Executive Affair (13 page)

Claire wanted to ask what time Robert left but didn't know how without being obvious. When she hung up, the inexplicable sense of excitement from earlier was gone. She realised that she had been subconsciously hoping that Robert would call her. She knew it was stupid, but she felt something had changed between them last night. It was now five o'clock; the day was over. He wasn't going to call.

She went into work on Sunday so she could catch up on her messages. The lights were on and James was sitting at his desk, Paul standing next to him. They didn't see her approach – they were preoccupied with whatever was on the screen of James's computer.

‘Hello.' She stopped right beside them but James closed the window before she could see what was on the screen.

‘What are you doing here, Paul?' she asked.

‘I dropped James off.'

‘Yeah, my car is being serviced,' James added.

‘On a Sunday?' She raised her eyebrows in disbelief.

‘Yes, on a Sunday … this is an international city,' James replied, his tone defensive.

‘Whatever you say,' she snapped, giving him a sharp look. ‘Paul, sorry to move you but we have a company policy that James should know about – only staff are allowed beyond the reception area.'

‘Loosen up, Claire – you know Paul. We're doing no harm.' James smiled at her.

Claire knew he had some games on his desktop and suspected he was showing them off to Paul. She agreed it was harmless but wanted him to understand it was a serious breach of security. ‘We also have a policy that stipulates that staff, and only staff, can access our internal software. James should know that as well. I don't know what you guys are doing here but you'd better get out of the system right now.'

‘But I came in here to do some work,' James objected.

‘If you do something like this again, your future will be freed up and you won't have to worry about work,' she retorted.

She waited for him to log off and walked with them to the foyer.

She rang Fiona when she got back to her office.

‘Is James's car in for a service today?'

‘Not that I know of. He gave me a lift home this morning and didn't mention anything about it. The car does need a service, though, and he may well have booked it into the garage without telling me. Why?'

‘No reason. I'll see you later.'

Claire started to go through her emails. When her phone rang she knew it would be James.

‘I'm sorry, Claire. I'm in trouble, aren't I?'

‘You certainly are.'

‘It wasn't as bad as it looked. We were only messing around with the games. A product of our boredom and nothing else.'

She did believe him but wasn't going to let him off the hook that easily. ‘That's no excuse. Paul works for Digicom. They're a competitor, remember?'

‘I know,' he responded, subdued. ‘I'm feeling very sheepish right now and can only offer you the consolation that what we were doing was harmless. I
do
understand that it was totally inappropriate and it won't happen again.'

‘It better not.'

Robert went to New Zealand on business for the following two weeks. Claire missed him around the office. It was different without him, mundane, dull.

On his first day back, a video conference was scheduled with Ireland for 8.00 pm. Claire wasn't sure who she was more nervous about seeing, Robert or Michael. She was thankful that Emma was going to be there as well. She would take some of the edge off the tension.

‘Let's try to wrap this one up quickly. I'm sure you ladies have much more exciting plans for a Friday night,' Robert said, smiling at them both when they turned up at the boardroom.

‘Oh, you know me, work being the most important thing in my life, I turned down all the other offers I got for tonight,' Emma flirted with him cheekily.

He looked at Claire briefly, expecting her to join in on the banter. She couldn't think of anything witty to say. Seeing him again shocked her. Over the last two weeks she had finally
admitted to herself that she did find him attractive. She hated to join all the other swooning women but she couldn't get him or the kick-off night out of her head. Fantasy had taken over and filled in the pieces of the night that she couldn't remember. The scene in the garden had about five different endings now, in a few of which they ended up making love. When reality broke through, she reminded herself that Robert would never be interested in someone as ordinary and inexperienced as she was.

‘Does anyone know how to link up?' Robert asked, gesturing to the equipment on the table.

Claire sprang into action, glad to have something to do. She dialled the Dublin number and Mark and Michael were on the screen within seconds. Seeing Michael made her heart squeeze, and though the pain was much diminished, it still hurt.

‘Good evening' and ‘Good morning' was said simultaneously.

‘Robert, this is Michael Lehane, the IT implementation manager for the Oracle Upgrade Project.'

Michael nodded when Mark introduced him. His hair was shorter, and his tan suggested he had been away on holiday. Of course he wouldn't be married yet, but Claire still found herself searching his left hand for a ring.

‘The upgrade has been very smooth and successful over here, and we expect it to be even more so in Australia,' said Michael. ‘Have you had a look at the rollout timetable that we sent on?'

He stared at Claire while he spoke. She felt Robert glance her way. ‘Yes, we have,' she answered slowly. ‘We have no issues with it.'

Mark nodded approvingly. ‘Good, that brings us to resources and travel. Will you need Michael to take a hands-on approach and go to Sydney for the rollout? Or can you drive it from your end with support coming from here?'

He directed the question to Robert. Claire paled. She hadn't even considered the possibility of Michael coming to Sydney. Again, she felt Robert glance in her direction.

‘I think we can cover it from here and save on the travel costs. We have Claire, Emma and James on site. They should be able to facilitate any information that Michael might need. Can you see into the Australian accounts from Dublin?'

‘Yes, but the access is slow. It would make the testing phase easier and faster if the information was downloaded from your side and sent to me by email. I can play around with it here until we are ready to do the live updates,' Michael responded, his voice strong, his accent pronounced. It was funny how she had never noticed before how attractive his voice was. Emma looked appreciative.

‘Any problems with downloading the information from here?' Robert asked Claire and Emma.

‘We can get vendor details … and possibly the invoice and payment history,' Emma confirmed. ‘Would that be sufficient for the testing?'

‘Yes,' Michael's smile brought back a thousand memories for Claire, ‘that's all we'll need for now.'

The call ended shortly afterwards and Claire switched off the screen.

Robert stood up from the board table. ‘Well, I think I need a drink after all that. Do you want to join me?'

Claire's stomach lurched.

‘I could manage a drink,' said Emma, ‘but it will have to be a quick one because I have to meet a friend.'

They both looked at Claire and she nodded mutely.

The Greenwood was black with suits and it was some time before Robert had success at the bar.

‘That Michael was a bit of all right,' Emma commented as they waited for Robert.

‘Did you think so?' Claire said with a forced smile.

‘You bet I did. Did you know him well when you worked in Dublin?'

‘Yes,' Claire's tone was ironic, ‘I knew him very well … I went out with him for three years.'

‘
Really
? Sorry – sometimes I have a big mouth … and a big foot.'

‘Sometimes?' Claire asked and they were laughing when Robert finally returned with the drinks.

He chatted easily to Emma. It was too noisy for Claire to hear what they were saying so it was hard for her to join in on the conversation. She watched Emma's progress with her drink carefully, matching her pace so they could leave together.

‘Claire?'

She turned around when she heard the familiar voice behind her.

‘Den!' she said, beaming as he gave her an affectionate hug. ‘I didn't recognise you. I've never seen you wear a suit before. You look very respectable … very like a lawyer.'

‘Now, don't start!' He threatened her with his finger. ‘How's Fiona?'

‘She's great.'

‘Is she still seeing that bloke you work with?' Den was doing a poor job of sounding casual.

‘Yes … how's Jackie?'

‘We finished a few weeks ago.'

‘Sorry.'

‘I'm not sorry … I don't know what I was thinking. I had a great thing going with Fiona and I messed it up.'

Claire agreed with him. He had messed up.

‘You don't know what you're searching for until you've lost it …' he muttered, half to himself. ‘I'd better go – tell Fiona I said hello.' He kissed her cheek before disappearing into the suited crowd.

Claire turned back to Emma and Robert, who were still chatting.

Then Emma put down her half-empty glass. ‘I have to go, my girlfriend will be waiting for me on her own. I'll see you guys Monday.'

Claire watched her departing back in panic. She couldn't think of anything to say to fill the silence after she left.

‘You seem to be rather subdued tonight. Is everything okay?' Robert asked, leaning close so she could hear him.

‘Oh … I'm just a little tired. I'm looking forward to a quiet weekend,' she lied quickly and smiled at him to prove that she wasn't subdued at all.

‘I hope you're not planning on working tomorrow.' He sounded concerned.

‘No. I caught up on my backlog while you were in New Zealand.'

‘So you're more productive when I'm not around to bother you. It's nice to know you missed me in some way,' he laughed.

There was a lull in conversation and she was about to say it was time for her to go home when he spoke.

‘Did you enjoy your day off after the kick-off?'

She felt her face get hot. ‘No. I didn't feel very well …'

‘You went home early,' he said, giving her an enigmatic look.

‘I didn't want to make an even bigger fool of myself.'

‘Don't be silly. You were just a little wobbly. It was cute.'

Oh God! Is he flirting with me or just being friendly?
Claire thought.

‘Is Michael Lehane the one?' Robert asked suddenly.

She knew what he meant but still said, ‘Excuse me?'

‘Is Michael Lehane the reason you left Ireland?' His voice was sympathetic, coaxing an answer she didn't want to give.

‘Yes, Michael is my ex–boyfriend. It was very perceptive of you to figure that out,' she said, and took a large mouthful of wine.

‘It was your body language.'

His calmness made her more agitated. ‘Great! I'm totally transparent.'

‘No, you're not. I think I know you well enough now to tell when you're on edge.'

He waited a few moments before changing the topic. ‘Was that a good friend of yours earlier?'

‘Den? He used to go out with my flatmate, Fiona. She's seeing James now.'

‘James Ladbrooke?'

‘Yes. James is nice but I'm not sure if he's as right for Fiona as Den was. They were like peas in a pod.' Claire was glad to be back on safer ground.

Robert nodded absently. ‘I'm going sailing on the harbour tomorrow,' he said, his tone casual.

Why are you telling me? Are you going to ask me to come?

She looked away from his gaze, afraid that he would see how much she wanted to spend a day sailing with him, how much she liked him.

‘Well, I had better get going. I don't like waiting in the train station too late at night,' she said in a rush.

‘Let me drive you home,' he offered, finishing his drink.

‘Oh no, I couldn't … I'm sure it's totally out of your way,' she protested, horrified at the thought of being alone with him in his car.

‘It's no problem,' he insisted.

They walked outside.

‘Look, there's a free cab. I'll grab that and save you the trouble.' She hailed it down frantically. ‘Thanks for the drink … Have a good weekend!' She opened the door of the cab.

‘And you make sure you have a rest over the weekend.' He squeezed her arm lightly before walking away.

It was Monday morning and Claire was sitting in her office reading through her inbox, her nerves on edge at the thought of seeing Robert. There was a message from Tony Falcinella. She hadn't heard from him since early July, when Robert arrived. The message had been sent on Saturday night.

Hello Claire,

How is everyone in Sydney? I hope the workload has eased with Robert's arrival. I can't say the same for me. The entire Hong Kong office has been working on an applications outsourcing tender with Cathair Pacific. If we're lucky enough to win, the deal will be the second largest that Amtech has ever done worldwide. Donald Skates has announced that all staff involved in the tender are to make it their number one priority. Unfortunately, we are seriously short of resources and when I was talking to Robert over the weekend he suggested that you may be able to help us out by coming up here. The tender response is due by the end of next week and I was hoping to have some help on board by next Monday. I
apologise for the short notice but can guarantee that it will be great experience to contribute to a landmark deal for Amtech.

Looking forward to seeing you
,

Tony

PS: Hong Kong is a great city (almost as nice as Sydney)
.

A free trip to Hong Kong, a city she had always wanted to see! The only problem was missing a whole week of work. She thought of the tasks she had planned for next week and convinced herself there was nothing critical on the list. She presumed that she could access her email from the Hong Kong office and would be able to keep up to date with her messages at least. If she worked like crazy this week and the week after she came back, she should be able to manage it.

She had just finished typing a response when Robert came in, closing her door behind him. He stood beside her desk and her eyes were level with his black leather belt, the narrow divider between his white shirt and charcoal trousers.

‘Claire, I need to discuss something with you.'

He was so close she found it hard to think, let alone discuss anything. ‘You mean Hong Kong?'

‘Yes, have you been talking to Tony?'

‘He sent me a message over the weekend. It sounds like he's working around the clock on this Cathair tender.'

‘Can you go at such short notice?' Robert appeared unusually anxious.

‘I've just sent him a message saying that I will – it's too good an opportunity to miss. I may have to let a few things slip here, but I guess they're not a priority next to this.'

‘Yes – a contract like this will send the stock price soaring.'

‘That should make you rich,' she said, grinning.

‘Me and the rest of the VPs and, of course, the shareholders,' he admitted with a smile.

Even though she found his presence very disconcerting, it was still easier to be around him in this environment than the bar on Friday night. In the office, he had his role, she had hers, and the lines between them were clear. ‘I'm not exactly sure what Tony wants me to help with. His message was vague on that front.'

‘Tony is seriously short of talent up there. For the first few days I want you to drive our due diligence on Cathair, and towards the end of the week it will be all hands to the deck to get the pricing finalised. You could be doing anything from making coffee to negotiating with the third-party contractors.'

‘Sounds like a challenge. You do know that I have no experience of pricing an application outsourcing deal like this one?' she said, risking another look at him.

‘Very few people in Amtech have the right experience. We're only just breaking into the outsourcing market – that's why Tony is so desperate for talent.'

She watched him run his hand through his hair. ‘I'm looking forward to it. I've always wanted to go to Hong Kong,' she said to fill the small but unsettling gap in conversation.

‘It will be a fantastic opportunity and it will increase your visibility in the US. All the VPs, including Donald, have their fingers on the pulse of this deal. If we win, it will pitch the company into a market that has huge growth. If we lose, our share price will undoubtedly drop – we've spent millions on the pre-sales effort to get this far, the shareholders won't tolerate failure.' He sounded both excited and worried.

‘Is anyone else from Australia going?' she asked, tensing as she waited for his answer.

‘Brian Brooker is already there and I'll be flying out tomorrow.'