“How can you say that? I haven’t given him the right to do that.”
Jason’s shoulder flexed in a quick, careless shrug. “You don’t have to give it to him. Adam doesn’t wait for doors to open—he opens them himself. You believe what I’m saying. A man knows when another tells him to back off from a woman. Melissa, I have never lunched with Adam. Unless he has an important client, he doesn’t go to lunch. He has a sandwich and coffee at his desk. You’re the reason he’s going to Thompson’s.”
She turned on her heel and headed for the elevator, but Jason must have guessed her intention, because he detained her. “Melissa, it isn’t smart to belittle Adam. You wouldn’t get away with it, and there’s no point in making an enemy of him. Besides,” he grinned lazily, “the food at Thompson’s is first class. Worth a try.” She looked up as Adam approached the elevator with Calvin Nelson. His disapproving scowl told her that he knew what she’d threatened and dared her to do it. Jason looked from one to the other. He didn’t know that she and Adam were more than business associates, she remembered, forced a smile and got on the elevator.
* * *
Adam stopped abruptly as they walked out of the restaurant, and his companions stared while he greeted a woman with such warmth that neither of them doubted she was a close friend.
“Ariel! What a pleasant surprise!” A smile drifted over his face. He shook hands with his guests, excused himself, and left with the elegant woman. Jason’s knowing look confirmed what Melissa knew: Adam had repaid her and had enjoyed doing it.
“He’s not vindictive,” Jason said, so that only Melissa heard, “but he believes in letting you know how he feels about a thing.” They waved Calvin Nelson goodbye.
“What is this about?” she asked Jason.
“Melissa, surely you know that Adam has cut you away from the pack. He knew you intended to leave his office with me and without telling him goodbye, and he didn’t like it. You didn’t show much enthusiasm for his company and he’s just let you know that he isn’t pining for you.”
“Who was she?” She hated herself for having asked him, but she had to know.
“I don’t know,” he replied, “but I don’t think she’s anyone special, because she made a pass at Nelson but, well...you never know.”
Melissa swore to herself that she hated Adam, that he was just another of the four-martini corporate types she disliked. She wished that it was Jason Court who attracted her, but Adam was the one.
* * *
Adam settled down to work on that August morning, after telling himself that he’d done the smart thing in not calling Melissa over the weekend. They’d moved so fast in the short time they’d known each other that he figured he’d better step back and take stock of things, decide what he wanted. Maybe he’d been wrong last week in not asking her if she wanted to lunch with the group, but she’d been wrong in threatening to walk off in a huff, too. He flicked on the intercom.
“Yes, Olivia. Sure. Put him on.” He lifted the receiver of his private phone. His eyes widened in astonishment at Wayne’s incredulous request. Could he get away for a few weeks, go down to Beaver Ridge, and settle the strike at the hosiery mill? It was becoming increasingly clear that, except for Wayne’s newspaper, the family businesses had been held together by the force of their father’s personality, rather than by his managerial abilities.
“That’s asking a lot, Wayne. I’ll need an office manager for the time I’m gone, and it may be a few days before I can get one. I’ll get back to you.” He hung up and called Melissa, and the anticipation he felt as he awaited her voice surprised him.
“MTG.” His customary aplomb seemed to have deserted him, and seconds passed before he could respond in his usual manner.
“Melissa, this is Adam. I need an office manager right away. Can you get one for me without Jason having to spend hours drafting a contract? I’m in a hurry for this.” He walked around his desk cradling the phone against his left shoulder while he squeezed his relaxer—a plastic object that he kept in his top drawer—with both hands.
“Why do you need one? If your secretary can’t manage your office, maybe you should be looking for one of those, not an OM.”
He hoped that his deep sigh and long silence would warn her that he didn’t have time for games.
“Well?” she prodded.
“Melissa, would you please stop while you’re ahead? When I say I want an office manager, that’s what I want. If you can’t attend to that without lecturing me about how to run my business, I’ll try another service.”
“Yes, sir. Whatever you say, sir. Just fax me a job description,” she needled, her tone cool and sarcastic.
Olivia’s voice came over the intercom, and he realized he hadn’t turned it off. “My Lord, Adam, what could she have said to make you mad enough to break the telephone? And I didn’t know you knew those words.” Her chuckle didn’t relieve his boiling temper.
“I’m sorry, Olivia, but Melissa Grant strips my gears, and she gets a kick out of doing it.”
He turned off the intercom, grabbed Betty—as he called his relaxer—leaned back in his chair, and squeezed the plastic object. What was it about her, he pondered. Why did that one woman get to him that way? She could make him madder than anybody else, and she could heat him up quicker and make him hotter than any woman. If he couldn’t get her out of his mind, maybe the solution was to take her to bed and get her out of his system. He dropped the relaxer, pushed away from his desk, and put a hand on each knee as if to rise, but didn’t. That could work either way, and if it brought them closer together, what would he do then?
Adam locked his hands behind his head. She questioned his motives and grilled him about his decision—nobody did that, not even his brother, his closest friend. He could get the response he wanted from most people with just a look, but not from Melissa. Was her attitude toward him part of the old Roundtree-Grant antagonism, or was it just Adam and Melissa, a part of the storm that seemed to swirl around them and between them even when outward calm prevailed? His intelligence told him it wasn’t their last names and that their family ties were irrelevant. He sat up straight, his nerves tingling with excitement. Melissa was worth the cost of getting her.
* * *
Melissa began the search for Adam’s office manager, deliberately looking for a man, because she knew he would expect her to find a woman. He’d repaid her for threatening to defy him in the presence of Nelson and Court. Well, she’d give it back to him. Nobody put her down and got away with it, she vowed, still smarting from the warm greeting he’d given that woman at the restaurant.
* * *
Within an hour after speaking with Melissa, Adam received another call from Wayne.
“Adam, one of the older workers discovered what appears to have been foul play or, at best, an uncommon accident in the Leather and Hides plant. Nearly seven hundred pounds of cattle hides that we’ve earmarked for women’s shoes and luggage have been given chrome tanning rather than vegetable tanning, and the lot is now too soft and too elastic for its intended use. These valuable hides will have to be made into cheaper and less profitable items, and we haven’t been able to trace the error to any worker.”
“Do what you can, Wayne. I’m working on getting that manager.”
He hung up and phoned Melissa. “How’s the search for my OM going?” She was peeved with him, and he knew why, so he kept his tone casual and friendly. He didn’t want her to have an excuse to needle him.
“Don’t worry. I’ve been working on it ever since you made the request an hour ago. When I find one, I’ll notify Jason.”
He couldn’t resist correcting her, but he kept his tone gentle. “Melissa, Jason Court is not in charge of this—I am. Please remember that.”