Glass Ceilings (44 page)

Royc
e
lowered his gaze to the ground
to hide a
pained expression
, saying, ‘Look,
I’ve done
some s
tuff
I’m not proud of
. I told myself that all’s fair in corp
orate politics....’ H
e
gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head and
lifted
his eyes to her face again,  ‘
but
I.
...’
His
deep voice
had
lost some of its intensity,
and
his usual
self-confidence appeared to have evaporated along with it
.

‘Oh
yes,
I know you feel you’ve redeemed yourself. But
after what you did,
how can I ever
really
t-trust you—’ Verity was horrified when her
breath caught in her throat
, and she hastily
turned away with a curt, ‘
Anyway
, if that’s all, I’d better get back.’

Royc
e felt
his
inner
control slipping
.
Her words
, and the waver of emotion in her voice,
tugged at his heart. This was no ice maide
n, but to dismiss him like that
...
w
hy was she making this so hard? He was only
trying to be
..
.
friendly.

‘
Well, actually, that’s not all
,’
he drawled,
moving
over to take
her
arm
again
.

S
he gave a startled gasp
as she found herself
abruptly
pulled to him an
d hel
d strongly against his
firm
chest
.

‘
I wanted to thank you
properly
,
’ he said, his breathing ragged,
‘
and to congrat
ulate my CEO for
receiving
all those
well-deserved
accolades from the board. So,’ he rasped, ‘congratulations,’ and before she
could take another breath, he ben
t his head and closed his
mouth over he
rs
.

When their
lips
met it
was
like
instantaneous
combustion
,
a
nd
his arms held her so tightly
she could feel his heart beating
against
her own.
That wonderfully warm sensation, from the very top of her he
ad to the tips of her toes,
returned with a vengeance, and s
he felt herse
lf completely
enveloped by his
arms, his body, and his scent—
a heady combination of
aftershave,
ocean br
eeze,
and
a fine shiraz
.

A
part of her cursed the burning thrill
tracing
a hot path th
r
ough her veins,
and
reeled at the
huge liberties he was taking
. B
ut
another, treacherous part,
could only feel her heart racing and her whole being flooding with desire,
fogging her rational mind
.
S
he felt
herself melting into
his embrace and yielding to his kiss, so that the
strong
arms encircling her no l
onger
restrained
her
, but
enfolded her tenderly
.

But when a growing passion replaced the harshness of his kiss, and he raised a hand to cradle her head as they melted into each other, she managed to place her hands on his chest and push with all the strength she could muster.
After a lingering moment, he abruptly let her go.

Suddenly released, she wobbled
, weak and disoriented
, for an instant. B
ut with the burning link to him severed, her mind
quickly
began functionin
g again, and she hastened
to get a grip on herself.

‘Verity, I
...,’
Royce
croaked. He stopped, as though l
ost for words.

Verity
made her eyes focus on
him
, willing herself to
think straight
.

Royce was looking at her,
notic
ing
how large and dark her pupils had grown.

‘You’re what
, sorry?’ Her mouth wasn’t
working like it should
,
and her voice sounded cracked and husky.

‘
Yes ...
but
...
I didn’t realise before now
,’ and he gave a wry smile,
‘
that
I’ve bee
n wanting to do that for a long time
.’ H
e moved close to her again
, taking
on
e of her arms in his warm hand and
running his thumb
along
her smooth skin in a loving caress.

Verity was surprised at
what she saw written across his face. The
unsure, crooked
smile, the lack of composure, was
very unc
haracteristic of
Royce.

It’s as if
the
kiss af
fected him as much as it did me ...
but that’s ridiculous
, she admonished herself
,
h
e probably uses these tactics with all the women he seduces
.

That thought roused her. S
he
w
as able to move away
and
respond coolly, ‘OK, so you’re not sorry for kissing me against my will.
Well
then,
t
ell me Royce, what game or games are you playing at?
I
never know with you. First
you’re
snarling at
me for snatching your job,
then
you’re
all charming with offers of assistance
while
planning to stick a knife in my bac
k
, but the next minute you
’re
help
ing
me out of a
t
r
icky situation, a
nd now ... now you’re
kissing
me?
’
She frowned up at him in bewilderment.

Royce dropped his arms to his side and stared
at her. S
he
stood her ground,
mesmerised by the
guilt and the
regret
she saw on his face
, a
long with
another emotion
she
refused to analyse
.

‘You see
....
’
He took a deep breath and
lowered his eyes
as though
ashamed
to meet her
s
. ‘When I tried to go behind your back for
project
approval, it was because I couldn’t stand t
he thought of reporting to
a woman who’d robbed me of a
job I
believed was mine for the taking
. B
ut it was also because
I was sure
she
wouldn’t have the foggiest idea of what was good for the company
.
’

He
raise
d
his eyes
again
to
lo
ok directly at her.
‘But then I found I
couldn’t
stand by and watch her
being crushed un
der the corporate steamroller
. At first I couldn’t understand why I should feel that way
,
when I was guilty of tr
ying to make things hard for her
myself
, but
that was before I realised she ...
you
...
were becoming mo
re to me than
simply
a boss.
’

Verity took a sharp intake of breath
and gaped
at him
.
Her mouth went dry and her heart felt like it was po
unding its way into her throat
.
The first part of the double-barrelled question she’d been studiously ignoring was answered,
al
though she'd never actually posed it.
Her fight or flight reflex
kicked
in, but his next words stopped her in her tracks
again
.

He was looking over her head as though drawing st
rength from the darkness.

‘Ella
...,’
and he bent his head again, saying jerkily, ‘When I lost Ella, all I could find in the rubble of my life,’ and Verity recognised her own words, ‘was my job, my career. It had always been important to me, too important according to Ella.’ He threw Verity a quick, defensive glance,
and said proudly,
‘But she was also very supportive of my ambition.’

‘What happened?’ Verity’s voice was soft. For some
reason she had to hear the full
story.

He gave a grim smile. ‘
I should’
ve
showed
her how much I loved her by
asking her
t
o marry me,
but instead
I
bought her expensive toys, like
a sports car. S
he’d wanted
one
for a long time
, ever since first laying her eyes on a BMW
M
roadster
.
And that’s what she was driving
,
the night a
n out of control semi
pushed her through the guardrail and down the embankment.
’

Verity saw him
briefly
screw his eyes tightly shut, and she whispered,
‘Oh, Royce....’

‘
At least I can talk about it now. For a while there....’ He gave a thoughtful
pause and turned to her again. ‘
After I lost Ella, my career was all I had left. It helped me live with the regret of having never shown the woman I loved how much she meant to me, and I was prepared to do anything to protect it.
I
put
it
above all
else,
until
now
.’

They stood apart in the gloom, staring
solemnly at each other for what seemed like ages
, until
Royce said
in his normal, confident voice, ‘
I’ve made mistakes that I
have no intention of
repeating
.’

Verity gaped at him.
What was he saying, and why was he
looking at her like that?
The
dangerous
second part of the double-barrelled question
was hacking
away
at her consciousness. She could feel the blood draining from her face
,
and
her heart wa
s beating so fast she was certain
he could hear it.

No, no, this can’t be happening,
she thought desperately,
I have to get away from here now, before I lose control of myself completely.

Gulp
ing air
,
she
backed
away
and
mana
ged to blurt, ‘Royce, I
’m sorry, I
jus
t ...
I
c-can’t
...,’
before spinning around and
hurrying
towards the restaurant.

‘No,
Verity,
wait!
’
B
ut
she
disap
peared through the
doors and Royce was suddenly alone.
He
took a deep breath, running
a hand through his hair
as he did so, and then hurried after her. B
ut some merry-making delegates accosted him as he tried to push through the crowd.
His searching
eyes swept the room and caught a glimpse of
a
scarlet sheen as Verity
fled
towards
the safety of her unit.