His Most Exquisite Conquest Read Online Free PDF Page B

have a ready replacement yet and the longer he stays—’
    ‘Elizabeth. She’s the perfect person for the management job, completely trustworthy, meticulous at checking everything, capable of handling everything you’ve thrown at her, Mickey.’
    That rocked him. Was Harry off his brain, wanting to mix pleasure with business? The way he’d been madly flirting...was he seriously attracted? This didn’t feel right.
    ‘Elizabeth is my PA,’ Michael stated firmly, giving his brother a steely look.
    Harry dug in regardless. ‘I’m more in need of her than you are right now. Lend her to me for a month. That will give me time to interview other people.’
    ‘A month...’ Michael frowned over the inconvenience to himself. Harry did have a point. He needed a replacement for Sean Cassidy pronto.
    ‘On the other hand, once Elizabeth gets her teeth into the job, she might want to stay on,’ Harry said provocatively.
    Michael glowered at him. ‘You’re not stealing my PA.’
    ‘Her choice, Mickey.’ Harry turned to her. ‘What do you say, Elizabeth? Will you help me out for a month...stay on the island and get the resort running as it should be run? My about-to-be ex-manager has been cooking the books, skimming off a lot of stuff to line his own pockets. You’ll need to do a complete inventory and change the suppliers who’ve been doing private deals with him. It would be a whole new challenge for you, one that—’
    ‘Now hold on a moment,’ Michael growled. ‘It’s up to me to ask Elizabeth if she’ll do it, not you, Harry.’ This on-the-spot decision didn’t sit well with him, particularly with his brother virtually railroading him into it, yet it was a credible solution to the problem.
    ‘Okay. Ask her.’
    Michael heaved an exasperated sigh, disliking the sense of having been pushed into a corner. ‘It’s true,’ he reluctantly conceded. ‘You would be helping us out if you’d agree to step in and do what needs to be done at the resort. I have every confidence in your ability to handle the situation. Every confidence in your integrity, too. I hate losing you for a month....’
    He grimaced at the prospect. She was his right hand in the office, always understanding and delivering whatever was needed. Gritting his teeth, he muttered, ‘I guess someone from the clerical staff can fill in for a while....’
    ‘Andrew. Andrew Cook,’ she suggested, which meant she had already decided to go with Harry.
    ‘Too stodgy. No initiative,’ Michael said, hating the idea of having to do without her.
    ‘Absolutely reliable in doing whatever task he’s set,’ she argued.
    ‘I take it that’s a yes to coming to the island with me,’ Harry noted, grinning from ear to ear.
    She shot him a quelling look. ‘I’m up for the challenge of fixing the management problems, nothing else, Harry.’
    Good! Michael thought. Elizabeth wasn’t about to mix business with pleasure. If that was on Harry’s mind, as well as solving his predicament, she’d spike his guns and serve him right, given that he’d have to put up with Andrew Cook while she was away.
    ‘That’s it then,’ he said, resigned to a month of having to spell out everything to his pro tem PA.
    ‘A whole month! I’ll miss you, Ellie,’ Lucy said wistfully.
    Ah, yes! A month of Lucy without her sister possibly butting into their relationship, Michael thought, realising and appreciating the one upside of this situation. It could have been tricky having his PA an ever-present watchdog while he bedded her sister. Absolute freedom from that felt good. A month might very well be the limit of this currently hot connection, anyway—everything done and dusted before Elizabeth returned to take up her position with him again.
    ‘The time will pass quickly enough,’ she assured Lucy.
    The waiter arrived with the sweets they’d ordered when he’d cleared away their main course.
    ‘We need to get moving on this,’ Harry muttered as he dug into his