Twelve Days The Beginning - By Jade Reyner Page 0,109

way and Elise glanced over his shoulder, trying to see if she could get the attention of one of the others who were stood only a few feet away.

“Well...” he said, his voice rough and raspy, like he had smoked one too many, “You can start by telling me how much you charge.”

Elise tried to get around him again without success. “Well, Sir,” she replied, “If you wouldn’t mind letting me just squeeze past, then I can pick up a leaflet for you which details all of our services and charges. I think that you will find the rates competitive, particularly when you consider that we are a one-stop shop for all of your client’s accounting needs.”

Instead of obliging, the man moved closer to her, invading her personal space and forcing her to move back towards the wall. Helplessly she glanced across at the others again but was alarmed to see that only Sam remained at the stand and he had his back to her talking to another delegate. Shit. She was on her own.

“I don’t need a leaflet, darlin’” the man continued, his breath now close enough for Elise to smell the slight stench of alcohol. “I just need to know what your rates are - for your services – simple as that.”

Stay calm, remain professional. Stay calm, remain professional. She chanted the mantra in her head, briefly wondering where Vaughn was. She hadn’t seen him in a while; perhaps he was in the main conference room?

“As I said, Sir,” she tried again, “there are leaflets with all the information that you need on the stand just over there. If you’ll let me get past then I can get whatever it is that you are interested in. Excuse me.”

She pushed against him slightly, indicating her intention to pass to his left and to get to the relative safety of the stand, hopefully alerting Sam at the same time. Elise wasn’t entirely sure what this guy’s problem was but she was starting to feel a little nervous and needed him out of her personal space.

Unfortunately, pushing against him had the exact opposite effect and he moved back against her, blocking her way even more and screening her from the view of anyone passing by – including Sam on the stand.

She weighed up her options. She could scream. That would certainly work although it would put a negative slant on the conference if she caused a scene and at the moment, the man hadn’t technically done anything wrong. She could try pushing him away again but he was substantially bigger than her and she had already realised that touching him was not going to achieve the response that she required. The only other option she could come up with was to try to talk to him, reason with him and work out exactly what it was that he wanted – maybe this could still have a positive outcome. She had reasoned with a very drunk Dale on a number of occasions, maybe she could employ the same skills here.

“So, if it’s not the information that you are looking for, perhaps you would like me to book you an appointment with one of our advisors who will be more than happy to go through all of your requirements with you? I can check our diary for availability right now.” Elise was amazed at how calm and patient her voice sounded considering how much she was trembling inside.

“Now we’re talking,” the man said and Elise immediately felt relieved. She had got through to him and all she needed to do now was edge past him to grab the diary.

Unfortunately he hadn’t finished.

“Not that diary,” he said and grabbed her arm as she went to move past him, “Your diary – your own personal diary.”

The penny finally dropped and Elise belatedly realised that there was no easy way out of this situation. She was stuck, she was on her own and she had to toughen it out.

“Look Sir, I need you to let go of my arm. If you continue to cause me difficulties then I will have no option but to scream for help and arrange for the police to be called. Neither of us wants that to happen so please, just let go of me and we can both go about our day, forgetting that this ever happened.”

The man tightened his grip. “Lady, you can call the police, you can call the whole friggin’ army for all I care; I’ve already lost