"One moment, please," she called, her fingers clattering faster. After a few seconds, the printer on the other side of the room began to whir and she rose from her chair. Rick knew that without heels, Miss Bingley was shorter than him, but today, those heels gave her the extra inches to tower over him. She crossed the room and gathered the papers and Rick couldn't help wondering why she hadn't arranged the printer to be closer to her desk. Unless she enjoyed the chance to tower over her guests. He half wondered that on the days she wore heels, she printed things just for that excuse.
Once she had the papers, she faced him, her eyes running up and down his suit as if finding it two seasons old despite the fact he had bought it that morning. With all his things at his sister's in Rhode Island, he had to make an emergency clothing run for the meeting.
"Rick Wentworth, you're early."
He forced a smile. "I can wait if Mr. Bingley is busy."
"He's always busy. Take a seat." She indicated the stiff chairs scooted against the wall. Rick sat on the hard-as-rock seats and wished he hadn't come so early. Despite his attempts to please Miss Bingley, she always saw him as someone not worth her time. And that cold attitude ruffled his old anger. Even worse, she had something in common with him. She pined for someone that never gave her the time of day: Mr. Darcy, her brother's best friend and also the CEO of the company. Rick knew very little of her history with Darcy, but loving someone who didn't care was something he understood too well and he couldn't help feeling a tiny bit of pity for the icy woman.
Her wearing heels also told him Darcy wouldn't be popping in today. Despite her obvious love to intimidate others, she never wore heels around the CEO, perhaps hoping that would increase her chances with him. But Darcy was well known to be as icy as she, hardly ever speaking with subordinates. Darcy's focus and passion lay in building up his empire. Dating and love were an afterthought, assuming it crossed his mind in the first place.
One minute before his scheduled time, Miss Bingley paused her clattering. "He'll see you now." She waved toward the big oak door that led into Bingley's office. Rick thanked her and she, as always, gave him a chilly stare before resuming whatever pressing work consumed the monitors. Glad to be leaving her behind, he opened the door and strode into a much warmer room--and a whole lot messier. Drawers were half opened with folders jammed inside and the big desk was drowning in paperwork.
Mr. Bingley, a handsome man with curly, light brown hair sat with a half-eaten lunch by his elbow, his focus on the two monitors on his right, the keyboard propped on several folders. The instant his eyes spotted Rick, a jovial grin spread across his face and his eyes lit up with genuine joy. His boss always reminded him of Al--the type of people who happily accepted anyone, no matter their station or situation in life. It was one of the things that had impressed Rick when he had first encountered Bingley back in Japan and had made him willing to take a random job offer after only a few days of knowing him.
"Rick!" Bingley stood up and dusted off crumbs on his suit. "Sorry about the mess."
"Not a worry," Rick said, accepting Bingley's handshake. "Late lunch, I see?"
"Not really. I keep forgetting to finish it. So much to do and all. Take a seat."
Rick smiled. Bingley had a lot of great qualities, but multi-tasking was not one of them.
"How was your sister?" Bingley continued, demonstrating a quality Rick liked about him: remembering everyone's personal lives. "You never mentioned where she decided to move to?"
"Rhode Island, sir."
"Oh, good little state. Very pretty. I was considering buying a house there, once." He paused for a moment. "Can't really recall why I didn't. But your sister, she liking the area?"
"Yes, she loves her new home."
"Good. Always nice to love a new home. And I'm so glad she picked Rhode Island."
Rick would beg to differ but kept quiet.
"I knew you would be the right man for this job."
Rick raised an eyebrow at that. "And that job would be?"
"We've decided to re-organize our Massachusetts branch, get new leadership in and help clean up some of the problems there, and I thought the ideal man would be you."
Rick couldn't believe it. "Me? You want me to be the regional manager of the Massachusetts department?"
"Yes. You have the eye for detail and the drive to get things done. Just look at the number of projects," he patted a stack of folders near the monitors, "you've brought in under three years. It impressed the board as well as the CEOs. And, with your sister in Rhode Island, you'll have family nearby."
"You're stationing me in Boston? Permanently?" He would have his own place. That had always been a dream of his--to have a place no one could kick him out from--but he had attempted it once, years back, and had hated it. An empty house was as cheering as an empty hotel room, but bigger and hollower.
However, if Anne was with him--well, it wouldn't matter where he lived. She'd make the tiniest hovel feel like heaven. But SHE would definitely prefer being near her family. Maybe having a home to offer might finally entice her? Assuming Rick could stand living close to her family.
"Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself," Bingley announced, snapping Rick out of his daydreaming. "We need a case solved first." Bingley rifled through the mess of papers before pulling out a folder. "You should recognize this case. You located the inventor about a year back or so."
Rick opened the file and found a picture depicting a scrawny, young man with a big grin on his face. "Robert Martin. Yes, I remember him very well. His invention for cow-milking was brilliant."
"Yes. It would revolutionize the industry, you claimed."
Rick stilled, suddenly nervous. "Did something go wrong? I heard his patent was approved--"
"It was and we're ready to launch, but," Bingley sighed. "A new regulation has been proposed in Massachusetts that could make this invention a nightmare for litigation. And if the regulation spread to other states, we won't be able to do a thing."
"But, why? It would help farmers all over the world--"
"We could still help farmers outside of the USA, but the wording in the proposed regulation would make it nearly impossible on the East Coast. We've been trying to lobby the senator who is over the situation, but so far, she has been unwilling to change anything. However, we happened to have a lawyer in the Boston area who has some ties with the senator. I believe he's a cousin of hers. He's promised to arrange a meeting with her and I thought of you."
"Me? Sir, I'm not a lobbyist--"
"But you know this case inside and out and you know the inventor personally. In fact, I'm sure you know a lot of inventors that might be affected by this litigation. You also have excellent persuasions skills. I've seen you convince the most antagonist of inventors to come around and be involved with us. I'm betting that if you could speak with her and show her the people she would be affecting, she'd be willing to tweak the wording so it won't affect us as much."
Rick hesitated for a long moment. Helping passionate inventors fulfill their ambitious was one thing, but lobbying a senator? It wasn't his strong point, but, Bingley had personally thought of him and he'd hate to disappoint his boss. And there was the possibility of offering a home to Anne...
"I'd be happy to do the job."
"Good! I knew you would. And, if you pull this off, I will recommend you to take over the Boston office. You'll have a great connection with the Senator already and you would be near family. Perfect situation, right?"
Only if Anne was a part of that situation. But, he had a Senator to convince first. "Sounds like something ideal."
"Good. In the file is the name and contact information of the lawyer that will help you get a meeting with the Senator. The litigation is set to be passed soon so you don't have a lot of time."
"I'll be in Boston by tomorrow, then." He would be able to see Anne, too!
"Good!" Bingley rose. "I knew I could count on you. Keep me informed of what goes on, all right?"
&n
bsp; Rick nodded, shook his hand, then headed out the door. He nodded to Caroline who barely nodded back, her icy demeanor not thawing one bit, like usual. She and Darcy would really make the perfect pair with their icy demeanors.
Once he entered the elevator, he rifled through the file until he found the name, then stopped in shock.
William Elliott.
He couldn't believe it. Elliott? Anne's last name was Elliott. Did they somehow know each other? Was there a brother he had never heard of? Or, worse, was that Anne's father? He had been a lawyer.
Rick gulped, suddenly wishing he hadn't taken the job. The last thing he wanted was to face that snooty man again, the one man who had ruined his happiness with Anne.
Chapter 18
Not desiring to converse with Anne's father--assuming he was William Elliot--over the phone, Rick sent an email, explaining his task and the need for a meeting at the man's next convenience. Once that was done, Rick realized he now had an even worse task: waiting for a response.
Thankfully, most of the day was spent procuring and then taking a flight to Hartford. Once there, he checked his email but found no response from the mysterious Mr. Elliot. Charles Musgrove, however, had sent him several texts. Louisa had been moved to Boston. She had underwent another surgery. The swelling in the brain had gone done. The doctors were more hopeful now. If all continued to progress, they might bring Louisa out of her medical-induced coma in a week or so. They would find out then how much damage had been done to the brain.
Rick sent a congratulation text, then dialed Harv's number.
"Rick! You in Boston now?"
"No, in Hartford. I had to go to Virginia for work real quick. Did you hear the update about Louisa?"
"Yeah, my wife's cousin is assigned to her and she's been keeping us up to date. We also sent James to Boston to be of help."
"James?" The quiet boy who rarely talked? "Why would you do that?" James would only be in the way, an extra body in an already crowded hospital room no doubt.
"It was his idea and, well, I know you said to not worry about being sued, but we've had accidents on the farm before. Usually by someone who thinks they know better or who try something stupid and, well, I've learned, it's best to be real friendly with them. Otherwise, a year or so down the road, they'll run into some lawyer who convinces them to sue. And James, he's been needing something to do for a long time, something that will help him get past his grief. He mentioned that Anne had given him the idea--"
"Anne?" It was out of Rick's mouth before he knew it.
"Yeah, she and him got along really well that day and she apparently inspired him to try to help others with their grief as well. So he wanted to go and be of help, though Star thinks he's going mainly to see Anne again. She thinks he's sweet on her." The last sentence had a ring of irritation to it. Rick could easily guess why. James had been engaged to Harv's sister before she had passed away last year. It was too soon for him to be chasing someone else. Especially a girl that should be off limits to anyone but Rick.
"You not okay with that?" Rick hoped he'd say yes. Then Rick could march over to James and tell him to scram from Anne.
"No, no," the jovial tone was back. "If James can help, I want him to help."
Rick tried to keep the growl out of his voice. "How long will James stay?"
"Not sure. Depends on the girl, Louisa, and how she progresses."
Not good news. Louisa's progress could take weeks and with nothing to do at the hospital, that gave James plenty of excuses to chase Anne.
"Oh hey, gotta go," Harv announced. "Star's calling for me. Let us know if you're ever in our area again. We'd love to have you."
"Yeah, sure."
Rick stared at his phone as the call ended, the memory of James and Anne chatting replaying in his mind. Anne seemed to open up with James. What if she liked him?
The idea infuriated him. Rick had a better job, more money, and history with Anne, but he had no idea if any of that would matter to her. He was going to have an uphill fight already; he did not need competition from James in the mix.
If only he had spoken to long before the mess at Lyme happened.
With a slight panic, he collected his car and headed for Boston, eager to get there before any damage was done. Unfortunately, after a few miles, he remembered all his things were still at his sister's. Despite being tempted to show up in Boston with only the clothes on him, he turned toward Rhode Island instead. Besides, his sister had no idea about the accident. He'd only sent her a text that something had come up and wouldn't be back for a while. He had avoided telling her any news since he hadn't known if it would be good or bad. But now that it seemed Louisa was on the mend, he could handle telling Sophy. And he had the added bonus of telling her in person, something he knew Sophy preferred.
Darkness pervaded the land by the time he pulled up to Ann--Sophy's house, the tall building looming over him like giant monster waiting to eat him. The memory of that haughty father sneering down his nose rose unbidden. And to think, Rick was soon to meet him, assuming the old man ever responded to his email. Knowing him, he had probably deleted it, refusing to meet with an ex-foster boy.
The old anger bubbled inside and Rick gripped the steering wheel, blowing out a breath as if that could calm the rage within. It didn't matter how the old man treated him. In this situation, Rick was technically the boss. He could even become the permanent boss if he became the manager of the Boston office.
Assuming he WANTED the promotion and could stand being stuck in one spot for a long time. But, if Anne was with him... Brandon did insist he was lucky. Maybe Anne would confess she'd always been in love with him. And he'd get the litigation issue fixed in one day. Then he'd have the best job, the best wife, and the best life he'd ever wanted.
Or Anne could still despite him, he could fail with the senator, and be stuck with moving every couple of weeks so he could avoid rejection for the rest of his life.
Rick sighed, then climbed out of the car. At least he had a sister and brother-in-law who'd never reject him. In fact, they both lit up with eager surprise the moment he walked into the kitchen and insisted he sit down and tell them everything that had happened.
"The poor girl!" Sophy said, perched on the sofa, hands covering her mouth. "And her family! Always fearing every minute could bring the worst." She clasped Al's hand, sitting next to her. "Oh, Al, I couldn't even bear it if you were in a coma."
"I'd have to be hit in the head first before I got on a horse," Al quipped, squeezing her hand back.
"Don't like horses, Al?" Rick asked.
"Prefer cars. They're faster and easier to keep clean. And they can play my wife's favorite music. Show me a horse that can do that. But this girl, what was her name again?"
"Louisa," both Rick and Sophy answered.
"Yeah, her, you said she's in Boston now? I take it that's where you'll be heading next?"
Rick hid a grimace. He forgot they still assumed he had an interest in her. "Technically, yes, but more for my job."
"I thought you were on vacation?" Sophy asked.
"It ended--"
"But surely once you explain the situation--"
"Actually, it was my idea. Sitting at the hospital with nothing to do--"
"Would drive a man crazy," Al cut in. "Can't blame you one bit."
"Yes," Sophy began, "but how could you leave her--"
"He didn't abandon her, Sophy. She's with a bunch of doctors doing their job. All Rick can do is be in the way."
She sighed. "I guess. But it would drive me insane being so far away."
"That's cause you like hearing the news the instant it happens," Al said, tapping her nose.
She ducked her head. "I just like being on top of things."
Rick waved his phone. "Charles sends me texts on her status so I'm still in the loop."
"But he's sending them to you, not to her," Al said, pointing to his wife.
Rick grinned. "I could forward them--"
> "No, no," Sophy waved her hands. "Don't go through all that trouble. Just let me know if there are any big updates?"
"Will do."
"And at least you'll be in the area so you can rush over if, you know..."
"Let's hope that's never called for," Al said. "I'm sorry, Rick, that this spoiled your vacation. I hope it doesn't scare you off from visiting us again."
Rick shook his head. "It didn't. In fact," he hesitated, suddenly wondering if he should tell them he might be living in Boston permanently. Since he didn't know for sure, he decided against it, "I'll only be an hour or so away so I'll see if I can swing by next week. How's that?"
"We would love it. Then you can give Sophy the latest gossip first hand."
"Al!" Sophy cried. "You make me sound like an old gossip!"
"No, love, not an old gossip. Just a pretty one."
She playfully punched his shoulder and Al laughed, getting the exact response he wanted.
Rick's phone pinged. "Speaking of updates, I bet that's from Charles." He checked the notification on the phone, then stilled.
"What's wrong?" Sophy asked. "Don't tell me she took a turn for the worst already?"
Rick tried to relax. "No, nothing to do with Louisa. It's an email. From work." From Mr. Elliot, in fact. The snooty, haughty old man. Even the email was haughty, with big words and long sentences as if the man wanted to impress how educated he was. He must have recognized Rick's name; probably wanted to rub it in that Anne had moved on. Then again, Rick could rub it in that Anne hadn't achieved all those lofty career goals the old man had bragged she'd get, probably proof of him suffocating her dreams, no doubt.
"I thought you enjoyed your work," Al said.
"I do," Rick forced a smile. "It's just, I'll be working with a co-worker this time--"
Persuading Her: A Modern Persuasion Retelling (Pemberley Estates Book 2) Page 13