“Yes, I’ve met your dear Tessa,” agreed Ian. “For a few moments I found it hard to believe that the Mrs. C. I knew could ever write such a glowing recommendation for anyone. So initially I had to assume that either the letter was forged or that you’d gone soft.”
“Pah!” exclaimed Francine in mild disgust. “You know me better than that, boy. If anything I’ve become crankier and even harder to please in my old age. As for forging a letter, Tessa is the very last person who would think of doing something so unethical. The girl is the most timid little thing I’ve ever met, afraid of her own shadow half the time.”
Ian drummed his long fingers on his desk. “So everything you detailed in your letter is true, then?”
“Every word. She’s a good girl, Tessa is. Hardest worker I’ve ever seen, never slacks off, doesn’t gossip – which you know I detest – no excuses, never late. She dragged herself in once sick as a dog and wouldn’t leave until she’d finished some reports.” Francine’s voice quieted as she added, “You know how difficult it is to earn my respect, Ian, and Tessa has it in spades. She’ll make an excellent addition to your staff. You’re lucky to have her. Meanwhile, I’m left to deal with the nitwit who was hired to replace her. Useless, annoying girl – I give her two months tops before I have to fire her or she runs out of here crying.”
Ian couldn’t suppress a chuckle. “Go easy on her, Mrs. C. It sounds like your Tessa is going to be a hard act to follow.”
“She’s your Tessa now, my boy. And you’d better treat her well. She’s - ” Francine hesitated. “Well, let’s just say she’s had a rough time of it in her young life. I admire her all the more for how she’s overcome her misfortune.”
“What sort of misfortune?”
“I can’t discuss that with you, Ian, as I’m certain you know,” admonished Francine. “Not to mention I’m not sure that even I know all of it. Tessa is a very private person, not one to broadcast her life’s story around the office. Another admirable trait that I value. Just – go easy on the girl, Ian. Trust me, it won’t take you long at all to realize her value. Not to mention,” she added slyly, “she’s quite easy on the eye, isn’t she?”
Ian chose his next words carefully before replying. “She’s a lovely girl, yes. But is it really true that she’s already married at such a young age?”
Francine sighed. “Yes, it’s true. It’s – complicated, Ian. That’s all I can say on the matter. Tessa rarely discusses her husband but he definitely exists. Nice enough boy and she dotes on him, but there’s something a bit odd there.”
He decided not to question her further about Tessa’s marital status, not wanting to betray even the slightest indication to the extremely perceptive Mrs. C. that he was attracted to the girl.
“I am a bit worried about how Jason is going to act around her,” confessed Ian. He knew that Francine had met his smarmy cousin-in-law on more than one occasion, and that she had an extremely low opinion of him. “Tessa’s predecessor requested a transfer because of some difficulty with him.”
Francine’s voice was as biting as a whip crack. “Ian, promise me right now that you’ll keep that randy bastard Jason away from Tessa. If I learn that he’s so much as blinked at her the wrong way, I swear I’ll pack Oliver into the car along with my brand new shotgun and drive up there to deal with the little weasel myself. And I’m quite a good shot these days. They like their guns in Arizona.”
Ian smiled in spite of himself at the ferocity of Francine’s words. “You’re quite the protective mama bear about this girl, aren’t you?”
“She needs looking out for, Ian. More so than anyone I’ve ever met. So, please, do me the greatest favor and keep an eye on her, would you? Discreetly, of course, she can be quite stubborn when it comes to asking for help.”
“I promise,” he assured his former mentor gently. “And – thank you for sending her my way. If she managed to make this sort of impression on you, then I know she must be an excellent employee.”
They exchanged pleasantries for a few more minutes before bidding each other good-bye. Ian replaced his phone receiver then shut his eyes, massaging the beginnings of a headache he felt welling up near his temples.
‘Good Lord, what a disaster,’ he muttered under his breath. ‘How in the world are you going to cope with this one, mate?’
Against his will, the tempting image of Tessa invaded his thoughts once again. He longed to spread all of that glorious golden hair out against his pillow; to gently remove that discreetly sexy red dress and bare her lush, curvy body to his eager gaze; to wrap those long, shapely legs around his waist. Ian grew hard instantly as he imagined having her – nothing as crude as a quick, hard fuck - for Tessa was worth so much more than that. Instead, he would linger over her for hours, kissing, caressing, arousing, and making love to her over and over until he was finally sated. For a while, anyway, for he feared that Tessa was the sort of woman he could never truly have his fill of.
It would have been oh, so easy without the unexpected and inconvenient complication of her marital status. Had she been a single woman, the first thing he’d do would be to find her a job of equal pay and rank at another luxury hotel in San Francisco. The Gregson Group had a very strict policy forbidding managers and executives from dating an employee who could be deemed their subordinate, and frowned on employees in general dating each other. Ian in particular held himself to extremely high standards when it came to this rule. He’d fended off too many eager advances from female employees over the years, and each had received the message loud and clear. Except, of course, for the obnoxiously persistent Morgan Cottrell, his current Business Development Manager. When he’d transferred to San Francisco three years ago, the blonde had made it very clear on numerous occasions that she found him extremely attractive and would be open to any sort of after-hours relationship he liked. After several firm but polite brush-offs, he’d finally had to take the gloves off and let Ms. Cottrell know in no uncertain terms – and in a very icy tone – that if she wished to keep her elevated position in the company – or any position at all – that she’d keep her distance from now on. Morgan had been the model of professional decorum from that moment on.
After ensuring that Tessa was safely employed elsewhere, he would have pulled out all the stops to make her his own. Ian had rarely courted or seduced a woman before, for he’d never really had to make the effort. From the time he’d reached his teens, women had flocked to his side, attracted not only by his looks but by his money, his well-bred British family who could trace their roots back several centuries, and by his high-powered position in arguably the top luxury hotel chain in the world. He could at any given time have his pick of gorgeous women – executives, socialites, celebrities, models.
But Ian was picky and somewhat fastidious about his taste in women, unlike his brothers. Hugh had married his longtime sweetheart, a girl he’d met at university, and they’d been happily wed for years, parents to four children. Colin had been quite the notorious playboy for years, much to their mother’s dismay, until he, too, had finally settled down just two years ago. He was married to a strikingly beautiful Eurasian woman from Hong Kong and they were expecting their first child in a few months.
That left Ian as the only bachelor among his siblings, and he didn’t envision that status changing anytime soon. Since his one failed engagement more than six years ago, he’d kept busy with work and hadn’t really let himself think about settling down.
That is, until a ridiculously young, breathtakingly beautiful, and delightfully sweet girl had tentatively walked into his office a short time ago. He’d known – just known somehow – that she had been made for him. It had been the biggest shock of his life to realize that she’d already been claimed by another man.
And now, he was going to have to man up and find some way to keep his wayward emotions under control in her presence. Transferring her out of the team would raise too many red flags, especially given her level of competency and the shock
ingly glowing recommendation from Mrs. C. Ian knew he’d have to call on every ounce of self-control he possessed to treat young Tessa in a professional but impersonal manner, to keep her and his rampaging desire for her at arm’s length at all times, and to remind himself constantly that she was strictly forbidden to him for more reasons than he wanted to count.
‘Damn it,’ he cursed beneath his breath. ‘What in hell was Mrs. C. thinking of sending her my way? If I didn’t know better, I’d swear that old witch was still trying to let me know who’s really in charge around here.’
Chapter Two
September, two years later
Tessa Lockwood did not like Wednesdays. She was well aware that most people didn’t share her feelings, that the majority of the world thought of this day as “hump day”, when their busy work weeks were half over and they could begin winding down for the weekend ahead. But for Tessa, it seemed that nearly every bad thing that had happened in her life so far had occurred on a Wednesday.
Bad things didn’t happen every Wednesday, of course, but when they did she usually had some sort of uneasy premonition. Like the butterflies kicking around in her stomach as she brushed her hair and got ready for work this morning. Or the chill that shimmered up her spine as she hurriedly ate a piece of toast with jam and drank a cup of tea before dashing out the door of her apartment.
The unsettled feeling continued during the crowded bus ride to work, and she tried desperately to quell her nerves. She wondered if her sense of unease had anything to do with the fact that Peter was supposed to be flying home today. After almost two years, one would think she’d stop worrying when he had to take a long flight home from a job assignment in Asia. Even though he frequently flew in and out of some less than stable socio-political countries, he’d never had any problems, at least none that he’d ever told her about. So she knew that her unsettled emotions this morning weren’t due to unnecessary worry about her husband’s incoming flight from Cambodia. But there was definitely something, some niggling little fear that something bad was going to happen. And her spidey-sense had yet to be wrong.
Tessa had to stand on the bus, as usual, and she assumed her normal position of never really making eye contact with anyone else on board. Most of the people riding the bus at this time of the morning were either going to work like her, or to school, but there were definitely a fair number of weirdoes along, too. San Francisco was a very diverse city, after all, with people of varying ethnicities, sexual orientations, and socio-economic classes, and Tessa was pretty sure she’d seen a really good sampling of them all in the two years she’d been living here and riding the city buses.
The bus left her off a block away from her office building, and she exited the stuffy, crowded vehicle with relief. It had taken her a long time to get used to relying on public transportation when she and Peter had moved here from Tucson. Because both of their cars had been old and in dire need of repairs, they’d unloaded them before moving to San Francisco. Now they relied on buses, rapid transit, and walking to get around, which made good economic sense because the cost of maintaining even one car in this very expensive city would not have fit into their extremely tight budget.
And money was always tight, the budget always stretched thin. Tessa made a good salary but Peter only got paid when one of his news stories actually sold. Not to mention the fact that the cost of living in San Francisco was exorbitant, the rent on their tiny, cramped apartment more than twice what they’d been paying for a much larger place in Tucson.
As Tessa entered the building that housed the corporate offices for the Gregson Hotel Group’s American headquarters, she hoped that Peter would arrive home with good news about his job. When they had moved to San Francisco two years ago, it had been for Peter’s new job as a freelance reporter for an international news agency based in the city. His assigned territory was Asia, requiring him to make frequent and lengthy trips to such places as Vietnam, Malaysia, China, and Thailand. He was hoping to find a better position that didn’t require nearly as much travel in addition to offering a regular salary, and had recently begun sending out resumes and doing some networking among the contacts he’d developed.
The past couple of years had been hard on Tessa, left alone and lonely for such frequent periods of time. Peter was all she had – he wasn’t just her husband but her best friend, her family, her everything. And when he was away for weeks at a time she struggled constantly with her fears, her loneliness, her sadness. The fear that she would descend into darkness like her mother had done for so many years plagued her often, and she was determined that she wouldn’t suffer the same fate. But it was hard to be alone, and she had to wage a constant battle with her emotions to keep positive and happy, to stay busy and not dwell on her sadness.
Tessa liked her job, finding the work both challenging and rewarding, though of course she would have preferred being a PA for one of the executives. Not only was the salary considerably higher but the position carried more prestige and responsibility, with some of the PA’s even traveling with their managers on occasion. But she also knew she would need a college degree before she could even think of applying for a job like that, and going back to school at this time just wasn’t in the cards. Her super-tight budget would never allow for college tuition and books. And, ironically, even though she and Peter lived in a cramped apartment in a questionable neighborhood; couldn’t afford to own a car; and ate a lot of cereal, ramen noodles, and peanut butter sandwiches to stretch their dollars, they made too much money for her to qualify for most grants or scholarships. It was a cruel sort of Catch-22.
As Tessa put away her jacket and purse and booted up her computer, she thought it was likely all for the best that she couldn’t afford to go to college. She’d admittedly never been a brain or the best student, getting by with mostly B’s and C’s during high school. Of course, there had been some real extenuating circumstances behind that – a mentally ill mother, moving around and changing schools multiple times, always teetering on the edge of poverty.
At least she’d done very well with the computer and business classes she had taken at community college back in Tucson. The certificate she’d earned from their Office Technology program had enabled her to get a job at the Gregson Resort in Tucson, and the eventual transfer to the American headquarters here two years ago.
But this would likely be as far as she could reasonably expect to advance in the company without that college degree, so Tessa had made up her mind some time ago to simply do the very best job she possibly could. She took a lot of pride in her work, and worked very hard to be an exemplary employee. She was never late, never left early, never took more than her allotted time for lunch. She’d dragged herself into the office on more than one occasion with a cold or the flu, doggedly refusing to call in sick. And unlike most of her co-workers, she didn’t waste time during the work day gossiping, checking her personal email, sending texts or making phone calls. She was well aware that everyone who worked on the Management Support Team were watched like a hawk by Andrew Doherty, the Managing Director’s sharp-tongued, eagle-eyed PA.
In the time she’d worked here, Tessa couldn’t recall even one occasion when Andrew had so much as cracked a smile. He was all business all the time, and he didn’t miss even a single detail. Tessa had seen him chastise her co-workers for all manner of minor errors or oversights, everything from a misspelled word on a contract to ordering the wrong sandwich for a lunch meeting to an executive’s dissatisfaction with the flight that had been booked for a recent business trip. Andrew never raised his voice or used bad language or issued threats, but it was more than obvious by his icy, formal demeanor when he was displeased. So Tessa worked very, very hard to make certain she wasn’t on the receiving end of one of his famously scathing dressing-downs.
The Iceman – as one of Tessa’s co-workers had irreverently dubbed Andrew – arrived at the office about five minutes after she did. She knew he’d likely been at the office until early evening on t
he previous day, and probably had to deal with phone calls and emails after hours as well.
She offered him up a warm but businesslike smile as he passed by on the way to his office. “Good morning, Andrew.”
He gave her a brief nod. “Hello, Tessa. First one in again, I see.”
Her cheeks pinkened and she gave a small shrug. “I got the early bus. It’s a bit less crowded than the next one.”
“Mr. Gregson is going to need some spreadsheets done today,” he told her briskly. “I’ll be sending the information your way shortly.”
It was a great source of pride for Tessa to know that her expertise with producing complex spreadsheets was highly valued by the Managing Director. Mr. Gregson used them on a regular basis for his reports and presentations, and the vast majority of them were delegated to her for processing.
“Of course, Andrew. Send them along at your convenience and I’ll get right to them,” she assured him. “I don’t have anything else pressing on my schedule for today.”
“Good to know. I’ll email you the supporting data within the hour.”
Tessa always paid extra attention to her work when she knew the project was for Mr. Gregson. It wasn’t just the fact that he was the Managing Director – in charge of all the hotels in North and South America plus all of the employees here at the regional office. She couldn’t – or perhaps more truthfully – wouldn’t define her feelings for the incredibly handsome, dynamic man but she knew that they were not appropriate emotions for a married woman to be having for a man who wasn’t her husband.
She felt guilty every single time she saw Ian Gregson, or even thought about him, and recognized the little thrill that shimmered through her body as attraction. Tessa always dismissed her reactions to her charismatic, compelling boss as nothing more than a silly little schoolgirl crush, the same sort of harmless infatuation one might harbor for a movie star. God knew she would never, ever consider acting on her awareness of him. Besides the very obvious fact that she was completely devoted to Peter and would never consider being unfaithful to him, there was the matter of Ian Gregson being her employer. And he was so far above her in every way – intellectually, socially, economically – that it was laughable to think he would ever notice a lowly employee like herself. He dated socialites, businesswomen, and occasionally celebrities. Tessa’s co-workers were constantly tracking their boss in the society and gossip columns online, and chatting about the current woman in his life. And whether Tessa cared to hear about Ian Gregson’s personal life or not, she typically wasn’t given a choice in the matter. Just like she was rarely given a choice of the other mind numbing topics they chattered about incessantly – clothes, makeup, celebrities, a variety of TV shows, what club they had hit last weekend, the latest argument they’d had with their boyfriend. The list went on but none of the topics of conversation were of particular interest to Tessa, and certainly none of them could be called intellectually stimulating.
Splendor (Inevitable #2) Page 2