Beauty and the Boss (Modern Fairytales)

by Diane Alberts

  It had been scalding hot, to say the least.

  Panty-dropping, to be more accurate.

  Mrs. Gale snorted. “Well, unless the two of you were secretly dating before she came here, you don’t have a leg to stand on. And you are well aware of it, too.”

  Maggie’s boss looked at her, but remained silent.

  It was almost as if he was asking her…no. No.

  Surely he didn’t mean…no.

  “As I thought. She’s fired, and that’s that,” his mother said, shooting Maggie a disdainful look. “It’s time you stopped messing around with loose women, and did your duty as heir and primary share holder of Gale Incorporated. I set you up on a date with a lovely woman last night, and you didn’t even show up, which is why I’m here in the first place. Do you know how long it took for me to smooth the waters with Sheldon?”

  Maggie crept toward the door. Time to slink away.

  He grabbed her hand, holding her in place.

  “No, and I don’t give a damn, either. I told you not to set me up with his daughter,” Mr. Gale said, his voice clipped. “That’s on you. You’re the one who refuses to give up on the idea of me marrying some snob you handpicked for me.”

  “With good reason.” His mother’s nostrils flared. “I don’t give up once I’ve decided on a course of action. It’s a pity you didn’t inherit my determination to win and stubbornness to be the best.”

  Maggie tried to discreetly wriggle free, not wanting to draw attention to herself, but failed. Her boss wasn’t letting go. She glanced up at the ceiling. If ever a meteorite was going to swoop down on the city and kill her, now would be the perfect time.

  “Funny that you think that. You tried to kick me out of this position,” he pointed out, brow raised. “And yet here I stand. Holding steady.”

  “This is not a conversation for outsiders.” She gestured to Maggie, her nose again scrunching up at the sight of their joined hands, as if she smelled the peasant on her. “Let her go. She’s fired.”

  Mr. Gale shook his head. “No, she’s not. And she’s not going anywhere.”

  “Very well then. You want to dig yourself a deeper hole? Go ahead.” She threw her hands up dramatically. “I’m through trying to protect you.”

  “Protecting me? When the hell have you ever—?”

  “Language,” his mother snapped, her face flushing. “You listen, and you listen well, young man. You will go on the dates I set up for you, and you will do it with a smile on your face, and you will pick one of them to become your wife. It’s what your father did before you, and your father’s father, and your father’s father’s father. It is what’s expected of you.”

  His jaw flexed, but he remained silent.

  Apparently, Mrs. Gale wasn’t finished yet. “You will be charming and every inch the gentleman I raised you to be. You will find a suitable woman to settle down with, and you will propose. Enough of these dalliances with low-class women—it’s time to do your duty as heir and the head of this company. You wanted the position badly enough to fight me for it? You have it. Now it’s time to take full responsibility for that position. It’s been almost six years. It’s time to be the man you’re supposed to be. A man your father might possibly be proud of. If not, I swear, I’ll—”

  She cut herself off, finally.

  Maggie, for one, was grateful for the silence.

  Mr. Gale tightened his hold on her, but otherwise he showed no outward reaction to his mother’s horrible words. Maggie tugged again, but to no avail. “Go on,” he said. “Finish your threat. You’ve never held back before.”

  Mrs. Gale lifted her chin and pointed her haughty nose to the ceiling. “If not, I’ll take this unfortunate situation to the board and use it to get you kicked out of your tenuous position as CEO of this company. Your brother is three years younger than you, and he’s married a woman of suitable upbringing—”

  “That you picked for him.”

  “Yes, that I picked for him,” she said, stepping forward and pointing a manicured finger at his chest. “And they’re married, with two little boys to carry on the good Gale name, as they should. They attend charity balls. He’s every bit the CEO this company needs. If it were left up to you, you’d bring a lady of the night to the mayor’s dinner next month.”

  Lady of the night? My God, what was this woman? Did she walk straight out of a Charles Dickens novel? Maggie lifted her chin. “If you’re insinuating I’m—”

  Mrs. Gale swung a glower on her that would scare the devil out of a hellhound. “I wasn’t speaking to you.”

  She swallowed her words, staring back at the woman.

  Where was that freaking meteorite?

  Mr. Gale rocked back on his heels, finally showing some emotion. But it was amusement, not anger. “I wouldn’t be the first to do so, and if you think otherwise, you’re more naive than I ever imagined. Last week, Mr. Thorn brought a woman that I know for a fact is a—”

  “Don’t.” She dropped her hand and shook her head sadly, as if she’d caught him banging a woman in front of her late husband’s shrine, instead of walking in on an awkward dinner between boss and employee. “You will announce an engagement before the next board meeting, or I will put forth a motion to remove you as CEO under a No Confidence vote, and do everything in my power to instate Andrew into the position in your stead. Don’t make the mistake of thinking I won’t get the votes needed. I will. I’ve ensured as much. As I said, I abhor losing.”

  He glanced at Maggie again, and the idea he’d planted with his silent gaze earlier took an insane, reckless turn. She’d been trying her best to ignore the plan forming silently in her head, but something inside of her snapped.

  But she couldn’t do it. Could she?

  She didn’t do things on impulse. Ever.

  And yet, she was about to. Like a boss.

  Ignoring her actual boss, she tossed her hair over her shoulder. “That’s ridiculous, and this is the twenty-first century. You can’t force someone to get married because you want them to.”

  Slowly, her boss turned to her, shock on his face as if he couldn’t believe that someone was sticking up for him. Or maybe he’d forgotten she was there. Either way, it looked as if a strong gust of wind would have blown him right onto his perfect, tight butt. “Maggie—”

  “Excuse me?” Mrs. Gale said. Her face flushed an angry red, and her hands fisted at her sides as she advanced on Maggie. “Who exactly are you to speak on this matter? And why are you still here? I fired you.”

  “Ah, but he didn’t. And there’s a reason for that.”

  Mr. Gale blinked at her, looking like a fish out of water for the first time.

  His mother spluttered. “How dare you—”

  “I’m your son’s fiancée,” she blurted out. “We were together before I joined the company. That’s why he can’t date other women, why he didn’t show up last night. And it makes all of your threats empty ones, too. You can’t fire me. So–yeah. He already wins, because he has me.”

  Mrs. Gale’s jaw dropped. Finally the woman shut up.

  But as quickly as her uncharacteristic impulsiveness had come into play, Maggie’s common sense came right back. She’d literally just announced, without her boss’s permission, that she was engaged to him. If he denied it in front of his mother, she would not only be fired, but everyone would hear about her shame, and no one would hire her.

  New York might be a huge city, but the pharmaceutical research field was not.

  And all of this had happened because she had a stupid soft spot for creatures who needed help. Her boss, with billions in his bank account, shouldn’t fit into that category, but yet he somehow did.

  Mr. Gale, who probably wanted to strangle her, choked and dragged his hands down his face. “Maggie, you don’t—”

  “It’s okay. I told you I didn’t want to announce it yet, but I’m ready.” She forced a smile. His mouth opened, closed, then pressed into a thin line. “We can tell the whole world how muc
h we love each other if you want…Benjamin.”

  He made a strangled sound and tugged on his tie. He seemed more shocked than anything, but he had to be angry underneath that cold exterior of his. “Love—?”

  She cast a quick glance at Mrs. Gale, who was starting to turn blue from lack of oxygen, before turning back to her boss. Not giving him a chance to ruin the ruse she’d thrown together, she launched herself into his arms and kissed him, right in his office in front of his mother.

  The second their mouths touched, it was as if she’d woken up from a long, deep sleep. This wasn’t a kiss—not really—and she was fully aware of that.

  But her body didn’t get the message.

  His mouth softened under hers, and after a moment of sheer awkwardness, he closed his arms around her and hauled her against his chest. Though she’d initiated the kiss, it didn’t take long for him to show her who was in charge of it. A small shift of his chin, and he was the kisser instead of the kissed.

  He turned her slightly, facing away from his mother, and ran his tongue against the seam of her sealed lips. She gasped, shocked he’d actually gone there, and he took full advantage of the situation. He tasted like wine and something else she couldn’t place, and that was about as far as she got before she couldn’t think of anything except his lips on hers, his tongue against hers. She curled her hands into his shirt, and a small moan escaped her. She jumped at the sound, jerking back and covering her mouth in surprise.

  Mr. Gale stared down at her, breathing heavily, his focus clearly on her mouth. It did weird things to her insides—things that made her want to launch herself back into his arms, only for real this time, and take that kiss a step further.

  Like, stepping right into his bed.

  She lifted her face, going for another taste. His eyes darkened, and a sexy growl escaped him, so quiet she might have imagined it. He fisted her shirt at the small of her back and closed the distance between them. She sucked in a breath.

  If she didn’t, she might pass out.

  “Enough,” Mrs. Gale shouted, forcibly jerking Maggie out of her lust-hazed tunnel vision. “If you think I’ll buy this…this…indecent sham as something real, you’re even less fit as the head of this company than I suspected.”

  Mr. Gale—God, she didn’t even call him by his first name in her mind and she’d just kissed him—turned to his mother. Instead of letting her go like she’d expected, he tightened his grasp on her waist and kept her tucked against his side. “There’s nothing indecent in this room. We love each other and aren’t ashamed to show it.”

  “This is unacceptable. Whatever this”—she gestured between Maggie and Mr. Gale—“is, it needs to end. Now. I’ll contact you with a list of suitable candidates, and you will woo them all. And you will pick one of them and kick her to the curb where she belongs…or you’ll pay the ultimate price.”

  Not waiting for an answer, she stormed out, closing the door behind her with a firm click. Even though she hadn’t slammed the door, the effect was still there. Maggie jumped and dropped her hand—which had been covering her mouth—to her side. Mr. Gale let go of her, and he immediately stepped back to a respectable distance.

  She still didn’t look at him. Didn’t dare.

  God, what had she done? So much for keeping her disastrous love life—real or fake—out of the office. She’d kissed her boss. Her boss. Jesus.

  After counting to three, she blurted, “I’m sorry. So, so sorry, Mr. Gale. I have no idea what came over me, but she kept yelling and calling you worthless, and you work so hard and don’t deserve to be treated that way, and I just, I don’t know, snapped. I couldn’t take it anymore, so I…I…”

  “Did the perfect thing,” he said, his voice as calm and collected as always. “Damn brilliant, really.”

  “It was stupid and irresponsible and—” She staggered back and glanced at her boss’s face for the first time since they’d been left alone. “Wait. What?”

  Instead of anger and disgust, which she’d totally expected to see, he smiled at her. Actually smiled. And he had dimples. Two of them. In his cheeks.

  What just happened?

  Chapter Three

  Benjamin rubbed his jaw, and his smile widened as he replayed the look of pure shock on his mother’s face when Maggie threw herself into his arms and declared their love for one another. Love. What a silly notion, and an absolutely perfect weapon against his mother’s ultimatum. She would be as disoriented in the face of love as he would be, because neither of them had a clue what it was.

  The Gale family ran on ambition, not feelings. And that was a damn good thing, too. If she had said they were marrying for money, or for convenience, his mother would have been on them quicker than a lion on a wounded gazelle.

  But instead, she’d used love. It had been enough to send his mother running, and it had bought him some much-needed time to get his shit together. He had no doubt his mother could challenge his position if he refused to at least try to settle down and be responsible. But if he already had a fiancée…

  Hell, she didn’t have a case against him. And she was fully aware of that.

  Maggie’s ruse had literally saved him. Of course, she was panicking, and looked as if she might be close to running from the office. But after she handed him that ingenious plan, there was no way he was letting it slip out of his fingers. He’d make her see that it was resourceful, not irresponsible. Her lie saved both their asses.

  They were in a win/win situation.

  She licked her lips—lips that he couldn’t get his mind off of now that he’d had a taste—and shook her head. “N-No. It was stupid. All she has to do is ask a few questions around the office, and she’ll find out the truth. She’ll fire me. I won’t be able to pay my rent, or help my parents out back home. I’ll be disgraced, and no one will hire me. I’ll have to leave the city and go back to milking cows and training—”

  Milking cows? Jesus. People still did that? Didn’t they have machines for that? “Maggie.” He pressed a finger to her soft lips, and she shut up. It took all his self-control not to kiss her into a silence, but he had a feeling if he did so, she’d bolt. She was already seconds from hyperventilating as it was. “It’s okay. Everything’s okay.”

  She flushed even more. “No, it’s not. I messed up so bad, just like I always do, but this time it’s at work.”

  “But we don’t have to tell anyone. No one needs to find out.” He lifted her chin with two gentle fingers, and her upturned face was more vulnerable than he’d ever seen it before, and so impossibly beautiful. He tried another smile, hoping to set her at ease, but if anything it seemed to freak her out even more—probably because he didn’t smile much anymore. Or ever. “We can make this into something real. Well, not real, but for the sake of everyone else it will look authentic. Like we were dating all along.”

  Her gray eyes—they were definitely gray with blue flecks, now that he was this close to her—watched him, full of so many questions he could practically hear them. She was so different from the society women he usually dated.

  The last one, Elizabeth, he’d been with for a year, and she never showed him even an ounce of emotion or softness. But Maggie? Ah, she showed every emotion as she experienced it, and it was refreshingly sweet. He didn’t know how to do the same. All his life, he’d been trained to hide his feelings.

  But she was so…so damn open.

  A surge of protectiveness hit him. He’d do what it took to help her keep her job and to make her stay by his side. With her help, he could get to the bottom of his mother’s plan. Hell, maybe he could talk to his brother and see if he was as eager for the position as his mother made him out to be.

  He would win this battle.

  But he’d need Maggie’s help to get it done and to avoid endless dates with the insufferable, money-grubbing, empty-headed snobs his mother usually set him up with.

  She stepped back, and he dropped his hand to his side. “No one will believe it. We’re never al
one together.”

  “Yeah, we are.” He stepped closer, towering over her short height. She bit her lip and gave him a onceover. The air between them became charged, and he curled his fists into tight balls to keep from touching her again. “All the time. We always work later than everyone else, just like tonight. If we announce our engagement, people will all slap their thighs and go, ‘That’s why they always stayed late.’”

  She shook her head once. “It can’t possibly be that easy.”

  “The hell it can’t. People are gullible. Show them what they expect to see, and they believe it. If we tell them we stayed behind late to hide our love from the world, they’ll eat it up.” He paced, unable to stand still with so many ideas running through his head. “My mother will fall for it, too, since she already saw us on a date.”

  She spluttered. “It wasn’t a date.”

  “I know that, and so do you.” He pointed at her. “But she doesn’t.”

  She tugged on her fingers. “Okay, fine. Whatever. But why would you want to pretend to be engaged to me?” she asked, watching him as he paced back and forth. “I don’t get it.”

  “You’re the one who told her we were engaged in the first place,” he said. “Not me.”

  “I know. And again, sorry. I’m never impulsive like that. I have no idea what came over me. I guess I just wanted to help you.”

  “I’m not impulsive either, and I always think things through. To the point of exhaustion, even.” He stopped in front of her. “But I can see the merit of us pretending to be engaged, and you should be able to as well.”

  She pressed her mouth into a tight line. “And that is?”

  “Well, for starters, you could be fired if she went to the board with what she ‘saw’ here tonight—and she does have that power, if she can convince them.”

  She paled. “She does?”

  “Yes. It’s against company policy, so we could both be punished. It would help her force me out as CEO, and you would be fired on the spot.” He rubbed his jaw. “But with your smart lie, we wouldn’t have to worry about it. If we act as if we’re in love, and have been for a long time, we’ll both be safe.”