“Justine isn’t running the company any longer, Stanfield.” Luke smiled again. “And neither is Katy. I am. And there’s nothing you can say that will convince me I need you around.”
Stanfield shoved his hands into the front pockets of his trousers. His face was tight with fury. “Mind telling me just what I’m being condemned for?”
“The investigator says the nicest thing I can call it is bad judgment. The contracts you had with Lawtry, Gibson, and Ragsdale are good examples of your extremely poor judgment, aren’t they, Stanfield?”
“You can’t blame those contracts on me.”
“I can and I will. And then there’s the little problem Gilchrist Gourmet is having with the bank. Another example of really bad judgment.”
“Cash flow problems,” Stanfield said quickly.
“Caused by overextension and poor planning,” Luke said. “I could go on, but I’m sure you know the rest. Sure, I suppose we could call it six months of bad judgment on your part. That’s probably what Katy would call it. Me, I’m calling it deliberate sabotage, and I’m handing you your walking papers.”
Stanfield took a step back from the desk. “You won’t get away with this.”
“Who’s going to stop me?”
Stanfield smiled coldly. “Katy will.”
“No, Stanfield. That’s not the way it’s going to be this time. Katy works for me. She does what I say.”
“Well, I’ll be damned.” Stanfield’s gaze filled with speculation. “The gossip is true, isn’t it? You’re sleeping with her.”
“Shut up, Stanfield. And clear out your desk. You’ve got twenty-five minutes left. I’m not leaving here until I walk you out the door.” Luke leaned one shoulder against the wall and waited.
Stanfield shrugged and opened a drawer. “You’re the boss. But before you congratulate yourself on having gotten rid of me, you’d better think about who helped me make all those bad judgment calls.”
“Are you telling me you weren’t working alone?”
“Yeah, that’s what I’m telling you, all right.”
“I’m not buying that. There’s no indication there was anyone else involved.”
“That’s because my partner was a little smarter than I was about covering up her tracks.” Stanfield jerked files out of the desk drawers and stuffed them into his briefcase. “Hell, she was smarter than I gave her credit for, that’s for damn sure. Got to hand it to her. She set me up to take the fall on this one.”
Luke smiled faintly. “You did it all on your own, Stanfield. We both know that.”
“If you want to believe that, it’s your funeral. But don’t blame me when six months from now you realize you’ve still got trouble. I wonder how long it will take you to figure out that you’re sleeping with the one person in the company who will stop at nothing to see the whole Gilchrist empire brought down.”
Fury roared through Luke. “Katy? Why, you son of a bitch.”
He propelled himself away from the wall in a swift movement, glided around the desk, and grabbed a handful of Stanfield’s shirtfront.
“Take your hands off me, Gilchrist.”
Luke slammed Stanfield down into the chair and leaned over him. “I’ve had enough of you, Stanfield. I’ve changed my mind. You don’t have any time left. I’m taking you out of here right now. One of the secretaries can pack up your desk.”
“Use your head, Gilchrist,” Stanfield said urgently. “I’m telling you the goddamned truth. Katy hates all Gilchrists.”
“Why would she hate us?” Luke demanded.
“She figures you all owe her. The sabotage was her way of getting even before she quit her job.”
“You’re lying.”
“Am I? Think about it. What do you think it’s been like for her all these years? How do you think she’s felt knowing that by rights she should have had a chunk of Gilchrist, Inc.?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Don’t you know?” Stanfield smiled grimly. “Justine made a deal with Katy’s grandfather, Richard Quinnell, to merge her company with his.”
“What’s that old merger deal got to do with this?”
“She and Quinnell agreed to join the two restaurant chains on the day your father married Katy’s mother.”
“Hell, everyone knows that.”
“There was no marriage,” Stanfield said, “so there was no merger.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“All these years that Katy’s been forced to work for Justine she’s been stewing over the fact that Justine didn’t keep her part of the bargain thirty-seven years ago.”
“Stanfield, you’re crazy.”
Stanfield grinned without any real humor. “Am I? The Quinnells kept their part. They were all at the church. If Justine had honored her end of the deal, Katy and her brother would now own a chunk of Gilchrist. They would be heirs to a fortune.”
“You think I’m going to believe Katy’s been plotting revenge all these years? You’re out of your mind.”
“Hell, a Gilchrist, of all people, should be able to understand revenge. Your family wrote the book on holding grudges. How would you feel if you were in Katy’s place?”
Luke turned cold inside. Stanfield had a point. If the situation had been reversed, a Gilchrist would never have forgiven or forgotten. “Katy’s different.”
“If you think that, you’re a fool. As Justine’s personal assistant, Katy’s been part of the inner circle for years, but not really a part of it, if you know what I mean.”
“No, damn it, I don’t.”
Stanfield met Luke’s eyes. “She’s been almost like family, but not quite family. Not when it counts. She’s had to take orders from Gilchrists rather than be in a position to give orders. She’s had to put up with Gilchrist moods and whims and dramatics. And all the while she’s known that by rights she should have owned part of the damned company.”
Luke hauled Stanfield up out of the chair. “You’re leaving. Now. If you go quietly, I’ll bury the evidence that the investigator dug up. Make a scene or cause trouble and I’ll smear your reputation with so much mud you’ll never work in this town again. Your choice.”
“You know what I think has eaten at her the most?” Stanfield asked softly. “The fact that her precious brother was screwed out of his inheritance. Matt’s the most important person in Katy’s life. You should know that by now. I think Katy would do just about anything to get even for what the Gilchrists did to her brother. Think about that the next time you’re in bed with her.”
Luke picked up Stanfield’s briefcase and shoved it into his hand. He yanked Stanfield’s jacket off the wall hook and tossed it to him. Then he jerked open the office door and shoved Stanfield out into the hall.
They nearly collided with Katy, who was walking down the hall toward Luke’s office. Her eyes widened in surprise as she glanced first at Luke’s grim face and then saw Stanfield’s derisive smile.
“Is something wrong?” she asked anxiously.
“Nothing’s wrong, Katy.” Luke clasped Stanfield’s shoulder in what he hoped appeared to be a comradely fashion. The truth was, he was squeezing hard enough to paralyze nerve endings. He smiled with false regret. “Except that we’re losing our right-hand man here. Stanfield’s had a better offer. He’s leaving today.”
“Leaving?” Katy was startled. “Fraser, you didn’t tell me you were looking for another position. I knew you were concerned about your future with Gilchrist, but I had no idea you were thinking of leaving.”
Luke responded before Stanfield could say anything. “You know how it is in the fast lane of the business world, Katy. An up-and-coming executive type like Stanfield here has to grab his opportunities when he sees them. Isn’t that right, Stanfield?”
“Sure. Right. Got to grab your opportunities.” Stanfield�
��s eyes were mocking now. “Katy understands that. She’s been waiting for her big chance for years.”
“And it’s almost here. Just as yours is.” Katy smiled warmly. She stepped forward and gave Stanfield a quick, impulsive hug. “I’ll miss you, Fraser. I don’t know what I would have done without your help. I can’t thank you enough for your support.”
Luke’s stomach knotted. “Sorry. Can’t hang around for any long good-byes. Stanfield tells me he has a plane to catch. I promised I’d cut some red tape for him in Personnel.” He yanked Stanfield out of Katy’s light grasp and steered him down the hall.
“Good-bye, Fraser,” Katy called.
Stanfield raised a hand in farewell as Luke practically shoved him into the elevator. “What about Personnel?” Stanfield asked dryly as Luke punched the button that took the elevator to the lobby.
“Forget Personnel. I’ll have them send you the necessary paperwork.”
Stanfield laughed softly. “It was a good deal, you know?”
“What was? The sabotage? I assume it must have been to make it worth your while. Who was paying you to make Gilchrist Gourmet look sick?”
“A consortium that wanted to buy it cheap. I was going to hand it to them on a silver platter at a cut-rate price after Justine finally realized she had to sell.”
“How much was the consortium going to pay you for arranging things?”
“I was going to get a piece of the action. I would have been CEO of Gilchrist Gourmet once it was under new management.”
Luke nodded. “It might have worked. Except that I don’t think Justine would ever have sold Gilchrist Gourmet.”
“She’d have sold. Eventually.”
“I doubt it.”
“You’ll never be able to prove a thing. We both know it.”
Luke shrugged. “I know. But I don’t have to be able to prove anything to keep you from getting a decent job anywhere in the restaurant industry in the entire Northwest. One call from me and any future employer is going to think twice about hiring you. Keep that in mind, Stanfield.”
“I’ll do that. And while I’m thinking about that, you think about the fact that the reason I got as far as I did in the scheme was that I had plenty of help from Katy.”
Luke restrained himself from hurling Stanfield through the plate glass windows in the lobby, but it wasn’t easy. It required a considerable amount of self-discipline, the kind that took years of training.
After Fraser had left the building Luke took the elevator back upstairs and went down the hall to his office.
“Hold my calls,” he ordered as he went past his secretary’s desk.
He closed his office door, sprawled in his chair, and sat staring out the window for a long while. Katy would probably have accused him of brooding.
Stanfield was wrong, he thought. Sure, a Gilchrist might have plotted revenge for what had happened between the Gilchrists and the Quinnells thirty-seven years ago. But Katy? No way. Katy was the self-appointed guardian angel of the Gilchrist clan. She would never deliberately try to destroy the family business.
But she would do just about anything for her brother Matt, Luke reminded himself. If she honestly believed that Matt had been deprived of his inheritance by the Gilchrists, there was no telling what she would do in retaliation.
A Gilchrist in that sort of situation might conceivably conclude that because Justine had reneged on the merger thirty-seven years ago, someone was owed something.
Any self-respecting Gilchrist would have had no qualms about bringing down an entire company for the sake of a brother who had gotten the shaft on his inheritance.
Luke felt a cold chill go through him as he contemplated whether or not Katy had the same taste for vengeance.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“Hello, my name is Bill, and I’ll be your waiter for this evening.”
Luke looked up slowly from the wine list. He regarded the earnest young man in front of him with a basilisk gaze. “My name is Luke Gilchrist. And if I ever hear you announce yourself like that again in a Gilchrist restaurant, you’ll be looking for another job. Wait staff in Gilchrist restaurants do not form a personal relationship with the patrons.”
Bill, the waiter, flinched and turned a painful shade of red. “I’m sorry, sir. Mr. Gilchrist, I mean. I didn’t…that is, I’m new here, and at the other place where I worked we—”
“Forget it. Give us the menus and leave.”
“Yes, sir.” Bill’s hand trembled as he handed the menu to Katy.
She smiled at him warmly. “Thank you.”
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll, uh, be back in a few minutes to explain the specials.” Bill cast another nervous look at Luke, who was ignoring him, and departed hastily.
Katy glowered at Luke as soon as the waiter was out of earshot. “There was no call to snap at the poor man. He was just trying to do his job. Can’t you tell he’s nervous? You should make allowances.”
Luke scowled at the back of the retreating waiter. “I hate wait staff who introduce themselves as if they were your new best friends.”
“Try not to take it personally,” Katy murmured dryly. “I’m sure he doesn’t consider himself your good buddy. Not now, at any rate.”
Luke sighed inwardly. Things were not starting off well. He glanced around, trying for professional detachment.
The Pacific Rim was the premier establishment in the Gilchrist chain. It was a true Seattle-style restaurant featuring an eclectic menu of seafood and meat entrées served in a casually chic atmosphere. The menu showed evidence of Asian and Italian influences blended in the unique and sometimes eccentric manner created by Northwest chefs.
The restaurant was also a cash cow.
In addition to catering to local residents, the Pacific Rim enjoyed a highly profitable long-standing relationship with the concierges of most of the major downtown hotels. That relationship guaranteed it a never-ending stream of out-of-town visitors and conventioneers.
Luke started to open a neutral discussion with Katy on the subject of the Pacific Rim’s success. But before he could even say a word the bus person hurried over to fill the water glasses. The wine steward appeared at the young man’s elbow. The bus person was startled and jumped. Water spilled on the white tablecloth.
Luke muttered in disgust and brushed water droplets off the sleeve of his jacket.
The bus person looked shell-shocked.
“Sorry, sir.” The wine steward nobly tried to take charge. “I’ll get a towel.”
“Forget it.” Luke gave him the name of the wine he wanted served with the meal.
The wine steward and the bus person escaped as swiftly as possible.
Katy laughed softly. “I told you we’d get impeccable service.”
“Service? We haven’t been left alone for more than three minutes.” Luke was beginning to realize he had made a mistake bringing Katy to a Gilchrist restaurant. Unfortunately, having used the unannounced test as an excuse to force Katy to spend the night with him, he had felt obliged to go through with it.
He was about ready to walk out. All he wanted was to be alone with Katy. He had to talk to her. He had questions he wanted to ask, but he was not certain he wanted to hear the answers. The conflicting emotions were driving him deeper into his already foul mood.
The questions were simple. Luke wanted to ask Katy if she was plotting revenge against the Gilchrist clan.
He also wanted to ask her if she would stay with him after the six months were up.
How did a man ask a woman if she was as angelic as she seemed? Luke wondered. How did he ask her if she secretly hated his guts and had conspired against him and his entire family?
So many questions.
Luke eyed Katy with brooding fascination. She looked like a dawn sky tonight. She had on a vivid yellow and turquoise dress that floated around h
er like a gossamer veil. The weightless fabric seemed to glide over her soft breasts and sweetly curved hips, never clinging close enough to satisfy Luke, but following the outline of her body just enough to tantalize him.
Luke could not quite see through the delicate fabric, although he had certainly been trying to do so since she had emerged from her hotel room. From the hints he had gotten so far he thought there might be a sort of yellow silk slip underneath the airy dress.
He was intensely aware of the sensual hunger in his guts. He told himself she surely could not smile at him like that if she were secretly plotting to destroy the Gilchrist clan.
Could she?
“You can’t possibly conduct a true unannounced test of one of your own restaurants,” Katy said chattily. “I told you that. They knew who you were the minute you walked in the door, even if you did make the reservations under another name.”
“I’ve given up trying to test the operation,” Luke grumbled. “I’d settle for some privacy.”
“In that case, it was an even bigger mistake to choose a Gilchrist restaurant.” Katy glanced up and smiled at someone moving toward them through the cluster of crowded tables. “Here comes the new manager. He’ll want to know if you’re happy with what you’ve experienced so far. Be nice to him, Luke. His name is George McCoy, and he’s a good man. You’re lucky to have him working for you.”
“You don’t have to play personal assistant tonight. I can remember the man’s name, and I know what kind of job he’s been doing here.” Luke put down his fork as a tall, lanky man with thinning hair stopped beside the table. “Hello, McCoy.”
“Sir. Good to have you with us.” McCoy smiled at Katy. “Good evening, Ms. Wade. Glad to see you here tonight. Just thought I’d drop by and make sure everything was satisfactory.”
“It’s wonderful, George.” Katy smiled brilliantly. “As always. Isn’t that right, Mr. Gilchrist?”
“We could do with a little less attention from the wait staff,” Luke said.
McCoy was instantly alarmed. “Of course. I’ll speak to them immediately. I hadn’t realized. You know how it is when the boss is around.”
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