She was heading into the homestretch when a vicious wash of dizziness struck, and she faltered in her speech and put a hand out to steady herself. Kirk spoke from his position a couple of yards away from her.
“Sally? Everything okay?”
She pulled her lips into a smile and made her eyes flare open wide. Anything to stop the influx of black dots that now danced across her vision. She’d had her share of panicked reactions to public speaking, but this was new...and a little frightening. What was wrong with her? And would she be able to hide it until the presentation was complete?
“I’m fine,” she said, but her voice was weak.
She looked at the people sitting there, all of them with eyes trained on her. Saw the smirk on Silas Rogers’s face. And then she did the unthinkable. While she stared directly into Kirk’s face, her tablet fell and bounced on the carpet, and she followed it down, sliding to the floor in an ignominious and unconscious heap.
Six
Kirk acted on instinct. He scooped Sally into his arms.
“Finish the presentation,” he instructed the nearest member of her team as concerned murmurs swirled around them. “She’s counting on you.”
Then, without wasting another second, he stalked out of the room and down the corridor to Orson’s office.
“What’s wrong with Sally?” Marilyn asked, rising to her feet as he came into the executive suite.
“She collapsed.”
“We have a nurse on duty for the staff here. I’ll call her.”
“Yes, do that, thanks.”
He laid Sally down on a couch. Thankfully she was beginning to regain consciousness.
“Wha—?”
“You fainted,” Kirk filled in as she looked around her. “At least I think you fainted. I want you to go to the hospital for tests to make sure it’s not anything serious.”
Sally tried to struggle to an upright position. “Go to the hospital? Don’t be ridiculous. I’ll be fine. I need to get back in there. I have to finish what I started.”
He could understand why she felt that way. A little research had revealed that Sally’s fear of public speaking had held her back from advancing within the company, purely because she’d been unable to speak to any size group in a situation like the one today. That she’d done as well as she had this morning had surprised him. Even more surprising was how proud of her he’d felt while she was doing it.
If he hadn’t been so focused on getting her out of the conference room, he would have stopped to wipe that ridiculous expression off Rogers’s face. He made a mental note to have a word with the man about the aside he’d heard him make about Sally riding on others’ coattails, implying that she was incapable of completing anything on her own. There was so much more to her than that narrow-minded stuffed shirt realized...so many depths to Sally Harrison that Kirk, in spite of himself, wanted to explore.
Over the past five weeks, he’d tried to tell himself that the crazy attraction between them was just that. A moment of craziness and nothing more. But seeing her this morning had brought his attraction to her back to the fore again. He’d resented having to turn and say hello to that pompous idiot Rogers when he’d finally gotten the chance to see her face-to-face again. Add to that the sheer panic that flew through him as she lost consciousness and hit the carpeted floor of the conference room, swiftly followed by the instinctive need to protect her, and he knew that the way he felt about Sally Harrison was more than crazy. It was downright certifiable.
A movement at the door alerted him to the arrival of the staff nurse, with Marilyn close on her heels.
“I have some water for her,” Marilyn said, putting a fresh pitcher and a glass on the side table.
“Nothing by mouth until we know what we’re dealing with,” said the nurse firmly but with a friendly smile. “Now, Ms. Harrison, how about you tell me what happened?”
The woman efficiently unpacked the small bag she’d brought with her and put a blood pressure cuff on Sally’s arm while taking her temperature with a digital ear thermometer. Sally briefly outlined how she’d felt in the moments before she fainted. Kirk could see she was embarrassed, but he wasn’t taking any risks by letting her brush this off. A suspicion began to form in his mind.
“Blood pressure is a little low. Temperature is normal. So you say you felt some nausea before you collapsed?”
Sally flicked her eyes to Kirk and then back to the nurse. “Yes, just a little. It’s not unusual for me to feel that way, especially when talking to a large group. I’m okay with my team, but this was an important presentation and, I guess, I may have let that get to me.”
“You’ve fainted before while speaking?” Kirk asked before the nurse could ask the same question.
“Not exactly. Usually I just feel sick and freeze. Today was different. But then again, today I actually got through a lot of my presentation. I was doing okay up until that dizzy spell hit.”
“You were doing great,” Kirk reassured her. “And your team is well trained and will do a fabulous job going through the rest of it in your absence. Don’t worry about it.”
“But—” she began in protest.
“Sally, I know you want to blame this on your difficulties with speaking in public, but given the situation with your father’s health I’m going to insist you still go to the hospital to rule anything else out. HTT cannot sustain any weakness in any department right now.”
His voice was sharper than he’d intended, and he forced a smile to his lips to soften his words. Thing was, his statement was truer than she probably realized. HTT was vulnerable right now, in more ways than one. He’d received news today that another major contract had been lost to their main rival. It made him all the more determined to find the wretched mole who continued to undermine HTT’s every potential new success.
Sally looked at him, and he watched as the light of defiance left her soft blue eyes. “Fine,” she said through gritted teeth. “But I don’t want to go to hospital. It’ll take far too long. I agree to going to either an urgent care clinic or my own doctor and I’m coming back to work straight afterward.”
“That will depend entirely on the outcome of your examination,” he replied firmly.
She rolled her eyes at him, but he wasn’t about to be swayed. If what he suspected was confirmed...? No, she’d said she’d taken a test. Said the results were negative. But home testing wasn’t always a hundred percent accurate, was it?
He couldn’t jump the gun. They’d wait until she’d seen a doctor, had some tests, then they’d deal with what came next.
The nurse agreed with Sally that a hospital visit wasn’t necessary and, after a quick discussion, agreed Kirk should transport her to the nearest clinic. After their arrival there, nothing could dislodge Kirk from her side, and in the end it had been easier to simply allow him to be there in the treatment room with her, especially since she suspected he wouldn’t trust her to deliver the results in full when she got them. That said, when the doctor returned after what felt like an interminable wait, to deliver the results of the first run of tests, she felt strangely relieved to have Kirk by her side.
“Okay, Ms. Harrison, you’re a little anemic, but that’s not unusual in your case. Overall you’re in excellent health, and I’m going to discharge you. It’s going to be important that you not skip meals and that you take some supplements to counter the anemia, and I want you to make sure that you get plenty of rest and fluids.”
“Hold on,” Sally said, putting up a hand. “Not unusual in my case? Why? I’ve never been anemic before. Yes, I’ve been busy lately and under a bit of stress, but why would that lead to anemia?”
“Did the nurse not let you know?”
“She hasn’t been back. Let me know what?” Sally’s voice rose in frustration, but Kirk had a feeling he knew exactly what the do
ctor was going to say.
“You’re pregnant,” the doctor said without preamble.
Bingo.
Kirk listened while Sally argued with the doctor, insisting that it couldn’t be true, but apparently the proof was right there in the test results. Kirk said nothing, just let the news sink in. He’d been relieved when Sally had told him the home test had been negative. Hugely relieved. His life plan had been in the making from when he was in his early teens, and he’d seen no reason to ever veer from that. Marriage and children were far down the line in his ten-year plan. And yet...
He was going to be a daddy. The words resonated through his mind over and over. Together with the woman on the hospital bed, a woman he’d been completely unable to resist the night they’d met, he was going to be a parent. Sally, it seemed, was having an even harder time than him in accepting the news.
“I can’t be pregnant,” Sally said again, this time more adamantly than before. “It was only that one time.”
“That’s all it takes sometimes, I’m afraid. Perhaps I could refer you for some counseling?” the doctor said.
“I don’t need counseling. I just don’t see how this could have happened.”
“Look, we’ll deal with it together,” Kirk hastened to reassure her.
“I guess we’ll have to,” she replied bitterly. “I didn’t want this.”
“I didn’t plan for it, either,” he agreed. “But now that we’re faced with it, we can make plans.”
And they would make plans. There was no way he was missing out on his child’s life the way his father had missed out on his. His father’s descent into drug addiction had seen him not only lose his position as the development manager for Harrison IT in its earliest incarnation, it had also resulted in Frank Tanner’s death by suicide several years later—leaving his twelve-year-old son and his wife with more questions than answers and very little money to make ends meet. If it hadn’t been for Orson Harrison’s assistance, who knew where they’d have ended up?
No, his child would not go without—neither emotionally nor materially.
“Can I go back to work now?” Sally asked the doctor, interrupting Kirk’s train of thought.
“Of course. Pregnancy isn’t an illness, but I’d like you to reduce stress and get into a good routine ensuring you eat properly and regularly, take prenatal vitamins, and fit a little exercise into each day if you don’t already.”
“Surely you don’t want to go back to work today,” Kirk stepped in before Sally could respond. “Your body has had a shock. Take the day to recover fully.”
She gave him a scathing look. “You heard the doctor. I’m pregnant, not sick. Besides, I need to get back to my team and find out the result of the Q and A after the presentation.”
Kirk knew when to pick his battles, and this definitely wasn’t one he’d be able to win. Better to give in gracefully rather than cause a scene in front of the medical center staff.
“Fine, we’ll head back.”
“Thank you.”
Although she’d said the words with every nuance of good manners, he could sense the sarcasm beneath them. She was used to making her own decisions, and she wasn’t going to accept him telling her what to do. He was going to have to become inventive if he was going to achieve his objectives with respect to being there for her and their baby. That was fine. He was nothing if not inventive.
They took a cab back to the office, barely speaking. Clearly Sally was still digesting the news about the baby, but this would be the last time she’d be doing any of it on her own—he’d make certain of that. Still, it wasn’t the kind of discussion he wanted to have in the back of a cab, so he’d have to shelve it until they could be alone together again.
While he took care of paying the cab driver, Sally made her way into the building, and he managed to catch up with her by the elevators.
“In such a hurry to get back to work?”
“This is important to me, Kirk. It might have escaped your notice, but I’m the boss’s daughter. As such, people either treat me as if I’m their best friend because they think being nice to me will advance their career, or I’m their archenemy because they think I’ll run back to Dad and narc on them for any minor transgression—or you, now, since Dad’s still recuperating. Many think I shouldn’t be here at all. I have to work twice as hard and twice as long as anyone here for people to take me seriously, and all my hard work is probably ruined now thanks to fainting during the presentation today.”
“I’m sure you’re exaggerating.”
“You think? Aside from my team and Marilyn, there are very few people here who believe I’m capable of doing the job I was hired to do. Yes, hired. I applied for that position just like anyone else, and that was after interning here during my summer and semester breaks as often as my father would let me.”
“If it’s all so hard, why bother? Why not go elsewhere? You are eminently employable. You have a sharp mind and great ideas. Any company would be lucky to have you,” Kirk hastened to assure her.
He already knew a lot of what she’d just told him about her credentials and experience, but he’d had no idea that she was a pariah to so many, as well.
“Because my father started this business. It’s in my blood, and as such I feel invested in it, too. And while I’ll probably never be good enough to take over the company when he’s ready to retire, like I always dreamed of when I was younger, the company and my father deserve my best—not some other nameless, faceless corporation.”
The elevator doors opened onto Sally’s floor, and she stepped out.
“Sally, wait. We need to talk about this.”
“Thank you for your help today,” she said, holding the elevator door open. “Call me and make an appointment if you want to talk. Right now it’s—”
Her voice broke off, as if she couldn’t even bring herself to discuss the child now growing in her belly.
“It’s just too complicated,” she continued, her cheeks flushing.
With that, she let the door close, and he caught a last glimpse of her walking away. Kirk wanted to refute her statement. It wasn’t complicated as far as he was concerned. She was pregnant with his baby, and that meant they had a future together whether she realized it or not.
With the chemistry they shared, being together would be no hardship. But it seemed he had to convince her of that. He’d let her think she’d had the last word on the subject, that she had the upper hand. And then he’d try to change her mind.
* * *
Sally fielded the multitude of queries about her health in a convincing facade of good humor as her team gathered around her.
“I’m fine. I’d just been burning the candle at both ends and skipping a few too many meals. You know how important this project was to all of us. Everything else went on the back burner for me when it came to this. So, Nick, how did it go?”
“The presentation went really well. I’d say the majority of the managers there seemed very interested in exploring the concept further and starting to implement the changes. Everyone could see that it was a time-and money-saver in the long-term, even though initial outlay in replacing what we’re already using, especially the motor fleet, will be costly.”
There was something in Nick’s tone that made Sally’s stomach clench.
“And did they vote on implementation?”
Nick fell silent, and one of the other members of Sally’s team filled the silence.
“Before they could vote, Mr. Rogers spoke up.”
“I see.” A ripple of frustration cascaded through her mind, but she couldn’t let her people know how the news upset her. “I take it he’s not a fan of the suggested changes, then?”
Her staff looked at her with the same disappointed expression she was certain was on her own face and, as a group, shook
their heads. Some things just didn’t bear saying out loud.
“So we need to work harder, then. Tackle this from another perspective.”
“That won’t be necessary.”
Sally wheeled around to find Kirk standing behind her, fistfuls of takeout bags clutched in his hands. Couldn’t he leave her alone for a second?
“And why not?” she challenged, ready to do battle.
“Because there’s nothing wrong with the perspective you presented. Here,” he said, putting the takeout bags on the meeting table in front of them. “I heard you guys haven’t had a break for lunch yet, so it’s on me. From what I saw you’ve put a great deal of planning into this project, and I’d like to see it developed further.”
“And Silas Rogers?”
“Is not the chairman of HTT, nor is he interim chairman of HTT.”
“He’s still the CEO, and what he says carries weight,” Sally argued.
“That’s true,” Kirk admitted and pulled up a chair to sit beside her. He ripped open a takeout bag and passed her a sub filled with salad fixings and well-done hot roast beef. “Eat, then we’ll discuss this some more.”
Sally bristled at his high-handedness, but her mouth began to water at the smell of the sub, and hunger won the war over pride. She reluctantly took it from him and sank her teeth into the fresh bread, groaning in appreciation as the flavors of the fillings burst on her tongue. She hadn’t realized she was quite so hungry.
Next to her, she felt Kirk stiffen and shift in his chair. He tugged at the front of his trousers and pulled a napkin across his lap, but not before she saw evidence of a hint of arousal pressing against the fine Italian wool of his suit. Shock rippled through her, accompanied by a powerful wave of something else—desire. No, no, no. She wasn’t going to go there again. No way. Never.
Even though she scolded herself soundly, she couldn’t help the prickle of heat that crept through her, couldn’t prevent the surge of sheer lust that forced her inner muscles to clench involuntarily. It was a turn-on to know that she was capable of arousing an attractive man without even trying. And while she had a whole list of problems with this particular man, there was no denying he was gorgeous—he had a body like a Greek god and he knew exactly how to use it. All of it. His mouth, his tongue, those hands and especially—
Little Secrets--The Baby Merger Page 6