LITMIR.BIZ

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like your idea of using the airlines to promote the album covers,” Geoff said. “So I’ll be calling you tomorrow or the next day to get a team together to move that idea forward.”

      “I’ll look forward to your call,” Henry said. “Steven, I’ve got a few ideas for using the Everest Mega Store to promote my newer artists. Do you have time to meet with me this week?”

      “I do. Shoot me over an e-mail with your availability and we will make it work,” Steven said. “I have to go to New York to check out our North American operation.”

      “Indeed,” Henry said. “So we’re doing this again next week?”

      “Yes. I think a weekly check-in is a good idea,” Steven said.

      Henry left his half brothers and walked slowly through the club. He didn’t worry about Malcolm because that man was a stranger to him just like Steven and Geoff, and he was the type of man who didn’t worry about the future. He’d take care of what he needed to.

      And right now that involved finding out a little more about Astrid and her past employer.

      He spotted her standing at the coat check. She was talking on her mobile and turned around as he came down the stairs. She waved at him and smiled.

      He smiled back, thinking that talking to his assistant was going to be very enjoyable.

      * * *

      Astrid hung up the phone as Henry joined her. He looked good in his trendy casual clothing. He wore gray trousers and a button-down shirt left open at the collar with a navy blue sport coat that made his eyes seem brighter. He smiled at her as he approached, and she just stood there for a minute not saying anything.

      It didn’t help that he was one of the rugby players she’d had an insane crush on when she was a teenager, which made it harder for her to see him as her boss now that they weren’t in the office.

      “Hello, Astrid. What did you need me for?”

      “A signature. Without one your staff isn’t going to get paid,” she said. They all got paid monthly, so missing a pay period could put a lot of the staff in a bind. And since she’d only just started at Everest Records she didn’t have the relationships needed to finesse the payroll clerks into giving her an extra day.

      She handed him the papers and he signed them with a flourish. His signature had style just like the man.

      Oh, for God’s sake, she thought. She was developing a crush on him. On her boss! This had to stop.

      “Thanks.”

      “No problem. Are you going back to the office now?”

      “No. I have a runner waiting for this packet. I’m supposed to meet you in fifteen minutes and I’d never make it on time.”

      “No, you wouldn’t. Did you eat yet?” he asked.

      She shook her head. There hadn’t been time. She handed the packet to the runner she’d brought with her, and he took it and left.

      “Want to grab a bite?” Henry asked. “I’m hungry.”

      “Sounds good.”

      He led the way out of the club. “Do you have a car?”

      “No. I take the underground mostly. Congestion charges and parking are outrageous,” she said.

      “That they are. There’s a congestion charge around my neighborhood. I have to pay to drive home.” Traffic was a major problem in some London areas, so a charge had been introduced to ease traffic flow during certain hours.

      “Not many days,” she said. “I hear you get home in the wee hours of the morning.”

      He chuckled. “That’s true. But if I kept respectable hours I’d have to pay.”

      “You do now with the job,” she said.

      “That’s true,” he said. “What about you?”

      “What do you mean?” she asked.

      “Is this job keeping you respectable?”

      She had no idea what Henry was after with his questions. The valet brought his car around and after she was seated in the Ferrari Enzo, Henry put the car in gear. He drove with confidence and skill, negotiating the traffic with ease. She couldn’t help but admire the way that he drove. She was beginning to believe there was little that Henry didn’t do well.

      “Of course it is.”

      “Did your last job, working for Mo Rollins’s group, do the same?”

      She had a sinking feeling that he’d checked her employment record. Had he found out about her affair? Bethann had suggested to her before she’d taken this job at Everest Records that she should work in another industry, but the record industry was all she knew.

      “I took that job really seriously, Henry. I was a good employee and supported Daniel in every way I could.”

      “But he still let you go,” Henry said.

      “I had a health issue,” she said. This was a nightmare, she thought. When she’d been in the throes of her affair with Daniel it had never occurred to her that someday she’d be answering questions about why she no longer worked for him.

      Henry braked to a stop as they neared Kensington High Street. She knew he planned to check out Roof Gardens, the eclectic nightclub owned by Richard Branson, tonight.

      “Babylon okay for dinner?” he asked.

      “Yes.” She’d never eaten at the trendy high-priced restaurant before. When she’d been with Daniel, even when they’d been dating, they had tended to stay more to economical places. Daniel only spent money on his clients.

      Henry pulled up to the valet stand and got out. Astrid climbed out on her side and wished for a moment she’d taken time to dress a bit differently for her day. She was already realizing that Henry was different. That didn’t mean he would treat her better than Daniel had. This was a job, she thought. Nothing more. The measure of the man she worked for was better than her previous boss. And she knew she was going to have to change and probably grow a bit to keep up with him. She shifted the strap of her large shoulder bag and hurried around to the sidewalk so she was next to him.

      There were a few paps—paparazzi—who took some photos of Henry. She stepped back so he could be photographed alone. He posed and talked to the photographers and signed a few autographs before reaching for her hand and drawing her up the path to the entrance.

      She knew that Henry hadn’t finished questioning her about her past and Daniel. She also decided if she played her cards right, she could keep him off the topic tonight.

      “Does that happen to you often?” she asked when they checked their coats downstairs.

      He smiled ruefully. “Yes. I’m used to it, though. My mum says that it’s part of our life being in the spotlight. I grew up around it. I don’t court them, but if they want a photo I give them one.”

      “Isn’t it intrusive?” she asked.

      He stopped and pulled her toward a quiet corner. “It’s my life. I don’t think about it. When I was a player, I didn’t like them because they were a distraction and some of the other players would let the paps keep them from concentrating on the game. But now, they are what keeps my lifestyle going forward,” he said.

      “You’re a very smart man,” she said, coming to the conclusion that the showman, the charming playboy that he projected to the world was just one of the many facets of the whole man.

      “Indeed. So that’s why I’m not going to let you distract me from the fact that you still haven’t told me everything about your last employer.”

      Chapter 3

      Astrid

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