BILLIONAIRE BOSS

episode 2

Baby doll? The careless way he’d diminished her to nothing irritated

Sara sufficiently for her to forget her nerves. All her life she’d been

patronized and underestimated. All her life people had doubted and

dismissed her. And she’d proved them wrong, over and over again. She’d

fought against the odds and she’d succeeded.

Until now.

Now she was in danger of losing everything she’d worked for.

And she wasn’t going to let that happen.

This was probably the most important fight of her life and she was

going to win. She had to win. And to win she had to forget that she was

probably the worst person in the world to be given the responsibility of

talking numbers with the African billionaire with the computer brain.

She had to forget everything except the consequences of losing. And the people depending on her. If she failed then they lost their jobs, it was as

simple as that.

If William Willson called in his loan, then it was all over.

The humid, oppressive heat wrapped itself around her like a thick,

suffocating cloak and she pushed a damp strand of hair away from her

face, her eyes drawn upwards, following the straight lines of the trees

that rose to such impressive heights. It was like being in a remote, exotic

paradise and it was hard to remember that cities like London and Rio de

Jane even existed. ‘Isn’t he afraid, living out here?’

‘Willson?’ The pilot chewed on a piece of gum and gave a grim smile.

‘He isn’t afraid of anything.’

Knowing that if she heard any more about the man she wouldn’t have

the courage to face him, let alone fight her corner, Sara stumbled out of

the helicopter and discovered that her legs were shaking. At that precise

the moment she would have been hard-pressed to say whether she was more

afraid of the jungle or William Willson.

In a world obsessed with celebrity and image, he treated the notion of

both with something approaching contempt, rejecting every invitation to

talk about himself. And he didn’t need to, because everyone else did the

talking for him. The papers were full of curvaceous blondes who’d been

persuaded to ‘tell all’ for the right amount of money. And so the whole

the world knew about his relentless pursuit of his billions, his prowess as a

lover and his determined refusal to indulge in ‘happy ever after'.

Once. Once he’d done that and the news of his glamorous wife’s

departure from his life after less than three months of wedded bliss had

filled the newspapers with stories that had lasted longer than the marriage.

He’d been impossible to live with.

He’d ended their relationship by email.

He was only interested in making money. And more money.

The speculation had been endless but if any of it was to be believed

then William Willson was little more than a machine and she knew, she

just knew, even before she had to fight for her business, that he was

going to be just the sort of man that brought out the worst in her.

She wouldn’t look at him, she promised herself. If she didn’t look at him

she wouldn’t become tongue-tied or stammer. She’d just pretend that she

was in her small sitting room at home, talking to the mirror as she

always did when she had an important presentation to memorize.

Sara felt her stomach lurch again and this time the feeling of sickness

that enveloped her had nothing to do with the helicopter and everything

to do with her past. At times like this—times that mattered—the

memories rolled up behind her like a giant wave, waiting to engulf her.

For her, this was the ultimate test. And she wouldn’t fail. She just

couldn’t.

Too much was at stake.

There was no reason to be afraid of William, she assured

herself as she stroked a hand over her straight, formal skirt and forced

herself to move forward onto the wooden walkway that was suspended

above the forest floor.

His personal life, no matter how dark, wasn’t her concern. This

the meeting was about business and, whatever murk hovered around the man, he was a businessman, like her father. When she showed him her

plans for taking the business into profit, he’d be positive. He’d change

his mind about calling in the loan. She would save everyone’s job and

then she could fly home and leave the jaguars, the snakes and the

billionaire African businessman to their jungle hideaway.

The tropical heat made her suit stick to her body and suddenly she

realized just how woefully ill-prepared she was to meet this man. She

wasn’t even comfortable in her clothes. Stooping to free the spindly heel

of her shoe from the careless bite of the wooden planks beneath her feet,

Sara clutched the briefcase in her hand and suddenly wished she’d

gone over the figures one more time in the helicopter.

But what difference would that have made? With the help of her

father, she’d committed them to memory. There was nothing in her

a briefcase that wasn’t already fixed in her mind.

Jerking her shoe from the jaws of the walkway, she regained her

balance and straightened.

And saw him.

He stood directly in front of her, as dark and dangerous as anything

that might have prowled out of the jungle, his body completely still, his

eyes watchful.

And he was watching her.

Entirely unprepared for the physical impact of the man, Sara ceased

to breathe. The helicopter, the rainforest, and all her problems just

seemed to melt into the background and she was conscious only of him.

His tarnished reputation had caused her mind to conjure up physical images that were so far removed from reality that for a moment Sara

couldn’t do anything except stare, as hundreds of women had

undoubtedly stared before her.

His eyes locked on hers with the lethal accuracy of a deadly weapon

and the breath left her body and every thought was sucked from her

mind. For a wildly unsettling moment, she couldn’t remember anything

about herself. She couldn’t remember what she was doing here. Her

body felt strangely lethargic and warmth as thick as treacle spread

slowly through her limbs.

‘Miss Sara?’ The hard bite of his deep, masculine voice was

sufficient to wake her from her dreamy contemplation of his manly

attributes and she gave a little start, desperately hoping that he hadn’t

noticed her embarrassing reaction.

So much for being cool and businesslike, she thought. And so much for

her plan not to look at him. His physical presence and his film-star looks

demanded attention. As she stood there gaping, it was a struggle to

remind herself that this man was said to be ruthless and cold-hearted.

For her, that wasn’t a winning combination of character traits.

Looking into his deep-set, cynical eyes, she decided that there was

something about his cool scrutiny that made him more menacing and

intimidating than all the jungle predators put together and she knew in

an instant that his pilot had been telling the truth about one thing—this

the man was no angel.

Forcing her legs to move, she walked towards him, her briefcase in

one hand, the other seeking the reassurance of the rough rope handrail.

Even without the benefit of billions of dollars, William would have attracted women. His hair was blue-black and swept back from a

the face that was as hard as it was handsome. The golden sheen of his

bronzed skin betrayed his African heritage and the soft fabric of his

the casual shirt clung to shoulders that were wide and powerful.

She watched for his reaction to her arrival but he revealed nothing.

His mouth didn’t shift into a smile and his eyes, so dark and brooding,

showed no sign of welcome. It seemed that he was as unfriendly as he

was handsome and the way he was looking at her made her want to

sprint back up the walkway and leap into the departing helicopter.

If she hadn’t known better she would have thought she’d upset him in

some way but she knew that wasn’t possible. How could she possibly

have upset him? He’d never even met her before. His animosity was a

reflection of his personality, rather than their relationship. He just wasn’t

a people person. , he wasn’t about to make an exception for

her. And it didn’t matter, she told herself firmly.

She didn’t need him to like her. She just needed him to agree not to

withdraw his finance. Keeping that in mind, she took the last few steps

until she was standing directly in front of him. ‘It’s a pleasure to meet

you, Mr. Willson ’

His mouth tightened and his eyes gleamed with impatience. ‘This isn’t

a social visit or a children’s party, Miss Sara. I don’t want or expect

polite. I don’t do small talk or pleasantries. I don’t care about the

weather or the nature of your journey. If you find that approach to

business challenge, then you’d better leave now.