The Man to Be Reckoned With by Tara Pammi

doesn’t mean you’re without culpability. I need to know the source of the problem between you two.”
    â€œAmmunition to make me dispensable too?”
    â€œI’m making sure it’s documented properly. It’s a standard HR policy in my group of companies.”
    * * *
    Nathan leaned back into his seat, wondering at the puzzle that Riya Mathur was. The software engine she had built, he’d been told by one of his own architects, was extraordinarily complex. And yet she blanched at using it to its full potential by expanding the client base, at spreading her wings in any way.
    â€œThis is your one chance to clear it all up,” he said, softening his voice. He wasn’t bending the rules, but he was also very curious about what happened between her and her colleague.
    â€œLast year, on New Year’s Eve, a week after we had signed up the half millionth member, we had a party. Drew was drunk. I...I had a glass of white wine. We...ended up next to each other when it struck twelve. He...kissed me. In front of the whole company.” She looked away. But the small tremble that went through her couldn’t be hidden. “I kissed him back...I think. Before I remembered to put a stop to it.”
    â€œYou think? It’s not rocket science.”
    She glared at him and pushed her hair back. “I don’t know what happened or how I let it happen. Just that it was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done. In my defense, I had got the news that day that Robert was out of danger and with Travelogue making such a big milestone...” She ran shaking fingers over her face. “I’ve been kicking myself for losing control like that. I never meant to...”
    â€œEnjoy a kiss?”
    â€œYes. For one thing, it was unprofessional. For another, it was reckless on so many levels. A relationship with any man is not in my plan right now. Career is my focus.”
    Nathan frowned, seeing embarrassment and something else. He admired her drive to succeed in her career, understood that it might leave very little time for a personal life. If not for the thread of wistfulness in her face.
    Every time he had a conversation with her, he was struck sharp by how innocent she was. Yet from everything Maria had told him with grudging respect, Riya had always worked hard, pretty much taken care of herself even when she was a child. Had helped his father every way she could.
    The parameters of her life—Travelogue and its current client base, the estate, his father and her mother—they were all so rigidly defined. To step out of any of them, he realized, sent her into a tailspin.
    And the one kiss reflected her age, she was calling it a momentary lapse in judgment.
    â€œYou have a plan for your life?” he asked, disbelief slowly cycling into something far more insidious.
    She fidgeted in her seat. “A road map, yes... Drew is too volatile, unreliable. When I’m ready to settle down in a decade or so, I want a stable man who’ll stand by me for the rest of my life, who’ll be a good husband and father. Right now I can’t allow myself to be sidetracked by—”
    Slow anger simmered to life inside him. “It seems your plan allows for everything except living.”
    Her gaze flew to him.
    Nathan uncurled his fist, willing the unbidden anger to leave him. She was of no consequence to him. None.
    What did it matter to him if the naive fool spent the rest of her life slaving over the estate and company, wasting her life instead of living it?
    â€œDo you have a list of qualities and a timeline for when you’ll meet and mate with this ideal specimen of manhood too?”
    Her gaze flashed with warning. “My personal life has no bearing on you. I’m only telling you this because you’re questioning my professional behavior.”
    â€œYet you dare ask me questions about my visits, about where I’ve been all these