Читать книгу In Bed with the Boss - Christine Rimmer - Страница 8

Chapter One

The present…

In the humid darkness of a warm June night, a long, black limousine eased up to the curb of a modest brick bungalow in the Chicago suburb of Forest Park.

Inside the luxurious car, Shelly Winston turned to the uncle she’d met for the first time that evening. “Would you like to come in? I could—”

“Sorry.” Drake Thatcher, handsome as an old-time movie star, with coal-black hair and eyes to match, waved away her offer before she’d finished making it. “Thanks, Shelly. I really can’t. I’ve got a flight to catch. I want to be touching down at Teterboro two hours from now.”

Teterboro. Even Shelly, who didn’t travel in exclusive circles, had heard of the New Jersey airport where all the rich people kept their private jets. The Kennedys flew in and out of Teterboro. And of course her long-lost uncle did, too. Drake was rich, after all. At dinner, he’d told her about his bicoastal lifestyle. He owned a penthouse on the Upper East Side, a beachfront estate in Miami and a Century City condo in Southern California.

The dinner Shelly had just enjoyed had been the finest she’d ever tasted. The lobster had been flavored with hyacinth vapor, whatever that was. And the licorice cake she’d devoured for dessert had been topped with a special muscovado sugar. The menu had no prices on it, but she had a feeling the tab and tip together would have taken care of her mortgage payment for the month—her mortgage which wasn’t overdue yet. But would be. Soon.

“Thank you, then,” she said sincerely. “For the wonderful dinner. And even more, for the lead on that job at TAKA-Hanson. It sounds like just the kind of thing I’m looking for.” Not to mention what I need. Bad.

Drake pushed a button and the privacy window behind the driver slid up the rest of the way. Then he leaned across the plush seat toward her, bringing with him the smell of expensive aftershave. It was a fine scent, but he’d laid it on a little too heavily.

He pitched his voice to a confidential level. “I mean it, Shelly. You need to get on that tomorrow. Make a move and make it fast. It just so happens you’re in luck with this. I got word that the job would be opening up ahead of their HR department. But it’ll be snapped up before noon, take my word on it.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll be there waiting when they open the doors.”

“Excellent.” He patted her shoulder and sat back in his own seat again, taking the heavy cloud of pricey cologne with him.

“Well, I’ll let you get going then. I mean it. Thanks so much.”

“One more thing.…”

“Sure.”

He glanced away, then back to her. “It’s not a big deal, just…you might be wiser not to mention my name at TAKA-Hanson.”

Shelly frowned. “But I don’t see—”

Another wave of his well-manicured hand. “Shelly. I’m sure you know that the business world is a cutthroat one. Unfortunately, in the past, I’ve found myself going head-to-head with more than one top TAKA executive. No, it probably won’t make any difference if you mention that I suggested you apply there. But then again, why take a chance of starting out on the wrong foot with them?” His smile was wide and oh-so-charming.

And Shelly had a powerful suspicion that she was being played.

But for what? Her long-lost uncle had asked nothing of her. All he’d done was to take her out for an expensive dinner and give her a terrific lead when she happened to mention she was looking for a job.

She kept it light. “Honestly, Uncle Drake. What could the TAKA-Hanson people possibly have against a wonderful guy like you?”

Drake shrugged. And backed off the point. “Listen. If you feel more comfortable telling the clerks in HR that your uncle suggested you should apply there, go for it.” He glanced at his Rolex. “And I’ve got to get rolling.”

“Thanks again.”

“Don’t mention it. I’m glad we got together. Call me. Soon. I want to hear all about how much you love your new job.”

Inside the house, Shelly turned on the air-conditioning. The day had been hotter than usual for early June and the house was stuffy. She’d been doing without air-conditioning over the last couple of unseasonably warm days. It cost money to keep the place cool—even a small house like hers.

But she could afford to splurge on a little cool air tonight. Because tomorrow she was getting that job. It was exactly the kind of top executive assistant position she’d been looking for.

She flopped to the sofa and grabbed a throw pillow to hug. “TAKA-Hanson, here I come!” The cheer in her voice sounded more than a little forced.

But why wouldn’t it? All she had was a tip, after all. There were no guarantees. Maybe someone else had an inside track on the position, too. Maybe her uncle had been wrong and there was no position, after all.

The house seemed so empty. She missed Max. A lot.

Shelly tossed the pillow aside and reached for the phone, auto-dialing her mom’s number.

“Hello. Winston residence. This is Norma.” Norma Winston had been a librarian for over thirty years. She’d retired five years before, but she still answered the phone in a formal tone.

“Hey, Mom.”

“Honey. Hi.”

“I know he’s asleep, huh?”

“That child.” A world full of love was in those two simple words.

“Keeping you busy, is he?”

“I love every minute of it.” Six-year-old Max stayed with his grandparents for a month every summer. Shelly’s mom and her dad, Doug, loved having him there. And Max loved the time he spent with them. Shelly missed her son. A lot. But she enjoyed the break from single parenthood, too. Especially this year, when she’d been out of work for three months and was starting to get seriously stressed about it.

“Give him a big kiss for me, huh? Tell him I’ll call tomorrow.”

“You know he’d rather call you.”

“No kidding.” It was Max’s latest thing. Memorizing important phone numbers, making the calls himself. “Okay. Have him call about six. I’ll be home by then.”

“Home by then?” her mother echoed hopefully. “Something come up on the job front?”

“Oh, Mom. Cross your fingers for me and say a little prayer.”

“Honey, you know I will.”

“I heard about this great job opening up. Just tonight, as a matter of fact. You’ll never guess who I heard it from.…”

“Someone I know?”

“Uncle Drake.”

“Drake…Thatcher?” Her mom sounded as surprised to hear her half brother’s name as Shelly had been when she’d picked up the phone and heard his deep, smooth voice on the other end. Norma Winston and Drake moved in completely different circles. They exchanged Christmas cards, but that was about the extent of their keeping in touch.

“He called this afternoon. He was in town, he said, just for the day. He wanted to meet me. He said it was about time.”

“Well. I guess so.…” Her mother’s voice trailed off. Shelly knew she was wondering what could possibly have inspired her half brother suddenly to take an interest in Shelly, when up until now he’d behaved as if she didn’t exist.

“It is kind of strange, huh?” Shelly voiced her doubts. “I mean, him calling up out of the blue like that?”

“No. No, of course it isn’t. I think it’s…nice. It’s never too late to get to know your family.”

Shelly smiled again. Her mother was such a sweetie. Norma’s father, Bart Thatcher, had divorced Shelly’s grandmother and married “up” into a wealthy New York family, leaving his original family behind. Drake was the first child of Bart’s second marriage. He’d grown up rich as they come, while Norma had started out with so little. But Shelly’s mom had made a good life for herself and held no grudge.

“He took me to dinner,” Shelly said. “And when I told him I was looking for a job, he said there was something coming available at TAKA-Hanson. You’ve heard of Hanson North America, right?”

“Oh, yes.” Norma Winston prided herself on staying informed. She took three newspapers: the Mt. Vernon Register-News, the Tribune and the New York Times. She read all three, too.

“Uncle Drake says Hanson Media merged with a giant Japanese company called TAKA Corporation some years back, becoming Hanson North America here in the States. Since then, under the name TAKA-Hanson, the merged company branched out into other things, beyond the media business. Including this way upscale, exclusive hotel chain. I guess Uncle Drake’s got an ‘in’ there or something, though he was pretty vague about how he knew the job would be open.”

“But you’re excited?”

“Yeah. I am. I have a feeling this is it.”

“Well. I know it is.”

“Mom. That’s what I love about you and Dad. You’re always so sure good things will happen.”

“Because they will,” her mother said. And then she laughed. “Nothing but good news ahead.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“Of course I’m right.”

Shelly was ready and waiting at the TAKA-Hanson building the next day when the human resources office opened. She turned in her résumé and made it through two tiers of interviews. When asked what brought her to apply at TAKA-Hanson, she played it safe and left her uncle Drake out of it.

“I like what I’ve heard about the company,” she said. It was true. She’d spent two hours on the Internet before bed the night before, researching like crazy, learning all she could about TAKA-Hanson, which had home offices in Chicago and Tokyo. “And it occurred to me I ought to come in and get my résumé on file,” she added. “Just in case.”

The woman across the desk nodded. “As it happens, your timing is perfect. We’ve learned this morning that Tom Holloway, CFO in our hospitality division, will be needing a new assistant.”

Yes! Inside, Shelly was jumping up and down, doing the happy dance. But when she spoke, it was in her most polished, professional tone. “It sounds like exactly what I’m looking for.”

The woman clicked her mouse and frowned at her computer screen. “If you’ve got time, I’d like to go ahead and send you upstairs now. You’ll meet with Verna Reed, the woman you would be replacing.”

“I have time. Definitely.”

The elevator ride to the top floor seemed to last forever. But the doors slid wide at last and a slim, fiftyish woman was waiting on the other side. “Shelly? I’m Verna. Follow me.…”

They went to Verna’s desk in a roomy alcove outside a closed door with Tom Holloway’s name on it. Verna looked over Shelly’s résumé and explained the job duties and asked questions about how Shelly might handle this or that situation. Shelly felt she did well. And she liked Verna, who was friendly and down-to-earth.

“I love this job,” Verna confessed. “The money’s great, there’s lots of variety—and Tom Holloway is my hands-down favorite as bosses go. But my husband’s retiring. You should see the RV he went out and bought. We’ve always said someday we’d travel together, see America, all that.” She cocked her neatly combed head. “Let me see if Tom can spare a minute or two for you right now. What do you say?”

Shelly’s heart did a forward roll. Yes! “I’d love to meet Tom.”

Two minutes later, Verna ushered her into the sunlit corner office. The man behind the wide desk looked up. He had gorgeous blue eyes. “Shelly. Hi.” He rose to greet her.

His jacket was nowhere in evidence and his silk shirt, which exactly matched those unforgettable eyes, was rolled to below the elbows. She took the hand he offered. His grip was solid. Strong.

When he released her hand, he gestured toward a nearby chair. She sat.

“Verna seems to think she’s already found her replacement.” He had a great voice. Deep and firm. Warm. And so…manly.

She grinned then. She just couldn’t help it. “I think so. And I really hope you think so, too.”

He had her résumé and application up on his computer. “Let me have a look here.…”

She waited, thinking how attractive he was, wondering if she was happy about that or not. Having a hunky boss could be a distraction.

But hey. She could learn to live with that. She could learn, easy.

“Everything seems to be in order here.” He sent her an approving glance. “Two years at Southern Illinois University studying business…and until a month ago, you were managing the office at Coffey Fire Alarm, Incorporated?”

“That’s right. Life kind of got in the way of my getting my degree.” Life in the form of a beautiful baby boy. “And at Coffey, I wanted a promotion. And more money. They were happy with my work—you can see they gave me a great letter of recommendation. But they’re a small company. I was running the office for them. That was the best they had to offer.”

“So you quit.”

“Yes. I loved working at Coffey. But after making several requests for a raise and a promotion, and being told there was nothing available unless I wanted to move over into sales, I felt the job was going nowhere. I wanted to be free to look full-time for something better.” She didn’t mention the sleepless nights since then, the worry and the guilt. What sensible single mom quit her job when she didn’t have another one lined up? At the time she handed in her resignation, she’d felt she just couldn’t bear another day in the job that went nowhere. But months without a paycheck had shown her otherwise.

Tom was nodding. Did that mean he liked her answer?

God. Interviews. Like walking through a minefield of handshakes and loaded questions and cordial smiles.

“What brings you to TAKA-Hanson?”

He would have to ask that one. She hated to lie. And really, why not just tell him the truth? Her uncle’s name was on the tip of her tongue. But with her savings on life support and the perfect job in the palm of her hand, she couldn’t do it, couldn’t take the risk of losing what she needed so much.

She played it safe and trotted out the same story she’d given the woman down in HR. It seemed to fly.

“You’ve heard about our hotel project, then?” he asked.

She had. From Drake, when he’d told her about the job. And from her research the night before. “I saw that article in the Tribune. The Taka San Francisco will open in the fall, right?”

“A soft opening,” he said. “Gives us a chance to work out the kinks. Our grand opening will be in Kyoto, Japan, over the holidays.” He was quiet again, studying his computer screen. “I see there’s a child.”

“Yes. My son, Maxwell. He’s going into first grade this year.”

“You’re not married,” he said thoughtfully, his eyes on the monitor. She’d checked Single on the application.

She hitched up her chin. “That’s right. It’s just Max and me.”

“I’m guessing your ex-husband has the boy some of the time?”

“There is no ex-husband. In fact, Max’s father is not in the picture.”

“You’re…on your own?”

Irritation made her curt. “Yes.” What business was it of his that Max’s dad hadn’t wanted a kid? “Is that important, somehow?”

He sat back from the computer screen and rested his elbows on the arms of his plush leather chair. “I don’t mean to offend you.” His sincere tone and direct gaze banished her annoyance.

“You haven’t.” Or if he had at first, she was over it.

“I only asked about the child’s care because I travel. To the west coast and to Kyoto, currently, to keep an eye on construction and development at our flagship sites. I’m gone for several days a month. Sometimes I’ll go on my own, but more often than not, I’ll need my assistant with me. Will you be able to manage that, with your son to consider?”

Okay, it wouldn’t be easy. But she could make it work. Because she had to. “If I have at least twenty-four hours’ notice, I can make arrangements for my son’s care. And for the next few weeks, it won’t be an issue. Max is down in Mount Vernon—that’s my hometown. In southern Illinois, not all that far from St. Louis. He’s staying with my parents.”

Those dreamboat-blue eyes measured her. Did he find her lacking somehow? Did he have doubts that she could handle a demanding job, with travel, and take care of her son?

Shelly sat tall. Though her palms felt clammy and her pulse raced, she faked calmness and confidence for all she was worth.

A sweet, open, girl-next-door face, a megawatt smile and a sharp mind. Plus, she took no crap from anyone. Even a prospective boss.

Tom had liked Shelly on sight. Not only did she seem exactly right for the job, there was something… direct about her. Something true. Her handshake was firm, her references good ones. Tom had the feeling he’d be able to count on Shelly Winston, that he’d quickly come to trust her.

Strange, to find himself thinking of trusting someone he’d just met. As a rule, he was more cautious. He’d learned early that it never paid to trust anyone until they’d proved they could be depended on.

Whatever. The point was, she seemed competent. Quick on the uptake and qualified.

He was damned relieved to find someone so quickly. If he had to lose efficient, dependable Verna, his assistant since he’d come to TAKA-Hanson, at least it was looking as though he had her replacement lined up.

He scrolled through the paperwork once more. Everything seemed in order. All he had to do was give the final okay and HR would confirm her references. By tomorrow, Verna would be showing her the ropes.

“It says here you can start right away.…”

She beamed him that beautiful smile. “The sooner the better, as far as I’m concerned.”

“Mom. You can tell me. Are you missing me too much?” Max used his most serious voice.

“Yes,” she said, hugging the phone to her shoulder, wishing he was there so she could hug him in person. “I miss you more than words can ever say.”

“You don’t need me to come home or anything, do you?”

“Do you want to come home?”

He hesitated. “Uh. Well…”

She smiled to herself. “I think you mean no.”

“Well. I’m having a whole lot of fun, that’s all. But I’ll come home if you need me.”

“You stay right there. And don’t worry. I’ll be fine. I promise. Tell me about what you’ve been up to with Granny and Grandpa?”

“I caught two frogs down at the creek today.”

“Big ones?”

“Yep.” Her parents had two acres. A small stream ran about a thousand yards behind the house. “Granny let me keep them in a jar. I even punched holes in the top so that they can breathe. But I only get to keep them for a day, she said. I have to let them go so they can eat a lot of flies. I caught some pollywogs, too. One has legs. I want to watch it turn into a frog, but that takes time, Granny says. And Grandpa took me to get ice cream yesterday. I had vanilla. I like vanilla.…”

He babbled away, intent on sharing each small, special detail of his summer at his grandma’s house. Shelly listened and made admiring, interested noises at the right moments, all the while picturing his pointy little chin and his thick, unruly wheat-colored hair. One big cowlick, that hair of his. It stuck up from his head even when she tried to comb it down.

She wondered if he’d lost his glasses again, or broken them. The thought brought another grin. She could afford to grin over broken glasses now. She had a job. They’d be calling to tell her she was hired tomorrow. She just knew they would. Tom had as good as said she was hired, though the formal offer had yet to be made.

Finally, Max ran out of steam. “And that’s all. I’m having fun, like I said. And I’m being good. And I had a little problem with my glasses when I left them in Grandpa’s chair and he sat on them. But it’s okay. Granny taped them up good as new.”

“I’m sure she did.” She made a mental note to call the optometrist and have another pair made. “I love you.”

“Love you, too. I think I better call you again. I think it should be soon. You know, so you won’t have to miss me too much.”

She suggested Saturday and named a time.

“Okay. I’ll call you then. Granny’s here to talk to you now.…”

Norma didn’t bother with hellos. She went straight for, “Well? How did it go?”

“Really good, Mom.”

“You got the job?” Her mother sounded almost as excited as Shelly felt.

“I think so. I should know for sure tomorrow.”

“I just know this is it, honey.”

“Oh, Mom. I hope you’re right.”

“Of course I’m right. You’re going to get that job.”

Shelly hardly slept that night. She couldn’t wait for morning and the phone call she felt certain was coming. She was up at six, dressed and ready to take on the world by a quarter of seven.

Too keyed up to eat, she sat at the two-person table in her small kitchen, staring at the phone in front of her, drinking cup after cup of strong, black coffee.

Nine o’clock went by. Ten. Ten-thirty…

At ten after eleven, the damn thing finally rang. Shelly jumped in surprise and then gaped at it, hardly daring to believe, almost afraid to answer for fear it would be some telemarketer or a friend from her old job calling to ask how she’d been doing.

She let it ring twice, just to prove that she could, and then she snatched it up in the middle of the third ring. “Hello?”

“Shelly Winston, please.” It was one of the women from TAKA-Hanson HR.

Shelly spoke with great poise as she accepted the job. With amazing composure, considering the fact that she could now do miraculous things: pay her mortgage, order new glasses for Max, head over to Dominick’s and buy herself a fat filet mignon, and not care in the least that it was seventeen dollars a pound. “I’ll be at the office tomorrow at nine. Goodbye.” She hung up the phone.

And then she ran around the house yelling, “Yes, yes, yes, yes!”

Once she’d finished shouting out her joy, she called her mother and basked in Norma’s pleasure and praise. Before she hung up, her mom said, “When you call your uncle to thank him, thank him for me, too.”

“I will, Mom.”

Drake. She certainly did owe him a big, fat thank-you. She called. And got his voice mail.

“Uncle Drake. It’s Shelly. I just want to thank you. I got that job at TAKA-Hanson. I can’t tell you how much this means to me. Thank you.…” She let out a self-conscious laugh. “But I guess I said that already. Oh. And my mom says thank you, too.…”

What else? She couldn’t think of anything. She said goodbye and hung up.

After that, she got out all her unpaid bills and wrote the checks, addressed and stamped the envelopes and put them in the mail. Because she could. Then she went to the store and bought groceries, including a small, beautiful, way-too-expensive filet mignon. She also applied for a passport. And since she would probably be needing it soon, she paid extra to get it fast.

The afternoon went by in a warm glow of anticipation for the job she just knew she was going to love.

Shelly did love her new job.

And she really liked her new boss. Truthfully, she liked Tom a little too much, and she knew it. There was just something about him—beyond his good looks and strong handshake, his sense of humor and that tempting aura of power and command he wore so confidently. There were…shadows behind his eyes. Though he never came across as brooding or sad, she still had a feeling he’d been through tough times—and come out a better man for them.

She constantly reminded herself that a feeling was not reality. He’d probably been born into privilege. And if he’d suffered, it had been over whether to go to Harvard or Yale.

Yes, she liked him. And she was attracted to him. But so what? Nothing was going to come of it. She was there to work, not to get involved with the boss.

On her fifth day on the job, Verna announced she was leaving a week earlier than she’d planned.

“After all,” the older woman said. “No point in having the two of us in each other’s hair when it’s perfectly clear to me you can handle everything just fine on your own. I’m going to talk to Tom about this right now. I’m thinking I’ll finish out the week on call. I’ll be out of your way, but you can give me a buzz if necessary. Monday, you’re on your own. And Hank and I will hit the road. What do you say to that?”

“I say I really hate to see you go…”

Verna laughed. “But you can’t wait for the chance to have this desk to yourself. Well, it’s all yours. Starting tomorrow, I’m outta here.”

The phone was ringing when Shelly got home that night. She raced in the door and grabbed it on the fourth ring, just before her machine picked up.

It was her uncle Drake. “I hear you’re exceeding expectations at that new job of yours.”

“How do you know so much?”

“I thought I explained that. There are always ways…” Which explained exactly nothing.

“Uncle Drake, I’m starting to think you have spies at TAKA-Hanson.” She said the words jokingly, even though she had a feeling he did have spies at the company. He would have to, wouldn’t he, to have known about her job before anyone else did, to have found out that she was doing well when she’d been there a week and was still, technically at least, a trainee?

He went on as if she hadn’t spoken. “Assistant to the CFO, hospitality division. I like the sound of that.”

“Me, too.” She reminded herself that she ought to be grateful to him. She was grateful to him. “And seriously. I love this job. It’s exactly what I was hoping to find. And thanks to you, I did find it. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your mentioning that it might become available.”

“Glad to help. Now, I want you to get good and settled in. Prove yourself trustworthy. That’s important. Next time I’m in Chicago, we’ll have dinner again. We’ll talk. I might have a favor or two to ask by then.”

Alarm jangled through her. Was her long-lost uncle setting her up somehow? For what?

Cautiously, she asked, “What kind of favor are we talking about here?”

“No need to get ahead of ourselves.”

“But I really would like to know. You keep hinting that there’s something I can do for you, but you never—”

“Well, I was thinking along the lines of a little… information gathering. As Holloway’s assistant, you’ll have access to certain sensitive material I can’t get any other way.”

“Access to what, exactly?”

“Later. Right now, you only need to do your new job and do it well.”

“Uncle Drake, are you telling me you want to spy for you?”

She heard him sigh. “We’re getting ahead of ourselves, don’t you think?”

“No, I don’t. I need to know specifically what you’re going to expect me to—”

Again he interrupted her. “Don’t worry, Shelly. I just wanted to congratulate you and tell you to keep up the good work. I’ll call you. Soon.”

Before she could say another word, she heard the click on the other end. He’d hung up. She set the phone down carefully and tried to decide what she ought to do next.

Call him back and demand specifics? She knew already what she’d get for that. He’d tell her again not to worry.

Should she call her mom, ask for advice? No. It wasn’t her mom’s problem and she didn’t want to worry her.

But the situation made her nervous. Her uncle, who’d spent most of his life behaving as if her branch of the family didn’t exist, showed up out of nowhere, wined and dined her and then told her where to go and what to do to get the kind of job she’d been seeking for months with zero success.

It was too perfect. Add his warning that she shouldn’t mention him at TAKA-Hanson? Definitely suspicious. And now he’d told her right out that in time he would want her to spy for him.

But so what? She’d done nothing wrong. She would do nothing wrong.

And until her uncle actually asked her to do something unethical, she would mind her own business and not borrow trouble.