After Lizbeth had hung up her coat, he introduced her to the bookkeeper, who handed her some payroll forms to fill out.
“When she’s done, bring her to my office,” he told Nita. If the older woman thought it was odd that Mitch was showing Lizbeth around personally, she didn’t let on. After all, it was a small office and Liz was going to report directly to him.
“Sure thing,” she said instead, handing Lizbeth a pen.
Once he was back behind his desk, Mitch swiveled his chair around so he could stare out the window at the view of jagged mountains. The sight never failed to remind him of his relative insignificance compared to such timeless grandeur. In the face of it, whatever he was wrestling with usually shrunk to manageable proportions.
Today the view barely registered as he stared blindly. Had he forgotten that this butterfly he’d hoped to impress with his success was a real person, with desires and ambitions of her own? Had he given a thought to what she might want when he had concocted this harebrained scheme?
A knock on his open door interrupted his silent self-condemnation. Swapping out his frown for a more welcoming expression, he got to his feet.
“Lizbeth, come on in,” he invited.
“Remember, I prefer Liz if you don’t mind,” she said softly. “And what should I call you now that you’re my boss?”
“I’m still just Mitch,” he replied. “We’re a pretty informal bunch here and a few of my people have been with me since the beginning.”
“I hope you’ll have the time to tell me about it.” She hovered just inside the door, hands clasped loosely in front of her.
Silently he reminded himself that she was probably trying to make a few points, but that she wouldn’t really be interested in the details of how he’d built Cates International from the ground up.
“For now let’s take a quick look at the shop,” he suggested. “I’ll introduce you to the foreman and the warehouse manager.”
By the time Liz got home to her sister’s cabin that evening, she was tired but elated. Everyone she’d met today seemed so nice. Especially Mitch.
As far as she knew, he was still single. The old Liz would have been focused on getting him to ask her out. Resisting his tall, dark and possibly dangerous appeal wasn’t going to be easy, but she was determined to keep this relationship professional.
After she had set down her purse and the bag from the local teriyaki take-out, she hung her new coat on a hook next to the door. The cabin didn’t provide any closets, just a tiny wardrobe in the single bedroom. Maybe someday she would move into town, but giving up the quiet setting and spectacular scenery wouldn’t be easy unless her sister and brother-in-law decided that they wanted the cabin for themselves. Meanwhile, Liz intended to focus all of her energy on learning everything she could about Cates International.
Liz’s third day on the job was her first without Suzy running interference. So far her duties had been light. Despite what Mitch had told her previously, if he was around he usually answered his own phone and took care of his own e-mails. She was beginning to wonder if there would be enough work to keep her busy.
When he came down the hall from his office, she was studying their catalog. Unlike yesterday when he’d been dressed in a dark gray suit for his meeting with the manager of the local bank, today he wore snug jeans and a green knit shirt. On the chest pocket, the company name was stitched in gold. The shirt was just like the one she had seen Nita wearing on Monday, except that on Mitch it looked a hundred times better.
She tried to ignore the sizzle of awareness. For a businessman, he was in great shape. Before she had thought of him as a somber, rather shy individual who came into the lounge for an occasional beer. Now she realized that while he lacked Marshall’s outgoing, sometimes overwhelming charisma, Mitch’s quiet confidence was in its own way even more appealing.
“How’s it been going?” he asked when he saw her. “Are you doing okay?”
“I feel guilty for not working harder,” she admitted.
A couple of times in the last two days she had caught him studying her with a speculative expression. She was used to having men watch her, but not the way Mitch did, as though he was trying to figure out what made her tick. She had yet to decide if it made her uncomfortable.
“Don’t worry about not having enough to do,” he said. “You’ll more than make up for it before the trade shows.” One of the things he’d asked was whether she minded working overtime or traveling on business. For some reason, it hadn’t occurred to her that she might be accompanying him on those trips.
“Is it okay if I help Nita?” she asked. “I saw a stack of filing in her office.”
He shrugged, thumbs hooked into his wide leather belt. “Sure, that would be fine. Before you do, though, I was going to show you my shop.”
Liz grinned up at him, nearly batting her eyes from sheer habit. “Have you forgotten that you showed me the shop on my first day?”
The term didn’t begin to describe the large manufacturing floor where several workers had been busy assembling one of the various models of the Cates “cow-tipper.”
Mitch cocked his head as an answering smile spread to his eyes, making them glow from within. “Ah, that’s true, but you haven’t seen my personal shop, though.”
“That’s where the miracles happen,” Nita exclaimed in a dry voice that startled Liz. Mitch must not have heard her approach either, because he seemed to jerk away from Liz’s desk and color stained his cheeks.
“Miracles?” Liz echoed, looking from one to the other with a questioning expression.
If Nita had been closer to Mitch’s age, Liz might have wondered if the two shared a history that included more than merely business. She must be imagining things.
“My shop is where I tinker,” he explained. “Where I work on new ideas.”
Liz had known from reading the company history on their Web site that Mitch had an engineering background, but she hadn’t really pictured him doing any of the actual creating.
“I’d like to see it,” she replied.
“Nita, did you need something?” Mitch asked as Liz pushed back her chair and got to her feet.
“I was going to ask Liz for her size so we can order her some company shirts. They take a couple of weeks to get here.”
His gaze flickered over her body, then at his own feet. “Not my area of expertise,” he muttered, his sudden discomfiture reminding her of the way he’d usually acted when she waited on him at the resort. “Uh, I forgot something in my office,” he continued. “Be right back.”
As he hurried away, Liz and Nita exchanged amused glances. “I love it when he gets rattled,” Nita said in a low voice, looking extremely pleased. “He’s a great guy and it doesn’t happen often, but sometimes he needs to have his control tweaked.”
“Most of the guys I’ve known would offer to do the measuring personally,” Liz replied dryly. “And I wear a medium.”
“Okay.” Nita shook her head. “Mitch isn’t that way. I’ve been here since the beginning and I’ve never seen him cross that line. Everyone who works here knows that kind of thing isn’t tolerated.” She glanced over her shoulder, lowering her voice even more. “Trust me, his first love is the business. You don’t have a thing to worry about in that department.”
Nita’s words should have reassured the new and improved Liz, but what she felt was disappointment. Was she attracted to him despite her best efforts?
“Good to know,” she replied calmly just as he reappeared.
“To