t entirely explain why she’d been so eager to leave Rome on a moment’s notice, with only a pull-along suitcase for company, but Dominic was sure he could persuade her to tell him that story, in time. He was a very persuasive man when he put his mind to it. And he really wanted to know what Faith was running away from. Just in case it was something he needed to defend his reputation against.

‘You’ll have a room at the hotel,’ he promised, before realising something else. ‘But we’ll need to see if we can get one for tonight, too.’

Faith glanced down at her watch, and he knew what she was thinking. By the time they got into London it would be the early hours. Anyone checking in last minute to a hotel at that kind of time wasn’t usually there on business. Not the legitimate sort, anyway.

‘Maybe it would be best if I checked into one of the airport hotels?’ she suggested. ‘That way, I’ll be on hand ready to meet your clients there in the morning.’

It made perfect sense. And suddenly Dominic couldn’t face the drive into London, all the way to his penthouse apartment, just in time to wake up and pack ready to move into a hotel for the week. ‘Good plan,’ he said. ‘As soon as we land you can book us both in.’

She flashed him a smile, this one more confident, more teasing. ‘Does that mean you’re trusting me with your credit card at last?’

He’d have to, he realised. She’d need a method of payment for all the things he’d asked her to do, to set up. Even if it was just having some petty cash to make sure she could buy the Americans a coffee if they needed it.

‘I’ll call the bank in the morning, get you set up with a card linked to my expenses account.’ The bank knew him well, and he certainly gave them enough business to request a favour. They could monitor the activity on that card. ‘In the meantime, I’ll provide you with some petty cash. A thousand should do it.’

‘Right.’ Her eyes were wide, he realised. She hadn’t expected him to actually hand over his money. She had to realise, from the way he’d casually paid for her incredibly expensive last-minute seat in first class, that money wasn’t much of an object to him these days. But it obviously was to her.

As was trust. Interesting.

Dominic had a feeling he had a lot still to learn about his latest employee.

But that could wait until London. ‘And now, if you don’t mind, I’ve got some work I’d like to finish before we land.’

She nodded, silent, and he turned back to his file, enjoying the peace and quiet. Who knew that all he had to do to stop Faith talking was offer her money and trust? If he’d have guessed, he would have tried it hours ago.

* * *

She couldn’t just sit there. Apart from anything else, it was boring. What was in those files that Dominic found so fascinating?

Faith wasn’t a sitting still and waiting kind of girl. She got fidgety.

Besides, the longer she sat there, staring out of the aeroplane window at the night skies, the more she imagined, in detail, every possible way this whole plan could go wrong. It wasn’t a pretty list.

He wanted to get her a credit card. Which meant he’d need her full name. She’d managed to avoid him seeing her passport information, just, but he’d have to have it for the bank. What did she do? If she gave him a fake name, the bank might not authorise the card and she’d have to explain everything anyway. No, the only option was to give him her real name, minus the assorted titles, and hope he didn’t recognise it.

At least Dominic didn’t seem like the sort to spend his mornings reading the society pages, however often he appeared in them.

She needed to know more about him, Faith decided. If she knew who he was, what mattered to him, she might be able to predict his response if he figured out who she was. Would he drag her back to her parents by her hair, as her great-uncle had threatened? Or would he out her to the media, like Antonio had said he would? Or would he let her slip back out of the country, quiet and safe, to carry on living her own life?

If only she could be sure.

Faith sighed and, beside her, Dominic made a small irritated sound. One thing was clear: she wasn’t going to find out all about her new employer by asking him questions when he was trying to work. No, she’d have to do this the modern way—Internet stalking. Surely the airport hotel would have free Wi-Fi?

‘Do you have to think so loudly?’ Dominic asked, reordering his papers again so half of them crept over the edge of the table, almost onto her lap.

‘I’m pretty sure thinking is, by definition, a fairly quiet activity,’ Faith said, shoving the papers back up onto the table.

‘Not the way you do it.’

Right. Well, if she couldn’t talk or think, maybe it was time to go and find something more interesting to do. Somewhere Dominic wasn’t.

‘Okay, let me out.’ She nudged her elbow against his side, and he looked up in surprise.

‘Where are you going?’ he asked.

‘Somewhere I can think without disturbing your hypersensitive hearing.’ Yes, he was difficult and crazy, but he was at least paying for her to get back home. Best not to totally annoy him this early in the game.

Shuffling his papers back into a neat stack, Dominic slid out of his seat, into the wide, wide aisle. God, she’d missed first class.

‘Don’t get into any trouble,’ he said, looking disturbingly like Great-Uncle Nigel.

Faith gave him her most winning, most innocent smile. ‘Me? I never get into trouble.’

And then, leaving him looking utterly unconvinced, she sashayed through towards business class to find some more interesting people to annoy with her questions and her thinking.

* * *

He was being ridiculous. How could it be harder to concentrate without Faith beside him, fidgeting, talking and thinking, than it was when she was there?

But somehow, it was.

Pushing his files across the table, since he clearly wasn’t going to be able to concentrate on them tonight, Dominic leant back in his seat and considered. Where would she have gone? They were on a plane, for heaven’s sake. It wasn’t as if she could have run away. If they’d been sitting in any other area of the aircraft, he’d have suspected her of running off to first class to try and win over the affections of a wealthy businessman.

He glanced around the small section of seats on his side of the curtain. No sign of her. The only other occupants—an elderly gentleman in a suit and a woman with a pashmina wrapped around her, almost covering her face—were both asleep.

Maybe she’d gone back to business class to find a new friend there. Maybe the promise of a job with him wasn’t enough. Maybe she just needed him for the flight home, and now she’d moved onto looking for her next opportunity...

Dominic forced himself to stop that line of thought. Just because certain women behaved that way, taking what they wanted then running, leaving destruction in their path, didn’t mean that Faith would. He should give her the benefit of the doubt. Hadn’t he just told her he trusted her enough to hand over a significant amount of money? Of course, money came easy to him, these days. Reputation was much harder won.

On the other hand, she was his employee. His responsibility.

The only responsible thing to do, really, was go find her.

To Dominic’s surprise, there was no sign of Faith in business class. He got some funny looks as he peered across darkened seats, trying to spot a dark, curly head, but he ignored them. Maybe she’d found a steward or something to talk to? At least she hadn’t been heading the right way to try and bother the pilot...

Pushing through the curtain, business class gave way to economy, where the occasional empty seats ended, replaced by cramped and crowded rows of people. Many were sleeping—it was the middle of the night, after all—but there were more screens and lights on than in either of the other sections. Dominic supposed it was harder to get some shut-eye when you were crammed in like cattle.

Faith must have disappeared into the bathroom, he decided. He just hoped that she was alone—the last thing his reputation needed was an article in the press about him and his employee being banned from an airline for joining the mile-high club. It wouldn’t matter to a reporter that Dominic hadn’t been the man with Faith at the time. Those sort of details never did, he’d found.

But then, as he turned back to try and get some more work done before landing, he spotted her and stopped, just to watch.

She was crouched down at the front of the economy section, just beside the seats with the space for a baby’s bassinet against the wall; he must have walked right past her on his way through. Her dark head was bent over a bundle in her arms, and when she looked up at the parents of the child she was holding, her face glowed. Smiling, she whispered away in rapid Italian, all while tucking in blankets and stroking the baby’s fine, downy hair.

This wasn’t what he’d expected. In fact, this wasn’t even recognisable as the woman he’d hired. Except... As he got closer, he caught a few English words scattered in her conversation. Big Ben. Madame Tussauds. The Tube.

A smile tugged at the corner of Dominic’s mouth. She was offering them tourist advice. Planning their trip to London with them.

Without drawing attention to himself, Dominic slipped past, back through the curtain to where his files were waiting.

Perhaps he had hired the right woman, after all.

CHAPTER THREE

IT TOOK FAITH a moment to remember where she was when she woke up the next morning. Smooth white cotton sheets, rain battering the window, the glow of a reading lamp she obviously hadn’t managed to turn off before she passed out the night before. Definitely not the flat she’d shared with Antonio and, given the rain, probably not even Rome.

No, Faith knew that rain. Knew that cold splatter and relentless fall.

She was in England. London.

Exactly where she shouldn’t be, ever again.

Faith buried her head deeper into the pillow, as if she could block out the grey and the rain and the sheer London-ness of it all. She hadn’t had a choice, she reminded herself. She’d made the best decision she could in a difficult situation.

But she couldn’t help but wonder about all the people she’d left behind when she ditched the city she loved the first time. Were they still there? What would she do if she saw one of them on the street? Turn and walk the other way, or brazen it out?

She guessed she wouldn’t know unless it happened.

Hopefully it wouldn’t. In and out, that was the key. Do the job, take the money and run.

So, back to the job. And her employer.

Dominic had chosen the most expensive of the airport hotels once they’d landed in Heathrow, which hadn’t really surprised her at that point. To be honest, she could have slept in a chair in the terminal, she was so tired. But the blissfully soft pillows and firm mattress of the hotel room were a definite improvement.

Reluctantly pushing herself up into a seated position, shoulders resting against the headboard, she tried to wake up enough to get a handle on the day ahead. Dominic had said the Americans were arriving around eleven, and it was only eight-thirty. So she had plenty of time to shower, dress...wait. What was she going to wear? She had her uniforms from the Roman Holiday Tour Company, she had her going-out-for-dinner dress and she had some jeans and plain T-shirts. She hadn’t exactly packed for corporate events when she’d left Rome. She’d packed for an overnight in London and then another tour.

It would have to be the uniforms, she supposed, for now at least. Maybe she could ask Dominic about an advance on her wages, or even a clothing allowance. Given the disapproving look he’d given her outfit in the bar the night before, she suspected he might be amenable.

A knock on the door dragged her thoughts away from her wardrobe and onto her growling stomach. Was that room service? Had she remembered to leave the breakfast card out the night before? She really hoped so. She was useless without a decent meal in the morning.

Swinging her legs out of bed, she glanced down at her rather skimpy red nightgown—a present from Antonio, of course. He never did have any concept of subtle. Still, she supposed that room service had probably seen much worse.

Except, when she yanked open the door with a smile, it wasn’t room service.

Dominic’s eyes travelled down over her body at an offensively quick speed. Any other man, Faith knew, would have lingered over her curves, outlined in red silk. Any other man would have enjoyed the view of her bare legs.

Her new employer, however, merely catalogued her attire and raised an eyebrow at her. ‘Do you always open your door dressed like a lingerie model?’

Faith felt the heat flush to her face. ‘I thought you were room service with breakfast.’

‘I’m afraid if you want breakfast you’ll have to get dressed. Assuming you have something more suitable to wear...’ His eyes flicked over her shoulder to where her skirt and blouse from the day before lay draped over a chair. Faith winced when she noticed the pale pink lace bra lying on top of them.

‘Actually, that was something I wanted to talk to you about...’

Dominic glanced at his watch. ‘No time. Get dressed and we’ll talk over coffee, before we head over to arrivals.’

‘I thought your clients didn’t get in until eleven?’ Faith asked, confused.

‘They don’t.’ Dominic was already walking away down the corridor. ‘But you need a briefing before they arrive.’

He turned a corner and was gone. Apparently busy executives didn’t have time to finish conversations properly. Or tell people where to meet them when they were decently dressed.

An elderly couple appeared at the end of the corridor and Faith realised, a little belatedly, that she was standing in the open in her really inappropriate nightie. Stepping back inside her room, she shut the door firmly behind her and headed for the shower.

Time to prove to Lord Dominic Beresford that she was capable of doing any job he needed doing, whatever she was wearing.

* * *

Good God, did she sleep in that every night? Even when she was alone and exhausted and straight off a plane, Faith managed to slip into a sexy little number for bed. Dominic shook his head. What kind of a devil temptress had he hired?

Unless, of course, she’d put it on especially for him that morning. Unless she planned to seduce and ruin him, just like Katarina had tried to do. Just like his mother had done to his father.

It was all still a little too neat. Dominic didn’t believe in coincidences, or serendipity, or any of the other things Faith had chattered about on the plane, her smile too wide, her lips too tempting. She’d been in exactly the right place at exactly the right time and, in his experience, that sort of thing didn’t happen without some forward planning.

Still, he did need a tour guide, and she seemed to be an adequate one. All he had to do was stay out of her way while she worked, and she’d never get the chance to put any sort of plans into action. It would be fine.

As soon as he could erase that image of her in fiery red silk from his brain.

Figuring she’d take an insane amount of time to shower and dress, Dominic headed down to the restaurant and ordered coffee while he perused the papers. He wasn’t much for breakfast, but he’d grab a piece of toast or some fruit when Faith joined him. They had too much to discuss to waste time on food.

However she’d come into his life, and whatever she hoped to get out of it, the only thing that mattered to Dominic was that she did the job he hired her to do: take care of his clients. He knew his strengths weren’t always in the socialising side of things—he’d generally rather be in his office. That was why his arrangement with Katarina had worked so well. She’d taken care of the smiling, small talk and looking interested side of things. He took care of the business.

Bloody Katarina. She was right up there with Shelley on his list of women determined to thwart him right now. He just hoped that Faith wouldn’t be added to it before she and the Americans left at the end of next week.

Sooner than he’d expected, Faith appeared at the entrance to the hotel restaurant. She waved a hand in his direction but, instead of heading for his table, she made for the breakfast buffet.

Holding in a sigh, Dominic watched as she bypassed the platters of fruit and the glass containers full of cereal. Instead, she loaded up her plate with eggs, bacon, sausage, beans, fried bread...and grabbed a side plate for a couple of mini pastries, too.

Apparently those curves were made entirely of breakfast.

‘Hungry?’ he asked, eyebrow raised, as she finally made it to the table.

Depositing her plates, Faith ripped off a bite of pain au chocolat as she dropped into her seat. ‘Starving. Do you think they’ll bring me some tea?’

His mother’s lessons in etiquette and good manners towards women were deeply ingrained, and Dominic found himself motioning over a waiter to request a pot of tea and more coffee for himself before he even realised he was doing it.

‘You’ve eaten already?’ Faith asked, after swallowing an enormous forkful of eggs and toast.

‘I don’t usually eat breakfast,’ he replied, folding his paper neatly across the middle and placing it on the empty table beside them. ‘Especially when I’ve an important day ahead.’

‘That’s just when you need it,’ Faith said, sounding eerily like a nanny he’d had when he was eight.

‘I’ve made it this far. I think I’ll survive. Now. To business.’ Casting his gaze over her outfit, he was relieved to find it less revealing than the day before, and certainly less fantasy-inducing than the silk concoction she’d had on first thing. The skirt, he realised, was the same as yesterday, but paired with a plain white T-shirt. Still, while the higher neckline hid the very tempting cleavage the blouse had displayed, it emphasised her curves even more.

I’m not thinking about this. I am not thinking about this.

Of any man alive, surely he knew better than most the perils of giving in to temptation and forgetting obligations. Faith was here to work, and that was all. He had to remember that.

‘Yes. Work,’ Faith said, bringing his attention back to the topic at hand. ‘I wanted to run through a few things with you, actually.’ To his surprise, she whipped a small notebook from her bag, uncapped a pen and sat poised to write down his answers. ‘First, can your office send me an itinerary for the week so I know exactly what you’ve got planned for your guests, and I can work around it? Also, it means I can make myself available if anyone has any questions between meetings.’

‘I’ll ask Kevin to fax one over,’ he said, trying to remember if Kevin even knew how to work the fax machine.

‘Great. Once I have that, I’ll put together a tentative itinerary and email it to you for your approval.’

‘You’ll need a laptop,’ Dominic realised, belatedly.

‘No need.’ Pulling a tablet computer from her bag, she waved it at him. ‘I use this.’

He blinked at her. ‘Well, great. Okay then.’

‘Next, do you have any background details on the clients themselves? Their lives, their families, their businesses, anything that I can use to get to know them?’

‘You do realise you’re a tour guide, not a dating service, right? You don’t need to find them their perfect match.’

Her face turned stony, and he regretted the joke. She was trying to do a good job, after all. He should be encouraging her, not ridiculing her.

‘These people are a long way from home for almost two whole weeks. It’s my job to make sure they enjoy themselves and feel comfortable here. Knowing a little about them makes that easier. I’ll talk to them myself when they arrive, of course, but a little forward knowledge would mean I can get going sooner.’

‘Of course,’ Dominic said contritely. ‘Well, their businesses I can tell you about. But, as for the rest of it...’ He spread his hands out. ‘Katarina used to handle that sort of thing, I’m afraid.’