Authors: Alicia Hope
B
ut Kerry did
.
Busy with
last minute arrangements, she
had
only arrived
at the function
mome
nts earlier, and had
taken
a seat
at the
first available
table,
which happened to be Verity’s.
S
itting
across from
Royce,
Kerry
regarded
him calculatingly
.
Despite
her
misgivings,
Verity
enjoyed
the
evening.
T
he
others
at her table seemed determined to have fun, so a
lthough there w
as the
inevitable
shop talk,
it didn’t dominate the conversation.
Guy was his usual engaging self, while
Vince Roberts
spoke in length of
his promising yearling’s
form
,
suggesting everyone note its name so they could back it
at its first start
, and
Tom Taylor
described in humorous detail
his visit to
a small local vineyard
,
which
he predicted would
win
awards
for its outstanding shiraz
, but not for its
somewhat
underwhelming customer service
.
Verity
couldn’t resist grinning
at
Tom’
s
increasingly
ruddy
complexion
, no doubt
a measure of his
appr
ec
iation for a tipple or three
. Turning back,
her eyes
met
Royce
’s
. He leaned forward as though
to speak
to her,
and s
he gave an uncertain
smile, just as Brenda
Sharpe
appeared
at her elbow
.
‘Verity, I haven’t had the chance to talk to you since we arrived.’
Brenda was almost unrecognisable
in
evening wear. Her short-sleeved dress in heavy auberg
ine-coloured satin, over which she wore a matching
crushed velvet jacket
,
was certainly a change from the austere ‘power suits’ she normally wore.
She beamed down at Verity
with
unc
haracteristic warmth
.
‘
Miss Sharpe,
I’m so glad you came over.
I’ve been wanting to catch up with
you.’
Verity
smiled at her sponsor
and indicated the
chair to her left
, which Vince had just vacated
.
S
he
heard
Royce give
an impatient
huff and saw him
rise
to his feet
to
stride over to the bar.
Brenda
settled into the chair
,
saying
amiably
, ‘Look Verity, I’ve been meaning to ask you to call me Brenda. We don’t need to keep up the formalities.’
V
erity inclined her head
and smiled her acquiescence.
‘So,
your first
soirée
as CEO. A
re you having a good time?’
‘Yes
I am.
I expected the EC
dinner
to be a little more formal and
...
,’
Verity trailed off.
‘Boring?’ Brenda’s quick mind
and straight-talking tongue obviously didn’t desert
her
at social occasions
.
‘Well, yes.’ Verity smiled sheepishly. ‘What about you, are you enjoying the evening?’
‘To be honest, once you’ve been to one of these
“
do
o
s
”
, you’ve been to them all. But yes, I am enjoying myself tonight and that’s partly thanks to you.’
‘Me?’
Brenda c
huckled, ‘Don’t look so astonishe
d.
You must’
ve known I’d r
eap rewards from your successes ...
just as I’ll s
hare the blame for any failures,’ she added ruefully. ‘B
ut I think
you’ll agree that together
,
we girls are
proving
a force to be reckoned with.’
Verity blushed a little at the unexpected praise. ‘But
surely
I haven’t been in the job long enough to
be judged so favourably
?’ She lowered her voice.
‘
And
there’
ve been some hiccups
, as you know
.
H
ow could the board, or anyone, tell how successful or otherwise I’ve been, when
I haven’t
even
given my first report yet
?’
Brenda snorted. ‘Mere details
,
my dear
, don’t let them interfere with a good story
!
Actions reveal
your
calibre better than words do, and hiccups are inevitable in business. You’re measured on how
you handle those hiccups.
Bottom line—
and we all know that’s what
counts
most
in the corporate world
—
you’re
hurdling
barriers and
kick
ing
goals
.
’
Her
heavily made-up
face
grew
serious again.
‘But
yes,
your first report
is an important milestone, so you need
to put in a good performance
at tomorrow’s meeting
.
Do you feel confident,
prepared? Do you know what to expect?’
Verity nodded.
‘
Yes,
Royce was a big help
early-on,
and gave me a heads-up on EC meeting protocol.’ Both women
glanced
over
at
Royce
and saw Kerry walk
up
to him.
They watched her stand
on tip toes and whisper
into
his ear
, her body pressed against his
.
Brenda r
aised an expre
ssive eyebrow
. ‘That PA of yours sure has a taste for the boys.’
Verity
grimaced and
hastily look
ed away, mumbling
, ‘
Yeah,
but
she needs to tread carefully
, despite having found
a
nother
willing subject
.’
B
renda
’s brow creased as she
regarded
the pair
. ‘
I don’t know
about that
, R
oyce doesn’t look
all
that thrilled—
’
Verity interrupted her, saying
brightly
, ‘Did you know we’ve organised a scuba dive for tomorrow morning?’ She received a nod in reply. ‘Have you given any thought to joining us
, Brenda
? It should be a wonderful day for diving.
The forecast is for fine weather
and calm seas. They don’t come much better than that.’
Brenda chuckled deep in her throat. ‘Thanks for thinking of me
,
Verity, but Guy and I are planning to use the time to have a hit on the golf course. It’s only a par nine and probably won’t be any sort of challenge for an old thumper like Guy, but we thought we might get a few laughs out of it.’
‘Well, I’m sorry you won’t be joining us in the water, but it should be a
great
day for golf as well.’
As the two women chatted,
Verity discovered a real
liking for Brenda Sharpe.
N
o
body would deny
she was one tough hombre, but undern
eath
the
hard-hitting exterior lurked an agreeable
person.
Over at the bar, Jim Stowe came
looking for
his wife, and Kerry allowed him to lead her away, leaving Royce on his own.
He
took another mouthful of scotch and
turned hi
s attention to Verity again, watching her
from under hooded eyes
, but his mind was on Kerry.
Damn her
for
making me feel
like a bastard
and Jim look
like
a fool
. S
he
doesn’t
know
when she’s on a good
wicket
, or
when to give up
.
His brow puckered. Kerry’s reaction
to
his
knock-back
had
surprised him
.
He’d expected her to snarl
in his face,
but
she’d
simply graced him with a predatory smirk and one nonchalantly raised eyebrow, giving
the impression she knew
something he didn’t. T
hat made him uncomfortable
.
He took another gulp of his drink.
I wonder what she’s up to
....
Later that night
,
Verity lay across her
bed
,
replaying
the evening
in her mind.
It had turned out to be
quite
bearable.
She
rol
led over
and put her arms behind her head
.
After dinner she’d seen mostly
‘wiped clean’
plates making their way into the kitchen,
which she took as a sign
the dishes
she’d chosen
for the set menu
had gone down well, literally
.
She
ha
d overseen this element
herself,
not trusting it
to Kerry
to whom food was secondary to at least one other of life’s little pleasures....
Verity had
enjoyed
her
own
choice
of
a
s
mall
Gre
e
k salad and toasted flat bread
,
preceding
beef fillet and maple-roasted vege
tables
served
with a piquant sauce,
and
followed by c
reme brulé and fresh fruit. The meal was
accompanied by a
selection of local
wines
, and her first sample, a
semillon
sauvignon blanc, was so good, she couldn’t resist partaking of another couple of glasses
over the course of the evening
. It was more than she usually drank at official fun
ctions, but nowhere near as much
as
others had consumed
.
Verity stretched
and sighed
.
When she closed her
eyes,
Royce
’s image
flashed into her mind.
During the
evening
he
had
behav
ed civilly,
even gentlemanly
when
compared
to some others
,
who managed to embarrass themselves b
y
going overboard
with the drinks
.
Verity pull
ed a face at the memory of
some of the
more cringe-worthy drunken shenanigans.