by Jackie Braun
“Yeah? What’s that?”
“What better way to make Douglass pay than to get busy with his daughter?”
Brody shook his head. “That’s not my style.”
“Given the way she looks, I’d think you’d make an exception. But if you’re not comfortable, I’d be willing to do it for you. What are best friends for?”
“That’s funny.” Brody laughed it off.
“Okay, you could just let Douglass think that’s what you’re doing. Same effect. It will drive her old man crazy.”
Brody spent the remainder of the evening stewing over what Seth had said. Could there be something far more nefarious to the woman’s request than she’d let on?
By the time he paid their bar tab, he’d reached a decision—one that he hoped ultimately wouldn’t blow up in his face.
…
Kate had the text memorized, but as she leaned against the wall in the conference room Monday morning, she pulled out her phone and read it again. She wanted to be sure she hadn’t misunderstood.
If you want a job, be in the conference room 8:00 a.m. Monday. Come prepared to dazzle me. BF
She’d received it Saturday morning. She’d been surprised he had her cell number, but then, he did have access to the company’s personnel files.
Kate put away the phone, oblivious to the conversations going on around her. Even though she had arrived fifteen minutes early for the meeting, all twelve of the chairs at the table were already taken, as were the half dozen seats set up around the room’s perimeter. So she stood, feeling conspicuous and unnecessary. Window dressing. Some things never changed.
In the six years she’d worked full-time at the company’s headquarters, none of the top brass had warmed to her. They treated her with the respect due a Douglass, but that wasn’t the same as respecting her. Or thinking that she belonged among their ranks. They saw her as a figurehead. The attractive face of the company, as her father had said often enough. Now that her father wasn’t around, most appeared to be regarding her with the same skepticism Brody Flynn had shown the previous Friday.
Only Collin Overton had smiled in greeting when she’d arrived and then offered her his seat, which she’d declined. She knew better than to encourage him, since the man already misinterpreted every polite smile and kind word as proof she was interested in him. Collin had been with the company since graduating Harvard a dozen years earlier. He hailed from another wealthy Chicago family, and Jonathon approved of his pedigree. Her father persisted in going against her wishes and inviting the man to family dinners. His matchmaking tendencies didn’t grate nearly as much as the fact that he clearly saw the younger man as successor material.
Given how loyal Collin was to Jonathon, Kate was surprised he hadn’t tendered his resignation upon her dad’s ouster. But here he was, apparently ready to fight along with the rest of them for a spot in Brody Flynn’s streamlined hierarchy. Of course, so was she.
When she glanced over, he was watching her. It was just her bad luck that he took the brief eye contact as a reason to leave his seat a second time and approach her. “Hey, Katherine. Can I speak with you in private?” He motioned toward the door.
“Mr. Flynn will be here any minute. Can it wait?”
Instead of agreeing, he lowered his voice and asked point-blank, “Why are you here?”
“For the same reason you are,” she replied.
“Really?” His eyebrows flicked up. “Jonathon didn’t mention you’d be here when we spoke last night.”
She bristled at the reminder of his close relationship with her dad.
“I don’t need to consult with my father to go on a job interview.” In fact, she’d purposely avoided her father over the weekend because she hadn’t wanted the subject to come up. If—when—she was offered a position, she would tell him. She saw no need to make waves before then.
“Ah. That makes sense.” Collin’s expression was hard to read, but she was left with the impression he knew something she didn’t, and that didn’t set well. “Good luck, Katherine.”
He placed a hand on her cheek, the caress totally out of place in a professional setting, not to mention unwelcome. And it was at that very moment that Brody Flynn strode into the conference room.
He commanded attention, exuded confidence, and was far too handsome for her peace of mind. His hair was tidy, but just a tad longer than most executives wore theirs. It was a shade darker than hers and set off his blue eyes. Fine lines feathered from the corners of those eyes. Laugh lines? Given his current expression, it seemed doubtful. The expert cut of his charcoal suit could only have come from a personal tailor. The white dress shirt, with its French cuffs, was pretty much standard issue for the executive class. But it was his tie, with its tiny gray and black pattern, that caught her notice.
Were those…sharks?
While Collin hastily returned to his seat, Kate fought a shiver as dread pooled in the pit of her stomach. Swallowing hard, she forced herself to meet his gaze. A pair of blue eyes glittered with mistrust and something else. It was that something else that kept her nerves on edge.
“Miss Douglass.” His head dipped in acknowledgment. “I wasn’t sure you would come.”
Before she could respond, Lyle Cushman asked, “Why is she here? I thought this meeting was for management only.”
Cushman headed up the accounting department. Despite Kate’s lofty-sounding title, everyone in the room knew that the only oversight she had been allowed during her time with the company involved determining the number of scoops of coffee to put in the executive pot.
But Brody didn’t call her on it. Rather he said, “She is management.”
“I hope you don’t mind that I accepted your invitation,” she told him.
“Mind?” He gave his broad shoulders a shrug, and a smile turned up the corners on a pair of lips that she found far too distracting given the situation. “Not at all. The more the merrier.” He turned and, to no one in particular, said, “Bring Miss Douglass a chair.”
Three of the room’s occupants quickly jumped to their feet to do his bidding. In short order she found herself not only with a seat at the table, but ensconced in the one immediately to Brody’s right.
“Coffee?” he asked.
It took Kate a moment to realize that he was asking her if she wanted a cup rather than expecting her to pour one for him. She appreciated the gesture, especially since he hadn’t extended his offer to the others in the room.
“Yes. Please.”
He half stood and reached for the insulated carafe in the middle of the table, holding back his tie as he did so. While she eyed row after row of tiny great whites, the shark who had just gobbled up her family’s business poured them each a cup of French roast.
“Cream and sugar?” he inquired politely.
“Black.”
“Really? I’d thought you would want at least a couple packets of something sweet.”
“You thought wrong.”
“We’ll see,” it sounded as though he said. The cup was white porcelain with a matching saucer. No oversized mugs for her father. Too uncivilized. While she daintily sipped the hot beverage, grateful for the high-octane kick of caffeine, Brody finished half his cup in a single gulp before returning it to the table. Then he was on his feet, setting his metal briefcase on the polished cherry tabletop—modern age meeting old world. As he unsnapped the latches and pushed open the top, he addressed the assorted managers whose presence he had requested.
“Good morning, everyone. Thank you for being here.” He paused, his expression turning sardonic when he added, “I won’t ask if you had a good weekend. Your expressions make it clear that your Saturday and Sunday pretty much sucked. So I won’t bore you now with small talk, either.”
Kate gave him points for frankness, even if his blunt style was utterly foreign to her and likely to the rest of the room’s occupants. Her father enjoyed leaving people to guess. It kept them on their toes, he’d once told her.
/>
Brody was saying, “As for me, I spent the past couple of days going over your personnel files, as I indicated I would in the memo you received last week.”
Kate hadn’t gotten a memo.
Brody turned to her now, she assumed to explain the details of the memo. Instead he said, “Sometimes I make an exception and do work on Saturdays and Sundays.”
“I’m sure your family understands,” she murmured, uncertain what else to say.
“My sisters had other plans.”
Not wife. Not children. But sisters. Which made him single. And the fact that she was focusing on his marital status right now made her an idiot.
“I have two criteria for keeping people on in their current capacity,” he was explaining to those assembled. “First, they need to work as much as they delegate. I don’t need people who only know how to tell other people what to do. I want proactive managers who are willing to roll up their shirtsleeves and help out if need be. And, at least at first, that’s going to be necessary.”
“You mentioned on Friday that overall staffing levels will be cut by 25 percent,” Collin interrupted.
“That’s right. Douglass is hemorrhaging money. Profits, as you well know, are way down.”
“But eventually, you will increase the workforce to former staffing levels once again. Right?” one of the other executives probed.
Kate found herself holding her breath, hoping Brody’s reply would clarify his plans for the company’s future. But he dodged the question. “Right now I can’t justify the current numbers. I can only afford to have team players on the payroll.”
“Does that mean you plan to keep the company as is and run it yourself?” Collin asked.
Once again Kate found herself holding her breath. She leaned forward in her seat, eager to hear the answer.
“Something like that.” Brody’s gaze cut to Kate. “At least for the time being.”
Despite the vagueness of his reply, it still gave her hope.
“Excuse me for being blunt, but what’s the incentive to stay?” Edwin Price asked. “It doesn’t exactly sound like you’re guaranteeing us long-term employment.”
Price had only been with the company half a dozen years, although he was easily in his mid-sixties. The word around the water cooler was he had retired from his previous job only to be pushed back into the job market because of his young third wife’s expensive tastes.
“Edwin, right?” Brody began. “As you noted, I’m not guaranteeing long-term employment. But I am offering bonuses based on the performance of Douglass’s stock. If stock prices go up, then you’ll reap the rewards.” Again his gaze cut to Kate, glittered with challenge. “An incentive to ensure we’re all working toward the same goal.
“But let me make myself clear. There’s nothing keeping any of you here. The purpose of this meeting is to determine who will make up my new management team.” He smiled, his grin reminiscent of that of the tiny sharks dotting his tie. “This is a job interview.”
Edwin shifted uncomfortably in his chair, as did several of the other people seated around the table.
“There are eighteen Douglass employees in this room,” Collin began, only to be corrected.
“Nineteen,” Brody said.
“Katherine isn’t really in management. She’s more of a figurehead.” Collin cleared his throat. “Sorry, sweetheart.”
Instead of accepting his halfhearted apology, she stared straight ahead as her cheeks burned with both embarrassment and temper.
“Sweetheart?” Brody’s eyes narrowed. “Is there a relationship between the two of you that I should know about?”
“No,” she replied with a vehement shake of her head. “None.”
Collin meanwhile offered a nonchalant shrug.
“Generally speaking, I don’t care what people do in their off hours, but when it comes to management, well, personal relationships can be a problem.”
“It’s not a concern,” Kate said.
Brody studied her a moment before returning his attention to the room at large. “As I said, this is a job interview. I’m giving everyone in this room the same chance.”
Collin was forgotten. Kate’s heart stuttered in her chest. Come prepared to dazzle me. Brody had written that in his text. He hadn’t been kidding. He really was giving her a chance.
Kate sat up straighter in her chair and cleared her throat. “Mr. Flynn, you mentioned that you have two criteria for keeping people on. What is the second one?”
“I expect dedication from my employees.” He glanced around the table a second time, his gaze ending on Kate, one eyebrow winging up in challenge. “And I demand loyalty.”
…
Brody’s stomach growled loudly as he sat in the conference room, making it clear that the eggs and toast he’d downed for breakfast were but a distant memory. And no wonder. It was nearly five o’clock and he hadn’t bothered to break for lunch. Only one more interview was left to conduct—Kate’s—and then he could wrap up things and be on his way.
Both of his sisters would be home tonight. Only three more weeks of summer vacation remained before they headed back to their respective college campuses. He would miss them after they left, but for now he was enjoying their company. Jessie had plans to go out with friends later. Jenna, as introverted as Jessie was outspoken, would be making dinner for them as usual. She was a culinary student and getting better with every meal she prepared.
Brody pushed away thoughts of family and food and thumbed through the stack of personnel files on the table in front of him. It had been a long day, brutal in its own way now that he had culled the weakest links from the management team. Generally speaking, he didn’t like firing people, even those who deserved it. More often than not, they had spouses or children or both depending on their paychecks. He’d tried to ease the pain with severance packages. Nothing quite as grand as the golden parachutes the most senior managers were getting, but reasonably generous. Business was business. And from what Brody could tell, Jonathon Douglass had made a lot of poor decisions in recent years, including hiring the adult sons of several friends and corporate acquaintances.
It was strange, really, since the man had marginalized his own daughter with a made-up title, sending her to community functions and assigning her the kind of secretarial duties that made poor use of her business degree. Was she incompetent? Her college transcripts and letters of recommendation from college professors and the business professionals who’d overseen her internships seemed to dispute that.
He glanced over her file again, ending with the résumé she’d given him earlier. It was time to start unraveling the puzzle that was Katherine Douglass. He went to the door and opened it. She was alone in the hallway. Brody had deliberately saved her interview for last. Letting her sweat.
She sat on one of the chairs that had been brought out from the conference room, legs crossed at the ankles. The mannish jacket was a twin to the one she’d been wearing the other day. The blue blouse that peeked from between its lapels was equally sedate and gender neutral. Once again she wore her hair pulled back in a ponytail.
Only her shoes hinted at her femininity. The three-inch heels had black leather uppers but their soles popped in fire-engine red when she walked. Before he could think better of it, he found himself picturing her wearing a sexy little number that exposed far more than a pair of shapely calves. After all, he knew from photos in the society pages and on the internet—as well as their brief collision outside her father’s office—that she had some killer curves. The sort no red-blooded man would mind losing himself in.
Brody cleared his throat. “You can come in now, Miss Douglass.”
“Call me Kate, please,” she said as she stood and brushed past him.
Kate. He’d been right about a nickname. And he thought it suited the understated woman before him far better than Katherine. The smell of something clean lingered in her wake. The scent had haunted him as she’d sat next to him during the earlier meet
ing.
He took his seat, picked up her résumé, and willed his mind back to the business at hand.
“I see that you graduated summa cum laude, and between your junior and senior years you interned at one of your father’s biggest competitors.”
“That’s right.”
“I find that rather…odd.”
“That I would work for a competitor, you mean?”
“In a word, yes.”
“Are you worried about my loyalty?”
Hell, yeah. Just as her motives for wanting to work for him were suspect, Brody found it a little disturbing that the heiress and presumed successor to what had started as a family-owned business before going public wouldn’t work for it while earning her degree. But he merely smiled, curious to hear her rationale.
Kate leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. The change in her position caused her blouse to gape open just enough that he caught a hint of cleavage. Brody tore his gaze away, irritated with himself over the flare of attraction he felt. This was a job interview, not a date. He forced his gaze back to her face and concentrated on what she was saying.
“I’m in a rather interesting position, Mr. Flynn. If I work for my father, people assume I got the job because of nepotism, you included. On the other hand, if I work for anyone else, they wonder if I’m not good enough to work for my father.”
“Is that all they wonder?”
It took her a moment, but then her eyes widened. Whether in concern or in affront, he couldn’t be sure.
“Corporate espionage? Is that what you think I’m up to now, applying for a job at the company my family built so that I can somehow ruin it?”
“Or figure out a way to get it back,” he added, his tone mild. “That’s easier to do from inside than from out.”
Her full lips thinned in irritation. “I’m not sure whether to be insulted or flattered,” she replied after a moment.
“Flattered, definitely.” Then, “Let’s get down to it, shall we?”