Gina had snickered. “Yeah, okay. Keep telling yourself that. But you were the one to bring up the subject of her hair color, don’t forget. And – oh, crap, look at the time. I need to finish getting these copies made or Andrew’s going to rip me a new one.”

Ian had continued walking down the hallway after that, not trusting himself to encounter one or both of the gossipy little bitches and be able to keep his simmering temper from boiling over. How dared they belittle his sweet, lovely Tessa, laugh about her behind her back, or speculate whether parts of her were real or artificial. She was a hundred times more beautiful than either of them, a hundred times more beautiful than any other woman he’d ever met. He for one didn’t give a damn what she wore or what store she’d purchased it at, because whatever she wore flattered that incredibly sensual body.

As his gaze switched to an equally stunning dress of a slinky red jersey, Ian longed to buy it for Tessa – along with half a dozen others – and have it delivered to her home anonymously. His heart ached a bit at the very thought of her living in a rundown section of town, or of having to bring her lunch to work every day to save money. If she was his, he thought again, he would pamper and indulge her as though she were the princess of a European monarchy. She would be dressed in beautiful, classy clothes like the red Donna Karan dress he was still studying, and no one – especially not those two jealous cats Gina and Alicia – would ever dare to mock her again.

Ian slowly released the sleeve of the red dress and continued walking toward the elevators. His path took him past the lingerie department, and here again his attention was caught and held – and once again it was his golden girl he was imagining in several of the items on display. Bras, panties, thongs, camisoles made of silk and lace and satin, in a wide array of colors – cream, blush pink, pale blue, lavender, black. His fingers brushed ever so lightly against a sexy La Perla bra of black lace, envisioning how it would look against Tessa’s smooth ivory skin, or how the shallow cups would barely contain the sumptuous swell of her breasts.

“May I help you with something, sir?”

The voice of the sales clerk was polite but also unmistakably interested, and Ian gave the pretty, dark haired woman a brief shake of his head. “No, thank you,” he replied rather curtly before striding over to the bank of elevators at a brisk pace.

When he reached the ground floor, Ian steadfastly kept his attention straight in front of him, resisting the urge to glance sideways as he passed the ladies shoe department, or walked past the perfume counter, or glimpsed the jewelry cases from the corner of his eye. He’d wasted quite enough time this afternoon fantasizing about all of the things he would buy for Tessa if she was his, and had no desire to torment himself further. It wasn’t until he was comfortably ensconced in the back seat of his Town Car, and his chauffer Simon had pulled out into traffic, that he emitted a long, low sigh of frustration.

‘Christ, mate, you have got to get this situation under control immediately,’ he scolded himself. ‘You’re turning into some sort of pervert now, touching women’s underthings as though they were actually on her body. Remember that you’re a thirty-seven year old man, that you’re the bloody director of an entire region of luxury hotels, that you can have most any woman you fancy just by blinking an eye. Your obsession with this girl is damned unhealthy, and it’s going to drive you mad if you don’t get over it right away. She’s a married woman, and Tessa is never, ever going to belong to you. The sooner you accept that the sooner you can get on with the rest of your life.’

But Ian feared that no matter how many mental pep talks he gave himself, no matter how many other women he dated, or how much time eventually passed, that his fixation with his golden girl wasn’t going to go away anytime soon.

“I’m afraid that isn’t an acceptable choice. You’ll need to have one of the others fill in while you’re on vacation.”

Andrew blinked a couple of times in surprise at the vehement tone in Ian’s voice. “I’m not sure I understand, Mr. Gregson. I would have thought you’d be pleased at the idea of Tessa filling in at my desk. She’s the hardest worker among the team, sir, and she’s doing all of the spreadsheets now along with several other reports. I just assumed - “

“You assumed wrong, Andrew,” replied Ian sternly. “Yes, she’s done an excellent job thus far but that still doesn’t make her qualified to fill in for you. I’d prefer that she had several more months of experience here before we trust her with such an important job.”

It was on the tip of Andrew’s tongue to argue his case further, but from the tight, almost angry set of Ian’s mouth, as well as the cold expression in his hazel eyes, he tactfully let the matter drop. “Whatever you say, Mr. Gregson. Unfortunately, Marisol will also be out at the same time so that leaves us to choose between Gina, Alicia, and Kevin. Shelby, as you know, is simply not trustworthy enough.”

“Kevin,” stated Ian bluntly. “Assign the task to him. Just be sure to remind him to keep the incessant chattering to a minimum, all right? Otherwise, I expect he’ll do a satisfactory job.”

“Of course, sir. I’ll speak to him about it this afternoon. Will there be anything else at the moment?”

Ian shook his head. “That’s all for now. I need to go over my notes for that three o’clock conference call. Let me know when it’s been set up, hmm?”

He picked up the notes and began to glance them over, and Andrew took the hint as he left the office without another word. It was only then when Ian scrubbed a hand over his face wearily, hoping that he hadn’t sounded like too much of an ass just now. Or, worse, given Andrew cause to suspect the real reason he couldn’t have Tessa filling in as his PA.

God, it was bad enough walking past her cubicle several times each day – trying his damndest to resist glancing in her direction - or having her in the same room during one of the meetings she was responsible for overseeing. There was no way on this earth that he would be able to deal with working so closely with her, eight to ten hours a day, for an entire week. Even his famed powers of control would be severely tested, to the point where Ian honestly couldn’t guarantee he wouldn’t give himself away – wouldn’t be able to resist pulling her into his arms and kissing her senseless, then confessing how she was all he thought about, all he wanted.