Her Impossible Boss Read Online Free PDF Page A

‘Sorry,’ she offered to no one in particular, ‘I know it’s rude to stare, but I can’t help myself.’ Her eyes were round like saucers, and for the first time in a long time he fully appreciated the privileges to which he had been born.
    ‘Most of the things in here have been handed down to me,’ he said, when she had eventually completed her visual tour and was looking at him. ‘In fact, I could trace the provenance of nearly everything here. How was the drive over?’
    ‘Brilliant. Thank you.’
    ‘And you’re ready to meet Samantha?’
    ‘I’m sorry I didn’t get to meet her last time,’ Tess said with a rush of sympathy.
    Matt, eager to get the day under way, because he had back-to-back meetings, paused. ‘Like I said, she’s been through a very rough time. It can be difficult to get through to her sometimes.’
    ‘How awful for you. I would have thought that she would have clung to you after her mother’s death.’
    ‘Some situations are not always straightforward,’ Matt informed her stiffly. ‘I don’t see you with any books.’
    ‘Books?’ Tess was still trying to figure out what
‘not always straightforward’
might mean.
    ‘Schoolbooks,’ he said patiently. ‘I hope you haven’t forgotten that teaching is going to be part of your duties with Samantha?’
    ‘Not on day one, surely?’
    ‘I’m not a believer in putting off for tomorrow what can be done today.’
    ‘Yes, well…I thought that I would get to know her first, before I start trying to teach her the importance of fractions and decimals.’
    ‘Ah. I’m glad to see that you’ve dropped your defeatist approach and got with the programme!’
    ‘I don’t have a defeatist approach! Really I don’t.’ She had thought a lot about what he had said to her, about her waving a white flag, and decided that he had been way off target. She had always firmly believed herself capable of doing anything. Why else would she have attempted so many varied jobs in the past?
    Matt held up his hand to silence her. ‘No matter. Samantha’s collection of tutors have left a number of books over the course of the past few months. You’ll find them in the study. Most are untouched,’ he added, his mouth tightening. ‘I’m hoping that you prove the exception to the rule.’
    ‘I
did
warn you that I’m not academic…’
    ‘I’ve tried the academics,’ Matt pointed out. ‘Noneof them worked out. Why do you keep running yourself down?’ ‘I don’t.’
    ‘If you insist on labelling yourself as stupid then don’t be surprised when the world decides to agree with you.’
    ‘Wait just a minute!’
    He had spun around to lead the way, but now he turned slowly on his heels and looked at her with mild curiosity.
    ‘I’m not
stupid.’
Tess had had time to realise that she couldn’t cave in to his much stronger, more dominant personality. It wasn’t in her nature to make a fuss, but she would have to stand firm on what she believed or let him ride roughshod over her. ‘I could have got very good grades, as it happens.’
    ‘Then why didn’t you? Was it easier to fail for lack of trying rather than risk trying to compete with your brilliant sisters and not do quite as well? Okay, I withdraw my remark about your being lazy, but if you want to prove your abilities to me then you’ve got to step up to the plate. Stop apologising for your lack of academic success and start realising the only thing I care about is that you drop the assumption that you can’t teach my daughter. She’s in the kitchen, by the way.’
    Behind him, Tess quietly bristled. While he explained the working hours of his various housekeepers, who took it in turns to come in during the week to ensure that his apartment was never allowed to accumulate a speck of dust, Tess mulled over what he had said like a dog with a bone. She had blithely gone through life doing as she liked, only half listening to her parents’urgings that she settle down and focus. Claire