Yeah, that pretty much covered it.
He’d gotten his arrogant masculine nose out of joint, she’d acted like a prig, and everything went downhill from there.
Of course, the only reason he remembered that evening was because she was probably one of the few members of the female sex who’d ever said no to him. She’d seen happily married women blush and sigh at his careless smile.
“I have a lot of work to do,” Libby said pointedly, hoping he’d take the hint and leave.
“So do I, but Kane wants to see us both in his office. Maybe he’s going on a second honeymoon and wants us to work together again.”
She wrinkled her nose. When Kane had met Beth and gotten married he’d asked Neil to run the company during his absence—much to her consternation. The man was impossible. She’d heaved a sigh of relief when he returned to the international branch, because she didn’t have to see or think about him there.
“I’m not Kane’s executive assistant any longer.”
His grin was faintly wicked. “That’s right. I keep forgetting you’re the administrative officer now.”
Huh.
Neil never forgot anything, especially how to annoy the living daylights out of her. Of course, being annoying must be a natural talent since he didn’t know her well enough to understand which buttons to push.
“Shall we go?” he murmured.
Libby stayed silent as they walked the short distance to the CEO’s office, resisting the urge to smooth her hair and make sure her blouse was tucked into the waistband of her skirt. Feminine vanity had a habit of rearing its head around Neil, no matter how hard she fought it.
“Hey, bro,” Neil said as they walked into Kane’s inner sanctum.
“Hey.” Kane smiled and waited until they were seated, then leaned forward. “Libby, you’re aware that I’m delegating authority in the company so I have more time to spend with Beth.” He beamed at his wife’s name. “As part of the reorganization I’ve named Neil as the president of the New Business Developments division. I told him about it earlier.”
“That’s…nice,” she murmured.
“Yes, but what he hasn’t heard is that I’m appointing you as his vice president. I wanted you both to be here for the news.”
Libby’s heart lodged in her throat.
“What?” she demanded in unison with Neil. She looked at him and was glad to see he appeared as thunderstruck as she felt.
Kane lifted his shoulders in a small shrug. “I realize you haven’t always gotten along, but you have skills that complement each other, and you managed to work together earlier this year.” He shot a look at his brother. “You’ll find Libby’s abilities are just what you need.”
She blinked, torn between shock and hysteria.
This couldn’t be happening. She couldn’t possibly be Neil O’Rourke’s vice president. He was too…everything. The two brothers were nearly identical in appearance, though Neil had cool gray eyes in contrast to Kane’s blue. Both were high-powered and driven for success, but Kane managed to be kind and friendly, while Neil was distant and impatient.
Darn it all. She’d just gotten rid of the man and now he was back. Wasn’t a few weeks working with him enough punishment for one lifetime? It wasn’t that she didn’t want the new position. Being promoted so quickly might be a little unconventional, but Kane never did things in the usual way. And since he’d built O’Rourke Enterprises into a multibillion-dollar corporation, people usually had the good sense to agree with his wishes.
Still, how could she work with someone so impossible?
Libby sneaked a glance at the impossible man in question and saw he didn’t look any happier than she felt.
Well, fine.
Let him be the one to tell Kane it was out of the question.
“Libby?” Kane prompted.
“Uh…that’s wonderful,” she said, lying through her teeth.
“You’ve earned it. I’m still working out the final details, but I’ve decided to have each of my division presidents and vice presidents directly involved in a project together in order to build teamwork.”
Neil cleared his throat. “That’s an interesting idea, but we’ll be busy with our own duties.”
“And one of those duties will be cooperating on a project together.”
Libby recognized the expression on her boss’s face, even if his brother didn’t. Kane had mentioned his plans, but she hadn’t thought much about it other than sparing a moment of sympathy for the poor sap who ended up working with Neil O’Rourke. Before his short stint in the CEO’s office she’d avoided Neil for nebulous reasons she’d never really thought about. Now she actively disliked him.
“What project are you thinking about?” she asked.
“The bed-and-breakfast inn proposal.” Kane handed her the file. “You were particularly interested in it, so I thought it would be the perfect place to start your collaboration.”
Lord, Kane should never have picked something so homey and small scale if he hoped to get Neil excited. Neil loved glitz and glamour, the fast pace of international wheeling and dealing and high finance. He was a brilliant maverick. Developing a line of historic bed-and-breakfast inns was the last thing he’d want to do.
“B and B’s?” Neil sounded predictably appalled, as if he’d just been asked to work on a line of brothels. “I think that’s a project Libby could handle on her own.”
Kane shook his head. “I want both of you involved. This is Beth’s idea, and it goes at the top of the list.”
Beth.
Kane’s wife.
The magic word.
A warm smile crossed Neil’s face, so apparently he was fond of his new sister-in-law. “Beth does love old places. We’ll make it our first priority.”
“Good. The two of you can go over the proposal this afternoon. You’ll have until after Christmas to get things moving on it before we start the formal reorganization.”
Libby’s fingers tightened on the file. She’d worked on putting the proposal together and had hoped to be assigned to the project, but this wasn’t what she’d had in mind.
“Today?” Neil asked. He cast her a sideways glance that made her squirm.
What was it about him that made her so…aware?
“Today,” Kane said firmly.
Libby edged toward the door. “In that case, I’ve got a lot to do in the meantime. Thanks again, Kane.”
“No thanks are necessary. Your contract will be ready in a few days, along with a generous salary boost. You’ll always have a place with us, Libby.” From years of working with Kane, Libby knew he was reassuring her that no matter how things turned out with Neil, her place with the company was guaranteed.
“That’s nice to hear.” She forced herself to leave at a dignified pace, only to have Neil follow her.
“It isn’t afternoon yet,” she snapped. As a rule she tried to be calmly courteous with him, but Kane’s announcement had scrambled her brains worse than an eggbeater.
“Now is as good a time as any. Kane likes the teamwork approach, remember?”
Libby practically snorted. Neil O’Rourke