Holiday with a Stranger Read Online Free PDF Page B

so...’ He waved his hand in a loose flapping motion at her.
    ‘So what?’
    ‘I don’t know...edgy.’
    ‘I’m not edgy.’ She flicked her hair over her shoulder and scowled at him. ‘I’m diligent.’
    ‘Really? So you’re not heading off to the nearest computer repair shop later, so you can get right back to work before your head explodes.’ He mimed the explosion he was obviously picturing in his mind.
    ‘You’re funny. You know that? You’re a very funny man.’
    ‘I’m right, though, aren’t I? I bet you can’t stand to be without it for one day.’
    ‘Don’t be ridiculous. Of course I can.’ She ignored the stutter in her heartbeat and leant back in the chair, gazing up at the slow-moving clouds above her. Her body was drenched in sweat. Had a heat wave descended?
    Connor just grunt-laughed in response.
    She chose to ignore him.
    ‘Can’t somebody else write your document?’
    After pausing, she chose her answer carefully. ‘They’re working on it at the moment, but I’m the one who has the most experience in writing these things.’
    ‘So you don’t trust anyone else to do the job?’
    Sighing, she put her fingers together, tip to tip, and waited for the irritation to subside. ‘If I don’t work on it now I’m going to have to do it when I get back—edit what the team’s done, that is—which will only allow minimal time to get it up to scratch before the deadline.’
    ‘And you’re sure they won’t be able to handle it without you?’
    ‘Based on experience—no.’
    He nodded slowly, looking at her intently as if waiting for something more.
    ‘Why are you looking at me like that?’
    ‘Like what?’ He was all innocence.
    ‘You don’t believe me?’
    He shrugged. ‘I’m not saying that. I was just wondering why you hired your staff if you don’t trust them to do their jobs properly.’
    She really didn’t want to be talking about this. She was hyper-aware of the underlying panic, humming just below the surface, which she’d been struggling to suppress for weeks.
    ‘We can’t afford to get anything wrong right now. It’s a tough marketplace.’ She hoped the brusqueness of her tone would stop him asking any more about it.
    ‘So it’s all work and no play for you, right?’
    His expression was neutral. She couldn’t tell whether he was teasing her.
    Either way, Josie felt her blood begin to boil. How dare he? He didn’t even know her. He had no right to make judgements on her like that. She’d come across these disparaging attitudes to women in high-powered jobs so frequently that hers was a natural response by now.
    She glared at him, her eyes narrowed. ‘Just because I work hard—and prefer not to loaf around the world on someone else’s dime,’ she added pointedly, ‘it doesn’t make me some hard-nosed bore. I happen to be very well respected....’ She petered out as the truth of her situation came flooding back to her.
    He looked at her with his eyebrows raised. ‘I’ve heard all this before. The crazy working schedule. The inability to live outside of work. One holiday every three years...’
    Josie squirmed at this.
    ‘...the ever-diminishing social life.’ He broke off to take a sip of his drink. ‘Is it really worth it?’
    Was he serious? She still couldn’t tell. ‘Of course it’s worth it,’ she said as calmly as she could. ‘Anyway, it’s nothing like that.’ She flapped a hand at him, but the tension in her muscles made the action jerky and over-exaggerated.
    Connor looked sceptical. ‘What makes it so worthwhile? Hmm? What are the benefits?’
    Josie had no idea how to answer this. She had no desire to talk about what it was that drove her so hard. Not with him. Besides, she’d been doing it for so long it had become part of who she was, who she’d always been and who she always would be.
    ‘It’s about a sense of achievement. Making something great out of your life. Being respected and...and...’
    She realised she was