Page 12 of Some Like It Deadly
He hadn’t. Picking her up had been an impulse, one he hadn’t put a lot of thought into. They’d worked in each other’s back pockets for the better part of two weeks. Today should have been her first day off. “Business happens as often on the golf course as off of it.” But he still needed some validity for her presence. “And I didn’t realize I shared tee time with Walsinger, Kravitts, and Bing.”
“Bing?” She shot him a questioning look. “You don’t have a client named Bing.”
“True. I don’t have one named Walsinger or Kravitts either.”
“But you handled contracts with their respective companies for the grand duke and Kravitts actually wants the contracts in the EU that you and the grand duke are planning to hand over to Spherecast Technologies.” She flipped her ponytail back. The gorgeous length fell to below her shoulder blades.
Until he’d seen it that morning, he hadn’t realized how often she pinned her hair up or just how much of it she possessed. The sensuous length made him think of a sunshine waterfall, all shimmering gold, shot through with tawny streaks of flax.
“I handed you those contracts yesterday.” He hadn’t shared any of the details of his meetings with Armand until he’d been ready to have the grand duke finalize them. Following their meeting the afternoon before, they’d returned to the office and he’d handed her the copies to enter digitally.
All U.S. based parties would be in his office Tuesday morning to authorize signings, ensure notarization, and then transmit to the office of his Brussels’ counterpart for signatures in Europe. Coordination and discretion were the two weapons they had in their arsenal to make sure the deal went through smoothly.
News would break in the European business markets first and ripple across. It would be a hell of a week, but they’d worked through mountains of regulations on both sides to create the perfect soft entry forSpherecast.Voldakov had the knowledge and the skill to take that lead and run with it.
And Armand gets to protect his cousin’s interests at the same time and maybe absolve his personal guilt over her orphaning.
Though he wasn’t to blame for it, Armand took Alyx’s time in foster care personally. He wanted to do everything he could to make up for it whether it was his fault or not.
The man didn’t know how to draw personal lines when it came to the lives of those he loved. His devotion to family was an admirable trait, but it bordered on interference at times.
“Richard?” Kate’s voice held a sharp note and he jerked a glance toward her, then the road.
“What?”
“You missed your turn for the club back there.” She pointed with her thumb over her shoulder and he slowed down enough to glance back.
“Son of a bitch—sorry, I was distracted.” He swung into the right-hand lane and completed a series of turns to head back to the golf course.
“Apparently, and yes, you handed me the contracts yesterday. I made sure they were scanned in and correct before we left the office. They’re in the passcoded dropbox so we can access as needed.”
“And you read them? Enough to recognize the names?” That counted as impressive even by the standards she’d performed since hiring her.
A shrug met his inquiry and she pointed at the gated drive for the club. “Don’t miss it again.”
Richard followed the drive and found his parking slot. Putting the car in park, he turned in the seat, curious as hell, to look at his assistant. “Spill.”
Her attention wasn’t on him, however. Instead she scanned the club parking area, not that there was much to see, though the parking lot was over half full. A lot of the locals preferred the earlier tee times before the Hollywood types hit the greens. She pushed up her sunglasses to rest on top of her head and swung her gaze back to him at the order. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me.” He searched her face. He had the oddest sensation of seeing her for the first time. Her soft brown eyes were actually hazel in the morning sun, with hints of gold and deeper green. She didn’t wear cosmetics beyond a gloss for lipstick and a hint of eye shadow. “Spill. Speed reading? Eidetic memory? How are you picking up all of this so fast and remembering it so clearly?”
“Reading is a fairly basic skill. I learned that in kindergarten.” Her lashes swept down, then back up. The cornerof her mouth curved with the barest hint of a smile. And there she went, trying to manage him again—by misdirecting his attention. “One I apparently excel at.”
It was damn subtle and, as much as it amused him, he still wanted an answer. “A five-year-old couldn’t process one seventy-five-page contract, much less three in the two hours you had them prior to the dinner we attended.”
“What makes you think I wasn’t reading them at dinner?” Challenge flared in her eyes.
Richard snorted. “I would have noticed your digital tablet and that green dress left you nowhere to hide it.”
Her smile grew and she held up her right hand. Her phone faced him and the contract appeared when she swiped her thumb across the screen. “But I had my phone.”
“Damn.” He hit the steering wheel. “So that’s what you were doing when I asked you to dance.” Her attention had been on the plate of salad, though he could have sworn she watched the room more than looked down. She always seemed to be aware of everything going on around her.
“It’s merely a matter of dividing my attention.” Another careless shrug. “As for the memory, I’m trained in observation. I’d hardly make a worthwhile assistant if I couldn’t identify, assess and remember key details.”
“Like names?” He nodded slowly. “That makes sense.” But he wasn’t buying it. Kate Braddock presented him with an enigma. “So how long do you retain these key pieces of data? I mean you worked with Anna for months. Can you name the top donors for the scholarship fund?”
He shut off the engine and opened the car door, stepping out into the sunshine. Unsurprisingly, she exited immediately and circled the car to meet him. She was good at that too—he’d thought it was because he’d been coming off his convalescence,that she always kept a step ahead of him. But he’d begun to suspect it was left over from traveling in Anna’s security detail.
