His Spy at Night (Spy Games Book 3) by Paula Altenburg

Author:Paula Altenburg [Altenburg, Paula]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Paula Altenburg
Published: 2016-09-07T21:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

She and Bernard ended up at a table with three strangers.

Since the event was about networking it was an inconvenience to no one but Lies. The one benefit she got was to see how Bernard interacted with people he didn’t know. It turned out he was very charming, despite the obvious fact that the three Germans they’d joined were of no interest to him whatsoever.

It wasn’t long before the Germans got up to leave. Within minutes their vacated seats were claimed by Americans.

Partway through her meal, and between the dull, professional chatter, Lies spotted Harry seated four tables over. He was with the Canadian lawyer and another delegate from the trade mission, and a group of people she didn’t recognize. The lawyer was deep in conversation with a young, sharp-faced man who looked ill-at-ease in Harry’s company. He kept shooting sidelong glances at Harry, who had the intent expression on his face that he used to disguise boredom.

Bernard noticed where her attention continued to stray. “Are you certain you and Harry don’t have a personal interest in each other?”

“He’s my boss,” she reminded him, flustered at having been caught staring. She was normally more circumspect. “That pretty much says it all.”

“Ah. I see. It’s against Harry’s code of ethics.”

Without a doubt. If she’d worked for him for real the other night would never have happened. “Never mind that I might have a few ethics myself.”

Bernard had the audacity to laugh at her, with genuine humor that stretched to his eyes. “I don’t believe you’d allow anything to stand in your way if you were after something you really wanted.”

His assessment of her was startling because, while it suited her purposes, it might be a little too close to the truth. Bernard was good at reading people, with a lot of experience behind him, and she’d do well to remember that she was the rookie not him.

They were speaking to each other in Dutch because the conversation was private, but the Americans appeared to be uncomfortable with it so she switched over to English and addressed the entire table. “Women need to be cautious around men if they want to be taken seriously in the business world. Would you gentlemen agree?”

One of the Americans, a bluff, friendly man with red cheeks and a thick Texas accent, shook his head. “It depends on what you mean by cautious. I’d like to think we’ve come a long way in the last twenty years. The women working for me were hired because they had the right mix of education and experience. They have equal footing.”

“Would you have an office affair with one of them? Or condone any relationship between two of your employees if one was in a position of authority over another?” she pressed him. On one hand she wanted Bernard to believe that any interest she had in Harry was all about what he could do for her. And that yes, she would go after whatever she wanted if it would further her career.

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