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Hi I am an idiot becauseCHAPTER ONE

'WHAT the hell do you think you're doing?' As the harsh male voice barked out viciously behind her, Aline swung

round nervously, scattering the wad of papers she had been holding in a whirling arc round the feet of the tall darkman in the doorway.

'You made me jump...' Her voice faltered to a halt as she took in the blazing anger turning the cold grey eyes into

black narrowed slits, and the menacing power apparent in every line of the big, taut body.'I'll do more than that!' The man moved a step forward into the room and she shrank against Tim's desk, her dark

brown eyes wide'It's a virus of some sort.' She looked at the harsh face in bewilderment, a faint unease beginning to grip her and quthe anger With shadowy fingers. 'Flu, 1 suppose.'

'Flu!' He gave a harsh bite of laughter that made her flinch. 'I'll give him flu when I get hold of him. Youi dear

brother, Miss Marcell, is in a great deal of trouble, and if I find out that you are involved, as I suspect you are, you

going to wish you had never been born.''Who exactly are you?' She was beginning to feel weak at the knees. She had only returned from a month's holiday

Greece a few hours before, to find Tim firmly settled in her tiny flat, pleading that the big house he shared with th

friends was being painted and the smell and commotion was making him more ill. She had beeii deeply shocked apale, sickly greyness of his skir and immediately fussed round him, promising he eouk stay until he was feeling b

and she would sleep or the small sofabed in the lounge.

'Cord Lachoni.' The deep voice fairly spat the words at her.'Has Tim mentioned my name?'Had he mentioned the name! Cord Lachoni. The Bij White Chief. Known far and wide for his ruthless efficiency a

cold-blooded business sense that hat brought him from relative obscurity to the status of multi-millionaire in less

ten years. An entrepreneur to end entrepreneurs, hated and feared as well as deeply respected among his peers. Atthirty-seven he had the world at his feet, a broken marriage and a string of much publicised one-night stands to hi

credit. A giant among men with a lifestyle to match.

'Well?' The stony hard voice was unrelenting. 'What are you hatching in that nasty little brain of yours? I can fairl

hear the cogs whirring.'Look, Mr Lachoni, you aren't going to believe this,' she began slowly, 'but I haven't got a clue what this is all abo

He swore softly in a foreign tongue, the meaning unmistakable. 'You're right, I don't believe it,' he said crisply,

moving to stand in front of her, where he towered over her slender frame. His height was terribly intimidating, six

six at least, with the sleek, broad-shouldered body of a prime athlete honed to perfection. She could see that somewomen would find such powerful raw masculinity attractive, but the dark, rugged face held a touch of cruelty that

chilled her blood. He was like one of the big cats, fascinating from a distance but in-timidatingly unnerving close 'Tim told bis head of department he was ill,' she repeated desperately as tiny shivers of fear sped down her spine.

sure he'll be back at work as soon as he can make it. Our uncle works here; he said to-'

'Do you think I am a complete fool?' There was just a glimmer of an accent on some of his words, an unusual

pronunciation of certain letters that, along with the bronzed darkness of his skin, proclaimed he was not English. tried desperately to remember everything Tim had mentioned about this man as she sat with a small plop on the h

surface of the desk. The hard grey gaze had her pinned like a butterfly on cardboard.