Raising her head, her brown eyes filled with tears, she asked, “Why? Why me?”
William sighed. “Ever since Lucas and Emma fell in love, Jason has had sort of a target on his back. We can’t seem to keep an assistant for him. He’s been stalked, propositioned…you name it, these women have done it. Most men would be flattered, but Jason takes his work very seriously and he needs someone who’ll do the same.”
“I still don’t understand how this involves me.”
“When I took you in with Montgomerys, Maggie, you asked me to do what I could to protect you, right?” She nodded. “One of the things that I did was lie for you. As far as anyone in the company knows, you are a married woman. You and I are the only ones here who know differently.”
Maggie considered his words. “So you think since everyone believes me to be married that I’m a safe bet for Jason’s assistant?”
“That’s exactly what I’m thinking. Jason isn’t looking to seduce anyone and he certainly isn’t looking to be seduced. I would think that you, more than anyone, can understand his position.”
She blushed. Maggie tried never to think about the way that she had come to work for William Montgomery, and in the three years she’d been here, this was the first time they’d referred to it. “I can respect the situation, sir; I just don’t feel comfortable—”
“Maggie?” he interrupted gently. “It’s time. You’ve hidden yourself down in customer service long enough. I hired you without knowing a damn thing about you: the woman I met needed help, and I gave it. I’m asking you to return the favor.”
How could she say no to that? The man had given her a safe haven, a job where she didn’t feel hunted, or that she was there for any other reason than her work. “How can I be sure I won’t find myself in the same situation I was in when you met me?”
William’s expression softened as he looked at her. “Maggie, I give you my word that you will never, ever find yourself in such a position. Not with Jason and not with anyone here at Montgomerys.”
She stood and looked down at her boss. A simple nod of her head was the only response she gave.
William rose to his feet and faced her. “If at any time, for any reason, you feel like something isn’t right, I want you to promise me that you’ll call. I’ll believe whatever it is you tell me and I’ll get you out of there, okay?”
Again, all she could do was nod.
“I’ll let Ann know to get the paperwork started. I’ll also let Rose know that you’ll be working with her the rest of the week to get acquainted with things up here and arrange for you to meet with Jason.” A wild look of panic crossed Maggie’s face and William made a quick decision. “We’ll meet with him together, you and me, okay?”
Maggie took a steadying breath and agreed.
Then silently prayed that she hadn’t just made the second biggest mistake of her life.
* * *
Trapped.
That was the only word that came to Maggie’s mind as she frantically tried to figure a way out of the situation. She could either go back upstairs to the hotel room that her boss had reserved for the two of them—unbeknownst to her—or she could sleep on the street.
Martin Blake had been the model boss; for a year she’d been his executive assistant, and never in her wildest dreams could she have imagined that something like this would happen to her.
Maggie looked around the lobby—in search of what, she didn’t know. She had no money, no form of transportation, and no form of ID. Martin had seen to that. They were three thousand miles from home on the other side of the country. He was smart to choose now to hatch his disgusting plan. There actually was a conference going on, but Martin had very little interest in it; his focus was seducing Maggie.
She felt sick. Any moment she was sure she was going to be ill. Collapsing on one of the opulent sofas in the hotel lobby, tears began to fall. “What am I going to do?” she cried gently, knowing that no one was there to answer her.
“Excuse me, miss,” a gentle voice asked. “Are you okay?”
Tears streaming down her face, Maggie looked up and saw a man, probably in his late fifties, staring down at her, his face one of calm concern. Who was he? Did Martin send him to find her?
“I…I’m fine,” she lied.
The man sat down at the opposite end of the sofa, not wanting to scare her more than she obviously was. “Are you sure? Is there someone I can call for you?”
The thing was, there wasn’t anyone Maggie felt she could call about this situation. She didn’t want to alarm her family; she had no close friends who would be able to pay for a flight home for her—especially when she had no ID to present when she got to the airport. Shaking her head, a fresh wave of tears began to fall.
“Whatever it is, I’m sure it will be okay. Please, tell me what’s going on? Do we need to call the hotel management? The police?”
As much as Maggie had wanted to say yes, Martin’s taunting words came to mind. As she had been clawing to get out of the hotel room he mocked, “Go ahead and call the cops or hotel security. I’ll just tell them we had a lovers’ spat and you are trying to blackmail the boss. I believe they call that extortion, and it’s a crime, Mags.”
“No!” she cried, coming back to the present. “No, please…no one needs to call the cops or security. I’ll…I’ll be fine.”
The man looked at her with obvious disbelief. He had a briefcase at his feet and he reached for it, pulling it into his lap and opening it. Without a word, he handed her his card. “I’m William Montgomery. I’m from Charlotte, North Carolina. That’s where my company is, too. It’s been in my family for three generations and, God willing, it will go to my sons and they’ll carry on long after I’m gone. I’ve got three sons; always wanted a daughter, though,” he said lightly.
“I don’t normally come to these conventions; seems like a great waste of time. Most of the attendees are here looking for a break from work, not to learn more about how to do their jobs more effectively.” He sighed wearily and then smiled. “We drew straws, my sons and I, to see who would come and check this place out. I lost.” He gave a light chuckle and felt relief when Maggie gave a small smile. “I’m too old for nonsense like this. Conventions are a young man’s game.”
William looked around the lobby, clearly unwilling to leave her in such distress.
“Although, most of the young men I met here today need to learn a lot more not only about business, but about respect in general.” Maggie nodded and wiped at her tear-streaked face. William reached for a handkerchief in his pocket and handed it to her. “I don’t know about you, but it certainly makes me lose a little bit of faith in this generation.”
“I agree,” Maggie said softly.
William couldn’t help but smile. He wanted so badly to help this woman but she was clearly spooked. Something had happened and he may not ever find out exactly what it was but he knew that he had to get her out of the hotel and to someplace where she’d feel safe.
William smiled at her. His manner was fatherly, caring—nothing at all like the way Martin had treated her. “Listen,” he said calmly, “how about we go over and have a cup of coffee? The café over there is still open.”
“Oh, I can’t,” she said nervously. “I don’t have my wallet with me.”
“It’s my treat.” When Maggie hesitated, William quickly added, “You’d be doing me a huge favor. I’ve done nothing today but talk to a bunch of upstarts with overinflated egos.”
Maggie thought about it for a moment and realized that maybe it would be okay to join him for coffee. She hadn’t had anything to eat since they’d left Virginia on the early morning flight—Martin hadn’t allowed her to eat all day. Sadistic bastard.
She stood and said a quiet, “Thank you.”
William towered over her petite frame. “It’s my pleasure, Ms…” He left the wor
ds dangling.
“Maggie,” she said finally. “Maggie Barrett.”
“Well, it is a pleasure to meet you, Maggie Barrett,” he said, his tone nothing but friendliness, and Maggie knew in that instant that things just might work out all right.
* * *
True to his word, William had set the wheels in motion to get Maggie settled into her new position. Within an hour, he had all her belongings transferred to the executive floor, and from where he stood in his office doorway, he could see her working with Rose. After lunch, they would sit down together with Jason and get things really moving.
It did his heart good to see Maggie up here working where she belonged. He hated pushing her into it, but deep down William knew he’d let her hide out too long. What that bastard had done to her back in California so long ago had been traumatic for sure, but William also knew that Maggie had too much to give to spend her life hiding away from everything and everybody.
When William had offered her the position with Montgomerys, Maggie had been shocked and more than a little apprehensive. Desperate to help her when she was so clearly in need, he had vowed to meet her every wish in order to get her to agree to work for him.
She had wanted a low-profile position; he gave her one. She needed to get her belongings from where she lived in Virginia to someplace new in North Carolina. William paid for the move and put her up temporarily in an executive apartment that the company owned until she found a place of her own. He’d sent people to get her car and had taken care of ending her employment with Martin Blake without letting anyone within the man’s company know where she was going.
William Montgomery was very thorough in everything he did, and if keeping this woman under the radar for a little while meant keeping her safe, he’d do it.
Her final request was that no one know that she was single. While William didn’t think that would deter some men, he knew that no one within his company would dare approach Maggie in an unprofessional manner. So he’d agreed to her request and no one was the wiser. Luckily, it wasn’t something that came up very often. According to his human resources manager, Ann Kincade, Maggie was a virtual loner. She was pleasant to work with, but never engaged in any outside activities with her coworkers, mostly keeping to herself.
For a moment, William felt remorse at forcing her so clearly out of her comfort zone, but then he thought of how well it had worked last year when he’d done the same for his son Lucas, and silently prayed that he would have similar results.
Maggie sensed William’s stare, looking up and giving him a weak smile. By now, she knew her boss could be trusted and was sure that his son would be no different, but she wasn’t happy that this promotion, this shift in her life, was not her decision. It was going to take a little while to adjust to it.
Working with Rose was no hardship; the woman knew her job and was easy to talk to. The job itself had some challenges that were actually related to her skills, but for the most part, the biggest challenge was going to be in trusting the man she was going to assist.
Maggie had seen Jason Montgomery often enough around the building. He was certainly an attractive man and his mere presence seemed to bring out sighs from the women working around her. That always irritated Maggie. She was never going to show any outward signs of attraction to anyone. No matter how attractive that six-foot-tall, dark-haired, dark-eyed package was!
Looking back, she knew that she hadn’t had any attraction to her former boss; she had genuinely liked Martin as a person. Somehow, however, he mistook that feeling for sexual interest, and thought that gave him the right to seduce her. Just the thought of it now, years later, made Maggie sick to her stomach.
“Are you okay?” Rose asked.
Shaking her head to clear it, Maggie looked at her. “Sure. Why?”
“You just had a weird look on your face and you kind of went pale.” Rose looked at her watch. “Why don’t we stop here and break for lunch. I have you and Mr. Montgomery scheduled to meet with Jason at two o’clock. You’ll have an hour for lunch and then about thirty minutes after you get back to get organized and write up any questions you have for him. Will that work?”
“Yes, thank you,” Maggie said with a smile, relieved that Rose didn’t push her for more of an explanation. Walking to her desk, Maggie picked up her purse and a notebook. Her plan was to start making notes now on the things she wanted to discuss with Jason Montgomery.
Stepping onto the elevator, the first and most important question came to her mind. Are you a pervert who plans on mistaking a simple smile for an invitation to sexually harass?
Chapter 2
“What?”
“Is there a problem? I think the question was fairly simple.”
Jason looked at the woman sitting across from him at the conference table and then to his father. “This is some sort of joke, right?”
Maggie looked at him, her brows furrowed. “I don’t think this is a joking matter, Mr. Montgomery. The question speaks for itself. Are you the kind of man who can tell the difference between someone being polite and someone offering an invitation?”
“What the hell kind of question is that?” he yelled and then turned to his father. “Seriously? This is who you think is the best option to work with me?”
William was barely able to contain his mirth. “She meets and actually exceeds all of your requirements, Jace. She’s got the computer skills, organizational skills, and customer service skills that will prove useful on your trip, plus she has years of experience as an executive assistant.”
Jason narrowed his eyes as he heard his father’s words. “If she’s so qualified, why has she been working in customer service all this time?”
Maggie had had enough. “If you have a question about my qualifications, Mr. Montgomery, please address me. I am more than capable of answering your questions.”
Jason couldn’t help but take note of her obvious dig at his inability to answer her earlier question. “Fine,” he bit out. “If you have all of these qualifications, why haven’t you been assigned to anyone in all of your years with Montgomerys?”
“I was a bit burned out after my last assignment with my previous employer and wanted something a little less stressful.”
“And you think that now you’re ready to handle the stress again?” he asked.
Her first response was to say no and hope that he’d let her leave and go back to her quiet position three floors down, but she knew she had made a promise to William. “Yes, I believe that I am more than capable of taking on this assignment.”
“Ann tells me that you’re married. How does your husband feel about you taking on a position that will have you traveling for the next several weeks?”
Maggie was not a very good liar but said a silent prayer that she’d sound believable. “My husband travels a great deal for his job, so we both have no issues with this trip.” That sounded plausible, didn’t it? She looked over at William and saw his slight nod of approval.
Jason looked over Maggie’s resume and personnel file. “This is not in any way, shape, or form a pleasure trip. We’ll be working long hours and meeting with a lot of people. It is imperative that you be able to keep up the pace and keep notes on all of our dealings and get whatever information is needed back here to Rose for her to begin processing. Is that going to be a problem?”
“I can assure you,” Maggie began, “that I am highly organized and I don’t have any issues with the long hours. It will be a refreshing change of pace after doing the eight-to-five schedule.”
“We’ll have no regulated schedule,” Jason countered. “Some days we may be up at dawn for an early morning meeting, other days we may not be meeting with anyone until the late afternoon. When we’re not in scheduled meetings, we’ll be working together on organizing the data we’ve collected, planning ahead for our next clients, or traveling. Maybe all at one time. W
ill that be a problem?”
Maggie shook her head. “As I said, I believe I am more than up for the challenge.”
“It won’t leave you a lot of personal time. You’ll be more than compensated for all of the overtime and I will try to make sure that you’re not overwhelmed, but I won’t have time for someone who feels the need to make constant calls to home or has a jealous or needy spouse who needs to call you several times a day.”
“That won’t be a problem,” Maggie said firmly.
“Be sure that it’s not, Mrs. Barrett,” Jason said with equal firmness.
William chose that moment to interrupt. “I think the two of you have more than enough to get started on. I do have some calls to make, so Jason, why don’t you take Maggie to your office and let her get started going over all of the client files?”
Jason nodded and stood. Maggie did the same. “Maggie, if you have any questions, please feel free to come and see me, okay?” William said gently and Jason had to wonder at the exchange. His father was notoriously kind to all of his employees, but Jason sensed that there was something different about Maggie. He was about to comment on it when Maggie turned and headed for the door.
“Jason?” his father said quietly.
Jason saw that Maggie had exited the office, and he turned and looked at his father.
“Maggie is exactly what you’re looking for. If you push, she’s going to push back. You won’t have to worry about her like you did with the others. She’s going to do a good job for you on this trip.”
At the moment, Jason wasn’t so sure. While he could appreciate Maggie’s credentials, he had a feeling that their personalities were going to clash, and that was almost as inappropriate as some of his former assistants’ behavior. “I hope so, Dad. There’s a lot riding on this trip.”
“That’s pressure that you’ve put on yourself, Jace. You wanted to try for this expansion, and while I think it’s a great idea, I don’t want it to consume you to the point of pushing yourself so hard that you forget to live a little.”
Wait for Me / Trust in Me Page 17