“She didn’t,” Ramona said out loud to Paul once the door was closed again.
That had come out of nowhere. Much like the woman herself, he observed now. “She didn’t what?”
“Meet me,” Ramona told him. Because Paul looked at her as if she’d just lapsed into a foreign dialect, she elaborated, “You gave me her name, but you didn’t give her mine.”
She was right. Paul lifted one shoulder in a careless shrug.
“She was in a hurry,” he explained, then glanced at his watch. “And so am I.”
“Then I won’t keep you,” Ramona promised, getting down to business. She subtly stepped into his path so that he couldn’t leave his office without answering her. “I just wanted to know if you have any changes you want me to incorporate into the article.”
His mind still on his sister’s troubled demeanor, he looked at Ramona blankly. “Article?”
“The press release,” she prompted. Seeing the pages on his desk, she pointed to them for emphasis. “That.”
“Oh.” What was it about this woman that seemed to drive any coherent thoughts out of his head? Paul glanced back at his desk, as if seeing the pages there would crystallize his thoughts. “No, no changes. It’s very good just the way it is.”
She knew she should let it go at that. But she couldn’t. It wasn’t vanity that prodded her, just a desire to make sure that everything was clear and aboveboard.
“Then you really did read it?” Her eyes held his. She liked to think that she could tell if a person was lying.
“Every last word,” Paul assured her. And then he added, “You have a very fortuitous way with words, Ramona.” There was genuine admiration in his voice. “I know learned colleagues who sweat bullets just to get out a paragraph. You whipped that whole thing out in what, twenty minutes?”
“Ten,” Ramona corrected. “I spent the other ten praying.”
Whatever he might have expected her to say, that didn’t even come close. Maybe he’d misheard her. “Praying?”
Ramona nodded. He watched her hoop earrings swing in time to the rhythm she’d created. “That you’d come back and tell me that you’ve all agreed to let me stay on.” She put on the most earnest face she could. “I really want this job.”
It seemed odd to him that anyone would get so caught up or passionate about a public-relations position. “Why?”
Mentally, Ramona crossed her fingers. She really did hate lying, even though it did come with the territory. Right now, she needed to be convincing. Ultimately, in order to do what she had to, she wanted Paul Armstrong to think of her as an ally. The sooner she gained the man’s trust, the easier it would be to gain access to other records.
“Because as far as I’m concerned, the work that’s being done here at the institute is of paramount importance.”
Even though he was still in a hurry, her words made him pause. Crossing his arms before him, he took a moment to study his newest staff member. “So this is a crusade for you?”
Ramona’s already dazzling smile grew brighter. “In a manner of speaking, yes.”
He wanted to believe her. Things would be a great deal simpler if he just could and let it go at that. Maybe the betrayal of their former employee had put him on his guard, making him more suspicious than he ordinarily was. Or maybe he was just being supersensitive, but for the third time today, he felt he was in the presence of someone who wasn’t being completely up-front with him. Someone who, for whatever reason, was holding something back.
Although, he had to admit that when it came to Ramona Tate, he hadn’t a clue what that “something” might be. He didn’t know the woman well enough for that. It was just a hunch. A feeling.
He was being far too paranoid, he upbraided himself. There was no real reason not to believe that the young woman was being honest with him. After all, he was the one who’d posed the question, who’d prodded her. It was possible that Ramona was every bit as altruistic as she presented herself to be.
Possible, he reasoned, but was it actually probable? He really wasn’t all that sure that the answer to that was yes. However, only time would tell.
Chapter Five
He should be on his way, Paul thought and yet, here he was, still lingering. Still sharing space with this woman with the expressive eyes.
“Derek asked me to take you on a tour of the institute and to give you a miniorientation,” he told her.
Her natural curiosity kicked in. “Why doesn’t he give me the tour himself?”
Paul took the question to mean that she would have preferred his brother’s company to his. He understood that. People always gravitated to Derek. He was the outgoing one, the one with the ability to make people laugh. The one who could defuse any situation and had a story to fit every occasion.
Ordinarily, it didn’t bother him to have someone prefer Derek over him. He was used to it. Why it bothered him this time was something he wasn’t about to let himself explore.
“He had to leave,” Paul told her.
She nodded, accepting the excuse at face value. “So, when do you want to get started? Now’s fine with me,” she volunteered.
She certainly did seem eager. “Unfortunately, I don’t have time today. I have several patients scheduled for this afternoon.”
Her eyes widened ever so slightly and he found himself being drawn in. “So you practice medicine as well as oversee the staff here.”
“Yes, why does that surprise you?” he wanted to know.
She laughed, adding a touch of self-consciousness to the sound, as if she hadn’t expected to be caught. She knew how to play her role well. “I didn’t take you for a multitasker.”
He knew he should have already been on his way to his other office. His sense of responsibility had him making a point of being early rather than just on time, but her reply caused more questions to pop up. He didn’t think of himself as the kind of person that people formed any sort of impression about—unless they felt they had to or when being in contact with him directly affected their lives.
“All right, I’ll bite. What did you take me for?” he asked.
There was no hesitation. Ramona had the answer all worked out. “Someone who is very focused. Who follows the rules. Someone who does one thing at a time and who does that one thing very, very well.”
He realized he was watching her lips as she spoke and he looked away. “Sorry to disappoint you.”
“You didn’t,” she assured him quickly. “Actually, I don’t mind being wrong when it turns out to be a pleasant surprise.” She said it with such feeling, he half expected her next words to be “gotcha.”
But they weren’t.
Realizing that she was waiting for him to say something further, he finally asked, “How’s tomorrow for you?”
Ramona smiled before answering. As hackneyed as it might have sounded to someone had he voiced his sentiments out loud, her smile really did seem to fill the room with sunshine. Maybe he needed to get out more, Paul thought.
“Tomorrow’s fine. What time?”
“Early,” he told her. “I have a procedure scheduled for ten o’clock, so why don’t we get together about eight—unless that’s too early for you.”
“No, it can even be earlier if you’d prefer. I’m a morning person,”