Stormy Relationship
by Margaret Mayo
A matter of time
Jordan Quest was a man to whom power was everything. He expected his employees to jump at his beck and call, and Hannah understood why no secretary had ever stayed with Jordan long. She was about to continue that revolving-door tradition.
Nothing came before her son, Danny, or the cherished memories of her husband. And Hannah had made it clear from the start that her private life was her own. Jordan, however, had other ideas. His notorious charm had won over Danny, her friends...and, despite her best defenses, was coining perilously close to storming Hannah's heart!
CHAPTER ONE
‘THAT man is impossible! He’s not only impossible, he’s an arrogant swine, and I don’t know why I stick it here!’
Hannah grinned at Christine’s flushed face. ‘You stick it because you know you wouldn’t get a better wage anywhere else. I wish I earned as much as you.’
‘Happiness is more important than money,’ Christine announced patronisingly. ‘I’m looking in the paper tonight for another job.’ And, so saying, she flounced out of the office.
Happiness wasn’t always more important than money, thought Hannah, not when there was never enough to make ends meet. What the employment agency paid her was a pittance compared with the salaries Jordan Quest paid his staff. She had found that much out in the few weeks she had worked as his temporary secretary. If only she could manage a full-time job!
‘Mrs Carpenter!’
The command was imperious―as always! She quickly gathered her wits, together with her notebook and pencil, and entered Jordan Quest’s office. He was tall, over six feet, and dark, his face strongly angular, every feature strikingly dominant-deep-set eyes that were ferociously black, thick brows bridging them, a harshly defined mouth, a chiselled jaw, a body that was honed to physical perfection.
The toughness was further evident in his imperious bearing, his commanding attitude, and the fierce power that emanated from every pore in his body. He was not a man to cross, as most of his employees had found out to their cost. On the other hand, he was, to give him his due, exceedingly fair, and more than generous where wages were concerned.
For the next half-hour he barked instructions at Hannah, giving her no time to query anything he said, and lord help her if she did not get everything right! Tell Jones I want to see him immediately, make sure that letter to Bridger gets sent out today, book me a room at the Royal for Wednesday night, and so on and so on.
In the two years Hannah had been with the agency she had worked for a few difficult people, but Jordan Quest was, without a doubt, more demanding, more exacting and more impossible than anyone else. She knew, though, that if she did not want him to send a bad report to the agency and maybe jeopardise her job, then she had to stand up to him. So she ignored his bad moods to the best of her ability, defended herself if she felt she was in the right, and got on with her job. She was quick and accurate and made sure he never had cause for complaint.
She half suspected that he never even saw her; she was a human machine conditioned to do a job, and if the job was well done that was all he cared. She was the latest in a long line of temporary secretaries and had lasted longer than most, some only managing a few hours. Hannah had been with him for a few weeks.
Returning to her office to carry out his requests, she soon heard his voice raised in argument with Andrew Jones. Andrew was his costings director and had been with the company since its conception. He was a brilliant man but lacked his employer’s dedication, and Jordan Quest came down on people like a ton of bricks if they fell below the standards he set, the ones he adhered to himself.
He worked hard and long hours, and demanded the same of everyone else. He was no respecter of family life. He expected his employees to put their jobs first and could not understand when they complained. As far as he was concerned, Quest Electronics was the most important thing in his life, so why wasn’t it in theirs? Why didn’t they give it the same consideration?
Andrew Jones’ face was a fiery red as he made his exit, and Hannah felt sorry for him. The next second Jordan Quest himself erupted into her office like a whirlwind. ‘Mrs Carpenter, I urgently need you to work over. In fact, I need you full time. I want you to be my permanent secretary. No one else can cope with the job like you do. I’ll make it worth your while. I’ve already had a word with your agency and they’re prepared to let you go.’
Hannah looked at him for a moment in openmouthed, wide-eyed astonishment, totally taken aback by his suggestion. ‘I’m sorry, Mr Quest, it’s impossible,’ she said. And she really was sorry; it was a wonderful opportunity, the money was exactly what she needed.
Arid she liked the job despite his overbearing attitude.
Hard work was her panacea .In fact. It had been for the last two years.
‘What?’ His expression suggested he could not believe that she was turning down such a good offer, black eyes blazing, brows drawn into a furious frown. ‘I’ll double the salary you’re getting now, triple it even. I need you, Mrs Carpenter, you’re the only one who can put up with my black moods.’
Her lips quirked. At least he knew his faults. ‘All I do is ignore them and get on with my job, Mr. Quest.’
‘Which you do excellently. I can’t fault your work. As you know, my standards are high. I pay for efficiency and I expect it. Name your salary.’ He rested his hands on the edge of her desk, leaning forward so that his eyes were on a level with hers, fiercely demanding her submission.
For the first time Hannah felt the full impact of this man to ‘whom power meant everything, felt faint alarm at his insistence, his confidence that she would accept, but she also felt an irrational stirring of her senses, because, despite his inflexibility, he was a sensual male animal. But still she shook her head, and his brow grew even blacker.
‘What is this, a conspiracy against me?’ he raged. ‘I’ve just asked Jones to work late’ and he refuses. I’ve an important meeting in the morning for which I need very precise figures and a critical document typing. You’re the only person who can do it neatly and accurately in so short a time.’
‘In that case, Mr Quest, you shouldn’t have left it until the last minute,’ she told him calmly. ‘I’m sorry, I can’t work late.’ He had compelling eyes, she thought. Up until now she had not really looked into them.
Now she noticed that they weren’t black at all but a very dark brown ringed with black, but as hard as polished jet, and his long sweeping lashes were quite extraordinary on a man, but in no way did they soften his image.
‘I don’t believe this!’ His tone was harshly condemning.
‘What’s so important that you have to leave at three on the dot every day? Every self-respecting secretary works whatever hours her boss needs her.’
‘The agency are my employers, Mr Quest,’ she reminded him. ‘Doing temporary work is the only way I can dictate my own hours. Half-past nine until three is perfect. And I never work at all during school holidays.’
‘You have children?’ He jerked away from the desk, a scowl appearing. This was obviously something that had never occurred to him―and why should it have?
She was a temporary secretary, nothing more, there had been no need for him to ask personal questions.
Hannah smiled and nodded, her blue eyes soft with love and pride. ‘I have an eight-year-old son, and I always take him to school and fetch him back.’
He shook his head as if unable to accept that something as simple as a child was coming between him and the work he needed doing. ‘You have no neighbours who could do this for You? Who could look after him while you’re at work? Isn’t that what most mothers do?’
‘It’s n
ot what I do.’ She could have asked Yvonne, she supposed, but she hated the thought of entrusting Daniel to anyone else. Roger had been taken from her, and if anything happened to Daniel life would not be worth living. He was her whole life. He was all she had left of the man she had loved so dearly.
‘It’s vital I get this document typed.’ The scowl persisted.
He was a man who did not take kindly to having his plans thwarted.
Hannah glanced at her watch. ‘If I start now I might get it finished before three,’ she said.
He snorted testily, ‘That’s the trouble, I haven’t yet got all the information.’ He paced the room and, watching him, seeing his animal grace, the lithe movements of his long muscular legs, Hannah yet again acknowledged his sexuality, yet did not feel any response to it. It had been this way since her husband’s accident.
Roger had been her whole world and she was not interested in other men. Her friends all said that she ought to start looking around, and were continually trying to fix her up with a date, but she wanted nothing to do with their matchmaking.
‘I have it.’ He abruptly stopped his pacing, his brown eyes fixed intently on her blue ones. ‘You fetch your son here. He can sit in the corner and draw, or do whatever he wants as long as he’s quiet about it, while you get on with my work. And then tomorrow we’ll discuss again your working for me on a permanent basis.’
He was so convinced that he had found the perfect solution, that she would agree without demur, that Hannah almost rejected his suggestion. And she was actually so long in answering that he added impatiently, ‘I’ll obviously pay you for the extra hours, over and above whatever you get from the agency.’
‘OK, I’ll fetch Daniel,’ she said, the thought of the extra money making it all worth while, ‘but there’s no way I’ll become your permanent secretary unless I can dictate my own hours.’
He gave a snort of anger and looked at her with cold contempt. Hannah had lost weight during the last two years, and there were shadows beneath her eyes due to too many sleepless nights. Yet she was still pretty.
Her face had a good bone-structure and her wide blue eyes had thick black lashes which needed no artificial aids to enhance them. In fact she rarely wore make-up. Her brown hair was short and naturally curly and she cut it herself whenever it got too long. There was never enough money for visits to the hairdresser. Almost every penny she earned was spent on food, and clothes for Daniel. He wore shoes out as though they were made of paper, and he was forever coming home with the knees out of his trousers. He missed his father as much as Hannah did, and she wished he had another brother or sister to play with.
They had dearly wanted more children, but none had come along, and they had thought they had plenty of time. Neither of them had realized how precious life was.
‘Is it the child’s father who’s so much against you leaving him?’ The words were thrust at her with savage intolerance.
Hannah closed her eyes, a vision of Roger appearing on the backs of her lids, handsome and blond. He had meant everything to her. No one could ever replace him.
‘Mrs Carpenter, is something wrong?’
She suddenly realised that the seconds were ticking away and he was waiting edgily for her answer. ‘I’m sorry, my mind flew back. I’m a widow, Mr Quest. I lost my husband two years ago.’
It was his turn to pause, fleeting surprise in his eyes, but he did not offer his condolences. ‘In that case you need a job more than ever―a permanent job to give you security. Go and fetch your son now, and then think about it.’
Hannah did not see that there was anything to think about. The high salary he offered was like a dream come true. She desperately needed more money, but to leave Daniel with someone else? It went against all her principles.
Daniel was intrigued and excited when he discovered that he was going to the place where his mother worked, and even though she warned him that he would have to sit still and keep very quiet he shrugged it off easily. ‘Of course I’ll be quiet, Mummy. I can write and pretend I’m working just like you.’
What Hannah had not realised was exactly how late Jordan Quest would keep her. The proposed contract was sixty pages long and he still wanted alterations made after it was finished. Her work was made easier with a word processor, but even so it was time-consuming, and Daniel began to get restless. ‘When are we going, Mummy?’ he kept asking. ‘I’m hungry, I want my tea.’
Apart from giving him a cursory glance Jordan Quest had ignored her son, and Hannah guessed he hadn’t much time or patience for little boys. Aged thirty-five and not married, he had a reputation for being a womaniser. His present girlfriend had called into the office not long after Hannah had begun working there, ostensibly to see Jordan, but Hannah had a feeling it was to vet her-to make sure she wasn’t a potential rival. She was beautiful and blonde―and brittle, and Hannah had not been able to see what he saw in her.
Now, Jordan heard Daniel complaining, and before Hannah knew it a sandwich and a cake appeared on the table in front of the child, together with a glass of iced orange juice. So he wasn’t entirely a hard-hearted monster, she thought, surprised by the gesture.
Everyone else had gone home by the time they were finished, and they walked out of the building together. ‘Where’s your car?’ asked Jordan, looking round the empty car park―empty, that was, except for his low-slung red Ferrari.
‘I don’t have a car,’ she said.
He frowned. ‘You don’t drive?’
‘Yes, but after my husband died the car was too expensive to run, and I’ve never bothered with another.’ She and Danny walked everywhere, taking a bus only when it was absolutely necessary. She had to count every single penny. The rent on the flat was horrendous, but it was all she had been able to get when she was forced to give up the house.
‘Then I’ll give you a lift.’ He held up an imperious hand when she automatically began to protest. ‘It’s the very least I can do.’
Daniel’s eyes grew wide with excitement when he realised what was happening, and he raced across to the car, standing beside it and admiring its long smooth lines and gleaming paintwork.
‘It’s a Ferrari Mondial,’ announced Jordan, noticing Daniel’s interest as he unlocked the door and held it open.
Amazing Hannah, because he was usually very shy with strangers, Daniel scrambled on to the rich leather seat without waiting to be told.
‘Into the back, young man,’ urged Jordan. ‘Make room for your mother.’
Obediently he climbed over and sat down, one hand on each of the front seats, peering with interest at the dials on the dashboard.
‘Sit back and fasten your belt,’ commanded Hannah as she got in too. Daniel obeyed reluctantly.
As they pulled away she felt the car close in around her. She had never been locked into such a tiny space with Jordan Quest, and she felt the charisma that drew so many girls to him, felt his overt sexuality, and knew that if she weren’t still in love with Roger she could easily have found herself attracted.
Fortunately the journey was short, Jordan following her instructions to the narrow back street where they lived in a converted Victorian house which fronted straight on to the street.
‘Is this it?’ he frowned.
She could almost see his nose turning up in disgust. ‘I’m afraid so.’
‘You live in a flat?’
Hannah nodded.
‘Where does the boy play?’
‘I take him to the park.’
‘Heavens! Why have you never moved into a house with a garden? This is no sort of environment to bring up a child!’
Hannah’s chin jutted. ‘Not that I think it’s any business of yours, Mr. Quest, but we had used to live in a cottage. My husband worked on a farm. However, it went with his job and I had to get out after he died.
This is all I can afford.’
He frowned. ‘But surely there was insurance money that would have bought you a small place?’
; She shook her head. ‘I’m afraid not. For years we talked about taking out life insurance, but we kept putting it off-until in the end it was too late. Somehow you never think that you’re going to die at that age.’
Money had been short even in those days. As a farmhand Roger hadn’t earned a very high wage, and he had insisted when Daniel was born that she give up her job and stay at home to look after him. He felt strongly about mothers going out to work. They had grown all their own vegetables and been more or less self-sufficient, so it had been no real problem-until she was left to bring Daniel up alone! After a refresher course in secretarial skills she had taken a job with the agency and just about managed to keep their heads above water. But it was a real struggle at times.
‘I see.’ Jordan’s eyes were thoughtful. ‘All the more reason for you to take the job I’m offering. I’ll see you in the morning, Mrs Carpenter.’
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