Her sister’s reaction was much the same as hers, except she did not blame Vic for being the recipient of the shoes. Fortunately, Xavier’s words still had the power to soothe and soon pulled her sister to safe ground.
“We have to tell Gregory, but it is going to break his heart,” Claire said.
“Then perhaps we should not.”
“He deserves the truth. I will hug him, while you will provide your soothing logic. Together, we will get him through the initial pain. “
Claire pulled Vic into her arms. “How did you ever bear it alone? Why did you not wake me at once?”
“Xavier helped me through my grief. The words I spoke to you were his.”
“But I should have been there to hug you,” she insisted.
“He managed that responsibility as well.”
“Xavier hugged you? Did he discover your secret?”
“No, he was just being kind.”
Claire arched her brow before refocusing on their horrible task.
They found Gregory seated on Maddy’s bed and sat down on each side of him. Taking his hands into theirs, Vic retold the story once more.
Witnessing stoic Gregory break down and cry shocked Vic to her core. What if they couldn’t pull the dear man from his grief?
“Aunt Maddy’s life was not a meaningless sacrifice, Gregory. She saved countless lives. Many people would have died, had she not bought those shoes and obtained the key. She is a hero, even in death, and I am certain she is pleased as punch, up in heaven, knowing she stopped the sale of government secrets.”
Between Claire’s sweet embrace and Xavier’s words shared by Vic, the gasps of pain lessened and finally the healing began.
Once Gregory regained his composure and settled on firm ground, Vic tried to distract him from the residual pain by informing him she had a job as Xavier’s secretary for a hundred pounds a month.
Gregory sighed. “Victor, Xavier Thorn’s secretaries do not last a week.”
Claire nodded. “I told him the same.”
“Well, I am determined to change the record. I’m going to be the best secretary he has ever had.”
Gregory’s brow furrowed as he handed her a card taken from his pocket. “This arrived at eight this morning. I took the liberty of reading it, but decided you needed sleep more than lectures. You probably should have mentioned the job to me yesterday.”
Vic opened the note. In slashing pen strokes indicating great annoyance were the words:
It is time to work!!!!
“I had better change and go now,” Vic said.
Claire gripped Vic’s arm. “It’s nearly four. By the time you arrive, it will be time to come home. You should wait and arrive very early tomorrow morning.”
“I am sure you are right, but I am going now when I can honestly say I just received his summons. Such will not be the case if I arrive tomorrow morning.”
***
Xavier held his pen, poised to write a second note. Perhaps he should retrieve Victor in person. No, he must wait. The young man would come or he would not.
Since returning to his office, he had spent considerable thought on his feelings towards Victor. The combination of the boy’s brilliant young mind with Maddy’s eyes and character had brought his stone-dead passion to life. He had never experienced such intense sexual stirrings before, and certainly never for a young man.
This sudden hardening of his manhood at the mere thought of the fellow was most distracting, and frankly unwanted, at least on his part. What Victor thought or wanted, he had no idea. However, since the young man refused to come to work, even when summoned, Xavier surmised he had not been comfortable with the length of time he’d been held last night.
Xavier cursed and threw his inkwell at the door. Unfortunately, the door opened at the same moment and the glass bottle slammed into Victor’s stomach, covering him in India ink.
“Damn it, Victor, knock before you enter,” Xavier cursed as he rose and approached the boy. “You are covered with ink,” he complained.
“It’s hardly my fault,” Vic declared in outrage. “You doused me with it!”
“I did no such thing. I only intended to strike the door and, had you bothered to knock, I would have warned you not to enter. The fault is entirely yours, but we will make no more of it. Just remember to knock in the future.”
“I daresay I’ll not forget for a very long time,” Victor growled.
“Excellent attitude,” Xavier declared with excessive cheeriness. He ceased smiling as the young man continued to glare at him. “I hope you have not come to hand me your resignation because I will not take it. You have committed to remain three months, and I will hold you to it. And why are you so damnably late today?”
“Because I was sleeping and Gregory did not give me your note until I woke a half hour ago.”
“A fine excuse if masters customarily wrote notes ordering their people to work and, without such a note, the people were not meant to come.”
“Given last night, it had not occurred to me…never mind. You are right, I am completely in the wrong, and I apologize. I will be here at the crack of dawn each morning.”
Xavier relaxed. “Good enough.” He returned to his desk. “About the embrace last night…it was a one-time event.” He watched Vic’s expression and thought he caught a moment of regret before acceptance and relief took over.
Victor nodded. “I understand. You showed me a moment of kindness and I show up eight hours late for work. However, surely throwing an inkwell at me and ruining my best suit somewhat balances matters.”
“I did not throw the inkwell at you, but I am in agreement all should be forgotten and we will proceed from here. First of all, you need clean clothes. I doubt my clothes will fit you.”
The boy gave Xavier’s lean but muscular body a quick study, blushed, and agreed they would not.
The tightening of his loins caused by Vic’s perusal of his person unsettled him. “Well, you cannot remain as you are. You will make a mess as you dig your way through a mountain of paperwork. Go to the kitchen and find something to solve your problem. I expect you back here in ten minutes, ready to work, not a second later.”
***
Vic’s rush from the room was not due to obedience, but to escape Xavier’s presence before she lost her temper and threw the inkwell at its owner’s head. No wonder his secretaries did not last a week. She had not been here fifteen minutes and she was ready to…
Exactly what did she want to do? Certainly not quit, nor did she really want to cause him pain, which was why she left the room. In truth, she could make no sense of her emotions.
Upon finding no kitchen on the first floor, she tried upstairs, where she located a narrow room possessing a table with a well worn bench, a sink with a small set of cabinets beside it, and an ancient coal oven. Clearly, Xavier had no cook, for none would work in such a sad place. Searching the cabinets, she located towels to blot away a good deal of the ink. It took three, but she managed to remove most of the stain. However, she suspected Xavier would not be satisfied with that. He, no doubt, would want the black spot gone from his view so he did not have to feel guilty about her dousing.
She smiled as she found a butcher’s apron in the closet. It was a bit large, but that meant more cloth to hide the inkblot. From below, Xavier loudly counted down from thirty. She took the steps two at a time and arrived in his office as he bellowed “three”.
He smiled upon her arrival. “Your solution is acceptable and your timing tolerable. I am very strict on punctuality. I hold my clients to it, and I shall hold you to it as well. If someone arrives one minute late to their appointment, I will not meet them and they must reschedule. Unfortunately, I cannot use the same carrot and stick with you, so you should arrive at five each morning. Then you will not be at risk of arriving late.”
“Five? Is it not still dark at five?”
“I believe so, but since I am asleep at five, I cannot say for certain.”
“So I will not know if you arrive a minute late.”
“But your door says office hours are between nine and four. Why can I not arrive at seven? I will be two hours early, give or take a minute.”
“It is the ‘give or take’ that will irritate me. If I expect you to arrive at seven and you are not here exactly upon the chime, in my mind you will be late and it will grate on my nerves, putting me in a disagreeable mood. I am only suggesting five because then you will already be here when I wake, which should put me in a fine mood.”
Vic had never heard anything quite so ridiculous in her life. “Are you jesting?”
“No, I am quite serious.” Xavier ordered her to follow him to the front reception room. “This is your office. You are the gatekeeper to my inner sanctum. You will allow no one to pass unless the client has an appointment set at least twenty-four hours in advance, is on time, and you have announced the person’s arrival. I know it sounds simple… What am I saying? My instructions could not be simpler, but I’ve yet to find a secretary who can follow them.”
“Are there any exceptions to your rules?”
“No.”
“Not even if the First Minister arrived and said it was a matter of life and death? Am I to send him off with an appointment for the next day?”
Xavier’s eyes narrowed. “Given those specifics, no. He should be allowed in.”
“Perhaps we should make an amendment. I will do exactly as you say unless, in my good judgment, I believe an exception needs to be made.”
Xavier considered her modification for a moment before nodding once.
He pointed to a box of paper beneath the desk. “Your first challenge. Somewhere about, you will find a ledger. Those are bills and receipts and possibly some checks. I sort through the mess on occasion and try to retrieve the checks and see them deposited. As of now, I am not touching the box. I expect bills to be paid on time—neither early nor late—but on time. I expect checks to promptly be recorded and deposited into the bank and I want the books to balance.”
Vic stared at the box, wondering if she should admit she didn’t know how to ‘balance’ a ledger.
“I don’t suppose they taught you anything useful at Oxford.”
“Evidently not.”
Xavier let out an expressive sigh. “What is it you cannot do?”
“Making your book balance, unless you simply wish it set upon a rod just so….”
Xavier’s mouth twitched but he refused to smile. “No cheekiness,” he warned. “I find nothing amusing about your gross ignorance. Tomorrow morning when I have more patience, I will show you how to complete this simple task. But first, you need to find the damn thing. It may be in the bottom of the box. If not, search about. It must be somewhere.”
***
As Vic sorted through the box, the items she found amazed her: bills eight months past due, letters written but not sent to clients, and several checks waiting for deposit. Evidently, some of Xavier’s secretaries deserved their dismissals.
Upon much searching, she finally located the ledger under the file cabinet. Vic studied the pages, trying to divine how one might ‘balance’ the numbers within, but nothing made any sense. Sighing deeply, Vic closed it.
“Discouraged already?” Xavier asked as he approached and picked up the three checks. “Damn.” He reached to the other pile and, reviewed the outstanding bills. “Damnation!” When he reached for the third pile, Vic stopped him. “Perhaps you should wait until I leave for the evening.”
Xavier placed his hand on her shoulder and squeezed before snatching up the papers. He glared at the letter never sent. “Bloody hell! See this is posted tomorrow morning, first thing. And this one.” He thrust another page at her. His eyes rounded in fury as he read a third item. “You damn well better be able to type.”
“Why are you angry with me? All I did was sort this mess so I can take care of them in an efficient manner,” Vic complained.
Xavier tossed the final correspondence on top of the bills. Vic growled as she moved it to the proper pile, only quieting when Xavier’s hands settled on her shoulders.
“Perhaps I should teach you how to balance a ledger tonight so you’ll have time to address these matters in the morning.”
“There is nothing to be done until the bank opens and the postman arrives. I should have plenty of time, given I plan to wake you up at 5:01. May I have a key to the front door?”
“A key…”
“Unless you really wish to be woken when I arrive at five?”
“I’m not comfortable giving a secretary my keys. Ring the bell and I will let you in.”
Vic pushed back, ramming her chair into Xavier’s legs in the process.
“Watch what you are doing!” He stepped back so she could stand up. “Precisely what are you doing?” he demanded as Vic stormed to the front door and opened it.
“I’m going home. I’m not ‘comfortable’ working in ink stained clothes ’til the wee hours, especially when I’m expected to return before the crack of dawn. But I am telling you now, if tomorrow morning you leave me outside the office knocking for more than five minutes, I am returning home for another two hours sleep, and I’ll not come at five again.”
Before Xavier could reply, Vic stormed out, slamming the door behind her.
***
Xavier smiled at the young man’s bravado. His sexual stirrings aside, he had a good feeling about Victor. Finally, he was going to have a secretary worth the aggravation of having a secretary. He glared at the correspondence littering the desktop. Up to now, the bar had been set quite low. Simply showing up on time tomorrow would put the young man far above the prior employees.
He reached for one letter, thinking he had time to re-type it himself, but decided to leave it for Victor. The boy needed a few challenges.
Returning to his office, Xavier read the notes from a case he had taken yesterday. Mrs. Wimple would expect the matter resolved by the end of the week and he had yet to give it a single thought beyond his initial ideas during the interview. He best go discover more about the old gal and her missing husband. He sighed. Clients were most trying. Every case had to be solved with instant resolution. No one had any appreciation for the difficulty of these tasks except for Scotland Yard and the Queen’s Men. They at least appreciated the miracles he performed, such as today with the damnable key that cost Maddy her life.
He sighed. If only he could ‘solve’ the problem of Seth Sojourn so easily. Still, Scotland Yard planned to keep Mr. GewGaw, whose real name turned out to be Mr. Schuhmeister, safely tucked away, until the trial, where his testimony could tie Seth to espionage and treason. Xavier smiled as his fingers toyed with his pipe. London might soon be rid of its most notorious crime lord.
Chapter 5
Claire sat on a chair next to the bathtub and scrubbed Vic’s neck and shoulder with a bristle brush, trying to remove the black ink stains.
“I cannot believe he assaulted you with an inkwell.”
“Nor could I, but he could not have known for certain it was me entering.”
“Then why did he throw it?”
“It may have been because the door was opening and whoever was on the other side had not knocked and asked permission to enter.” Vic frowned. “He seems to have some very odd quirks.”
“Well, that is certainly one. You might have been a client.”
“Fortunately for him, it was only me. He’s ruined my chest wrap. I will have to order a replacement.”
“Perhaps you should buy several…”
“True, I’ve only three that are fit to wear now.”
“What else is wrong with him?”
“Who?” Vic asked and frowned when she realized Claire meant Xavier. “Who said there was anything wrong with him? I only said he had a quirk. His tendency to fire secretaries may be justified. You would not believe the horrid state in which they have left my desk.”
Vic sighed. “He is obsessed with timeliness. If a client is one minute late, they are to be sent away with a new appointment, and I am to arrive at five in the morning while he still sleeps so he will not yet be expecting me.” Vic couldn’t help but laugh at her sister’s bewildered expression “I know, it makes no sense whatsoever, but I will arrive tomorrow morning at five and wake him up from a sound sleep to let me in.”
“I am now afraid to ask, but are there any more of these oddities?”
“Well, he is constantly touching me.”
“How?” Claire moved her chair in closer.
“Nothing lurid,” Vic scolded. “When he’s talking or when I’ve made an observation he thinks particularly insightful, he will stroke my arm or squeeze my shoulder. I doubt he’s even aware of his actions, but—”
“But it makes your secret being discovered all the more probable,” Claire said and frowned. “Vic, I think you should reconsider a position at the bank.”
“Nonsense. Nothing about my arms and shoulders will reveal my secret,” Vic protested. “And he needs me. His office is a shambles.”
Claire smiled. “And you like him.”
“Well, of course I like him. He’s brilliant, insightful, and helped us uncover Aunt Maddy’s killer. I have also discovered, beneath his gruff exterior and constant rudeness, he is very thoughtful and caring.”
“Oh dear, you’ve fallen in love with him.”
“I have not. And I find you most aggravating. How dare you claim to know anything about love when you have purposely avoided introduction to all young gentlemen. Until you give up your commitment to spinsterhood, do not dare make false accusations about my heart. If you can do without a man, at least credit me with the same strength.”
The Troublesome Apprentice (The Adventures of Xavier & Vic Book 1) Page 4