Читать книгу The Boss's Christmas Proposal - Allison Leigh - Страница 6

“You have decided to what?”

Kimiko Taka managed not to cringe at her father’s very cool, very controlled question. Mori Taka rarely lost his temper, but she knew if he were going to, she would probably be the cause of it. A quick glance at her stepmother, Helen, told her that even she was looking somewhat distressed.

Kimi moistened her lips and tried not to look as nervous as she felt. “I have decided not to go back to school,” she repeated.

Her father’s eyes could not be a darker brown. She knew that, because when she looked in the mirror each morning, she saw that very same near-obsidian looking back at her. But at that moment, she felt quite certain that his eyes turned from brown to cold shards of jet.

“Is that so?” His tone became even milder. “Am I supposed to be more pleased by this decision of yours than I was when you last left school—because of expulsion? What do you plan to do with your time? Shop? Attend movie premieres with unsuitable escorts? Be photographed on topless beaches?”

Her hands curled. It had been one beach, and she had not been topless, exactly, but arguing the point would not earn her any points.

“Mori.” Helen had been sitting next to Kimi’s father since Kimi had entered the study of their lavish Chicago home. As always, Kimi’s stepmother was the perfectly beautiful blond foil for her dark, powerfully built husband, and now she slid her slender hand over Mori’s shoulder.

There had been a time—a time that Kimi could still remember—when her most intimidating father would not have allowed such familiarity. Not even from a loved one. More to the point, maybe, no one would have dared such familiarity.

Helen had changed all of that, though. She had changed Mori’s life. And Kimi’s. She was the only mother that Kimi had known, since her own had died when she was a baby.

“Perhaps we should let Kimi explain,” Helen finished calmly. But the green gaze she focused on Kimi held a plea that the explanation had better be good.

Kimi managed not to wring her hands. The truth was, she hated worrying Helen just as much as she did her father. “I—I want to work for the corporation,” she said, in more of a rush than she would have liked. She really, really hated feeling defensive.

Perhaps she had inherited that trait from her father.

His expression was inscrutable, though she detected a faint thinning of his lips.

She moistened her lips again. “I believe I will receive a more important education in the real world, Papa. My professors—” She broke off, aware that her father probably did not want to hear another rehashing of her low opinion of her professors.

What was it about even the most educated of individuals that they could be so preoccupied by a person’s pedigree? Even when she had tried to fail a course, she had not been allowed to. Her professors had always found some reason to make allowances for her. Some reason to change a well-deserved failing grade into a passing one. Anything to honor the family name.

Mori was not looking any more convinced. Even the faintly encouraging expression on Helen’s face was looking strained.

If Kimi were not careful, she was either going to start crying or stomp her foot with temper and prove that she was the child everyone believed her to be.

She rose from the couch facing her parents. “Everyone in this family has been able to contribute in some way to TAKA-Hanson. Everyone except me. I am asking for an opportunity. Let me start somewhere. I will learn. I will work hard.”

“Like you worked hard at those mediocre grades you managed to earn?”

She winced. Mediocre indeed, but still passing, when she had intentionally tried to fail. “Working for the family business will be different. You have my promise. If I fail you—” she swallowed, thinking about the numerous times she had already done that “—or disgrace you, I will never ask for another favor.”

Mori’s lips compressed. His gaze flicked to his wife, then back to Kimi. She knew it had to be her imagination that there was a trace of humor in his eyes. Her father had very little reason to feel humorous where she was concerned, and she knew it. She knew that his reaction was deserved.

“I will follow whatever direction you set for me,” she added, feeling decidedly desperate.

“Even if that means agreeing to a suitable marriage?”

She barely kept her jaw from dropping. She looked at Helen. “Um…”

“Mori,” Helen chided softly. “You’re beginning to sound like your father.” Mori looked irritated, but Helen did not seem to let that bother her as she turned again to Kimi. “Perhaps Kimi should be given this opportunity. I’ll find someplace for her in our new hospitality division. The Taka Kyoto still has openings.”

Kimi’s lips parted, but she managed to contain the protest that had immediately sprung to life. She was Japanese by birth. Had been raised in Japan for much of her childhood. But the United States was the country of her heart. She had rather hoped to stay here—maybe even be part of the Taka Chicago, which was scheduled to open the following year. She had never thought she would be shuttled off to Japan.

“What does Kimi know about hotels?” Mori asked, as if she were not even present. “Other than staying in one?”

She was glad he didn’t add some caustic comment about the reasons she had supposedly been caught in some of those hotels.

Helen was ever positive, though. “She was studying business administration, Mori. Plus she’s bright, she’s capable and she’s energetic. As she said, she can learn.”

“She is a child.”

“She is twenty-one,” Kimi inserted, trying not to be too sarcastic, knowing that it would not help her cause.

Mori and Helen both looked back at her. “The development and opening of Taka Hotels has been a major undertaking,” Helen said, her soft voice serious. “I—we’ve—courted the finest people in the world to bring it about. It’s not a playground for you, darling.”

“I am not looking for a playground.”

“What are you looking for, Kimi-chan?”

Kimi eyed her father. She wanted to prove herself on her own merits. Just for once. “I want to be a credit to the Taka name.” That was also true and probably more in line with her father’s desires. “I believe I can do that better in the real world than I can in the academic one.” The only proof she had been finding in school was that she was never treated impartially.

He made a low “hmm,” clearly unconvinced.

But it was Helen who spoke. “I’ll speak with our general manager in Kyoto. See if there’s anything suitable.”

Kimi curtailed the urge to leap across the cocktail table to hug her stepmother. Kyoto or not, at least it was a chance. “Thank you. I will not disappoint you.”

But her inward grin faltered when her father pinned her with his hard gaze. “See that you do not, Kimiko. See that you do not.”