Authors: Karolyn Cairns
Ian glanced at her and back down at the reports, the traces of a smile curving his lips. She wondered what thoughts were going through his mind just then. They hadn’t spoken since the revealing conversation they had in her office. She found she missed talking to him, longed to find some excuse to wander to his office. While he threw her under the bus with the artwork, he was right in his pointing of blame. She did this to herself. If she hadn’t been blinded by her feelings for him, she would have investigated the photos first.
There was no help for it
now but to spend more time in the park. Without Tabitha there all next week, Emily needn’t worry about further attacks. Stu was the wimp of the pair. It was obvious he was put up to it stealing her work by Tabitha. Stu would never jeopardize the account with Ambidor. Whatever she witnessed was incriminating. Something told her she hit the nail on the head when the conference ended and everyone left. She noticed Tabitha and Stu stayed behind. Emily used the back door to the conference room to sneak back in after the others left, listening outside the door.
“You’re fucking incompetent, Stu! I told you to get rid of the reports! Doesn’t look like you did it!” Tabitha was whispering
; the venom in her voice making Emily recoil as she listened. “She saw us together! Do I have to remind you what that means?”
“I did what you told me to do!” Stuart sounded furious. “Is it my fault she discovered the files were missing and had copies
made? I told you that going after her like this would backfire, Tabby! How can you be sure she was the one who followed us? You can’t! She doesn’t know anything! You keep trying to set her up and this could blow up in our faces!”
“Shut up! Don’t you think I’ve thought of everything? Trust me, Stuart, when I’m married to Evan, we won’t have to worry.”
“You aren’t Mrs. Stone yet, Tabby.” Emily heard Stu’s nasty laugh through the panel and was surprised by its vehemence. “I don’t care what he promised you in bed. You don’t have shit yet.”
Emily heard Tabitha’s irritated muttering beyond the door. “You might want to keep your end of the bargain, Stuart. We both know how much you want partner. You help me with this and I can assure you
of that. Stone, Watterman, and Stiles has a nice ring to it.”
“The old man might be blind to you marrying him for his money, Tabby, but you can’t deliver me
a partnership and we both know it.”
Tabitha laughed softly
, making Emily’s hackles rise. “When I have controlling interest in Stone and Watterman, I can make all those decisions, Stu.”
“Evan is
just going to sign over controlling interest to his new wife?” Stuart snickered in response. “You’re really good, Tabby, but not that good.”
“I didn’t say he’d sign anything over to me, Stuart,” the girl replied tightly. “I get everything if something happens to Evan. You heard him. He’s buying Jessica out. He’ll have one hundred percent of the shares
in this company when he divorces her. When we land Ambidor, Stone and Watterman will be crawling with new clients. He has a bad heart, Stu. At his age, none would ever question a heart attack.”
Silence met her statement. Emily stared at the door in shock, realizing the
obvious threat she’d just heard.
“You
don’t have the nerve,” Stuart scoffed in response. “Gold-digging is one thing, but murder? We both know you don’t have it in you, Tabby. Nice try.”
“I’m not doing anything at all
, just letting nature take its course,” Tabitha said smugly. “He’s doing it all to himself. He can’t get it up anymore. He’s taking Viagra, Stu. He ignored the warnings from his doctor not to take it with his heart medicine. It’s just a matter of time before he keels over and everything is mine.”
“
You might want to wait to encourage him to take those little blue pills until after the wedding, Tabby.”
“The attorney said Evan would be free in thirty days if Jessica is happy with the settlement,” Tabitha told him in a gloating tone. “We’re going to Vegas once it’s
all settled. Don’t you see what that means? He intends on marrying me out there, you idiot!”
“I thought you said he proposed
to you! You got all that from a trip to Vegas?”
“What do you think this trip means, Stu? Why else would we go there unless he means to elope?”
“I would suggest you wait until your Mrs. Stone before you count your chickens, Tabby,” Stuart replied with a derisive snicker. “I’m not at all convinced Evan means to marry you. You presume quite a lot. Where’s your ring?”
“Evan is going to marry me, Stu,” she said coldly. “You can be
sure of that. He’s dropped enough hints lately. You just keep your end of this. I want Emily out of here! You get busy making her look like she’s messing up this account, or you can forget our deal.”
“You forgot about his
kids during your inventory of the palace, Tabby,” Stuart said in a chiding tone. “They get a cut. Don’t forget about them while you’re planning to take their old man for a ride that will kill him.”
“He cut them out of his will
recently,” Tabby confided in a relishing voice. “He did it to get their attention. His snotty bitch-daughters wouldn’t speak to him after they found out about me. He didn’t ever intend to follow it through, just scare them into kissing his ass to get their trust funds back. So far they haven’t done it.”
“It looks like you’ve thought of everything.”
“I have. When you make partner, you can thank me then.”
Their voices lowered and Emily was unable to hear anything else. She was frozen at the door, unable to believe what she
just heard. Tabitha obviously encouraged Evan to use Viagra, knowing full well it could kill him. She blanched to think of what the pair intended if they succeeded.
She had to go to Evan with what she overheard.
He wasn’t thinking straight if he was taking the drug with his other medications. Emily snuck away from the backdoor. She wasn’t paying attention where she was going and ran headlong into Ian.
Getting a face full of his tie gave her a more than satisfying whiff of his cologne. The wonderful feeling of his solid frame against hers
startled her, with longings she tried to deny. Ian steadied her and shook his head.
“
Whoa! Easy there! You ok?” Ian gazed down at her in concern, his blue eyes filled with concern. “You’re pale, Emily. Are you feeling alright?”
She laughed nervously and looked away from his
knowing eyes. “I’m fine, just clumsy and not watching where I’m going. Sorry, I have a lot on my mind.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“I doubt talking would help.” Emily wished Ian could solve this dilemma. It appeared she was on her own trying to save her boss’s life, his company, and her own job, all on her own. “Besides, you have enough work.”
Ian nodded and smiled grimly. “The higher ups will be here next week. They expect to meet with Evan. Looks like you go in his place to convince them the ad campaign is going well.”
Emily looked ill to know she would be meeting the CEO and Vice President of Ambidor Industries by herself. Her shocked expression made Ian place a reassuring hand on her arm.
“Martin and Vince are
decent guys, Emily,” Ian reassured her. “Just play it straight with them. Give them what you have. Don’t fudge it or sugarcoat it.”
“I don’t think I can do this!”
Emily looked ashen to know she would be acting in Evan’s stead, feeling inept to shoulder such responsibility.
Ian frowned down at her. “Martin isn’t the one you need to convince, Emily. He’s comfortable with the
agencies progress. Vince is the one who’s chomping at the bit for the numbers. One out of two isn’t such bad odds. Just reassure the guy you got this and they’ll go back to New York happy.”
“That’s just it! I’m not so sure I got this, Ian! This is all too overwhelming! What if I bomb this meeting?” Emily wanted to burst into tears at that moment. It was too much.
“Hey, it’s going to work out fine,” he said softly, concern filling his gaze. “You can handle this, Emily. Just charm the pants off Vince and it’s a done deal.”
“I wish I had your confidence in me.”
Ian smiled broadly. “Emily, I have no doubt about your abilities. You have to have more confidence in yourself. You know this campaign better than anyone, even Evan. Why do you think he left you in charge? It makes perfect sense. Besides, I told him the more information they have; the less we would see of them in the coming months.”
Emily frowned up at him. “I take it you don’t like rubbing elbows with your bosses?”
“They like to make me justify my salary, Emily. Let’s just say, I know they aren’t coming just to make sure the agency is on task.”
The disclosure the heads of Ambidor were scrutinizing him too in this visit should have relieved her. It didn’t. She had less than a week to prepare for the meeting. Her nerves were in turmoil after hearing what Stu and Tabitha plotted against Evan. She felt like she was trapped in that horrible soap opera she watched weeks ago. Worse, she didn’t see how she could save
the day by blowing the whistle on Tabitha. Who would believe her story without some sort of proof?
She had to get proof of what Tabitha was up to. Hopefully while the young woman was in New York with Evan, she’d find something to back up her story
before she went to Evan with this. Technically, Tabitha wasn’t breaking any laws by enticing Evan to take Viagra. Evan was indeed doing this to himself, knowing full well what it could do to him. No, Tabitha was no murderer, but she wasn’t trying to stop him from hurting himself either.
Somehow Emily had to get through to Evan. Realizing
he hadn’t truly proposed to Tabitha made her feel like she had more time. Surely Evan wouldn’t risk his children’s wrath by remarrying so soon after the divorce? She wasn’t so sure Tabitha wouldn’t trick him, feeling sick to think of the consequences to them all should that happen.
“If it makes you feel better, you can come to my place to pitch the deal to me before you meet with them,” Ian suggested and smiled down at her in a way that made her heart clench. “You might benefit from some coaching. You have to send them away happy, Emily. I don’t have just my salary here to justify. They have to feel like the ad is off the ground.”
Emily was a jumble of nerves. Just thinking about being alone with Ian in his suite at the Windsor Resort made her stomach flutter. She knew she was making an idiot out of herself when he gazed down at her with a questioning look, waiting for her response.
“Yeah, it might be a good idea to work out the dings with someone before I go in there and make an ass out of myself.”
“I’m in the penthouse at
The Windsor,” Ian told her and smiled. “Come by tomorrow night. We can have dinner and go over the particulars. You have the advantage because I know all the questions they’ll ask you.”
“Why are you helping me?” Emily gazed up at him in confusion. “
I appreciate it, but what’s in it for you?”
“I have to satisfy them that I’m worth what they’re paying me, Emily. Trust me when I say, they’d like nothing more than to pull me off this deal.”
Emily could see Ian wasn’t secure in his job either. “Could they do that to you? Just pull you out?”
Ian nodded and eyed her with regret in his blue eyes. “Let’s just say, my days with Ambidor are coming to an end one of these days. They don’t want to pay me six figures to do their dirty work anymore. They think they can have the same results without me.”
“Evan says you’re really more of a consultant.”
Ian chuckled and rolled his eyes. “Emily, I’m more like a corporate hit man. They send me in to find the weakest links and deal with them
; find the causes and effects before the shit hits the fan. They expect results.”
“What are you doing here
than, Ian? This is just an ad campaign,” Emily said nervously, fidgeting under his arresting blue gaze.
“They sent me in to ensure success anyway I can, Emily. This new image for Ambidor means billions of dollars if it’s successful. They aren’t taking any chances.”
“I see,” Emily said and was still confused of what Ian’s true objective was. A corporate hit man, seriously? Good Lord! What would happen if she failed to deliver them the perfect ad campaign? Concrete shoes, broken legs, or even a piano wire around her neck came to mind. She had the hysterical urge to laugh at the absurdity of it. “So you’re here to make sure we succeed in delivering what Ambidor wants anyway you can, is that right?”
“Essentially, yes,” Ian said softly, his charming smile widening. “You make it sound so threatening, Emily. I’m just here to protect the company’s interests. It’s not really as ominous as you make it sound.”
“Of course not,” Emily said and laughed nervously. “I’m just a bit overwhelmed by all of this. What time did you want to meet tomorrow?”
“
Seven-thirty. I have some errands I have to run first. I hope you like blackened swordfish.”
Emily refused to admit she’d never eaten swordfish
in her life and nodded lamely, a smile pasted on her face. “That’s fine. I have some things I have to do after work too. Seven-thirty is perfect for me.”