Authors: Alicia Hope
Claire took in t
he lines of strain on her
friend’s
face
,
and
gr
umbled
,
‘You don’t need this right now.
’
She
paused
before continuing
more firmly, ‘B
ut I think you should know that Royce has tried to go over your head
,
for approval on some new project he’s working on.’
Verity
gasped and
sat
bolt
upright.
‘He’s done
w
hat?
’
Claire
’s expression was
pained
as though the words tasted sour in her mouth
.
‘Apparently he met with Guy Wallace and tried to get him to put a round robin approv
al to the board.’ She added quickly
, ‘Wallace told him to go through the normal chann
els,
that only you can put the proposal forward, at the EC meeting.’
Verity jumped to her feet
and marched over to her desk
. Thrusting her hands onto her hips, she snarled
,
‘Ooh, that...!’
and then
thump
ed
her
desk
with a fist
. ‘I
knew
it! I knew there was something going on there.’
She fixed her gaze on Claire and raised a scornful
eyebrow.
‘And there
I
was, foolishly beginning
to
consider him an ally.
Now I see he
never left
the
backstabbers’
ranks
, despit
e
his recent
...
helpful
,’
she spat,
‘
attitude.
’
She paced
the room
furiously
.
‘Oh!
I thought he was trying to fob me off about this project before he left for the US, but I never guessed he was going to pull a stunt like this.
Damn
him
!
Didn’t
explain the project to me,
didn’t
give me the smallest chance to be involved....’ She almost choked on the words.
They were
rushing
into her throat on a
n
acrid
wave of betrayal.
She swallowed hard.
C
ome on,
she admonished herself,
you knew this would happen when you started to trust him.
He’s a man, after all. Duplicity is what they’re good at, so why are you so surprised?
He’s
merely
confi
rming your first opinion of him. A
corporate nemesis.
Always
.
Claire
reached up to
g
rab
Verity
’s arm
as she passed
,
and pulled
her down beside her
. ‘Hey, you
knew things might be a bit tough for a while
.
But you’re
just
the woman to take ’
em on.
’
Verity
managed a
sad smile, and
let
her head
slump back
against the settee
.
‘How did you hear about this
, Claire
?’
Claire looked awkward.
‘I overheard Kerry discussing it with
Jim’s secretary.’ She
hated having to admit to eavesdropping
, but there was nothing else
for it. She found herself
wondering
again
why Kerry had been discussi
ng this so openly, when
it was well known
how easily
voices travelled around the open plan office. Was it possible
she
w
anted
the
conversation
overheard
by all and sundry
?
‘How would Kerry
know about this when even I had
to hear it third-h
and?’ Verity’s brow puckered
.
‘And why didn’t she come to me about
it
as soon as she found out
?’
‘
Well, I don’t know why she didn’t tell you herself, but f
rom what I hear, Kerry has a network of secretarial associates. Apparently they keep each other well informed
on all sorts of secrets
, without the
ir bosses’
knowledge of course.
’
Claire pulled a
face, feeling tainted for
passing on
office gossip, b
ut Verity needed to know what was being said behind her back.
‘
You’re not going to like this either, but I
also
heard her say s
omething about you and
Royce having, well, a
“thing”.’
Verity’s
complexion darkened. ‘And Kerry
’s busily discu
ssing all this
behind my back
. Seems t
here’s
a lot
more
knife
activity going on
back
there
than I
’d
realised
.
’
She gave a tight smile and rubbed
a hand over
her eyes
before
grumbling
,
‘I knew she’d jump to some
stupid
conclusion after se
eing us dining together
.
’ Her li
p
curl
ed
.
‘
So much for equality in the twentieth
century
. A
female executive
still can’t have a meal with a male colleague without everyone assuming they’re an
item
.
I bet Clyde had many a dinner meeting
with Royce, but did
that create a flurry of gossip
?
Of
course
not,
’ and she gave a
disdainful
shrug,
‘
why
would
it?
’
She
abruptly jumped to her fee
t
again
and
paced
over to the window. She stood
there
breathing
deep
ly for a while
before saying in a calmer voice,
‘Well, Kerry
’s
jumped to the wrong conclusion about me and Royce, so s
he might be wrong about the other
piece of news
as well
.
I think
I’ll give Royce
the benefit of the doubt ... for now.’
S
he
turned to
fix
a warm gaze on
her friend
.
‘Claire, you’
ve been a big help, as always. Now,
I have a lot to
do, and it won’t get done if I waste
time fretting over
idle gossip, small-minded
people
and
disloyal
schemers
.
And I
won’
t
let trivialities
stop me from doing my job.
’
Claire
was pleased to
see a determined look about Verity’s
features
again
. She
smiled broa
dly. ‘You astonish me sometimes
, you know that?
One minute you’re in dire need of a friendly ear, the n
ext you’re
ready to ta
ke on the world again
. You’re a true CEO, through and through
!
’
She
got to her feet
and ga
ve Verity’s arm a squeeze
, saying with a smile, ‘I’m always around when you need a sounding board
,’ before slipping
out
.
Ve
rity
went ov
er to sit
down at her
desk again
. She eyed
her overflowing in-
tray,
and began working her way through it.
But her peace was short-lived
.
Kerry
’s head jerked up
as John Reardon burst into the outer offic
e, shouting
to no-one in particular
, ‘IS SHE IN THERE?’
He
didn’t wait for
a
response befor
e barging into Verity’s office.
Kerry
’s
eyes glittered. She
remained
calmly in her
seat,
pul
led an emery board
from
her desk draw
er
,
and
began nonchalantly filing
her nails
.
Verity sat
back with
a start at the sight of a red-faced, obviously furious John Reardon
bursting through her door and
advancing towards her desk. ‘Joh
n? I wasn’t expecting you—
’
‘
Well you should’ve been
.
’
Reardon
charged up to slap both hands on her desk. ‘
How dare you?
Just w
ho the
hell
do you think you are?
’
He
le
aned
menacingly
towards her and h
is face was so close s
he could smell the dregs of last night’s wine on his breath.
Verity’s heart sank
.
She tried to maintain her
composure
, and hoped she was at least outwardly cool
. She
put some distance between them by l
eaning
back in her chair
a little—t
he
man positively stank of stale wine.
‘
I’ll thank you to keep a civil tongue in your head when you’re speaking to me, John
,’ she said coldly
.
‘
And j
ust what are yo
u talking about?’
‘You know
exactly
what I’m talking about,
you half-smart little—’ He took a ragged breath.
‘
W
hen
were
you
planning to give me my marching orders? O
r a
re you
still
trying to find the
guts
to do it?’
H
er worst fears
were
confirmed.
Verity
pinche
d her lips
together
and frowned.
How
did Reardon
find out
?
Surely
not
from Connell?
Although she w
ouldn’t put it past him
to make
the
s
ituation
more difficult for her, w
hat
else
would
Connell
have to gain from informin
g Reardon
of her intentions,
when he so obviously wanted to
stay
clear of the flak?
Reardon
g
ave what sounded like a growl
and
pound
ed
Verity’s desk with his fist, shouting
, ‘WELL? W
hat hav
e you got to say for yourself? O
r are you too scared to talk man-to-man? Hang on, who am I kidding? I mean
,
man-to-mouse.
’ He leaned towards her and
sneer
ed. Verity f
el
t
nausea seeping into her stomach, but
gathered herself
and rose calmly to her feet.