In the Market for Love

by Blake, Nina

  At twenty-nine years of age, she had eight years experience in public relations and marketing, two years of which she’d spent as marketing manager at Omega Pharmaceuticals. She had the skills and determination to manage both a new advertising campaign and Jake Austin.

  “Why don’t you sit next to me,” she said to Samantha.

  She then motioned Jake and Marcus to the other side of the boardroom table. Smiling brightly as she did so, it was impossible for the two advertising men to take offence at her suggestion.

  “I’ve ordered coffee, ladies,” Jake said. “It won’t be long. Oh, and here it is.”

  It struck Rachel that this was a man who was used to giving orders and, furthermore, having them obeyed.

  A young, red-haired woman brought in freshly brewed coffee and florentines, filling the air with a heady mix of coffee and chocolate. Jake took the tray from her.

  “This is my personal assistant, Emma Johnson.” He paused to place the tray on the boardroom table. “Emma’s only been here a year but she’s indispensable. We couldn’t function without her.”

  “I’ll do that, Jake,” Emma said as he picked up the stainless steel coffee plunger.

  He shook his head. “Don’t be silly. I can manage.”

  “I guess you don’t need me here any more.” She brushed her hand against his shoulder in a friendly gesture before closing the boardroom door behind her.

  Jake poured four cups of aromatic coffee and offered around the florentines, though Rachel declined.

  His relationship with his personal assistant seemed friendly and relaxed, not at all how she expected it to be. In the car park she’d thought him arrogant and his initial behaviour in the foyer only seemed to confirm that. Yet now he was prepared to perform menial tasks himself. She wondered what the real Jake Austin was like.

  Rachel took control of the meeting and explained the role of Omega Pharmaceuticals and the company’s highly effective new sun screen on which the proposed Skin Plus campaign was to be based.

  “As you know, Sydney has hot summers and a large number of sunny days year round,” she said.

  “Yes, we know where we live,” Jake said dryly.

  She was thrown by his sudden abruptness. He might even be resentful that she was going to request the agency to take on the campaign as a pro bono project. But surely he hadn’t already made up his mind about that.

  She sucked in a deep breath. “We also have high rates of skin cancer and the new sun screen we’ve developed can reduce this.” That was the point she’d been trying to make before he interrupted.

  She knew the project inside out and had spent two years convincing the company CEO that marketing the sun screen would benefit the community and bring in profits for further pharmaceutical research. She was not going to let one man ruin two years of work.

  “Who’s your target market again?” Marcus asked.

  “Families,” she said. “This is an inexpensive product for families and also for the wider community.”

  “So you’re not aiming at people like me who are too young to be married.” Marcus sniggered. “I’m only thirty-one.”

  “We do want to include men, fathers in particular.”

  “There are a few ways to get dads interested.” Marcus seemed to be thinking out loud. “And an attractive girl in a bikini never fails. We could use that new soap actress. What’s her name? The one that looks like Pammie Anderson. Every married man in Australia would want her smearing sun screen all over them.”

  Rachel glared at him. “I don’t think so!”

  “I didn’t mean–“

  “The idea of married men playing around. That’s outright offensive. There’s no excuse for it. Not ever. Marriage isn’t a joke. It’s not something to be taken lightly. Not when you live with someone and you have a family.”

  “I just meant that’s one way we could sell the campaign,” Marcus said.

  “That may be the case but it’s not the right way for us.”

  Jake’s shoulders tensed as he gripped a pen with both hands. “Hang on. We’re jumping ahead of ourselves here. We haven’t agreed to take the campaign on. Although, Rachel, the way you described the campaign gives it much more of a hook than the way your CEO explained it to me yesterday.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “You’ve spoken to my boss?”

  “Yes, but I confess he didn’t sell me on it as you have.”

  She had no idea he’d spoken to her manager at length. She didn’t like surprises. She liked to be prepared.

  “So why did you let me keep talking when you already knew all about the campaign?” she asked. “Or why, in fact, did we need this meeting at all?”

  “I wanted to hear what you had to say.”

  “Thank you for listening. Perhaps it’s time to hear what you have to say.”

  Rachel smiled to cover the anger smouldering inside her. She knew the score. Jake had already decided whether or not the agency would take on the campaign but he was letting her go through the motions in the meantime.

  She waited quietly for his answer.

  * * *

  Rachel’s reaction to Marcus’ suggestion ripped through Jake like an earth tremor. He hadn’t suggested an Australia wide campaign promoting infidelity, merely the use of a scantily clad attractive female, hardly uncommon in advertising. Yet her bitter response left no doubt as to her feelings on the subject.

  Had she noticed his own shocked reaction to her comments? A hundred thoughts rocketed through his mind as he shifted in his chair. He knew instinctively that she wouldn’t have a bar of a married man under any circumstances. What would she think of him if she knew the truth?

  And now she was waiting for an answer on the campaign.

  He locked eyes with her, desperately hoping an answer would come to him.

  He’d only allowed this meeting as a business courtesy. The agency had many requests for pro bono projects and he’d never planned to take this one on. As a small research company, Omega wasn’t a large corporation or profitable venture like the agency’s other clients. There was no money in it and the campaign certainly wouldn’t be a prestigious one. There was no good reason to take on the project.

  Yet he knew instinctively that if he turned down the campaign, Rachel would never wish to see him again. She hadn’t come here for him. She was here for the campaign.

  He couldn’t accept the campaign on a whim, because of an infatuation, because of a woman. That was no way to make professional decisions. He ran a business, not a charity, for goodness’ sake. He didn’t make decisions based on the flutter of eyelashes.

  “I take it you’ve formed an opinion,” Rachel said.

  He had to turn down the project.

  Would he never see her again?

  “Well,” she said, “are you going to take on the campaign?”

  Chapter two

  Rachel detected a glint of playfulness in Jake’s eyes, and that only increased her agitation. What was he playing at? How could he take this so lightly when she’d put so much work into the campaign?

  He held her gaze. “The agency has done lots of pro bono work over the last couple of years and we can’t possibly take them all on. We’ve done our bit for the community. That’s for sure.”

  “Please go on,” she said.

  “But your project is different. Tell your boss we’ll take it on. Pro bono of course.”

  She heaved a sigh of relief and Samantha’s face lit up visibly. They hadn’t expected an advertising firm the calibre of Agency 66 to manage the campaign gratis but that’s exactly what he was saying. Rachel pushed aside her questions about what differentiated their project from the others and took a moment to enjoy the result.

  “Thank you for your kind offer,” she said. “We were hoping you’d say that.”

  How on earth was she going to manage a stable business relationship with these two men? Marcus was clearly an ideas man and seemed good at his job but had little discretion. Meanwhile Jake was
strong-willed and arrogant.

  One thing was for certain, she was going to have to stick with business when it came to Jake. She couldn’t let him sweep her into a storm as he had when they’d first met downstairs. She didn’t want him rattling her organised world.

  Rachel retrieved her burgundy suede handbag from the foot of her chair. “We’ve got to get going.”

  “Please have another coffee,” Jake said. “Or do you have to get back to work?”

  “There are other things in life than work.”

  She had to leave work early that afternoon to baby sit her two nieces but didn’t think two savvy advertising men like Jake and Marcus needed to know about her child care duties. She’d found when working with men it was simpler to stick to the business at hand.

  “I’ll leave Jake to show you ladies to the door,” Marcus said. “I’ve got another appointment.”

  Interesting. He was the last to arrive and the first to leave.

  Rachel strode ahead of Jake and Samantha through the reception area to the agency’s front door. She pulled the brushed aluminium handle on the glass door as hard as she could but it didn’t budge so she pulled on it again with all her weight.

  “There’s a little trick to this,” Jake said.

  The release button clicked and the door opened with gusto. Her hands slipped from the handle and she tumbled backwards. Straight into Jake.

  He had one hand on the small of her back, the other on her arm as he steadied her. His grip was firm, his hands lingering slightly longer than they needed to. What’s more, she liked it though she definitely should not have.

  Then he shook her hand, enveloping it with both of his so she felt the warmth of his skin. She wondered how it was possible for a mere handshake to hold so much promise.

  “Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t know that would happen.”

  “Perhaps you should be more careful,” she said. “Or I might start to think you’re harassing me. First the car park, now this.”

  He raked a hand through his hair, his expression serious. “Ah, the car park. Not the most pleasant of places at the best of times. I think the gentlemanly thing for me to do is to walk you ladies to your car.”

  She smiled. “There’s no need for you to act the gentleman. I wouldn’t want you to go to all that trouble.”

  “Excuse me Rach,” Samantha said as they stepped into the lift. “I’ll leave you to it. The lawyers told me to go back and see them again so I might be a while. I’ll catch you back at the office.”

  Seconds later, the lift door opened again and Samantha said goodbye, leaving Rachel alone in the lift with Jake.

  His voice was deep and dense. “I couldn’t possibly let you go down to the basement on your own.”

  “As you said, they’re not the most pleasant of places. You never know what kind of seedy characters could be lurking there.”

  “Just as well you’ve got me to protect you.”

  She recalled the fiery woman she’d morphed into in the basement with a touch of embarrassment. “Do you really think I need protecting?”

  “No, not really, but I have to shift my car any way. Someone took my parking spot.”

  “How very rude of them.”

  He appeared momentarily hesitant. “Do you have children you have to get home to? Is that why you’re in such a hurry?”

  She glanced across at him, catching his eye. “No, I’m not married.”

  His lips curled to a subtle smile and he continued talking, almost with a hint of nervousness. “I’ve got a little boy. Seven years old. It’s a lovely age. Lots of fun.”

  As colleagues it was perfectly normal for him to ask about her marital status but nevertheless, even after four years as a widow, she still found these routine questions difficult.

  She’d been happily married for three years until one night her life was turned upside down when her husband Nick was hit by a drunk driver. Neither man survived. Later she found her husband hadn’t been as satisfied as she thought and she never came to terms with it, never understood. Still, the past was behind her.

  Rachel lifted her gaze. “Sorry, you said you’ve got a son?”

  * * *

  Jake looked at Rachel and saw what he’d seen so many times before. A young woman who didn’t wish to be burdened with someone else’s child. Many women were attracted to him but none were genuinely interested in his son. Often they paid fleeting interest in the boy but simply assumed he should spend most of his time with the nanny.

  And Rachel. She didn’t even put up the pretence of being interested.

  Her long dark lashes were lowered, her pale eyes focussed on a random spot on the inside of the lift doors as though her mind was elsewhere.

  He knew the next logical question to follow was whether he was married. He wasn’t sure what his answer would be. To most people it was part of everyday conversation. Either you were married or you weren’t. But to Jake it was something different.

  “So you’re married?” she asked.

  He recalled her disgust at Marcus’ suggestion of appealing to married men by using attractive women. She had been very clear. When you live with someone, when you have a family, there is no excuse for unfaithfulness. Not ever.

  “Separated,” he replied.

  The lift doors opened and a group of businessmen got in, before exiting at the ground floor. She and Jake got out at the basement.

  “This a big place,” she said. “Do you think you’ll be able to find the car?”

  “I think I can manage.” He strode ahead.

  The note. He had to reach her car before she did.

  He’d written a note designed to appeal to the spark and vitality of the woman he met in the basement but that note was far too suggestive for a colleague. If she saw that note she’d lose all respect for him, think him more conceited than she already did.

  “Are you scouting ahead for seedy characters?” Rachel laughed out loud at her own comment.

  “Not at all.” Jake reached across the bonnet of her car for the message he’d left. “I’m protecting you from something much worse than that.”

  “What’s that?”

  He held up the folded piece of paper before shoving it into his jacket pocket. “Building Management.”

  “A fine?” She sounded worried.

  “Probably just a warning. I’ll take care of it for you. It is my parking spot, after all.”

  A warm smile washed across her face, a smile so unsuspecting and pure it drove a bolt of guilt through him.

  As he shook her hand, he couldn’t get her words out of his head. There’s no excuse for that. Not ever.

  And he was certain she would not be very understanding when he told her.

  * * *

  “Jake!” Marcus called out as his employer passed his office.

  Jake peered into the office. “I thought you said you had an appointment now.”

  “Yeah, I do.”

  That was strange because he didn’t appear to be in the middle of a meeting.

  “Do you want to ask me something?” Jake asked.

  “Sure do. I thought we were going to ditch the Skin Plus campaign but you told them we’d take it on. I don’t get it. What’s up?”

  Jake couldn’t resist the opportunity for a quick quip. “Marcus, these pro bono jobs are a good opportunity to do some good in the world. Where’s your community spirit?”

  “I don’t have any of that.”

  “I didn’t think so!” Jake softened his comment with a gentle laugh. “This campaign is going to be bigger than you think. I want you to be creative with this one. I’ve already got a few ideas about it myself. There’s a lot there for you to work with. This is going to be an award winning campaign. That’s why we’re taking it on.”

  He believed this project could be lifted above the other requests he’d received for pro bono work because it had something the others didn’t. Rachel’s conviction in it and her vitality. He was confident they could use thi
s to propel the campaign into something greater than it initially appeared. In fact it could potentially be an award winning campaign. He had certainly not taken it on based on personal inclination.

  “I don’t mind working with those two good looking women. I’m looking forward to seeing more of that Samantha.”

  A confirmed bachelor, Marcus was always looking for a bit of fun, chasing some girl. He was harmless enough, a bit of a lad, but the frequency with which he changed from woman to woman was astounding.

  Jake left and sat down in his own office. He didn’t know what he’d been thinking when he pressed the door release and watched Rachel’s hands slip off the handle.

  He couldn’t quite work the woman out. One minute she was the consummate professional discussing the marketing strategy for the campaign, and the next she was unable to do something as simple as open a door even though she put her whole shapely body into the task. From her slender calves to her arching torso and the little tendons in her hands, she had pulled with all her might with no idea how enticing she looked.

  Now that he’d secured their working partnership, he’d build on that relationship and redeem himself in her eyes over the next few weeks. He’d give her the chance to get to know him a little better, to be more comfortable in his company, to see he wasn’t the arrogant advertising executive she thought.

  Then he would ask her out.

  He would tell her everything.

  Chapter three

  One month later…

  Bianca. That woman was going too far this time and Jake wasn’t going to let her get away with it. She might be the mother of his child but that didn’t give her the right to be reckless with the boy’s welfare.

  “Stop right there, Bianca,” Jake said into the telephone. “You’re not taking our son to Italy and that’s that. Not in the middle of the school year, not now.”

  “You can’t deny him his heritage,” she said. “He is half Italian, remember.”

  Although Bianca had spent all her life in Australia, her parents had retired to Italy, forging a greater link between her and the country of her parents’ birth. After a dull day at home, she probably felt the need to rest and replenish herself and became invigorated when the idea of a holiday came to her on a whim.