Ian chose his next words carefully before replying. “She’s a lovely girl, yes. But is it really true that she’s already married at such a young age?”

Francine sighed. “Yes, it’s true. It’s – complicated, Ian. That’s all I can say on the matter. Tessa rarely discusses her husband but he definitely exists. Nice enough boy and she dotes on him, but there’s something a bit odd there.”

He decided not to question her further about Tessa’s marital status, not wanting to betray even the slightest indication to the extremely perceptive Mrs. C. that he was attracted to the girl.

“I am a bit worried about how Jason is going to act around her,” confessed Ian. He knew that Francine had met his smarmy cousin-in-law on more than one occasion, and that she had an extremely low opinion of him. “Tessa’s predecessor requested a transfer because of some difficulty with him.”

Francine’s voice was as biting as a whip crack. “Ian, promise me right now that you’ll keep that randy bastard Jason away from Tessa. If I learn that he’s so much as blinked at her the wrong way, I swear I’ll pack Oliver into the car along with my brand new shotgun and drive up there to deal with the little weasel myself. And I’m quite a good shot these days after my weekly sessions at the firing range.”

Ian smiled in spite of himself at the ferocity of Francine’s words. “You’re quite the protective mama bear about this girl, aren’t you?”

“She needs looking out for, Ian. More so than anyone I’ve ever met. So, please, do me the greatest favor and keep an eye on her, would you? Discreetly, of course, she can be quite stubborn when it comes to asking for help.”

“I promise,” he assured his former mentor gently. “And – thank you for sending her my way. If she managed to make this sort of impression on you, then I know she must be an excellent employee.”

They exchanged pleasantries for a few more minutes before bidding each other good-bye. Ian replaced his phone receiver then shut his eyes, massaging the beginnings of a headache he felt welling up near his temples.

‘Good Lord, what a disaster,’ he muttered under his breath. ‘How in the world are you going to cope with this one, mate?’

Against his will, the tempting image of Tessa invaded his thoughts once again. He longed to spread all of that glorious golden hair out over his pillow; to gently remove that discreetly sexy red dress and bare her lush, curvy body to his eager gaze; to wrap those long, shapely legs around his waist. Ian grew hard instantly as he imagined having her – nothing as crude as a quick, hard fuck - for Tessa was worth so much more than that. Instead, he would linger over her for hours, kissing, caressing, arousing, and making love to her over and over until he was finally sated. For a while, anyway, for he feared that Tessa was the sort of woman he could never truly have his fill of. Even her name was perfect – soft, feminine, classy – just as she was.

It would have been oh, so easy without the unexpected and inconvenient complication of her marital status. Had she been a single woman, the first thing he’d do would be to find her a job of equal pay and rank at another luxury hotel in San Francisco. Ian held himself to extremely high standards when it came to the company policy forbidding managers and executives from dating their subordinates. The company, in fact, frowned on employees in general dating each other. After ensuring that Tessa was safely employed elsewhere, he would have pulled out all the stops to make her his own.

Ian had rarely courted or seduced a woman before, for he’d never really had to make the effort. From the time he’d reached his teens, women had flocked to his side, attracted not only by his looks but by his money, his well-bred British family who could trace their roots back several centuries, and by his high-powered position in arguably the top luxury hotel chain in the world. He could at any given time have his pick of gorgeous women – executives, socialites, celebrities, models.

But Ian was picky and somewhat fastidious about his taste in women, unlike his brothers. Hugh had married his longtime sweetheart, a girl he’d met at university, and they’d been happily wed for years, parents to four children. Colin had finally given up his notorious playboy lifestyle and settled down two years ago. He was married to a strikingly beautiful Eurasian woman from Hong Kong, and they were expecting their first child in a few months.

That left Ian as the only bachelor among his siblings, and he didn’t envision that status changing anytime soon. Since his failed engagement to Davina a few years ago, he’d kept far too busy with work to even think about settling down.

That is, until a ridiculously young, breathtakingly beautiful woman had tentatively walked into his office a short time ago. He’d known – just known somehow – that she had been made for him, that she was the one he’d been waiting for all these years but had never quite believed actually existed. It had been the biggest shock of his life to realize that she’d already been claimed by another man.

And now, he was going to have to man up and find some way to keep his wayward emotions under control in her presence. Transferring her out of the team at this point would raise too many red flags, especially given her level of competency and the shockingly glowing recommendation from Mrs. C. Ian knew he’d have to call on every ounce of self-control he possessed to treat young Tessa in a professional but impersonal manner, to keep her and his rampaging desire for her at arm’s length at all times, and to remind himself constantly that she was strictly forbidden to him for more reasons than he wanted to count.

‘Damn it,’ he cursed beneath his breath. ‘What in hell was Mrs. C. thinking of sending her my way? If I didn’t know better, I’d swear that old witch was still trying to let me know who’s really in charge around here.’

Chapter Twelve

Tessa sat down on her desk chair, somewhat disturbed to realize that she didn’t remember a single step of the walk she’d just made back here from Mr. Gregson’s office. Fortunately the rest of the team didn’t pay her any heed, since everyone was already hard at work with the assignments Andrew had doled out first thing this morning. She was grateful to have just a couple of minutes to regain her badly shaken composure, hoping that none of the others – especially the very nosy Kevin – noticed how affected she was by what had just occurred.

She ought to have been prepared, she told herself sternly. After all, she’d heard plenty about the formidable Ian Gregson over the past two weeks, and not just from her co-workers. Tessa had overheard some of the other managers and their PA’s discussing their boss, and everything they had said about him should have been more than enough warning.