No, those attributes were only the icing on the cake. In fact, Sergei was tall, dark and menacing, a lethal combination to any woman’s resistance. Not hers, of course. She wanted nothing to do with Sergei personally. She’d seen too many of the women come and go in his life, and actually ordered all their presents including birthday gifts, flowers and goodbye trinkets costing sometimes more than her annual salary, which was quite hefty.
Granted this Darcy DiAngelo woman was exceptionally beautiful, but so were all the other women Sergei escorted when he wanted female companionship. The women in his life were poised, tall, immaculately dressed and ambitious, but not in the business sense, only in the Looking-For-A-Husband sense. Although many had tried, none had been able to claim him as their personal property yet. Sergei remained firmly in the bachelor category.
Dorothy spoke quickly to the other assistant, wanting this dirty business to be over with as soon as possible. She relayed the new price, telling Betty that the offer was firm and would need to be confirmed in the morning so travel arrangements could be finalized.
With that, she swished her hands together as if they were grimy and shut down her computer.
On the elevator ride down to the parking garage, Dorothy noticed a young woman reading one of the tabloid magazines and that silly Darcy DiAngelo was front and center, obviously drunk and putting something in her mouth. Dorothy guessed it was some sort of drug and she didn’t even want to know what kind. She simply couldn’t imagine what kind of woman would sleep with so many men, drink so heavily and take drugs as if they were candy. Ms. DiAngelo was young and beautiful, she probably had plenty of money from her father’s mafia business since the tabloids mention that she hadn’t worked a day in her life. In Dorothy’s mind, the obnoxious woman should be doing something worthwhile with her life. Something that would pay back society for the horrible things her father is suspected of doing.
Dorothy sighed and shook her head. It wasn’t her place to judge she knew, but she was honest enough with herself to realize that she did.
Twenty four hours later, Sergei didn’t even crack a satisfied smile as he was briefed that the woman in question had agreed to his terms. The answer was never in doubt. The price might have been negotiable, but the outcome had always been assured. No one turned down Sergei Anchova. Especially not a slip of a woman who drank her way through life, leeching off of men for entertainment and money.
The idea of spending any time alone with this woman was abhorrent, but he knew it was necessary. And perhaps he could teach her a bit of self discipline in the process. He wouldn’t hold his breath though.
He took the stairs of his private jet two at a time, then nodded as soon as he was on board, a silent approval for the pilot to take off as soon as possible. He seated himself in one of the large, leather chairs and took the file handed to him by one of his staff members.
“Are all the details worked out?” he asked, not caring about the contract, as long as the woman was on her way.
“Everything has been finalized. The contract requires that her bar tender and drivers be in attendance as well.”
Sergei raised an eyebrow at that. “And you took care of that?”
“Of course.”
Sergei didn’t ask how, he just acknowledged that it was finalized.
The flight was relatively short and he stepped off the plane only to enter a helicopter which flew him to the island where he would be spending the next week. Or as long as it took for his investigators to find the missing Nicolai.
He didn’t expect to spend any time with the woman, other than to explain the situation and how her stay with him would proceed. She would balk, but he didn’t care. He had an agenda and she could simply deal with it or not, however she chose.
The helicopter landed gently on the helipad, then took off once again after he was clear of the blades. Sergei walked into the villa and breathed in the fresh sea air while pulling his tie off at the same time. He needed a vacation, he thought. Perhaps he could cut his hours a bit this week and take a break while monitoring the silly woman.
The helicopter returned about an hour later. Sergei had meant to meet her at the helipad so there was no confusion as to the nature of her stay, but he was caught up in a conference call and didn’t feel the need to interrupt it for Darcy DiAngelo. He was in the middle of a conversation when he noticed the helicopter take off, leaving behind a slim, petite woman with long, brown hair blowing around her shoulders as the helicopter flew back over the blue ocean.
Sergei couldn’t remember his initial impression from the reports he’d read and the pictures that had accompanied the file, because he was so stunned by the beauty standing self-consciously on the helipad as she wondered where everyone was. The first thought that finally formed was that she had the most incredible legs he’d ever seen on a live human being. They were long and slender, tanned and muscular but not bulky. Just very….”long” kept coming to his mind.
He pushed the image of those legs wrapped around his waist out of his mind, almost furious with himself for being attracted to someone of her reputation. He’d always been disgusted by women whose lives revolved around parties and shopping and this woman, with her designer dress and thousand dollar stiletto heels was definitely one of those women he didn’t admire.
He supposed his body didn’t need to respect someone to be attracted to her.
“I have to go,” he said, interrupting the call, not even sure who was talking and not caring a bit. He tossed the earpiece to the desk and strode out of his office. The doors opened to a staircase and the path that would take him directly to the woman who was still standing on the helipad, a small suitcase sitting at her feet and a slim purse tucked under her arm. She looked lost and confused, even mildly concerned.
She was in for a rude awakening, he thought, relishing the idea of telling her what was to come.
Darcy watched warily as an extremely tall man with huge shoulders walked out of the house. Hopefully this was the butler, but she wasn’t sure since he was wearing black, tailored slacks and a white linen shirt that billowed loosely about his trim waist in the tropical breeze.
He was dark, she thought as he came closer. Dark and more than a little scary. She wasn’t used to men being this large or this intimidating. The men she usually associated with were only a couple of inches taller than she was. Not that there weren’t tall men at the nightclubs. There were, they just weren’t on an isolated Caribbean island alone with her.