Tom Forrester, head of the Federal Bank's financial markets division in Sydney, tilted back on his swivel chair, phone jammed against one ear, barking staccato instructions into the handpiece. Blatantly he gave Nicola Pearson a silent but comprehensive once-over. 

It is the mid-90s and Nicola has been hired to devise a new system to manage the trading risks of the bank. She has to prove herself professionally and intellectually to win over men like Tom. Confident of her workforce skills, she does not trust men after her husband left her in the lurch.

And this man rattled her from the start. She'd never met him - he had recently returned from a three-year stint in London - but a shock of recognition had zapped her brain. The most important person in her world shared the exact colour of his penetrating eyes - deep midnight blue.

"Trading Secrets"

by Louisa Valentine