by Mary Lyons
However, she was surprised by Susie’s swift reaction.
‘No way!’ the other girl laughed. ‘It may be a bumpy ride, but I wouldn’t miss the forthcoming drama—not for all the tea in China! Besides, being Jack’s personal assistant wasn’t exactly a piece of cake,’ she added. ‘As you know, he expects his employees to work every bit as hard as he does—which meant it was all go from the moment I arrived in the morning until I flopped exhausted into bed at night.
‘And, while I’m not afraid of hard work, or of putting in long hours whenever there’s a problem to deal with, I’d have welcomed a word of thanks now and then. I was grateful for the annual bonus, of course, but we all need to feel appreciated, to know that we’re a valued member of the firm, however lowly our status might be.’
‘I’m sure Jack didn’t mean to appear ungrateful,’ Laura murmured, amazed to find herself coming to the awful man’s defence.
‘No, I don’t suppose he did,’ Susie agreed with a sigh. ‘And neither did he really mean to take it out on me when things weren’t going well. But that’s men for you, isn’t it?’ She shrugged. ‘Surely you must have noticed that a woman’s place always seems to be in the wrong?’
‘Tell me about it!’ Laura grinned.
‘Anyway...what I’m trying to say is that, while it was never boring working for Jack, he certainly doesn’t command my undying loyalty,’ Susie said firmly. ‘Quite honestly, I think you ought to just concentrate on running your business and leave Jack to run his.’
Taking heart from Susie’s words, and resolving to make sure that her new assistant always received due recognition and praise for a job well done, Laura was determined to heed her good advice.
Unfortunately, she’d already taken one or two decisions which, she now realised, had been extraordinarily foolish and likely to have dire consequences for her new business. So, if she now faced a ‘bumpy ride’, as Susie had predicted, she had no one to blame but herself.
Why, oh, why had she allowed her rage and fury with Jack to overtake her normal good sense? Because when he discovered what she had done he was almost certainly going to go completely ballistic!
CHAPTER FIVE
‘DID you have a good weekend?’ Laura called out as she passed Susie’s office on the way towards her own. It was a lovely bright, sunny morning and she was feeling really excited at the prospect of this, their first morning as a fully registered theatrical agency.
. ‘As it turned out, I did have rather a good time,’ Susie said, following her into the now clean, tidy and efficient-looking office. ‘Donald Hunt asked me out to dinner on Saturday night.’
Removing her smart emerald-green linen jacket, Laura smiled over at the small blonde girl leaning against the open doorway. ‘Well, I can’t say that I’m entirely surprised to hear that piece of news! I thought he’d taken quite a shine to you, right from the time of our first meeting.’
‘Yes, well...he’s a nice guy and we spent an amusing evening together.’
‘Is Donald married?’ Laura asked casually as she sat down, quickly scanning the papers on the desk in front of her.
She was very fond of her new assistant, their friendship having deepened over the past few weeks, when they’d spent so much time together. Which was why she was hoping that the other girl, still obviously bearing scars from the breakdown of her first marriage, wouldn’t become embroiled in a messy affair with a married man. Besides which they needed another broken heart in this office like fish need bicycles!
‘No, as it happens, he isn’t married,’ Susie murmured airily, grinning as she caught the amused gleam in Laura’s green eyes. ‘I didn’t like to ask too many leading questions, and it seemed a bit early in our friendship to bring up the subject of his affair with Jack’s wife, Melissa. However, while there appear to have been one or two long-standing relationships in the past, it now seems that Donald is as free as a bird.’
‘I’m glad to hear it.’
‘Yes—so was I!’ Susie laughed, before going back into her own office. Returning a few minutes later, she placed the opened post on Laura’s desk, together with a typed list of the messages which had been left on their answering machine over the weekend.
‘Oh, by the way—just before you arrived, we had some parcels delivered. It looks as if our office stationery has arrived at last.’
‘That’s great!’ Laura said, lifting her phone as she prepared to return some of the calls. ‘Can I leave you to sort it out?’ she added quickly. ‘Because I think I’m just about to take on another client.’
‘No problem,’ the other girl told her quickly, disappearing back into her own office and leaving Laura to chat up the young actor on whom she’d had her eye for some time.
Twenty minutes later, she leaned back in her chair, regarding the notes in front of her with satisfaction. The word had soon got out, of course. The acting profession seemed to operate on an extraordinarily efficient grapevine, with news of forthcoming productions and job opportunities whizzing through their ranks with the speed of light. So the information that Laura Parker had decided to start up her own theatrical agency, and was busy looking for young, bright and talented actors, had resulted in a host of applications.
Unfortunately, however talented they might be, there were very few youngsters whom she could afford to take on to her books at the moment. It would only be when she was well established, with one or two clients capable of earning a great deal of money, that she could afford to use the fees gained by those actors to subsidise and encourage those just starting out on their careers.
Luckily, she’d built up a good relationship in the past with various casting directors—especially ones dealing with long-running TV programmes. And, provided she was careful not to put forward any clients who were simply not up to the job, she could look forward to having some of her new actors start work almost immediately.
But what she really needed at the moment—if only to prove to Jack Wilder that she was perfectly capable of running a successful business—was at least one well-known star; an actor of either sex who commanded both high fees and universal respect. She had, of course, an exciting idea at the back of her mind. But pulling it off wasn’t going to be easy.
‘I’ve unpacked all the stationery,’ Susie said, coming into the room. ‘I think it looks great, and these visiting cards are really very smart indeed,’ she added, placing a small cardboard box down on Laura’s desk. ‘The only thing is...’
‘Mmm?’
‘Well...’ Susie hesitated for a moment, frowning as she gazed down at the sheet of new paper in her hand. ‘I’m not sure... Don’t get me wrong!’ she added hastily. ‘Because I reckon that Worldwide Artists Management is a really brilliant name for your new theatrical agency. Apart from anything else, it has a terrifically solid and stylish ring to it. But it’s just occurred to me that the initials are remarkably similar to those of our old firm.’
‘Oh, really...?’ Laura murmured, continuing to study the notes on the pad in front of her.
Susie went on looking at the piece of paper with a puzzled expression on her face, before raising her eyes to stare in speculation at the faint flush on Laura’s cheeks.
‘Oh, no! I simply don’t believe it!’ the blonde girl gasped as the awful truth slowly began to dawn on her. ‘You didn’t...? You can’t have...?’
‘I can’t have—what?’ Laura muttered, still seemingly intent on studying the papers before her.
‘You did it quite deliberately, didn’t you?’ Susie breathed. ‘Oh, my God—Jack Wilder will go absolutely berserk!’
As her assistant’s horrified voice seemed to echo around the large office, Laura put down her pen and leaned back in her chair.
‘I can’t think why you’re making such a fuss. There is absolutely no similarity between Worldwide Artists Management and Wilder, Hunt and Martin. In fact, the names of the two businesses couldn’t be more different,’ she added with a careless shrug of her shoulder, her eyes not quite
meeting Susie’s troubled gaze.
‘The names may be completely dissimilar but the initials are virtually the same,’ Susie pointed out grimly. ‘And if you think Jack isn’t going to notice that small but important detail you must need your head examined!’
‘Rubbish! Why should it matter to him one way or another?’
‘Do me a favour!’ The other girl gave a heavy sigh, grimacing as she raised her eyes to the ceiling as if praying for divine guidance.
‘You and I both know that, with such similar initials, many of Jack’s clients are likely to be confused when they study the notice-board down in the foyer,’ Susie continued impatiently. ‘In fact, faced with two firms—WAM and WHAM—they’ll probably call in to this office first, by mistake—right? Not to mention all the ghastly muddles and fuss over phone calls and postal delivery.’
Laura shrugged. ‘I really think that you’re taking all this far too seriously, and—’
‘Come off it!’ Susie gave a hollow laugh, shaking her head at the sheer folly being perpetrated by her new employer. ‘There’s no point in bothering to pretend that it’s a mistake. Because I know you, Laura, and it’s just the sort of thing you’d do if you wanted to make Jack’s life particularly tiresome and difficult!’
‘Yes, well...’ Laura sighed heavily, realising that there was no point in continuing to deny that it had been a deliberate action on her part. ‘I’m ashamed to say that you’re quite right.’
‘But you must have known that it was a really crazy thing to do?’
‘Yes, I suppose so,’ Laura agreed, with an unhappy shrug of her slim shoulders. ‘But, to tell the truth, I think I must have been temporarily out of my head when I went down to Companies House to register the name of the new business. All I could think about was trying to get even with Jack.’ She gave another heavy sigh before lapsing into an unhappy silence.
‘Well, it’s obviously too late to do anything about it now,’ Susie told her with a wry shake of her blonde head. ‘So I guess we’ll just have to ride out the storm. Which, if I’m not mistaken, is likely to break over our heads any minute!’
However, when a week had passed without producing the expected thunder and lightning from Jack Wilder, Laura gradually relaxed. In fact, she was far too busy to spend any time wondering about Jack’s reaction to the name of her new firm, because Worldwide Artists Management was having great success in attracting both clients and interesting jobs.
And, as the working week drew to a close, that success was crowned by the news that one of her particularly gifted young actresses had landed a plum role in a long-running and very successful TV comedy, thus gaining both a substantial salary for the actress and considerable kudos for Laura’s new company.
She wasn’t prepared, therefore, for the harsh, grating voice on her phone when she returned to her office the following Monday.
‘I want you upstairs in my office within the next five minutes—or else!’
There was no need for the caller to identify himself. Laura immediately recognised Jack’s deep voice.
‘Or else—what?’ she retorted, playing for time as she tried to think how she was going to deal with the situation.
‘Or else I’ll be coming down—to tear you personally limb from limb!’ he hissed savagely, before loudly banging down his phone.
Refusing to dance to the damned man’s tune, Laura spent the next seven minutes applying fresh make-up and brushing her hair. If she was about to be shot down in flames, then at least she was going down with all colours flying! However, after a quick glance down at her wristwatch, she realised that it would be foolish to push her luck too far.
‘If I’m not back in half an hour, you’d better send in the troops,’ she told Susie with a nervous laugh, after having briefly put the other girl in the picture.
Grateful for her assistant’s restraint in not saying ‘I told you so’, Laura left her office, hurrying down the passage towards the bank of lifts. Impatiently tapping her foot and jabbing irritably at the buttons, she wasted two precious minutes before remembering that three out of four lifts were being serviced that morning. So, quickly deciding that it definitely wasn’t a good idea to add any more fuel to the flames of Jack’s anger, she rapidly made her way to the stairs leading up to the next floor.
Walking as swiftly as she could along the thickly carpeted corridor leading to her old offices, she couldn’t help feeling a certain sense of déjà vu. There had rarely been an occasion, during the years in which she had worked for Jack, when she hadn’t approached this door with feelings of pleasure and anticipation. Unfortunately, however much she was determined to hide the fact, her feelings today were mainly composed of nervous apprehension and dread.
Even leaving aside her forthcoming confrontation with Jack himself—and she certainly wasn’t looking forward to that encounter!—Laura knew that it might prove awkward meeting some of her old colleagues. Following her noisy, extremely acrimonious departure from the office all those weeks ago, and the fact that she’d now set up in direct opposition to her old firm, it was more than likely that she’d be given the cold shoulder.
As she neared the main door leading to Jack’s agency Laura took a deep breath, desperately trying to control the rising panic and tension sweeping through her body. Stay cool—and for heaven’s sake calm down! she told herself sternly, pausing for a moment to straighten her short-sleeved navy blue jacket over its matching, slim-fitting dress.
Thank goodness that she’d laid down a policy for both herself and Susie of always being fashionably and smartly dressed in the office. While this had been originally decided upon as a way of demonstrating to clients that they were dealing with an efficient, up-market firm, she did now have the satisfaction of knowing that, if nothing else, she was looking elegant and businesslike.
Taking a deep breath and assuming a confident smile that was sharply at variance with the butterflies causing mayhem in her stomach, Laura sailed into her old office. And while there were, of course, one or two of her old colleagues who pretended that they’d never seen her before—with Betty, Jack’s secretary, giving her a particularly sour glance of pure hostility through her thick pebble glasses—it was comforting to receive a beaming smile from the young receptionist.
‘It’s great to see you again, Laura,’ she said, giving her an enthusiastic hug, before leading her towards the oak door guarding Jack’s office.
‘You took your time!’ he barked, scowling from behind his desk at Laura’s slim, self-assured figure as she walked confidently over the carpet towards him.
Laura gave a shrug of her shoulders. ‘They still seem to be having trouble with the lifts in this building,’ she explained quietly, swiftly deciding that a soft, conciliatory approach would be best in dealing with the rigidly angry figure glaring at her from the other side of the room.
‘However, I’m sorry if I’m late,’ she added with a slight, placatory smile, sitting down on a black leather chair in front of his desk.
‘I don’t suppose I have to tell you exactly why you’re here?’ Jack drawled, his voice heavy with sarcasm.
‘Well, yes, actually you do,’ she murmured, before turning her gaze on the silent figure of a woman standing in the window. ‘I don’t think I’ve met...?’
‘This is Felicity Green,’ he said brusquely, waving a hand in the direction of the other girl. ‘She’s just joined the firm—to fill your old position.’
‘I’m sure that you’ll enjoy your time here. It’s a great agency,’ Laura said brightly, despite viewing the statuesque blonde—and her curvaceous figure—with some considerable dismay.
No one had any right to have a figure like that—or to look quite so beautiful, Laura told herself grimly as the other girl murmured a polite response. And, what was more, Felicity was also bound to be as bright as blazes, because Jack—other than his calculated risk with dopey Henry—would never employ anyone stupid. Unless, of course, he’d suddenly decided to change the policy of no hanky-p
anky in his office? Because how anyone—let alone Jack—could manage to keep his hands off this particular girl she had no idea.
‘Felicity trained at Scott Marshall before going to work for ICM,’ Jack drawled, clearly intending to let Laura know that, despite the other girl’s amazing chest measurement, she was no dumb bunny. ‘She has a first-class degree from Oxford, and she also speaks three languages,’ he added enthusiastically, obviously hoping to rub salt in the wound.
‘Oh, really? That’s great,’ Laura murmured, casually leaning back in her chair and crossing one leg over her knee, as if she hadn’t a care in the world. ‘Now, what exactly did you want to see me about?’
‘You know damn well why you’re here!’ he told her roughly. ‘And I’m not prepared to put up with any more nonsense. How you had the brass cheek to pick that name for your new firm I really don’t know, but—’
‘Excuse me,’ she interjected quickly. ‘Are we talking about my new business?’
‘We most certainly are!’
‘Well, I’m sorry, Jack, but you seem to have forgotten that I’m no longer your employee,’ she pointed out. ‘And, while I’d like to be helpful, I’m really not prepared to discuss my private business affairs in front of junior members of your staff,’ she added, turning to give the girl standing by the window a brief, apologetic smile.
‘You’re in no position to dictate terms to me,’ he retorted grimly.
‘Oh, really...?’ she murmured coolly, lowering her gaze to inspect the pale pink polish on her perfectly manicured nails.
Determinedly ignoring both Felicity’s muttered protest and Jack’s promise of dire retribution if she didn’t immediately answer his question, Laura continued the inspection of her nails, until the sound of fury filling the office gradually gave way to a heavy silence.
‘All right,’ Jack said at last, impatiently waving the other girl from the room. ‘But I’m damned well going to get the truth out of you—come hell or high water!’