But in the confines of his car, her mind couldn’t stop from going back to Damien. She realized that being a woman desired by him was more dangerous to her now than five years ago. Now he would want more than girlish enthusiasm in his bed. He’d want a woman’s response, slow and deliberate, not a rushed and naive eagerness. And he’d expect her to be a mature partner, able to handle a sexual relationship without too much emotion. It was a world of difference to five years ago.
She pushed all her thoughts to the side as they walked into the building that housed the head office of her father’s company. The first person she saw was one of her father’s managers she remembered from years ago. He greeted her warmly then expressed sympathy over her father’s condition.
“Thank you, James. I’m glad to see you’re still here.”
The older man’s eyes flicked to Damien then back to her. “Not for long I’m afraid. I’ve accepted a position with another company. I finish up at the end of the week.”
Dismay filled her. “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Gabrielle, I’ve got nothing to lose by saying this. I’ve always enjoyed working for your father, but it’s going to be a while before he’s back on his feet. I’m sorry but I can’t work with him until that happens.”
“You mean Keiran?” she said to clarify, but knowing all Damien had told her was true.
James nodded. “I don’t mind saying I think that man’s going to ruin the company with his ideas. And I’m not the only one leaving, either. There are two heads of departments who have put their resignation in and another planning on it.” He clicked his tongue. “They’re men who are going to be taking a whole lot of experience and knowledge with them when they go, I’m afraid.”
She tried to look confident. “James, that’s why I’m here. My father wanted me to take over if anything happened to him and that’s what I’m going to do.”
Relief flared then died in his eyes. “Keiran isn’t going to step aside so easily,” he warned.
She squeezed the older man’s hand. “Keiran won’t have a choice.”
But when Damien opened the door to her father’s office and Gabrielle saw her cousin sitting behind her father’s desk like he owned the place, every instinct inside wanted to tell him to get the hell out of there.
Keiran glanced up at the interruption and for a moment looked like an animal caught in the headlights. Then he went rigid. “Well, well. If it isn’t my long-lost cousin.” He pasted on a false smile as he stood and came around the desk. “Gabrielle, how nice to see you again.”
Her mouth tightened as he pecked at both her cheeks like a chicken. “Keiran, you haven’t changed a bit.” He was two years older than her, and he’d wielded his older stance often during their childhood.
“You’re still the sweetest thing,” he joked as he glanced at Damien. But his eyes were wary beneath his blond head and they held a heartless gleam that had been in them since the day he’d been born. Now, here was one person her father should have cut off, she thought, suppressing a moment of pain that it had been his own daughter her father had ignored instead.
She stepped away. “What are you doing in here, Keiran?”
His smile flattened. “What do you think I’m doing in here? Someone had to step in when your father had his stroke.”
“Then thank you. I appreciate it but I’m here now.”
His piercing eyes contrasted sharply with his relaxed stance. “Not so fast. You can’t just walk in here and take over.”
She arched a brow. “Why not?”
He strode back around the desk. “You’ve been gone five years. And before that you never worked here in any capacity anyway.”
She refused to let him see his comment had hit its mark. “I spent a couple of school holidays working here, remember?”
“And that gives you the experience to run a multinational company dealing in property and finance, does it?”
“From what I hear, I could do better than what you’ve been doing,” she said coolly.
As if a storm was brewing, the air seemed to sizzle with electricity. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“I mean that from all accounts you’re running the company into the ground. All our managers are leaving.”
He waved a dismissive hand. “They were old and stale. We need new blood.”
She gave a soft gasp. “That’s a callous statement.”
His lips twisted. “Perhaps I’m a chip off the old block.”
She held herself stiffly. “My father would never have dumped his employees.”
“Sure? I think if Russell kept them on, it was for his own selfish reasons.”
She didn’t want him to see that he was probably right, so she ignored that. “Look, I’m here now and I have Damien to help me.”
“No.”
She blinked. “What do you mean no?”
Keiran’s glare resented their presence. “I have every right to be in this office, Gabrielle. Just ask your friend, here. That’s why he went to get you to bring you back. Don’t fool yourself it was only about your father’s stroke.”
“I ought to hit you for saying that, Keiran,” Damien said, his eyes as cold as dry ice.
“But you can’t deny it.”
“You’re not worth refuting.”
Keiran sat on the chair with a smirk. “May I suggest you go and rethink your position. I own forty percent of this company and I intend to take it places Russell never even dreamed about.”
Gabrielle gasped, and Damien growled, “You’ve bitten off more than you can chew, Keiran.”
Keiran shrugged. “I’m in charge, Trent, whether you like it or not.” He picked up a pen. “Now. If you’ll both excuse me I have work to do. Major changes are on my agenda.”
Gabrielle stood there for a moment, stunned and shaken. “Don’t make too many changes, Keiran. I’ll only have to change them back.”
He waved a hand at the door. “Don’t let me keep you.”
For a moment Gabrielle thought Damien might leap across the desk and throw the other man out, but with a pulse ticking in his jaw, he thrust open the door and let her precede him through it.