An Offer She Can't Refuse

She was packing up for the day when there was a knock on the door of her room. Assuming that it was the overzealous tea boy, who’d been popping up every half an hour, she said, ‘Come in!’ and continued stuffing files into her laptop bag.

It was a few seconds before she realised that the man in the room was about twice as large as the tea boy.

‘Darius!’ she said, her brows coming together in an involuntary frown as she saw him. ‘I was wondering if I’d see you today.’

‘I meant to come over in the morning, but I had one meeting after another. How was your day?’

‘Good,’ she said. ‘I think I’m going to like working here.’

‘Did Venkat manage to spend any time with you?’

‘A lot,’ she said drily.

Darius laughed. ‘He believes in throwing people in at the deep end,’ he said. ‘But he’s a great guy to work with. If you’re done for the day d’you want to catch up over coffee? There’s a decent café nearby.’

Mallika hesitated. She really wanted to confront Darius about him leaving, but her upbringing made her shy away from any kind of direct conflict.

Some of her indecision must have shown in her face, because he was beginning to look puzzled.

‘Or some other day if you need to leave,’ he said easily.

Mallika made up her mind.

‘I need to get home, but I have time for a coffee from the machine down the hall,’ she said.

Compromise—that was one thing she’d learnt early in life. And also that attacking issues head-on sometimes made them worse. She got to her feet and Darius followed her down the hall.

‘On second thoughts, I’ll have a soft drink,’ she said, taking a can from the fridge next to the coffee dispenser. ‘You can have that coffee if you want,’ she said, gesturing at the mug Darius had just filled for her.

She picked up a second mug and half filled it with warm water from the machine before putting her unopened can into it.

‘It’s too cold,’ she explained as Darius raised his eyebrows. ‘I’ll leave it in the mug for a bit and then it’ll be just right and I’ll drink it.’

Darius’s lips curved into a smile as he followed Mallika back to her room. She was wearing black trousers, a no-nonsense blue shirt, and extremely sensible shoes. The whole outfit looked as if it had been chosen to downplay her looks, but the most boring clothes in the world couldn’t conceal the narrowness of her waist and the athletic grace of her walk. Quite contrary to the intended effect, the clothes made her more appealing—at least to him.

‘Is Venkat involved in the day-to-day running of the fund?’ she asked, perching herself on the edge of her desk and swinging her legs idly.

‘Not really …’ he said cautiously, and she gave him a quizzical look, ‘Okay, he’s very involved in it—but his area of expertise is sales. You won’t be reporting to him, if that’s your worry—all the directors report straight to the board.’

‘Hmm … no, that isn’t what was bothering me.’

She smiled at him, and Darius felt his heartbeat quicken in response.

‘But tell me—is it true that he’s interfered in some of the investment decisions the team have made in the past?’

It was very likely to be true. Darius had heard rumblings from his team, but he hadn’t paid much attention up till now. Mallika’s pointing it out after being exactly one day in the job, however, hit him on the raw.

‘He’s talked to them about a few deals,’ he said. ‘I wouldn’t go so far as to call it interference.’

‘Maybe it wasn’t brought to your attention, then,’ she said, clearly unfazed by the sudden chilliness in his tone. ‘But he’s made some bad calls, and the fund’s asset value has dropped. It’ll take me a while to undo the damage.’

It was her air of knowing exactly what to do that got to him.

‘I’d suggest you take a few days to understand the business properly first,’ he said firmly, though he was feeling uncharacteristically defensive. ‘Before you jump in with both feet and start undoing things.’

Mallika frowned. ‘I thought the whole point of my being here was that I already know the business,’ she said. ‘I researched the fund before I even started interviewing with you guys, and it’s obvious that you have problems. Logically, it makes no sense to wait to fix them.’

‘There’s a lot of stuff you wouldn’t know from the outside,’ Darius insisted. ‘Venkat might have his … quirks, but not all the decisions he’s made have been bad.’

She shrugged. ‘Statistically speaking, even if you made decisions by rolling dice you would end up making some decent ones. But from what I can make out Venkat is superstitious, and his judgement is coloured.’

It had taken Darius months to realise that Venkat’s superstitious side sometimes overruled his normally sharp business brain. Mallika had taken exactly one day to figure it out. She was extraordinarily perceptive and he felt slightly wrong-footed. Again.

What was this woman doing to him?

Mallika was leaning forward a little. ‘Look, you hired me to run this fund,’ she said. ‘Not because you liked my face. So let me get on with my work. If I mess up you can play the hero and come in and rescue me.’

For a second Darius was tempted to tell her exactly how much he liked her face, but hard as it was he bit back the words. Being her colleague meant that he had to keep a certain professional distance. Speaking of which … Darius realised just how close he was to Mallika, and rolled his chair a few paces back. Unfortunately as soon he started to speak again Mallika scooted her shapely butt closer to him once more, robbing him of his train of thought.

‘You’re right about Venkat,’ he said, trying to sound as detached as possible. ‘The whole superstition thing… .’ He hesitated a little while trying to find the right words. ‘It’s a little …’

‘Kooky?’ she supplied, putting her head to one side. ‘Eccentric? Odd?’

‘Unconventional,’ he said. ‘But it’s not uncommon.’

‘And it’s unimportant too, I assume?’ she said before she could stop herself. ‘As far as you’re concerned anyway. Because you’re not planning to be around when the problems kick in.’

If she’d expected him to look guilty she was disappointed, because he threw his head back and laughed. ‘I mightn’t be around, but the fund’s performance is still pretty damn important to me. I have a fair bit of my own money invested in it, and I don’t fancy seeing it go down the tube.’

‘I suppose I should be flattered,’ she said drily. ‘Here I was, thinking you’d given me the fund to run because you didn’t care what happened to it.’

‘And now you know I’ve put my life’s savings in your hands,’ he said. ‘Who told you I was moving out? Venkat?’

‘Yes,’ she said.

‘It’s not supposed to be public knowledge yet,’ he said. ‘The board has asked me to stay on for a few months, and they felt it best that the rest of the firm be told I’m leaving only when it’s a lot closer to my last day here.’

‘Funny … Venkat assumed you’d already told me,’ she said. ‘Perhaps he thought it was only fair—given that you recruited me and everything.’

Darius leaned a little closer, his brow creasing. ‘Are you annoyed that I didn’t tell you?’ he demanded, putting a hand under her chin to tip her face upwards. ‘Even after what I just said?’

Mallika jerked her head away, trying to ignore the little thrill that went through her at his touch.

‘Not annoyed … just a little … concerned,’ she said, hoping her words would hide how much she longed to work alongside this charismatic man. ‘There might be other things you omitted to mention. I pretty much took everything you said at face value.’

‘Now, wait a minute,’ he said incredulously. ‘Are you suggesting I lied to you about the job? What makes you think that?’

‘You weren’t open at all,’ she said. ‘All this while you’ve let me think that you’d be around—that you were simply taking on something within the firm. If I’d known you were leaving …’

‘You wouldn’t have joined?’ He looked quite genuinely puzzled. ‘Why not? You seem like you have a handle on things already. My being here or not doesn’t make a difference, surely?’

Darius was struggling to keep a smug smile off his face—he wasn’t the only one who felt what was between them then.

Oh, but it does, Mallika almost said. The thought of working at Nidas without Darius was unsettling in a not very nice way, and she had to scramble to think of a logical explanation for her anxiety.

‘I’m just wondering why you’re leaving,’ she said. ‘I something’s going wrong with the company … And I did discuss my working hours with you …’

His brow cleared immediately. ‘Oh, the flexi-time thing?’ he said. ‘Don’t worry about that at all—I’ve cleared it with the board. And give Venkat some time—he’s a great guy to work with once you get past his superstitious streak.’

He was probably right—he’d worked with Venkat for years, after all, and she’d only met the man today. And she hadn’t known Darius for very long either—there was absolutely no reason for the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach when she thought about him leaving Nidas.

‘Hmm… .’ she said. ‘I think I’ll get along well with Venkat—I’ll have to. I’ll need a lot of help from him for the first few months.’

‘Will you?’ he asked, feeling oddly jealous.

If Mallika needed help he’d have liked to be the one to provide it. For a few seconds before his rational side had kicked in he’d actually thought that she was upset because she’d miss him. Now he was left with an absurd feeling of being sidelined—just another stepping stone in Mallika’s life.

Their timing was completely off, he thought ruefully. If he’d met her either a couple of years earlier or later he’d have tried to get to know her better—perhaps even acted on the growing attraction between the two of them. Right now it was completely out of the question. By the time they were no longer colleagues he’d be long gone.

‘You still haven’t told me why you’re leaving,’ Mallika said, and he blinked.

‘Personal reasons,’ he said, standing up to leave. ‘Don’t worry—the company’s not about to go under.’

Mallika laughed at that. She had a particularly appealing laugh, Darius thought. It was as happy and uncomplicated as a child’s, but it had a woman’s maturity as well, and a sexy little undertone that was irresistible.

‘That’s reassuring,’ she said, slipping off the desk to land on her feet right next to him.

Darius looked into her eyes and there was an instant of absolute connection that made his earlier thoughts irrelevant. A small part of his brain recognised how clichéd the moment was, and he was even amused. The rest of him was completely overwhelmed, and he kept on looking at her stupidly until she blinked and looked away.

‘Goodness, look at the time!’ she said, her voice slightly more high-pitched than normal. ‘I really need to get going.’

‘You haven’t touched your drink,’ he said, and she blinked at the can as if it had just materialised on her desk. ‘I’ll … um … carry it with me,’ she said. ‘What about your coffee?’

‘I hate that stuff from the machine,’ he said. ‘Next time we’ll go to a proper café.’

The way he said it made it sound like a promise he couldn’t wait to keep.

‘See you around, Darius,’ she managed to squeak, before making a hasty exit.

The next time he saw her was a few days later, with over fifty other people in the same room. Venkat had called for an investor conference, and Mallika was the main presenter.

Darius came in late, slipping into the back of the room. He very rarely attended investor events, but Venkat had been unusually insistent, and he hadn’t been able to resist the thought of seeing Mallika in top professional mode.

She was an impressive speaker—economical with words, but leaving her listeners with no doubt of her grasp over the subject. Slim and graceful in a raw silk printed sari, she exuded an aura of confidence and authority that was strangely attractive. Some people would probably think that it detracted from her femininity but, standing at the back of the room, Darius had to work hard to maintain a professional veneer.

She was quite something.

‘She’s brilliant, isn’t she?’ Venkat said, materialising next to Darius.

Mallika was answering a question raised by a grizzled investor old enough to be her father—and by the way the rest of the audience was nodding they were as impressed as Venkat was.

‘It’s been a while since we’ve held an event of this sort—it’s bloody expensive, paying for the dinner and the booze, but it’s worth it if we get the monies to come in. And people are interested—the market’s looking up. We’ll get a couple of hundred crores of investment after this event.’

‘So does that mean you guys are doing perfectly well without me?’ Darius asked, giving Venkat an amused look.

‘We are,’ Venkat said. ‘Mallika’s probably the best person you could have hired to replace you—in spite of all that flexible working rubbish. But, man, this place isn’t going to be the same without you.’

The event wound to a close, and Mallika stepped off the dais to mingle with the guests. Venkat had been called back for the vote of thanks, and Darius stood alone at the back of the room, watching Mallika as she moved from one group of middle-aged men to the next, her smile firmly in place.

There were only a handful of women in the audience, and Darius noted that she spent longer with them, explaining something at length to one group and patiently allowing a much older woman to peer at the necklace of semi-precious stones she was wearing.

It was a while before the audience dispersed, most of them heading towards the buffet dinner.

Mallika’s shoulders sagged a tiny bit, and the smile left her face as she walked towards the exit. It was as if she’d turnedt off a switch, changing from a confident, sparkling professional to a young woman who was just a little tired with life.

Darius waved to her, and she came across to him.

‘I didn’t see you come in,’ she said. ‘Did you just get here?’

‘A while ago,’ he said. ‘I’m impressed, Mallika. You had everyone eating out of your hands.’

She shrugged. ‘I’ve done this kind of event many times before,’ she said. ‘They’re exhausting, but it’s part of my job.’

‘What do you find exhausting?’ Darius asked.

‘Talking to people,’ she said. ‘It’s a strain. Everyone asks the same questions, and by the end of it I get so sick I could scream. Don’t tell Venkat,’ she added, looking up with a quick smile that lit up her face. ‘He’s planning a whole series of these events.’

‘I was about to tell you that,’ Darius said, a smile tugging at his lips. ‘He’s thrilled with the way you handled this one.’ She made a little grimace, and a spurt of chivalry made Darius ask, ‘Should I talk to him? He can handle the events himself—or one of the other fund managers could speak in your place.’

‘The other fund managers aren’t lucky for Venkat,’ she said drily. ‘I doubt he’ll agree. Anyway, it’s part of why you hired me, right?’

Darius nodded. It had been unprofessional of him to suggest he intervene, and he couldn’t help admire Mallika’s determination to do every part of her job well. Even when she obviously hated what she was doing.

It was intriguing, the way her ultra-professional mask slipped at times to betray her vulnerability. He had a feeling she didn’t let it happen often, and all his protective instincts surged to the forefront whenever it did.

‘Aren’t you having dinner?’ Venkat asked, popping up next to them. ‘Or a drink? Mallika?’

She shook her head. ‘I need to leave,’ she said. ‘My driver’s taken the day off, so I’ve called a cab. The cabbie’s been waiting for half an hour already.’

‘Wouldn’t it have been simpler to drive yourself?’

‘I don’t drive,’ she said. ‘I’ve tried learning a few times, but it’s been an unmitigated disaster.’

‘And you don’t drink either! What a waste,’ Venkat said sorrowfully. In his opinion, the best part of an event of this sort was the company-sponsored alcohol. ‘Darius?’

Darius shook his head. ‘I need to leave as well,’ he said. ‘Got some people coming over. And I’m driving, so I can’t have a drink either.’

Venkat looked ridiculously disappointed, and Darius laughed, clapping him on the shoulder.

‘I’ll take you out for a drink this Friday,’ he promised. ‘Come on, Mallika—I’ll walk you to the lobby.’

Their event had been held in a rather exclusive midtown hotel, and there were several other corporate events in full swing there. The banquet hall next to theirs was hosting an annual party, and the waiting area outside the banquet hall was dotted with entertainers. Jugglers in clown costumes, living statues, and even a magician or two.

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