More sobbing surrounded a pitiful, “I forgot.”
“You forgot?”
The booming male voice was loud enough to hurt Lucy’s ears and she wasn’t even in the same room.
“You rattled off so many things in such a hurry I couldn’t write them all down fast enough and then you left and I tried—”
“Trying isn’t good enough! Do you know what that man’s time is worth?”
Apparently the temp had no answer to that because rather than feebly defending herself any longer, she came rushing out of the inner office, snatched her purse from a desk drawer and ran past Lucy out of the suite.
Definitely a bear of a boss. Assuming, of course, that the man delivering the tirade was Rand Colton.
“Incompetence and idiocy. Where do they find these people?”
This last part wasn’t a shout, it was more a remark to himself that Lucy could still hear as she stood in the reception area.
If it hadn’t been so close to three o’clock by then, she would have slipped out of the office and given the man she hadn’t yet set eyes on a moment to calm down before their meeting.
Just then the man came storming out of the inner office. Without so much as a glance in Lucy’s direction he charged the large oak reception desk to pound punishingly on the computer keyboard. He didn’t show any indication that he’d even realized she was there, but with his eyes still on the computer monitor, he said in as derogatory a tone as she’d ever heard, “And who are you?”
Patience, she counseled herself.
“I’m Lucy Lowry, Sadie Meeks’s niece. We have a three o’clock interview.”
“Is it that late already?” he barked, while still assaulting the keyboard.
“I’m afraid it is.”
“Well, I don’t have time for you right this minute. I have to smooth some ruffled feathers. Sit down and wait.”
“Excuse me?”
Lucy hadn’t intended to use such an imperious tone with him. It had just come out that way in response to the increasing outrage she was feeling. But she didn’t regret it. No one spoke to her like that and got away with it.
Apparently her tone wasn’t lost on the man because he stopped what he was doing, stood up straighter and looked directly at her for the first time through cobalt-blue eyes that might have caused a lesser person to cower.
But Lucy merely stood her ground.
His very sharp jaw pulsed as if he’d just clenched his teeth, but he adopted a more businesslike attitude. “Please take a seat while I make a phone call, Ms. Lowry, and I’ll be with you as soon as possible.”
That was more like it.
“I’d be happy to,” she informed him, turning on her heels to sit on one of the six overstuffed chairs that lined the walls beneath paintings she recognized as originals of high-quality artists.
When he found what he was looking for on the computer—apparently a phone number—he sat in the desk chair and picked up the phone.
Lucy had to admit as she was forced to overhear the conciliatory call, though, that he handled it with aplomb. He put minimal blame on the temp, accepted the responsibility for having heaped too many things on her at once, and he did it all without playing the sycophant, which someone else in a position of having needlessly inconvenienced an important client might have.
Lucy was impressed.
She also had the chance to take a good long look at him as he made dinner plans with the man on the other end of the line.
She’d realized how tall he was when he’d stormed into the waiting room—an intimidating six feet two inches of well-muscled, broad-shouldered self-possession. Along with his striking blue eyes and chiseled jawline, he had dark hair the color of espresso without cream, full eyebrows, an aquiline nose and intriguing lips—the upper one much thinner than the lower.
Her aunt had not been exaggerating when she’d said he was handsome. Handsome didn’t begin to describe the whole package of incredible good looks, exquisitely honed physique and a presence that filled the room. Packaged in a gray Armani suit, a paler gray shirt as crisp as the moment it had come off the dry cleaner’s press, and a silk tie that no doubt cost as much as Lucy’s entire outfit, he was something to behold.
But only in a purely observational, objective way, Lucy was quick to assure herself. After all, it wasn’t as if she were interested in the man himself. No matter how incredible-looking he was. Number one, she had put romance on hold in her life to raise her son and had no intention of changing that for anyone. And number two, even if she hadn’t, she knew better than to get anywhere near a personal relationship with a man like Rand Colton.
But the scenery was most assuredly fine. Her aunt hadn’t been wrong about that.
Lucy just wasn’t sure if it would be fine enough to compensate for his bad behavior if she were ever on the receiving end of his tirade.
His phone call finally ended, and without a word to her, he made another for dinner reservations at a restaurant Lucy had seen on the news just the night before. It had been touted as the finest D.C. had to offer, but according to the report, people were waiting up to six months to get in. It only took the mention of his name to get him a table for four at eight.
Then he hung up for the second time, lunged out of the chair and rounded the desk to perch a hip on its corner and focus his total attention on her just that quick.
“So you’re Sadie’s niece. I didn’t know before I talked to her yesterday that she had one.”
“Lucy Lowry,” she repeated, unsure if he’d remembered her name. “And since I just heard you on the phone, I know now that you’re Rand Colton.”
“Sorry for not introducing myself. Yes, I am.”
That seemed to stall the conversation as he studied her so intently she wanted to squirm. But she didn’t. She wouldn’t give him that advantage.
Then he said, “Sadie tells me you’ve been an executive secretary and done some legal research in the past, that legal research is what you want to do exclusively now but that you might be able to spare some time to straighten things up around here and keep me going until I can find someone else.”
“Sounds like my aunt did the interview for me.”
“She says you’re as good as she is.”
“We’ve never worked together so I wouldn’t know if that’s the truth or not. But I am good.”
That brought a slow-as-molasses, one-sided smile from him, as if she’d said something with a double entendre he hadn’t missed and wouldn’t let go.
Lucy sat up straighter, anticipating an inappropriate comment.
But he surprised her and kept his wayward thoughts—if that was what had been behind his expression—to himself.
Unfortunately she was also aware of an unwarranted little flutter of something wholly unprofessional that that devilish quirk of a smile set off in her. And maintaining a stiff posture didn’t help that one iota.
“Did Sadie warn you about what I require in the way of a secretary?”
“She said you were brusque and demanding.”
He laughed, a deep, barrel-chested sound that seemed to warm the air all around them. “Honesty. I like that. Did she warn you about the amount of work I need from a secretary-slash-assistant-slash-researcher and the kind of hours I keep?”
“Basically. But you should know that I absolutely will not work past five o’clock.”
That