Suddenly, she felt like she wasn’t doing her job. Her spine stiffened, and she started forward to say something. Justin spoke before she could.
“How about a few guys get on this wall over here, we need the corner braces secured,” he called out.
Warren and Tom headed over right away, but Nate took his time. Marley pressed her lips together and decided she’d address everyone at lunch. She didn’t plan on spelling out all her troubles, but she’d let them know they’d have to pick up the pace and stick to the schedule.
At the very least, it would be a start and then she could focus on finding some real solutions to save her career.
Chapter 3
Marley shifted in her chair the next morning and watched through the coffee house window as Dale Blake exited his silver Bentley. For the first time, she noted his height and blond hair. Like Justin.
Oh my God, Marley, this is getting out of hand. Enough already.
She took a sip of coffee and focused on her reason for being there. Dale Blake had called her after her father died. She’d thought, as acting CEO of Hunter Construction, he simply wanted to extend his condolences. Instead, he’d revealed that he’d been a friend of her father’s years ago. They’d had a falling out and though he’d attempted to mend the rift numerous times over the years, her father refused to speak with him.
She didn’t doubt that. She’d loved her dad, but he’d been a hard man. Driven, cold, and certainly not forgiving—especially if he was off the wagon. He’d taught her everything he knew, but never once in all the years working by his side did she get the feeling that he forgave her for being a girl. No matter how hard she’d worked in his world. Over the years, Marley had never shaken the belief that she didn’t measure up simply because of her sex.
She’d never understood. Still didn’t now. Which was partly why she continued to meet with his estranged friend of the past. Maybe she’d figure out what had made her father the way he’d been.
So far, she hadn’t learned much, other than she liked Mr. Blake. For being the CEO of a major construction company, he was surprisingly…normal. At first she thought it was a bit strange, meeting him like this, but he was warm and sincere, and showed genuine interest in her goals and dreams.
At his request, she’d brought in her portfolio of business designs. One in particular had caught his attention; a drawing she’d done for a job she’d heard through the grapevine would be up for bid next week. He’d taken her work back to his office to study. Despite his warning he couldn’t promise anything, this morning she hoped he’d offer the internship she needed with Hunter Construction. It would be just the beginning to get her and Nate started on their future.
“Good morning, Marley,” Dale said as he sat down with his coffee and a muffin.
See that? Blue eyes. Not like Justin at all. Justin’s are hazel.
“You look…nice…today,” Dale added.
She gave Justin’s image a mental shove and smiled at Dale. “Thank you.”
Doubt had lingered over the black and white checked suit she’d found on the clearance rack, but the price had been right. Never comfortable picking out clothes other than jeans and tee shirts, she felt stupid asking impeccably dressed saleswomen for help. No matter how often she rationalized it was their job, she couldn’t shake the fear that they’d realize how clueless she was when it came to fashion and laugh at her. Dale’s compliment eased her deep-rooted insecurity.
“Would you like something besides coffee this morning?” he asked.
“No, thank you. Nate and I usually eat breakfast together before he leaves for class and I go to work.”
In the middle of unwrapping his muffin, Dale’s fingers stilled at the mention of her brother. “How’s Nate been?”
She wondered at the tension in his question and tensed herself. Had someone called corporate about Nate’s habitual tardiness? She hoped not. Pasting a smile on her face, she said, “He’s good. I’m sorry he hasn’t had time to join us yet, but with his classes and—”
“Don’t worry about it,” Dale murmured. “Nate and I will meet when the time is right.”
Something in his tone sent a shiver of unease down her spine.
“I looked over your design.”
Her gaze met his. He smiled, his blue eyes warm and interested. She shrugged away the disquieting sensation and listened to his words.
“I’ve decided to present it to the board this week, and if the internship is approved, we’ll pull you from your current job to focus on the Jenkins project.”
Mixed feelings assaulted her jumpy nerves. She didn’t want to leave the Forrester site without resolving the budget issues, but at the same time she wanted to leap from her seat and hug Dale for the internship.
She allowed a hesitant smile. “That would be great. I can’t tell you what all your help means to me.”
He stared at her, and his eyes took on a far-away look. “You remind me so much of your mother when you smile.”
Marley blinked in surprise. “You knew her?” He’d never mentioned it before.
Dale nodded. “Annette was beautiful. I met her right after you were born, when I returned from Harvard.”
“Dad never talked about her,” Marley said quietly.
Dale straightened, cleared his throat. “Your father loved her very much. He was devastated when she was killed.”
Her father had actually loved someone? She didn’t remember that time, having been only three when her mother was killed during a home robbery. Marley had vague, fuzzy memories of someone warm and kind, of feeling loved, then nothing. No mother, a man she called Daddy and couldn’t please no matter how hard she tried, and a revolving door of babysitters.
It didn’t take long to recognize the babysitters were actually her father’s girlfriends and she and Nate were nuisances they tolerated until they figured out her dad was only using them.
Old memories of rejection swelled and threatened to beat down the fortress she’d constructed around her self-confidence.
“Oh, look at the time,” she exclaimed.
Dale reached over and covered her hand with his. “I’m sorry I brought up bad memories.”
“You didn’t. I don’t remember her, really.” His touch made her uncomfortable in a way she didn’t understand and she pulled away to stand up. “I have to go or I’ll be late.”
“Need me to write you an excuse?” Dale asked with a joking smile.
She couldn’t hold back a grin, and felt her confidence rebound. She wasn’t that insecure little girl anymore. “I’ll be fine if I leave now.” And speed.
“Why don’t we meet again tomorrow? Just in case I have any final questions before presenting your design.”
She suddenly felt bad for running out. He’d been nothing but kind to her. “Tomorrow would be fine. Thank you, for everything.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m happy to help. It makes me feel better to know Mark’s children are taken care of.”
With a final smile, she hurried from the shop as fast as she could manage in her heels. The moment she shut the door of her truck, she kicked the damn things off. Some day she’d have to learn to walk in them, but right now she hated how they left her feeling unsteady and off balance.
She frowned as she drove from the parking lot, thinking of the meeting with Dale. The whole morning had been odd. Good from the aspect that her internship looked very promising, but the conversation about her parents left her feeling like her high-heeled shoes.
****
Hammer in hand by the west wall, Justin looked up when he heard Marley’s truck, then consulted his watch. She had one minute before she was officially late. He’d have to take the time to figure out where the hell she went in the mornings. Like tomorrow.
He watched her exit the truck, curious about…yep, barefoot again. But what was she wearing today? Black and white checkers?
“Hey, Justin,” Chuck Hager called. “Come tell me what you make of these measurements.”<
br />
He shifted his attention back to the job. Her obvious lack of fashion sense was no business of his.
When Marley approached in her work clothes five minutes later, Chuck had left to answer a question for Warren, and Justin compared his field measure to the numbers on the blueprints.
“Something’s not right here.” Annoyance that it hadn’t been caught earlier echoed in his tone. “Who authorized these plans?”
“My father did. What’s the problem?”
He hesitated at the mention of her deceased father, then pointed to the difference in measurements. “These rafters are short by two inches. It’ll throw off the entire roof.”
Standing close enough that their arms brushed, she scrutinized the blueprints. She’d tied her hair back in the usual ponytail, but a few silky-looking strands had escaped and a light wind blew them across her face. The urge to tuck them behind her ear was as unwelcome as it was sudden.
“Are you sure your field measure is correct?” Her brow creased as she tucked the hair back. “I double checked the measurements myself.”
His irritation spiked at her doubt. “I suggest you triple check them.”
She drew herself up straight as a board. “I suggest you go back to what you’re supposed to be doing and quit doing my job.”
Her quiet order jolted him. Shit. He’d forgotten himself. Lips pressed together in a tight seam, he turned and strode across the plywood floor of the house. Over the next ten minutes, Justin did his job, careful to avoid watching her re-measure.
Would he have to reveal his identity and fire her? Given the circumstances of the company right now, and the way he’d been distracted by her presence over the past couple days, not to mention Granddad, it might be for the best.
“You were right.”
Justin spun around. Loud enough for everyone in the general vicinity to hear it over the noise of the boom truck, Marley’s husky admission came as a complete surprise. She met his gaze without flinching, even though he read in her eyes how much she hated being wrong.
“The rafters were ordered off previous blueprints, before we adjusted for the extra insulation the owner insisted we put on the outside wall.”
A rookie mistake, even if it was an honest one. Unfortunately, because of the size of the house, it would now cost Hunter Construction thousands of dollars in new lumber.
Marley turned away as the boom began to lower a rafter for a different section of the roof. Justin glanced up the ladder where Nate used a rope to guide it into place, then his gaze returned to her retreating back.
“You realize you’ll need to reorder the entire set of rafters for that section,” he called.
She spun around. “I’m not a complete idiot. I’ll have you know—”
A snap reverberated in the air and Justin saw the boom arm jerk. The ominous sound of the steel cable slipping unrestrained through the iron hook reached his ears as the rafter fell straight toward Marley.
He lunged forward. Hooked an arm around her waist and dove to the side. The crack of splintering wood accompanied their bone-jarring impact with the ground. Justin lay dazed for a moment, until Marley’s soft curves registered beneath him. No blinding pain—and he was still breathing. So was she.
Or at least she tried to. His weight on the landing had knocked the wind out of her. Voices surrounded them and hands grabbed his arms. He shook them off, concentrating on shifting his weight from Marley. She stared up at him with wide eyes as she sucked oxygen into her lungs.
“You okay?” His gruff voice barely rose above a whisper.
She nodded, but her lashes drifted shut.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
Her arms and legs moved. “I’m okay.” The unsteady words preceeded another deep breath. She blinked a few times and looked at the men surrounding them. Dismay flooded her expression. “I need to get up.”
A slight tremor shook her body. Knowing she’d need a moment to compose herself, he cautioned, “Easy. Take your time.”
Furious fire sparked in her green eyes. “Let me up,” she demanded.
Okay, then, screw composure. He took hold of her hand and elbow and hauled her to her feet. She swayed a bit with his release, and her hand reached to steady herself, making contact with his bare arm. A second later, she snatched it away and stiffened her spine.
Nate pushed through the others and grabbed her close. “Thank God, Mar.”
“I’m fine, Nate.”
“You didn’t see what I saw.” He held her at arm’s length. “If he’d been a split second slower…”
The care and concern in Nate’s expression amazed Justin. So far he’d seen the guy give his sister nothing but grief.
Chuck clapped Justin on the shoulder. “You okay, man? I can’t believe how fast you moved.”
That drew some of the attention off Marley, but Justin didn’t want the recognition of what he’d done. Either one of them could’ve been killed. Just the thought of it turned his stomach. Memory of another accident threatened to surface, but he forced it away and focused on the present.
“Someone want to tell me what the hell happened?” Justin swept a furious gaze across the faces surrounding them. He stopped on Warren. As the operator of the boom truck, Warren’s job included maintaining the equipment according to safety regulations.
“The cable snapped,” Tom offered into the silence.
“Obviously,” Justin bit out. Without looking away from Warren, whose face had turned as red as his hair, he asked, “When’s the last time you checked it?”
Before Warren could defend himself, Marley’s clipped voice resonated over the group. “I’ll take care of this.”
Justin’s gaze swung to hers. Her expression dared him to say more. Though it went against everything in him, he ground his molars together and deferred to her authority. Why the hell wasn’t she demanding answers?
“Fifteen minute break, guys,” Marley said. “Then we’ve got a lot of equipment to check and even more work to make up.”
As the others drifted away, Justin took a few steps back and dropped his butt onto a wooden sawhorse. Marley had to walk past the twisted wreckage of the rafter to reach her trailer. Her step faltered. Halted. She glanced back to where she’d been standing and he saw a shudder ripple across her shoulders. Then her chin lifted, her expression hardened, and she headed straight for the trailer.
Justin leaned forward to pick up her hardhat and rested it on his knee. She was so concerned that everyone saw her as the tough, in-charge boss, but she’d almost been killed. If it had been him, he’d want to know what happened with that cable.
He surged to his feet. Hell, it had been him, too.
While making his way over to the cable, something else struck him as odd. They’d all taken their break as she’d suggested. Weren’t any of them the least bit concerned about this incident? Was there more to the accident than met the eye?
Warren joined him a moment later.
“I meant to check the cable yesterday,” Warren admitted in a low, guilt-ridden voice.
The ends in his hand appeared frayed, not cut. The thought that someone would deliberately tamper with the cable chilled his blood, but information his brother had provided revealed this wasn’t the first accident to happen on this job site, and he couldn’t ignore the possibility. Question was, if it wasn’t an accident, who was out for who?
Chuck joined them. Warren looked like he might be sick, and over the next fifteen minutes, Justin became convinced it was nothing more than an accident. His lips twisted. How he hated that word. It could cover up so much. Carelessness. Stupidity. Ignorance.
Let it go, man. All you can do now is live with it.
And educate these guys so they didn’t end up like him.
Everyone returned to work, and by the time the busted wood had been cleared, things returned to normal.
Except Marley had yet to emerge from the trailer.
Chapter 4
Her damn knees still shook s
o bad she didn’t think she could stand. How could she go out there to do her job when she was a complete mess? Weakness was not an option right now.
The door creaked open.
Thankful her back faced the door, she said, “I’ll be right out.”
The moment she heard the creak and click, she released a sigh of relief. No one could see her like this. Men didn’t fall apart like a baby; there was no reason she should.
“Marley?”
She jumped almost as high as her pulse spiked. She shot to her feet and glared at Justin across the desk. “Don’t you ever listen?”
“I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
The soft-voiced concern threatened her tenuous composure. “I told you I was fine. I just had some things to work on in here.” Like her nerves.
His gaze dropped to the cleared surface of the desk.
“I don’t know who you think you are,” she said abruptly. “I mean, I only hired you because you did a good job that first day. But ever since then you’ve been walking around here like you own the place.”
He moved forward. She spoke even faster. “You give orders to the guys and they listen to you. I don’t understand it. It’s like you’re trying to do my job. But it’s my job, not yours. I’m perfectly qualified and competent to do it.”
God, she couldn’t stop talking. And she didn’t even recognize her own voice anymore.
He stepped around to her side of the desk.
“And just because you’re good at it doesn’t mean you’re any better at it than I am. You—”
Her sentence squeaked to a halt when he put his hands on her trembling shoulders and drew her forward. Instinctively, she raised her hands between them. He didn’t say a single word. All he did was wrap his arms around her and hold her against his solid chest.
She held her breath and remained stiff, but then she had to breathe. Slowly she became aware of the steady beat of his heart, the warmth of his embrace, the heady male scent of him. The tension in her shoulders eased. Somehow, he made her feel safe and protected. Cherished even. Stupid, she knew, since she’d only met him a few days ago, but it didn’t change the feeling. No one had ever held her like this before.
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