“But accurate.”
“Is it? Alternatively, someone who didn’t have odious and unfair preconceived ideas about my character might credit me with enough wits to know not to ask for something I need when the person I need it from is not feeling well!”
He couldn’t help a laugh. “That’s some fine hairsplitting, right there.”
“Call it what you want. For my part, I call it common sense. I deemed making you feel better a priority so that we could tackle a mutual problem and maybe rub along better for the good of the hotel.”
“You did it to get your own way. And,” he added as she made a sound of impatience, “this problem is hardly mutual. Your lack of planning has nothing to do with me, and a plate of eggs and bacon, a vase of flowers, and a melting glance or two from those big blue eyes of yours doesn’t change that.”
“Obviously not,” she agreed, scowling at him, “since, despite all my efforts to put you in a reasonable frame of mind, you’re still as grouchy as a bear.”
“Perhaps that’s because I don’t like being manipulated with feminine wiles under the guise of friendship.”
She gave a snort of derision. “As if my feminine wiles would ever work on you! There’d have to be blood in your veins instead of ice water.”
Those words implied that she hadn’t perceived his inexplicable moment of weakness where she was concerned, and Simon drew a breath of profound relief. “Now that’s a brilliant tactic,” he said. “Seduction didn’t work, so you resort to in—”
“Seduction?” she interrupted, staring at him as if appalled. “I wouldn’t seduce you if my life depended on it.”
“Good, because I’d never fall for that trick,” he shot back, painfully aware that he nearly had.
“No? Darling, if I ever set out to seduce you, you’d never be able to resist me. And anyway,” she added before he could protest, “I wasn’t playing a trick!”
“Like hell you weren’t. I suppose you wear that seductive perfume and dresses that cling to your curves when you meet with duchesses and debutantes, too?”
She gave an indignant huff, and in her eyes, Simon saw that steely glint he was coming to know well.
“As I said, my only intent was to wipe the slate clean, put you in a more agreeable frame of mind, and show you that I don’t hold grudges. I thought if we could become friends, you would be better able to see my point of view on things, not just about Kay, but about everything you’re doing here. The deposits on banquet rooms, the poor employees you’re dismissing left and right, the snooping in people’s private papers—”
“Your expense accounts are not private.”
“And Escoffier? He came to me in a rage yesterday because you and the accountants were snooping through his desk. Are his personal letters and recipes not private?”
“Nothing in the offices of employees is private. As I told you, if you want privacy, keep your papers in your room.”
“But what are you looking for?” she cried. “What possible reason could you have for going through Escoffier’s desk? Or mine?”
“I already explained that. We are auditing the records of every head of staff.”
“Even Ritz?”
Especially Ritz, he thought. “Everyone. And before you go racing off to send Ritz a cable, let me add that he already knows about our efforts, and he has tendered his full cooperation. You and Escoffier could both profit from his example.”
“That’s exactly what I was trying to do!” she countered. “And for my efforts, you have accused me of selfish motives and trickery, when all I was doing was employing the same tactics you’d have used on me if our positions were reversed. Oh, yes, you would have,” she went on as he opened his mouth to dispute her contention. “Though I’d never accuse you of trying to seduce me, since seduction is clearly beyond your capabilities.”
It had been ages since he’d seduced a woman, unfortunately, but Simon wasn’t about to fall into the trap of defending his ability to do so. “It’s beyond your capabilities, too, obviously,” he was happy to point out. “Since it didn’t work.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake! If I were attempting to seduce you, I’d never have chosen to do it here, with the door into the corridor wide open and your secretary in the very next room. And if you would only stop huffing and puffing and congratulating yourself for your imperviousness to my charms, you’d be fair and admit that what I was trying to do is the only sensible thing.”
“Sensible?”
“Of course. You’re a man of business, aren’t you? If you wanted to make a business deal with someone who didn’t like you or trust you,” she added as he started to reply, “wouldn’t you attempt to change their unfavorable view and gain their trust before you made your proposition?”
“Trusting you is asking for trouble. And your example hardly applies here.”
“Oh, really? Why not?”
Because he’d almost fallen for it. A galling fact he had no intention of admitting aloud. “What you’re talking about is a hypothetical situation, one in which I can’t possibly know what I would do until I had all the facts. And it doesn’t really matter anyway, since in this case, I have no intention of yielding. I will not cancel a room Devlin has reserved in good faith just because you failed to put your friend’s reservation in the book when you had the opportunity.”
