She knocked on the door and was told to come in.
“Is this a bad time?” she asked softly as she entered the room.
He looked up at her and his lips curved into a smile. “You saw Ms. Logan’s exit, I take it?”
“She has smoke coming out of her ears. What did you say to her?” She sat on one of the chairs facing him.
“Several things.” He leaned forward and looked at her admiring the blue silk blouse she was wearing and the black suit. Her hair was caught up into a neat chignon at the nape of her neck and gold earrings winked at her lobes. She was very attractive without even trying and had the power to make him take a second look. Lucinda Logan had been practically naked before him and he had not been turned on one bit. “She figured she could save her job by offering me what she offered Rosewood,” he said bluntly. “I had to tell her that I don’t mix business with pleasure.”
“You are very direct, aren’t you?” could not stop the smile from coming as she looked at him.
“In my business you have to be. How are you?”
“I am okay.” Their eyes met and held and she was the first to look away. “I wanted to know what the plan is for today.”
“I have several meetings out of the office, but I will be back some time in the afternoon. Feel like working late tonight?”
She nodded. “I have some reports to finish up and a proposal I would like to share with you.”
“I look forward to seeing it.” He nodded.
“What about the others?”
“What?”
“The support staff? What about them?”
He looked at her for a moment. “I am not sure yet. I will be doing my sifting and see who works. It is going to take a couple of weeks for the transition to take place. Don’t worry, even if I have to let them go I will make sure they are placed elsewhere.”
She nodded. “Thank you.”
“You are welcome.”
She turned to leave.
“Still think I am the enemy?”
“I never thought that. But I am thinking more of you now.”
He laughed at that and stared at the dimple in his left cheek, mesmerized. “I will see you later.”
She nodded and left the room closing the door behind her. The secretary Lacy had come in by then and was sitting at her desk. She looked up and gave a cool, unfriendly look as if she was poaching on her territory.
“Good morning,” she said cheerfully, ignoring the girl’s icy look. went towards her office and closed the door behind her determined to shut out the awareness she had felt when she was with him. He had the female members of staff hankering to please him; she had no intention of being one of them!
*****
“With advertising and damage control we can get the company up and running and back to where it is supposed to be by about mid-April.” Jason cut into his tender roast beef as he looked at the potential investor. His company could do the takeover on their own but he knew that when local business people were involved up to a point it made it easier to trust them. They were not from around there and needed the support of the local people. He had taken an apartment uptown and the boxes were still strewn around waiting to be unpacked. He had thought about hiring someone but had not gotten around to doing so yet. He was used to being uprooted and had learned not to get too attached to anything. He figured he would be spending at least six months there or maybe a year but he will see.
“I see where the former president made a royal mess of things,” Bill Blake said as he stared at the younger man. He had the utmost admiration and respect for the two brothers who had taken their father’s company and had done above and beyond with it!
“I intend to come out on top.” He reached for his phone and brought up some projected figures. “This is what sales in the second quarter look like.”
Bill scanned the image and nodded. “Looks promising. But why do you need a small fish like me, Jason?”
“I need local talents and local investors to get in on this.”
“What about the former bosses?”
“They will be terminated,” Jason said with cool detachment. “I have no place for shoddy management and I am not going to let my emotions get in the way. I will let go who is not producing.”
“You make enemies that way.”
“But at the end of it we are going to have a healthy company that produces.”
“I agree,” the man said, nodding his graying head. “Where do I sign?”
*****
“Have you heard anything yet?” Lucinda demanded as she barreled into ’s office without knocking.