The family had closed ranks around Sally to protect her, of course, but finally she’d felt compelled to break free from her parents’ and brothers’ smothering concern. She’d come to Sydney to claim her independence, but she would achieve this much more readily if she remembered that Logan Black was her boss. No more, no less.
At work the next morning, one of the special couriers was leaning casually against Sally’s desk, one elbow on the counter top while he quizzed her about her plans for the coming weekend, when clipped footsteps marched across the marble foyer, then stopped.
She looked up to find Logan Black standing stock still. To her dismay, she felt her cheeks grow hot.
‘M-Mr Black.’ She managed to smile. ‘Good morning.’
He didn’t respond, just stood there, looking grim.
‘Was there something you wanted?’ she asked. ‘Can I help?’
Again, he didn’t answer, simply let his relentless gaze sweep over Brett, the courier, before shooting a pointed glance at the clock on the wall.
Brett got the message and beat a hasty retreat. Finally, the boss spoke. ‘I have an important visitor arriving at ten o’clock. Charles Holmes, the CEO of Minmount Mining.’
Everything about his manner was aloof and businesslike as if the football game and the tumble into the pond had never happened.
Sally lifted her chin. This was good. Much better to have a proud and distant boss than one who flirted. ‘I’ll look out for Mr Holmes,’ she assured him.
Logan nodded. ‘Charles knows his way about this place and he certainly doesn’t need an identity tag but, as a courtesy, I’d like you to escort him to my office. Maria Paige, my PA, will take over from there.’
‘Of course, Mr Black. I’ll see to that. No problem.’
He nodded coolly, then turned to swipe his electronic card before proceeding through the security doors.
Shortly before ten o’clock, an absolutely gorgeous bouquet of snowy-white roses arrived and Sally’s imagination kicked in straight away. It was someone’s birthday. The flowers were for one of the female employees from an admirer. Already, she was anticipating the enjoyment of taking the flowers through to the person’s office, watching the surprised pleasure on her face.
Oh, she loved this job.
But when she looked for the usual small white envelope, she couldn’t find one. She frowned at the delivery boy. ‘There’s no card here. Nothing to say who the flowers are for.’
He shrugged. ‘No need. They’re for Mr Black.’
‘Mr Black?’
The delivery boy nodded, his expression blank, as if there was nothing unusual about a man receiving flowers.
‘Oh. I—I see.’ Straightening her shoulders, Sally secured a pleasant smile. ‘Lovely. I’ll take them up to him.’
The lift was filled with the delicate scent of roses as she ascended to the next floor. She closed her eyes, drew a deep breath of sweetly perfumed air and gave herself yet another stern lecture. Here, in her arms, was the indisputable evidence that her boss had a private life that included a woman. At last, she had a very, very good reason to put him right out of her head.
Maria Paige, the boss’s PA, looked up without smiling as Sally approached her desk just outside Logan’s office. She was one of the few employees at Blackcorp who’d hadn’t bothered to be friendly.
‘Oh, the roses,’ she said. ‘Good. Pop them in the vase there.’
A large vase already filled with water was ready and waiting at one end of Maria’s desk.
‘You must have been expecting these,’ Sally said as she lowered the roses carefully into the vase.
Maria shot a sharp glance over the top of her glasses. ‘Yes, of course. They come every Friday.’
‘Really? Someone sends the boss flowers every week?’ Sally, super-aware of the open doorway to Logan’s office, spoke in a stage whisper.
‘Mr Black has a standing order with the florist,’ Maria said impatiently. ‘He takes them with him every Friday evening.’
So the boss was the admirer, not the admiree.
Sally knew this was none of her business. Logan Black had every right to buy flowers each week for the woman he loved. In actual fact, she was very pleased by the news that he was ‘taken’ because it meant she had absolutely nothing to fear from him.
She might have asked the reluctant Maria more questions, but the PA’s attention was distracted by the arrival of a tall, imposing, silver-haired man in a dark business suit.
‘Mr Holmes,’ Maria said with a suddenly animated smile, ‘I’ll tell Mr Black that you’re here.’
As Maria lifted a phone and murmured into it, Sally’s stomach became a lead weight crashing to the floor. This was Charles Holmes, the important businessman she was supposed to escort up here. Someone else must have let him in and he’d found his own way.
She thought about trying to escape before her slackness was discovered but, from behind her, she heard the boss’s voice.
‘Charles, good to see you.’ Logan Black came out of his office, his hand extended to welcome his guest. Sally was riveted to the spot.
As soon as the two men had greeted each other, the boss half-turned and gave her a brief nod.
‘Thanks, Miss Sparrow.’
The fact that he’d got her name wrong, yet again, didn’t bother her nearly so much as the knowledge that she hadn’t carried out his request.
This was the first tiny task Logan had assigned her and she’d failed. If she hadn’t been so distracted by the arrival of his roses, she would have remembered that Charles Holmes was coming at ten. If she hadn’t been so busy quizzing Maria about the bouquet, she might have been back at her desk when Mr Holmes had arrived.
‘You got away with that,’ Maria said snakily as the men disappeared into Logan’s office. ‘But you’d better make sure it never happens again.’
Grateful that Maria hadn’t revealed her failure and feeling several versions of guilty, Sally hurried away. This mistake was yet another very clear sign that she had to focus one hundred per cent on her job. Not her boss.
Midafternoon Janet Keaton provided a welcome distraction when she called at Sally’s desk with the personality questionnaire.
‘Drop it back on my desk when you’re done,’ she told Sally. ‘It will be helpful for next week’s team-building workshop.’
‘Will I be involved?’
‘Yes.’ Janet smiled at her. ‘New employees can be very helpful in these situations. You haven’t been indoctrinated yet by the office culture. Lucy from my office will look after your desk for the day. Everyone is to meet in the conference room at nine o’clock on Tuesday morning.’
CHAPTER FOUR
SALLY was relieved to see Maeve’s friendly face as soon as she walked into the conference room on Tuesday morning. Her new friend waved to catch her attention and patted a spare chair beside her.
A cross section of employees was there—everyone from department heads to Sally, the lowly newcomer—and, to her pleased surprise, she was able to recognise nearly everybody by sight, if not by name. More than one person sent her a friendly smile or wave.
Janet Keaton called them to order. ‘I’d like to break the ice by giving you a chance to get to know each other better. You’ll find marker pens and a blank name-plate in front of you and I want you to fill in your names.’
A