Royal's Untouched Love (3 page)

I'm here to do a job, just like everyone else here is,
she told herself.
They can't fault me for that.

The thought comforted her right up until they got to LaGuardia, and the driver walked her right past customs. Someone glanced at her passport, and she found herself ushered through a back way right out onto the runway. All around her were the sounds of planes arriving and taking off. She didn't know where her bag had ended up, and she felt as frazzled and overwhelmed as she ever had been in class.

"Ms. Conrad? This way, please."

A young woman in a sharp blue uniform guided her to a mobile stairway that went straight up to the cabin of a jet. When she had rushed around trying to get ready, she had envisioned first class, but never had she imagined a private jet.

"Would you care for a beverage while we await Mr. LaMer's arrival?" the woman asked her kindly, and Heidi found enough wit to nod.

"Juice, please, if you have any."

"Orange, guava, or apple?"

She started to say orange, because she assumed it would be the least trouble, but then she realized that she really was riding on someone else's ticket. "Guava? I mean, if that's all right?"

"Of course, Ms. Conrad. Just a moment."

When the guava juice arrived, it turned out to be a milky pink color. It reminded her of grapefruit juice, which she had never liked because of how it could be tart to the point of bitterness. She took a cautious sip, and her eyebrows raised. She hadn't expected the deep sweet taste, the slight hint of floral and melon, or the thickness of the juice itself.

She drained half of it before she was aware of what she was doing. Then, blushing a little, she slowed to take more ladylike sips.

"It's very good," she muttered, and the flight attendant gave her a slightly conspiratorial look.

"I can put the stuff away by the carton," she whispered. "Maybe not classy, but it's so good."

That little bit of kindness was so unexpected that Heidi broke into giggles, the tension of the last few hours dissipating. She had gotten herself up early to pack, and it seemed like every moment since then had been a rush or a stress of some kind. Now she could simply relax into the amazingly plush seat and close her eyes.

Her reprieve lasted approximately five minutes, because there was a flurry of activity at the front of the cabin, and the good-looking man from her graduation appeared.

Standing up, he was taller than she would have thought, six feet or more, and when he took off his sunglasses, he had the bluest eyes she had ever seen. Under his well-cut suit, she noticed that his shoulders were broad, and that his hips were narrow, giving him the lean grace of an ancient Greek statue.

When she met his eyes, he gave her a knowing wink, and she blushed, imagining that he knew exactly what he was thinking. To her relief, he didn't tease her for it. Instead, he only took the seat across from hers, one of only four on the jet, and offered her his hand.

"Jaque LaMer," he said warmly. "Am I making you glad that you decided to take me up on the early arrival yet?"

"Oh, very much so," she said, and then when she realized she was still watching him intently, she blushed. "Oh, I mean, um, everyone's been so very kind, and Paul and Andrea are wonderful …"

He raised an eyebrow. "Who?"

"Oh, did I get their names wrong? I thought Paul was the man who drove me, and Andrea is the flight attendant …"

"Oh, them," Jaque said, nodding. "Names aren't my strong point at all. But you noticed didn’t you? You look like the type to notice everything."

For some reason, his words made her blush. Surely that was a good thing, to notice everything?

"It's partly what you hired me for," she said, and he nodded. If he was slightly chastened by her words, he accepted it with grace.

Heidi felt suddenly very awkward. She was a girl from the Midwest who had grown up eating cans of Vienna sausages for meals and being grateful for them. Now she was flying with an incredibly wealthy, incredibly powerful man on his personal jet, and it was becoming more than a little overwhelming.

"I'm sorry," she said, looking down. "I … I really have no room to talk about anything."

She was startled when he reached out his hand and touched her chin, making her look up at him. To her surprise, his gaze was utterly serious.

"Never apologize for saying something true," he said, his voice resonant with power. "Be angry, be honest, and be yourself. At the end of the day, you are right. That is exactly what I hired you for. That is what I want from you, and if you give me anything different … well, you’d be doing me a disservice, and you’d be doing yourself one as well."

Her mouth was suddenly dry as she nodded. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she wondered what it would be like to be at the center of such a powerful focus all the time. She wondered whether she would crumble underneath it, or whether it would make her grow in ways she could never predict.

"Do you understand?" he asked, his voice gentler now.

"I do understand," she said softly. "I'll remember, I promise."

He examined her for another moment, as if trying to gauge the truth of her statement. Finally, he nodded, releasing her as if he had never reached for her in the first place.

"Good," he said briskly. "I ask a great deal of the people who come to work for me. I am not an easy man to work for, but everyone who stays with me knows that I always have their back. I expect the best from my workers, and I want them to expect the best from me as well."

She wasn't sure what he was going to say next, but a call interrupted them. For a moment, he looked irked, but then with an apologetic glance, he picked up. From the scattered bits of conversation she heard, Heidi realized that he was talking about a new yacht design. Though she tried not to eavesdrop, she couldn't help herself. After she had gotten the job offer from LaMer Enterprises, she had learned all she could about yachts. Now, to hear some planning in action, she was pleased that some of it had stuck.

It's a whole new ballgame,
she thought to herself.
I'm not the little undergraduate from the Midwest anymore.

It was a thrilling feeling and a terrifying one. She knew that she would have to be someone entirely different from who she was before, but when she thought of Jaque's words, suddenly, she wasn't so frightened anymore.

*

Their flight to Greece was a red-eye. Heidi was fascinated to realize that they would go to sleep and then wake up in the late afternoon in Greece. Despite the lateness of the hour, however, Jaque showed no signs of flagging at all. He sat with a spread of papers in front of him, intently concentrating on the new designs.

Sometimes, without really seeming to understand who he was talking to, he would ask Heidi a question or ask for her input on something. She would answer to the best of her ability, but she felt wildly out of her depth. Despite her hesitation, Jaque typically nodded and once mentioned that he wouldn't have thought of her idea.

All in all, being absent-mindedly grilled by her boss was a bit nerve-racking, but the truth was that she was beginning to enjoy it. Jaque dressed in a fashionable suit was imposing, but when he casually tossed the jacket aside and rolled up his sleeves, he wasn't terribly different from the other students she had known in her graduate-level classes.

Her watch, still set to New York time, told her that it was around 1 a.m. when Jaque finally looked up.

"Good god, you're meant to sleep on a red-eye," he said, looking at her. "I've been keeping you up."

"Oh, no, it's not a problem …" she started, but he shot her a dark look.

"All right, here's rule two of working for me. I expect your best, but I know that I won't get it if you are constantly sleep-deprived. We have rushes, but no one works more than forty-five hours a week at most. If you do that twice in a row, you come to me and we figure out what's going wrong."

Heidi hesitated, and he smiled at her.

"Which means, Heidi, get to bed. There's a sleeping compartment at the rear of the jet. It's dark, it's quiet, and you won't be kept awake by the mutterings of a madman. Go on. You can get some sleep before we hit Athens."

Heidi wanted to protest, but she couldn't block off the yawn that interrupted her.

"I guess I better get to bed," she said. "I … if you need something, will you let me know?"

He looked amused, but he nodded. "I promise. Now go."

The sleeping compartment was astonishingly luxurious, and when she lay down on the bed, she found that it was more comfortable than the one she had been using at her apartment. As she drifted off, snug under a down comforter, she marveled again at the world that she seemed to have fallen into. It felt like a dream, but if this wasn't real, she wasn't sure that she ever wanted to be awake.

*

Heidi woke in confusion. For a brief and horrifying moment, she had no idea where she was. Then she groped for the bedside touch light and realized that she was, in fact, cruising high above the world in a private jet. Somehow, that only took away some of the fear and anxiety.

She made herself breathe, and when she checked her phone, she realized that it was only going to be another hour or so before they made it to Athens. With a start of guilt, she realized that she had taken the only bed, aside from the small bunk where the flight attendant was meant to sleep.

Did I really just kick my boss out of his bed?
she wondered with surge of guilt.

Then she thought of Jaque, and realized that if someone was as confident as he was, he would have come and told her that she was being rude. It was a comfort of some kind, anyway.

Quietly, she dressed herself for the day in gray slacks and a cream blouse. In the tiny attached bathroom, she brushed her teeth and tried to smooth her hair into something resembling a style. In the soft light of the bathroom, her green eyes looked more gray, giving her a rather misty, almost mysterious look.

When she stepped out into the main body of the jet, the first thing that she noticed was that Jaque was exactly where she had left him. He was still in his chair, his work scattered in front of him. He was slumped back in the seat, one arm draped over the armrest and the other laid over his heart. His head was tilted to one side, his dark hair shadowing his eyes.

Heidi considered him for a moment. In his sleep, he looked younger, almost vulnerable. When she examined him closely, she could see why she was stunned by his attractiveness on her graduation. His features were large and well-defined, but there was a delicacy to them as well. There was something sweet about the curve of his mouth, something romantic about his strong cheekbones.

She jumped when he made a soft sound, a noise that sounded unaccountably uncomfortable to her.

Oh, if he's been sleeping there for a while, he must be so stiff …

Without thinking of what she was doing, she stepped over to him, reaching out to shake him by the shoulder. Perhaps he could move to a new position, or better yet, he would go take her place in the bed.

When she shook his shoulder, however, his large hand came and covered hers. There was an instant jolt of electricity that leaped between them, and she was so stunned by it that she froze. It wasn't until he started to nuzzle her fingertips that she came back to herself. For one guilty moment, she simply stood and enjoyed the sensation, sweet and slightly prickly from his overnight growth of stubble.

Then, with a reluctance that she didn't want to look at too closely, she pulled away.

"Jaque, Jaque, you shouldn't sleep like that. You're going to hurt your back or something …"

He came awake at her words, looking up at her with confusion. Then he shook his head, standing up to stretch. She wasn't really a short woman, but he was tall enough that she had to look up at him.

"I think I managed to get some work done before I got knocked out," he said with an enormous yawn. "What time is it anyway?"

When he glanced at his phone, he shook his head.

"Thank you for waking me. I should get ready. I've got some plans in Athens."

"Wow, you scheduled business meetings for your first day back? You are devoted to LaMer Enterprises."

He paused, and when he glanced down at her, there was amusement on his face.

"You have a very high view of me," he said. "But before I can dash your expectations to the ground, I need a shower and a shave, at least."

She sat examining some of the plans for the J-series, a swift, smaller luxury yacht that was ideal for shorter trips. She was pleased to note that there were spaces for the green subdivision to add their input, and she pulled out a pad of paper and pencil to start making notes.

A little over half an hour later, Jack emerged from the rear of the plane, every hint of sleepy vulnerability gone. He had showered and shaved, and now he was dressed in a light gray suit that must have been made for him. From his dark hair to the toes of his polished shoes, he looked exactly like a brilliant entrepreneur come to conquer.

"You look good," she said, and he rewarded her with a brilliant smile.

"Thank you," he responded. "When we hit the ground, talk to Marisol, who will be meeting us. She'll get you to your new apartment, and if you have any questions about getting the things that you need, she's the one that you need to talk to."

For some reason, she was oddly disappointed that they were parting ways at the airport. Then Heidi wondered why in the world that would disappoint her. She was a brand new hire, and he was the company's CEO. Why in the world would they ever see each other? The private jet ride and limo trip were the exception, not the rule, and she sternly told herself to stay on task and not to expect too much.

"Thank you so much," she said. "For everything."

"Think nothing of it," he said, checking his phone.

That stung a little, and as she gathered her things for touchdown, she figured out why. The limo ride, the jet plane, even the things he said, they were all an enormous deal for her. They were signs that she really had made it out of the poverty of her childhood and the fears of her youth. They were so important that if she thought about it too much, she might start to cry.