Authors: Alicia Hope
‘I beg your pardon
?’ She glared at him incredulously, a storm brewing in her dark eyes.
He frowned.
‘
I probably didn’t put that very well, I’m a bit tired.’ A
patronising
note crept
unintentionally
into his deep voice.
‘
Look,
you’re new at this game,
and you
can’t be expected to know how to handle these mor
e delicate issues.
There are lots of traps to fall into, and dangerous mistakes to make. But I can help you.
Now,
what we need to do first is—
’
Verity jumped
to her feet
to glower at him
. The sto
rm was building to a crescendo.
‘Let me get this straight
, Royce
. You
prance
into my office after being away trying to get
project
approval
behind my back
, and then
you
have the
nerve
to accuse me of not knowing what I’m doing
when
dealing with
confidential
issues
you shouldn’t even
know
about
?’
Her eyes blazed
into his
and
she
took a deep breath, struggling
to
control
her inner boil-over
.
H
e ran a
n agitated
hand over his h
ead and
lowered his eyes from her furious gaze
.
She went on
in a strangled voice
,
her
words dripping with sarcasm,
‘I’m
so
glad I don’t have to unburden myself to you about the Reardon case
,
Royce,
as you
obviously already know it all
!
A
nd
of
course
you’d know
better than
me
how best
to handle it
. I can’t even begin to
tell
you how
comforting
that is
.
’
She paused to take a breath, her chest heaving.
‘
But as for your “kind” offer of assistance,
I don’t want your help.
’ Her voice grew calmer
and she resumed her seat
.
‘
I
f I’m given half a chance to actually address this issue
myself
,
’ she added,
lowering her gaze to the
papers on her desk,
‘
I’ll be
happy
to
bungle
along on
my own
, thank you, even if I make a few
mistakes
along the way
.
’
Royce was cursing himself for sounding like a pompous pratt
,
and was
u
nable for the moment to find
anything to say to mend
the situation
.
The furrows in his brow deepened
as he
star
ed at her, thinking
,
d
amn it, what’s wrong with me?
It’s a real effort to take my eyes off her. She looks so riled, so ferociously alive.
Unfortunately, it’s me she’s ferocious with
.
‘I think you know where the door is
, Royce
.’
Verity’s voice held
a resigned flatness
,
and her face
was set and stony
. She swivelled her chair away from him
and fixed her eyes on her computer screen
.
Royce stared
at her without speaking, thinking that
every time he opened his mouth he made
matter
s worse. Against the backdrop of t
he window her profile looked
determined
, but also
vulnerable
. For a crazy moment he felt
a burning desire to
take her in his arms
and apologise f
or insulting her. The intense
fee
ling took him by surprise—h
e’d never wanted to hug his CEO before! He blinked, asking
himself
what the hell he thought he was doing. He felt s
haken
, more
by his feelin
gs
than by what had just transpired
,
so he rose quietly and left the room.
Ke
rry looked up inquisitively as he
strode past
her desk, but he didn’t paus
e. She returned to her work, wondering what had passed between the two in the office. By the look on Royce’s face, it hadn’t been pleasant
, and she wondered if there’d been trouble in parad
i
se
.
Her lips twisted into a mean smirk
.
As he strode
along
the hallway, Royce’s mind was racing.
It was obvious Verity had heard
of his attempted
insubordination
.
T
hat
, on top of
everything else
that h
appened while I was away, must have
her feel
ing
as though the whole world’s against her
,
he thought guiltily.
Suddenly, Claire flew out of the
next office
’s
doorway without looking,
and
careened into him
.
‘Oops! Sorry.’
H
e glared
down
at her and growled, ‘
Do you make a habit of running into people?
Might pay you to slow down in future
,
instead of charging around like a scrub bull.’
She took a step back and
frowned
at him. She
was in the
wrong,
sure,
but
he was overreacting, and
she
resented having
him vent his
ill humour
on her. ‘Sorry
,
your majesty,
’
s
he murmu
red, moving out of his way.
‘What did you say
?’
He stood very still, staring at her.
Claire took a deep breath, but his haughty demeanour triggered her temper.
‘Look,
I’m sorry I ran into you, and yes, I should be more careful to watch where I’m going. But
do you have to go out of your way to prove you’re a big fish
around
here, every chance you get?’ she retorted angrily.
Royce regarded her
incredulously
and thought,
w
hat is it with me and wome
n today? I
s every
one
I
meet
going to tear strips off me? A
nd
w
hat’
s
the deal
with this one, a
mere
p
ublic relations officer
,
giving a senior manager a lecture on manners! What sort of public relations does she call that?
He studied
her face
more closely
. He
could sense
this was
someone who wouldn’
t be afraid to tell him the truth.
‘
It’s Claire, isn’t it, from public relations
?
Verity’s friend. I
... ahem ...
saw you at the party.
’
His abrupt change of manner took her by surprise.
H
e seemed to have forgotten to be angry with her.
She blushed at his reference to the party, recalling, if a little blurrily, her behaviour that night.
‘
Um ... y
es, that’s right.’
He nodded decisively.
‘Could you do something for me
, Claire
? Could you tell me
exactly
what’s been going
on around here? I know there’
ve been some problems
, but I’ve only heard about them second or third-hand, and from a questionable source.’
S
he
raised a scornful eyebrow,
clearly
aware who he meant
.
He added, ‘I need to know if what I’ve been told is right, and if it’s the whole story.’ He looked intently at Claire, hoping she would trust him enough to tell him the truth.
She
studied
his face for a moment before
answering
candidly, ‘Well, a wh
ole hell of a lot happened
while you wer
e away on your ... trip.’
He shifted uncomfortably.
It was obvio
us she knew what he’d been up to while
in
the US. Perhaps everyone knew.
Claire looked to left and right.
‘Can we go into this empty
office to talk? There’
ve
been too many conversations overheard by the wrong people recently.’
He was curious
what she meant by that
, but joined her in the office and closed the door behind them.
‘I assume we’re talking about the Reardon case, or do you mean
the land
grab,
or
Tony’s dismissal,
or the media debacle? Verity
’s had them all thrown at her
lately
.’
‘The Reardon case. It’s the only one still unresolved
,
is
n’t it? She would’
ve taken care of the other issues
by now
, I’m sure.’
‘How kind of you to assume that.’ She raised
an
eyebrow at him again. ‘A
nd you’re right, she has.’
He
took a deep breath and ignored
the cynicism in her tone.
‘What about the Reardon case?’
‘
Well, shall I start with the fact that th
e whole
scenario
was a set-up? Verity
was
instructed
to sack him,
but
wasn’t given the necessary justification for termination, so she couldn’t use
the prescribed disciplinary procedure
.
’
Royce had turned and was gazing into the atrium
below
, but
Claire could tell he
was listening
intently
. S
he went on,
‘
And t
hen, before she had time to prepare for the unpleasant task, someone–and I
have my suspicions who–gave
Reardon
a heads-up on
what was coming.
So
,
of course
,
he acco
sted Verity, right under the noses
of
Miss Sharpe and
a whole entourage of journos. They were
here to do an article on RCL’s ‘newest and brightest’ female CEO.
Thankfully,
Miss Sharpe
had some good ideas on how to
mend
the
situation
, an
d we managed to salvage reputations
with some
clever footwork. Sharpe by name and
sharp by nature, hey?’
He didn’t respond
, so Clair
e went on, ‘What’s more, because
he had prior warning, Reardon’
s bee
n able to mount a legal challenge
which the company has no hope of winning, as all the cards hav
e been stacked against Verity.’
Royce
stared
at
the floor
and rubbed his forehead with his fingertips
.
‘I see. Well, that’s a different
version of the story
I
was given
. I was
led to believe that Verity
mis
handled the situation, giving
Reardon the advantage
.’