Читать книгу Marrying the Boss - Megan Kelly - Страница 11

Leanne swallowed a sigh as she inspected the Collins financial reports. CoCo basically owned every kind of small firm imaginable. Everything one needed, CoCo had taken over a company that made it. They specialized in buying small-to medium-sized companies, revamping them with either an administrative clean sweep or a production overhaul, then selling the company again for a profit.

She would lose this challenge to Mark, and her lack of knowledge irked her. She didn’t know of any business in trouble. She couldn’t find any product CoCo needed to make at the companies it currently owned. Leanne tossed the report on her desk to rub her temples. Mark had found her a middle-management-sized office. She’d had no inclination, nor time, to decorate it, so it sat bare and uninspiring with its beige walls and carpet. It felt unused, unmoved-into, just a transitory space.

Leanne sighed. Pretty soon, she wouldn’t even have a temporary spot at Collins. She’d be back at school in her real office. Fortunately, she’d been scheduled to teach one night class on Monday and two day classes which met Tuesdays and Thursdays. She’d shown up at CoCo Monday, Wednesday and Friday of the last two weeks, sometimes in a catatonic state, but trying nevertheless. For all the good it would do her.

Mark, however, didn’t share that problem. He knew which companies CoCo had been looking at for takeover. He’d come up with ideas for products to manufacture. Glancing at her desk made her groan; she owned several Collins desk accessories, although, since they sported the brand name, Mark of Excellence, she hadn’t known that. All the Mark of Excellence products had begun as Mark Collins’s ideas. His little improvements on everyday items had made CoCo a fortune.

An idea for a new product line stumped her. She’d looked into their client list and drawn a blank there, too. She hated to admit defeat, but the challenge ended tomorrow.

“Something I can help you with?”

Leanne stiffened at the sound of Mark’s voice at her doorway. She gave him a small, tight smile. “No, I’m fine.”

They’d run into each other as she’d inspected different departments in the company. He exuded confidence and control. Mark ran the operations as acting head until the competition decided their futures. Never had she seen him so much as ruffle his hair in frustration over the double stresses of keeping CoCo going and vying for the right to do so.

“Have you had lunch?”

She eyed him. Every time she saw him, he wore a dark business suit. This one, a navy blue, showed off his wide shoulders, narrow waist and long legs. Mark always appeared professionally turned out. His hair lay in tidy near-black neatness. His tie always coordinated.

She felt underdressed. Her brown pantsuit had worked at the university but didn’t fit here. No doubt she looked harassed and wrinkled compared to his cool assurance. She’d never be able to think of an answer to the challenge. She had so much to learn—

“Leanne?”

Pulled from her panic over the project, Leanne couldn’t remember his question. “I’m sorry. What did you say?”

“Have you had lunch?”

His faint smile annoyed her. He knew all too well she hadn’t been eating at the lunchroom here. He knew she hadn’t come up with a product or a client or—

“Is that a no?”

She shook her head. “No.” No, I haven’t eaten, and no, I won’t eat with you.

“Well, if you have time, I’d like to take you to lunch.”

She opened her mouth to decline. He raised his palm to halt her.

“Before you say no, let me suggest a truce. No company talk. I thought maybe we should get to know one another.” His shoulders moved in an awkward shrug. “We are family, of a sort.”

His suggestion threw her off-balance. Although formal, it was still an overture. She didn’t expect him to be charming or personable, but here he was, reaching out to her. She could ignore the rush of attraction she felt, but she couldn’t deny its existence. Mark usually came across as aloof, except in Gloria’s presence. Then he seemed rigid and proper, with a fine edge of tension.

Gloria. Something niggled at the back of Leanne’s mind. Something to do with this lunch invitation and his mother, but she couldn’t recall it. Without a valid reason to excuse herself, Leanne said, “Lunch would be nice.”

Mark grinned, and she had to catch her breath. Genuine humor lit his eyes, created dimples and nearly made her swoon. If he weren’t off-limits to her, she might have had to reach for support. She’d never seen this side of him.

“That’s a very cautious acceptance,” he said, “but since you did agree, I’m holding you to it. Maybe after we’ve had lunch, you’ll find out I’m not so bad. Next time I ask, you might even say, ‘yes, thank you, I’d be delighted.’”

Leanne laughed, rising. “One can hope.”

He crooked his arm to escort her. She stared. Was he kidding? Besides being ridiculously old-fashioned, she would appear to be flirting with him. The Collins people would never take her seriously. “Shall I get my coat or are we eating in?”

“Let’s not eat here. We’d never have a quiet moment, and all eyes would be on us.”

She murmured her agreement as she reached his side. Whenever they’d been in the same room, all activity had stopped while the employees observed them. It unnerved her, which she tried to hide. She had enough pressure to deal with at CoCo; she didn’t need constant scrutiny. “If you’d just let me know where you’ll be, I could try to avoid you.”

“I thought you’d been doing that already.”

Leanne stopped. Had his voice held a tinge of disappointment? “No, I haven’t. I’ve just been running around the place, trying to learn everything fast.”

She mentally slapped herself. Don’t admit your vulnerabilities. It gave him an edge, and being so far behind in matters of the company, she couldn’t afford to give him any further advantage.

“I’d be happy to help you.”

She spun to face him, astounded.

His mouth hung open, his brown eyes wide. He looked so stunned, Leanne laughed. After a moment, Mark chuckled. “Well,” he said, “maybe not happy.”

“And maybe not really helpful.”

He shook his head, still smiling. “I’d like to assure you of my willingness and honorable intentions, but I’m just not that good a person.”

“You’re human.” She grabbed her jacket and purse. “In the same situation, I wouldn’t help you, either.”

He stared at her. She flashed a grin as she walked past him. His quiet laughter reached her. Maybe lunch with Mark wouldn’t be so bad, after all.

He hailed a taxi at the curb. “Moving my car just isn’t worth the hassle. I hope you don’t mind?”

She shook her head, well-acquainted with Chicago parking.

They got out at a Chinese restaurant near enough to CoCo that they could have walked. Maybe multimillionaires didn’t walk, she mused. Glancing around the room, Leanne didn’t recognize anyone. They chose a table against an inner wall for privacy. A fish tank sat in the middle of the dark paneling. “Not the CoCo—I mean, the Collins Company executives’ favorite lunch spot?”

Mark smiled. “Which is why I chose it.”

“Don’t want to be seen fraternizing with the enemy?”

“There’s that, and I thought it would be more private. I’d like to get to know you, since you’re the Lion’s daughter.”

Leanne narrowed her eyes, pretending to study the menu as the waitress set their tea before them. She doubted his motives and for good reason. “You’ve had thirty years to get to know me, Mark. I may be just a business professor, but don’t play me for a fool.”

“You think I have some other reason?”

She glanced at him. His raised eyebrow gave him a pompous, cynical air. His arrogance stiffened the hairs on her neck. “You don’t consider me much of a threat, do you?”

His gaze dropped to the menu.

Perhaps it was better he didn’t answer, she thought. Then she wouldn’t have to dump that tiny cup of weak, lukewarm tea in his lap and walk out. With a small smile, she pictured him blotting tea off his crisp slacks.

They ordered crab Rangoon and egg drop soup to start.

“Everything on the menu looks good,” Leanne said to break the silence. “I’m not picky if I don’t have to cook.” She calculated how much time she could afford to take for lunch. She needed to do some grading. She usually ate at her desk, reading, grading and adjusting her lesson plans. Although it would have been wise to chat up some of CoCo’s administration during lunch, she had two demanding “jobs” and couldn’t take the time. She had to preserve the job that paid. “Maybe the Hunan chicken.”

“Then I’ll get the Mongolian beef. We can share.”

The simple suggestion shouldn’t have bothered her, but the idea of sharing anything with Mark made her frown. The waitress appeared and took their orders.

“You want just plates?” the waitress asked. “Or I bring it family-style? You serve selves. Take what want.”

Mark frowned. “We’ll have it…We’ll serve ourselves.”

The little woman jerked her head up and down several times and left.

He couldn’t even say “family-style.” Leanne swallowed. What a disaster. She couldn’t be a casual friend with this man. He represented all the pain from her childhood, and he obviously had issues of his own regarding her.

“So,” Mark said, “how’s it going at Collins?”

She shrugged.

“I’m not trying to find out what you’re doing.” He glanced at the fish tank, drawing her eye to it also. Goldfish darted through the green plastic fronds, scattering the striped yellow and black fish. The blue-and-orange clown fish floated along, seeming not to notice the crazy flashes of gold. “Perhaps we should discuss something other than work.”

“What would that be? Our upbringings?” She bit her lip. “Mark, face it. We don’t have anything to talk about.”

“I disagree. I’m very interested in your upbringing, especially since I didn’t know anything about you until a month ago. When you say I’ve had thirty years to get to know you, you’re mistaken.”

“What do you know about me already?” She knew he’d had her investigated. She remembered the conversation she’d heard between him and Gloria the day she’d gone to CoCo to refuse the challenge. Their harsh words and indictment of her mother had changed her mind about competing.

A decision she’d made rashly and had regretted ever since.

“I know you’re a professor in business at the University of Illinois at Chicago. I know you’re single and have an apartment at the end of Rush Street.” He smiled. “An interesting location, but I don’t know what to make of it.”

“It came available five years ago. Being in the midst of all the bars and fun appealed to me then.”

The waitress set their soup in front of them. “Crab Rangoon out in minute.” She hastened away.

“And now?” Mark asked.

She tasted her soup. “It’s far enough away from UIC I feel like I’ve left work, but it’s convenient to the El, making transportation easy. I’m ten floors up, so the noise doesn’t keep me awake at night, and it’s a well-policed neighborhood.”

“I’ll bet.”

She grinned. “You didn’t party in college?”

“Sure, I did.”

She smiled to herself as she finished her soup, unable to picture him at a fraternity toga party. He struck her as so serious. “I’d like to move to a house one day. Right now, there’s no need. What about you? Where do you live?”

“I have a place at Jennings.”

“Jennings Towers? The new condos?” Leanne whistled. “I’ve heard they have a lot of square footage for a location in the city.” Pricey, too. But then, he could afford it. Another difference in their upbringings.

Mark finished his soup and set his bowl to the side with hers. As though this had been a prearranged signal, the waitress plunked down two small plates, a serving platter of crab Rangoon and a bowl of red sauce, then whisked their bowls away.

“I could use her at Collins,” Mark said, staring after the woman as she made a speedy crossing of the room. “She could help Mrs. Pickett.”

Leanne bit into the crisp fried appetizer and almost moaned. Filled with cream cheese and spices, it contained chunks of genuine crabmeat. Her lids dropped as she took another bite. “This is delicious.”

Mark’s eyes darkened to a deep rich brown. “I can tell.”

“How? You haven’t had any yet.”

He shifted in his seat. “That’s okay. I’ll just watch you eat yours.”

Leanne set the last tidbit on her plate. She cleared her throat, feeling heat wash over her face. “I enjoy good food.”

“I didn’t mean to embarrass you.” His white teeth gleamed in his smile. Her heart stuttered.

He’s your nephew. The cold, mean voice in her head had her looking away. Remind him of your relationship, she thought. Remind yourself. “What was it like growing up a Collins?”

His smile disappeared. He glanced over her shoulder, but the little waitress didn’t come running with their entrees. “Normal, I guess.”

“I don’t know anything about your father, even though he’s my half-brother. Are you like him or more like Gloria?”

“My father, I guess. I was raised to head up Collins, so I’m more business-minded than my mother.”

Leanne hunched her shoulders. Again she felt the pangs of how unfair this competition was to Mark.

“Sorry if that makes you uncomfortable,” he said, “but it’s a fact.”

Her expression must have given away her thoughts. She’d have to watch that in the business world. If she had the chance to worry about it.

The waitress brought their food, and they portioned out their servings without talking. The red peppers in the Hunan chicken burned her throat and had her reaching for water.

“What will you do when I win?” she asked.

Mark drew back, blinked, and then laughed. “You mean after rushing my mother to the E.R.?”

Leanne smiled. “Gloria will have a fit.”

He shook his head. “Gloria will have a heart attack.” He raised his teacup. “Here’s to a fair fight.”

She raised her cup and extended it toward his.

“May the best man win,” he said.

Clink. The forward motion tapped her cup against his as his words registered.

“Hey!” She snatched back her hand.

Mark chuckled, and she couldn’t help joining him.

“You’re a sneak.”

“I’m a Collins.”

She absorbed that for a moment. The longer she didn’t respond, the worse the comment sounded. “Does that mean it won’t be a fair fight?”

“I meant it as a joke, Leanne. I won’t knowingly make the competition any more unfair than it already is.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Why? What have you done?”

“You mean besides running the company since the Lion’s death? Or working there all my life? Getting all that insider knowledge you don’t have?” He tossed down a bite of Mongolian beef. “Not a thing.”

She winced. “Sorry. I don’t know you, but I do know big business. It can be cutthroat.”

Mark blew out his breath. “I tend to get upset when someone questions my integrity.”

After a moment his lips twitched. Her breath caught in her throat. She could picture them being friends. She’d lose that friendship as soon as the contest ended, no matter the outcome. She didn’t want to get close to him when it would end badly. Nevertheless, excitement shivered over her skin.

“I’ll remember that,” she said. “No cracks about your integrity. Wouldn’t want to break your heart.”

“Hey, just because I’m a Collins doesn’t mean I don’t have a heart. Must have gotten it from my real parents.”

Leanne froze. “Your what?”