And employees on the top floors rarely interacted with those on the lower floors.

He opened his mouth to demand how Audrey knew about the position if Gloria hadn’t told her, but snapped it shut. That question would lead to more and reveal Audrey’s visit to his office, which he’d promised not to do.

Enzu didn’t consider a security breach. Like all cautious men in his position, he had his office scanned for listening devices on a weekly basis by a security team he trusted implicitly. No business rival was getting sensitive information from Enzu’s own lips.

Gloria must have told someone and that someone had to have passed the information on to Audrey. He would look into it further after his search for a wife...and mother to his children...was over. Someone had shown an egregious lack of discretion, but that could be dealt with later.

After he’d made his choice about the woman he would marry.

He ignored the way his mind returned again to Audrey Miller. She would be one of several candidates, not the candidate.

Even if his libido might demand otherwise.

CHAPTER THREE

DUMBFOUNDED, AUDREY HUNG up her phone and took off her headset. Someone else could take the next few customer service calls.

Mr. Tomasi’s PAA had just made an appointment with Audrey to meet the CEO for an interview the following morning.

It had to be for the job of mother to Franca and Angilu. But the way he’d acted he couldn’t be interested in her for the position, could he?

Only tomorrow’s appointment said otherwise.

* * *

Gloria ushered Audrey Miller into Enzu’s office.

He flicked a glance to the Rolex on his wrist. Exactly on time.

He mentally marked a tick on this positives column for the customer service specialist who had shown the courage to approach the CEO of her company in an unconventional way in order to apply for an equally unconventional job.

“Ms. Miller, sir,” Gloria said.

As if Enzu would forget who the woman was after little more than a week. “Thank you, Gloria.”

He eyed Audrey as she crossed the office on unhurried feet, showing more aplomb than most of his upper level managers when called to Enzu’s office for a meeting. She wore a knockoff black sheath dress and an open cropped white sweater with black swirls. The pearls around her throat were no doubt faux, but they did not look gaudy. Modest heels raised her average height less than two inches.

It was an elegant if inexpensive outfit. Not a sexy one. But Enzu’s body reacted like she’d walked into his office wearing nothing at all.

A curse rose to his lips but he bit it back, swallowing the gasp of shock at his immediate physical response just as quickly.

He’d been hard almost the entire time they’d talked last week and it looked like he was going to experience the same phenomenon again. He couldn’t remember reacting like this to another woman in years. If ever.

Either he’d allowed too much time to pass since practicing that particular stress-reliever, or this woman was something special. Cynicism directed he lean toward the former.

Audrey moved with an unconscious grace he liked and Enzu allowed himself the minor pleasure of simply watching her finish her journey across his intimidatingly large office. It was one of the many calculated ways he used to establish his dominant role in any meeting that occurred in this room.

Audrey did not appear intimidated.

He found that reaction, or rather lack thereof, intriguing.

She stopped in front of his desk. “Good morning, Mr. Tomasi.”

Enzu did not reply immediately, his brain fully engaged with controlling his body’s unholy reaction to this woman.

“Thank you for considering me for this position.”

Typical, well-used words in an interview, and yet Audrey’s sincerity inexplicably touched him.

Her voice was soft, arousing. Not weak.

The subtle strength of a woman. His many summers in Sicily had taught him to appreciate it and never to underestimate the steel that ran through the spine of a woman who had learned to sacrifice for her family.

Unlike most of his Sicily-based family, Enzu had never once heard his great-aunt raise her voice. But there had never been any doubt in his mind who ran the family. His great-uncle could yell with amazing volume, even at eighty. And yet it was the old man’s wife whose quiet orders no one in the family dared to disobey.

Enzu’s silence must have lasted too long for Audrey’s comfort.

Uncertainty glowed in her chocolate gaze as it flicked between him and Gloria, who remained near the door, an assessing look in her pale eyes as she watched the exchange in silence.

Enzu forced himself to speak, allowing none of his response to this interesting woman to show in his voice. “Have a seat, Audrey.” He indicated the chair she’d occupied the week prior.

She nodded, silent, and then sat down in a rush as if her legs didn’t want to hold her up. The evidence of nervousness on her part surprised him.

“I assume you understand why you are here?”

“You want to interview me for the position of mother to your children?” she asked, her tone implying she found that particular eventuality very difficult to believe.

“Yes.”

A sound escaped her. “Oh. Okay.” She seemed to relax, though Enzu could not have identified exactly what gave him that impression.

He was as much an expert at reading body language as any psychologist with a PhD. It was a little unnerving to realize he could not pinpoint the change in hers that indicated her more relaxed state.

It occurred to him that this woman would be a challenging adversary across the boardroom table. He would do well not to forget it, either.

“You are still interested in the position?”

“Yes, I am.”

“I am glad to hear it.”

“You are? I was pretty sure you had no intention of considering me for the position,” she offered candidly. “I thought you’d have a stack of files on women you would find a lot more suitable.”

“You are not the only candidate, naturally.”

“No, of course not.” Her perfectly shaped lips twisted wryly.

A sudden inescapable desire to see how they would look swollen from kisses assailed him.

“I’ll bring some coffee,” Gloria inserted smoothly.

Enzu nodded his approval of that plan, but Audrey turned her head to meet Gloria’s eyes. “I’d prefer tea, if it’s not too much trouble.”

A spark of admiration shone in his PAA’s pale gaze. “No trouble at all.”

Enzu appreciated Audrey’s willingness to assert her own preferences, albeit politely, as well. His years of experience and study of business psychology had taught him that a person who was capable of that combination usually made a reasonable if strong negotiator.

“Thank you.” Audrey gave Gloria a small smile before turning back to face Enzu.

The door to his office closed quietly in Gloria’s wake.

Enzu glanced down to the interview questions he’d prepared. “Right, then, let’s get started.”

“Before we do, I have a question for you.”

He frowned, irritated. Did she not realize who was doing the interviewing here? Not that he expected her to have no questions of her own, but to insist on having the first one indicated either a lack of understanding of business protocol or significant self-importance.

Curious in spite of himself, he inclined his head.

Serious brown eyes met his. “My brother is gay and he will always be welcome in my home and my life.” There was no give in her voice or the square set of her lovely shoulders.

“That is not a question.” But it might well explain certain circumstances he had discovered on reading her dossier.

Her hands clenched in her lap. The only indication Audrey was worried about his reaction to her revelation. “Is that a problem for you?”

“Hardly.” He might be the controlling and arrogant powerbroker some accused him of being, but Enzu wasn’t a bigot.