Sharon swallowed her uneasiness and looked at the screen in front of her.

'Have you seen the lastest Japanese figures?'

'More or less as I predicted', he shrugged.

'Yes, right again, as usual', Sharon said with saccharine sweetness.

He laughed. She couldn't even make him angry. It was infuriating. She wished he would go away. He was ruining her morning.

'I am rather busy', She said, 'So unless you want to tell me something important....'

'David just rang me from home', he said, 'About the Rome Conference ....'

'Yes?' She was supposed to fly a road with David to Rome for an international banking conference and she was looking forward to it. It had been so long that she had been anywhere interesting and she wanted to get away from the office now dominated by Ryan Ferdinand for a little while.

'His doctor has advised him to stay in bed for a week, so he won't be able to go', Bryan said coolly.

'What's wrong? Is he I'll?' Sharon asked but Bryan shook his head.

'Just tired, I gather. A touch of flu, too maybe. Nothing serious He asked me to explain it to you and say how sorry he is to miss the Rome trip'.

'Of course, I understand', Sharon said, deeply disappointed, her face falling, 'Though I can't say that I am surprised.He has been looking out of sorts and really I'll for the past few days. He really needs a long vacation but a week in bed is a start. Well, I'd better cancel everything, but I don't think we shall be able to reclaim the price of the air tickets. The hotel can be cancelled without problem, of course'.

Sharon put out her hand to the phone but Bryan gently caught hold of her wrist.

' No don't cancel anything. The trip is still on. It's just that I'll be taking David's place'.

'You?' Sharon said stifling.

His mouth curled. 'Sorry, I am no match to David in your eyes, I am aware of that but he wants the bank to be represented and he is supposed to give a talk at the conference, so I shall have to be the one giving the talk'.

Sharon knew all about the talk. Why David felt the need to ask Bryan to give the talk when he knew that she could do that well best her.

'You know of David's old fashioned view of the role of women in banking', Bryan said.

'Which you share obviously!' she said bitterly.

'As a matter of f t, I don't but David was really I'll and it didn't seem the right time to argue with him, so I just went along with his directives. I believe you have got all his documentations, by the way? Tickets etc?'

She nodded and stood up and Bryan made way for her to pass and she picked up the scent of his aftershave and decided that she didn't like it.

She found the folder containing all the travel documents and handed them over to him.

'The name will have to be changed, I can do that'.

'Don't worry, my secretary will deal with it', he said as he turned to walk out, 'See you tomorrow on the plane'.

She looked after him, half inclined not to turn up. Only her loyalty to David made her decide to go. Someone had to keep an eye on Bryan Ferdinand.

They met at the Heathrow and bought piles of magazines and newspapers and tried to ignore the noise and discomfort of the seats they sat on.

At last, the plane began to take off and in the end, they were two hours late in leaving for Rome.

Rome did not look as exciting as Sharon had envisaged and she looked up depressed.

By the time they got to their hotel, she was barely able to stand and was very fed up.

She collected the key and went straight to her room, which turned out to be charming, beautifully furnished and a magnificent view of the rocks and cliffs and the town as a whole.

It was still raining. She leaned on the window for a while, gazing out. Even in the rain, Rome was still noisy, bustling, over full of people and vehicles.

Sitting there with the window open made her shiver after a while. She stood up,closed the window and went into her modern bathroom to take a long warm fragrant bath, pouring deliciously scented bath oils into the water before she climbed gratefully into it.

Bryan had suggested that they meet for dinner at eight o'clock in the bar. The first gathering of the conference was at nine o'clock the following morning and was scheduled to take place at another hotel which was a popular conference. entre with efficient modern facilities.

Most of the delegates were also staying at the hotel but David had wanted a peaceful place to retire to when banking policies be ame too hectic. It often helped to be able to escape for a while.

After her bath, Sharon went to her bed to sleep and her dreams were as chaotic as the city itself.

She woke with a start when someone knocked on the door.

She was disoriented, not knowing at first where she was.While she had slept,night had fallen and the room was dark.

She lay there starring blankly until that knock again. She walked to the door to open it after stumbling out of bed. The light from the corridor was blinding and caused her to blink.

It was z Ryan in an evening dress looking ultra- civilized a d menacingly primitive, a very disturbing and lethal mix.

Added to that, just the sight of his smooth- skinned, closely shaven face and sleek black hair, his gleaming black eyes, his powerful body, sent a shiver of weakness through her.

Ever since she met him, she had been both alarmed by and hostile to him, working on instinct buried deep inside her, too deep for her to be quite sure what it was about the man that set all her alarm bells jangling.

Aren't you dressed yet? We agreed we'd meet at Eight o' clock'. Bryan reminded her, his gleaming eyes roaming slowly over her dishevelled, damp could of auburn hair, her flushed face, the short black robe that she wore which left her long legs bare and revealed the deep cleft between her breasts.

They had indeed agreed to meet to discuss and pull ideas concerning the conference that was going to take place the next day at nine o'clock am.

The way Bryan was undressing her with his eyes made her self conscious and she instinctively put a hand to pull her robe lapels together to hide her breasts and saw Bryan's mouth twist in wry comprehension.

'I must have fallen asleep', she said feeling disoriented. 'Why don't you go ahead into the bar and keep yourself busy with a drink, I shall be ready in a jiffy, I promise'.

She shut the door quickly, afraid that he would notice that she was trembling, switching on the light, she leaned on the bed for a moment, to steady her nerves. What on earth was wrong with her? Maybe she had picked up some bugs? The same one David had got? If that were the case, she wouldn't be surprised because that was exactly how she felt - I'll, feverish, weak- legged, shivery.

She didn't want to get dressed or do her hair nor even have dinner with Bryan Ferdinand. She did not feel strong enough But how could she get out of it? They were here, representing the bank, standing in for David. She couldn't simply duck out of her responsibilities. She would be letting David down.

She would just have to pull herself together.

With Shaking hands and nerves, she began to get dressed. She had picked out her dress before having a quick shower: a dark green velvet, figure hugging, with a deep scoop neckline along which ran a Greek key pattern in gold thread, a tight waist and very short skirt which left her legs bare.

It was formal and elegant but once she had put it on, Sharon had second thoughts.

She stared at herself in the mirror biting her lip. She had forgotten how tight the dress was, how short the skirt. It made her feel half naked.

It had never bothered her before and she wondered why it should suddenly do so.

Even David had loved the dress, that was why she had picked it but wearing it for David was one thing and wearing it when she was going to spend an evening with Bryan was a different ball game entirely. The very thought of it made her hair stand up on the back of her neck.

She looked at her watch and groaned. There was no time to change either. If only she hadn't fallen asleep on the bed!

She still had to do her hair and her face. She picked up her brush and began to work hurriedly.

When she walked into the hotel bar, she saw Bryan watching her from a table on the other side of the room and a shudder ran through her.

Deja Vu, she told herself hurriedly. That was what it was, deja Vu because this was almost a re run of the night they had met and she remembered with another shudder the way their reflections had shimmered in the dark glass behind the bar. It had seemed significant then, more so now.

He is dangerous to me, she thought. Dangerous to David and dangerous to the bank.

Yet there was something darker involved. Something she had not quite faced or didn't want to admit.

She did so now. I'm afraid of him, she admitted, ice trickling down her spine. He terrifies me.

She thought of David's pale face and tired eyes, the sadness in his heart and she hated Bryan Ferdinand. David didn't have the drive nor the desire to fight back if he was attacked but Bryan was going to destroy him irrespective of that.

But he wasn't going to destroy David if she could stop him and she was determined to do just that. So, she pushed her fears away and began to walk towards him through the crowded bar.

Her auburn hair glowed like a dark flame in the light if the chandeliers. Her oval face so classical with her green shadowed eyes, elegant nose, wide full generous red mouth. Her slender, rounded figure swayed under the tight green velvet, the low neckline drawing eyes to her high white breasts. Her pale legs moving gracefully, the green dress constantly sliding up to give glimpses of her slim thighs.

The lively hum of voices,the clink of glasses, the laughter died away as people's heads turned to watch her, although Sharon was unaware of the effect she was having on all the other people in the bar, she was too absorbed in trying to stay cool and getting herself under control.

The only watching eyes she was aware of was Bryan's. She did not raise her eyes to meet them but she could feel them fixed on her, black, brilliant, intent and the way they watched her made a pulse beat hard on her throat.

He stood up to greet her. She slid into the upholstered seat beside him and the noise in the bar broke out again.

'That was quite an entrance', he said drily. And then, 'What would you have to drink?'

She looked at his glass and was not surprised to see that it was mineral water with a twist of lime in it.

'The same as you, thanks', she said.

He ordered the drink and handed her the menu. 'I have decided what I want to eat but take your time and choose. The food is terrific here a d since this is a special occasion, I thought we might try a glass or two of their excellent wine. You do take wine, don't you?'

'Sometimes, not always', she said looking at the menu and realising that she was hungry.

She hadn't eaten on the plane because she hated unreal food and with shock, she realised that her last meal had been breakfast at the airport.

'What a huge menu, I do not know what half these dishes are'. Remembering that he had been in Switzerland for some time, she looked at him and asked, 'Could you recommend something?'

He shifted along the seat and looked over her shoulder. She felt his thigh touching hers,his arm against her, smelt his cologne.

'This is probably good at this time if the year", he suggested pointing. Autumn is the best time for wild mushrooms and I love them served with seafood'.

'Mushrooms and seafood?' Sharon asked.

'Exactly'. Bryan's deep voice had a husky tone. She felt his warm breathing on her bate shoulder.

'Okay, I'll have that', she said hurriedly, nervously aware of him and his body even closer to hers.

'And I suppose that I'll just have pasta for the main course'.

She would have moved away then but Bryan shook his head, pointing to the menu again.

'Don't be so predictable!', he said softly, very close to her ear. 'Try the saltimbocca....'

'What's that?'

'It means...hmmmm...'Jump in the mouth'... it's veal escalope, rolled in harm, flavoured with sage, fried and then simmered in Marsala wine. Very rich but it's a Roman specialty. You must try it once at least. While you are in Italy and especially in Rome,you must be more adventurous, take a few risks for once in your life!'

She tensed. Picking up the undertone, the hidden meaning and hedged instinctively.

'Risks and banking don't go together!'

'Oh but they do', he drawled, looking at her intently. 'Lending money is always a risk but if you don't gamble, you don't accumulate as you know very well.

You have been working for David for long. He has the excuse of being middle aged but you're not.

'David is not middle aged', she said flushed and angry. 'He's just in his forties'.

Bryan laughed coldly, 'That is middle aged!

'Yes, well, David is still very....' she broke off the sentence not sure how she had wanted to end it in the first place and Bryan finished it for her in a hard Sardonic voice.

'Attractive?' Was that what you were going to say? I know you worship the ground that he walks on, and I'll be curious to know why you are so fixated on a man who was at university before you were even born! Dies he remind you of your father? Or didn't you have a father? If I had a crude mind, I'd suspect that it was David's money you were really interested in and that thought did occur to me before I got to know you but I have realised that you aren't materialistic.

No! It's David himself isn't it?' His dark eyes watched her tense profile closely.

'You have a real problem, Sharon. The gap is too wide. You'd regret it bitterly sooner or later if David is crazy enough to take what you are dying to give him'.

Her face was burning and a choking rage filled her throat. She turned on him furiously, her green eyes Stony with resentment.

'How dare you....?' she stopped as the waiter approached. Quivering, dark red, Sharon had to swallow the words that were boiling to get out.

Bryan was as cool as the icecubes in their drinks.

He smiled at the waiter. 'Ah, ready to take our order? Right'.

He ordered for both of them without consulting Sharon again which at any time would have infuriated her but which she accepted without comment then because she knew that she wouldn't have said a word without her voice shaking.

By the time the waiter left, Sharon had worked out what she really wanted to say to Bryan.

Before she could actually speak, someone else came to their table.

'Howdy, Bryan's, the woman said engulfing him in what looked to Sharon like a passionate embrace.

The woman was in her thirties. She had a figure that looked like the number eight. curving in and out exaggeratedly, full warm breasts, a tightly belted waist with rounded hips giving a curved line to the black satin evening suit that she wore. Her jewelries were loud. Diamonds shone on her ears, at her throat and at her wrists. Her hands sparkled with rings too.

She was someone who dressed to be noticed in every sense of the word. Sharon thought drily to herself.

The way she was kissing Bryan, they surely must have been lovers at one time. Good friends don't kiss on the mouth like that. So, that was the sort of woman he liked?

Sharon's eyes chilled. She was observing every little detail about him. Everything she could gather about him could help her defeat him before he succeeded in destroying David but she would not have expected him to love a woman like that.

'What kind of woman would you have expected him to be interested in?' a little voice asked in her head. 'Someone like you?'

'Of course not! she thought fiercely. 'I'd rather die than allow myself to get close to such as he'.

A second later, Bryan turned her way to introduce her.

'Angel, this is a colleague from London, Sharon Smith. Sharon, this is the wife of an old friend of mine, Angel Coleman's.

Sharon smiled politely and coldly, offering her hand. The other woman took it, her own smile cool, studying her with shrewd sophisticated eyes.

'You are in banking?' she said. 'Yes, I can tell that you are. A career woman, obviously. And it gives you all you need, why not? Fir some women, it is the answer, we don't need to get married these days afterall!'

Sharon kept her face cool, her teeth together but she knew that she had just been patronized and insulted

Bryan smoothly intervened. Openly amused by the instant hostility between the two women.

'I think your friends are about to leave Angel's.

She turned to look a Ross the room at a group near the door and wave, nodding.

'Yes I must go, love! Will we see you while you're here? Now promise that we will!'

'I'll do my best though I have many commitments and engagements in this conference but my last day here is free. Maybe we could meet then?'

'You must come to dinner, arrange it with John, Ciao!' Angel gave him another hug, nodded dismissively to Sharon and walked away.

Bryan sat down again, gave Sharon an amused glance. 'Well, you and Angel didn't hit it off, did you? A pity, she's a warm hearted woman....'

'So I noticed', Sharon said.

'Wow! he murmured, laughing silently. 'Well that's Angel. It doesn't mean anything, she's always very over the top whatever she dies'.

'Dies her husband know that she's so ... fond ...of you?'

The icy sting in her voice didn't bother him, his eyes had a mocking gleam in them.

'John? He adores her the way she is... they have a very happy marriage. She's a wonderful wife and mother. They have four boys and two girls, she runs their home to perfection. John is lucky and he knows it's.

Sharon stared at him, uncertain now about his relationship with Angel, wishing she knew the truth about that, about every other aspect of his life. What sort of man was Bryan Ferdinand?

They went into dinner a few minutes later. The Neal was superb, the wine matched it. Sharon only intended to drink one glass but without noticing it, drank far more because the waiter kept refilling her glass.