CherrysJubilee (14 page)

The chairman of the board, Emanuel Borden, looked at Connor questioningly and then at the woman behind him.

A soft whisper came from behind Connor. “Say nothing. Let them put both their feet in it.”

With a slight tremor of trepidation, Connor took a breath and shook his head at Borden.

They read off the “charges”—the reasons for their decision to take such a drastic step.

Connor’s stomach churned as each was read, many of them having more to do with his lifestyle than with his ability or inability, discounting his degrees or his years with the company, ending with a statement of opprobrium regarding the spending of corporate money on the party celebrating his rise to CEO.

His anger rising, Connor wanted to protest but a slender hand on his arm prevented him. Glancing back at the woman behind him, her eyes unreadable behind the glasses, he knew he was putting a lot of trust in her. Part of him worried about that. A lot.

Surprised at his silence, Borden said, “Then let’s call the vote.”

A few members looked down the table at Connor, frowning, wondering what he was up to. Including Marcus Warren, who scowled at the woman behind him. One or two seemed concerned, another looked frankly worried and several of them looked angry.

The vote went around the table and Connor marked in his head each one who voted against him. It wasn’t as sure a thing as he had feared, the vote was very close—six for, five against, one abstaining. One of the six had been shaky, both of the last two giving Connor an apologetic look. It was clear that the abstention was a surprise to one or two of the people there.

From behind him a soft voice spoke as she got to her feet, laying a hand consolingly on his shoulder. “Now you know who your friends are, Mr. O’Donnell. And there are more of them than you and the opposition thought.”

It was encouraging, as were the faces of those who had fought his ouster.

She stepped past him, looking over those at the table. “You’ve recorded the vote?” she asked, her eyes going to the secretary, who gave her a look like a deer caught in headlights.

Recorded but not certified.

The woman nodded.

Several members of the board stiffened in concern at the question. She was asking whether their votes were a matter of public record.

With a cool smile, C.J. Stratford looked at them.

“First, I want it recorded that this vote in and of itself was illegal and improper. This is not a publicly owned company. Even if it were, the corporate bylaws state clearly that it is to be run in concordance with the late founder’s will. That would be the first Connor O’Donnell, not the recently deceased Brian or his father Owen. Based on that will, this board was always and ever intended to be no more than an advisory board, not one of management. Unfortunately the previous Mr. O’Donnell felt the need to rely increasingly on the board far more than perhaps he should have during his nearly twenty-year tenure, giving the members extraordinary power, and so custom prevailed, leading us to this moment. Custom does not carry in corporate law. Therefore you cannot either as a body or individually censure Mr. O’Donnell in any way, shape or form.”

It was clearly news to Marcus Warren. He looked poleaxed and then glared at one of his subordinates in fury…and concern. Someone hadn’t done his research.

“There are some who might debate the validity of this statement. I encourage them to reread the terms of the original will.”

Her gaze swept those in the room. She smiled a little coldly. “In light of that and any potential lawsuits that might be brought to try to force this no-confidence vote, I’m going to advise Mr. O’Donnell to sue the board as an entity and each of you who voted negatively shall be sued individually as well. He should also cut off your stipends for serving on this board, as you are no longer working in the best interests of the company and its chief executive officer, Mr. O’Donnell, as a proxy fight would be to the detriment of the company. As CEO, he has that power. Mr. Warren and many of the attorneys for the corporation would also have to be enjoined from assisting in those lawsuits due to their involvement with the company, their obligation there and their involvement in the current situation. It would be a clear conflict of interest.”

A murmur went through the room, alarm sparking among those present. That kind of litigation could tie them all up in court for years and it would be hugely expensive. With Warren forced to recuse himself, their biggest gun would also be silenced.

“Oh, to correct a misconception, Mr. O’Donnell was well within his rights to pay for the celebratory party out of corporate funds since many of the company’s most active clients attended, therefore it was as much a business event as a personal one.”

She glanced at the chairman. “It might be advisable to reconsider both your position and your proposal before committing yourself any further to either. I would also advise that, should any word of this leak out and therefore damage the reputation of the company, you personally should be held responsible for allowing it to continue.”

Then she stepped back and once again took her seat behind Connor.

Connor looked at the stunned faces of those seated at the table and restrained a smile. She had definitely tossed a fox into the henhouse. One or two members of the board were still arguing vehemently in low voices that they could still oust him and Connor marked them for removal at the earliest opportunity.

Knowing the individuals involved, he suspected they had seen a chance to change their financial status from advisory stipend to paid members of the controlling board in his absence. Voting themselves an increase in pay would have been relatively easy, perhaps even a share of the profits. Many companies worked that way.

In the end, though, the recommendation was made that an apology be tendered for the actions of the board. It was voted on and passed that a formal apology be drafted and the meeting was closed. The members who had supported him surrounded him, shaking his hand as Monaghan’s staff came in to silently clear the remains of the meal.

“Nothing against your father, Connor,” one of the men said, “he was a good man but we needed some new blood here. I tried to tell them that. You can’t run a business well by committee.”

And it hadn’t been run well. As much as Connor had loved his father, they all knew that.

The same man nodded toward Erik and Jed.

“New ideas, new directions, or fade and die as so many other companies have in this economy. You’ve brought in some good people.”

It gave not just Connor but Jed and Erik a boost to hear that, heartening Connor a little.

The sixth nay-voting member came up to apologize personally for voting in the negative.

“Sorry, Connor,” he said, offering his hand. “I realize that you haven’t had enough time to make the changes necessary but I was under a lot of pressure to vote against you.”

Connor considered it before he took the offered hand. “Bill, you owe me one.”

Taking a breath, the other man nodded.

When Connor finally turned to thank C.J. Stratford, she was gone.

Chapter Ten

It took a little while for Connor to find her, tracking her down in the bowels of the legal section, her office little more than a slightly oversized cubicle with full walls. A file hutch took up the entire back wall, a matching desk in fake cherry cut in half what little remaining space there was. Files were stacked on a chair, a low parsons table and the floor. On the wall facing her desk was a framed picture of Denali in Alaska, the wind in the picture sending snow swirling. He’d climbed that mountain. Beside it were her diplomas. She stood bent over her desk, writing notes in a file, her firm bottom in the tight skirt and those shapely legs catching his attention.

She had an incredibly nice ass. His body responded appreciatively.

“
Miss Stratford
,” he said, leaning a shoulder against the doorjamb. By now everyone would have heard what had happened. In any business, word got around quickly, as he had learned during his days in the mailroom. Several people in the small offices up and down the hall were no doubt listening to their entire conversation. It wasn’t often that the big boss made his way down to this level. Connor couldn’t remember ever having done so before and doubted that his father ever had.

“Mr. O’Donnell,” she said flatly, hesitantly, her eyes unreadable behind the glasses as she glanced back over her shoulder at him.

“I want to thank you for helping me,” he said.

She smiled a little, her tone wry. “Just doing my job. It’s why you pay me the big bucks.”

Connor had to laugh at that.

“Was there anything else?” she asked curiously as he continued to stand there looking at her.

“No,” he said. But he’d see that she got a very nice bonus for what she’d accomplished. She’d totally turned around what could have been a disastrous day.

He returned to his office where Jed and Erik waited, with bottles of champagne and smiles of relief, to celebrate his victory. Grinning, he took the proffered glass from Jed as he went to his desk.

“So, did you find her?” Jed asked.

Nodding, he sat back in his chair. “Yes, I did.”

“What did she say?” Jed’s curiosity was getting the best of him.

“That she was just doing her job,” Connor answered and laughed. Curious, Connor pulled up her personnel file. Jed and Erik loomed over his shoulders as they began to read. They learned quite a bit about the mysterious Miss Stratford. It answered a lot of questions, or at least made things clearer.

Pressing the intercom, Connor said, “Beth, would you ask Miss Stratford to join us in my office? Send her right in when she arrives and hold my calls. We’re going to take a little time to celebrate and it seems only fair that she join the celebration. You should celebrate too. Go home once you let Miss Stratford in. We’ll be having her to dinner. Go enjoy your family.”

“Yes sir!”

Since most nights he worked late, he knew it was an unexpected and welcome bonus. He looked at Jed and Erik, who both smiled.

Lifting his glass before sipping the champagne, Connor settled back with satisfaction and said, “We’ll need another glass, Jed.”

Jed went to get one from the bar.

A few moments later the door to Connor’s office opened and C.J. Stratford walked in, looking all prim and proper, buttoned up and corporate in her soft butter-yellow suit and horn-rimmed glasses, every hair neatly in place.

Smiling, Connor shoved out of his chair, taking the extra glass as Jed handed it to him and walked across the office to greet her.

“Hello, Cherry,” he said, offering her the glass.

Jed and Erik grinned.

Smiling a little uncertainly, Cherry pulled her glasses off to look at him, then Jed and Erik, taking the flute of champagne Connor offered as he went past to lock the door of his office. He didn’t want any interruptions, just in case.

“I was beginning to wonder if you even recognized me, you played it so cool.”

Connor remembered making love to her in the bathroom that last day, the way she had turned her head to look at him over her shoulder as he fucked her. The memory made him go hot and hard all over again.

“Of course I did. But if I hadn’t, the way you were bent over your desk when I came to your office…I would have then. If I remember correctly, I took you just that way that last day. Why didn’t you tell me who you were, that you worked here?”

A burst of heat went through her at his words. It had given her a pang each time Cherry had seen him, Jed or Erik from a distance, watched them walk away. But there had been nothing she could do. She’d had to play it out.

Just looking at them had hurt though. She’d wanted to touch them so bad. She wanted them to touch her even more.

Sipping her champagne, her heart thudding slowly, heavily, she watched Connor walk back toward her.

“I didn’t know if you wanted me to,” she said, walking toward the windows, not looking at any of them. “And I couldn’t. If anyone knew of our relationship, however brief, it would have called into question my ability to represent you. You would have had to hire an attorney. It would have taken time. Time that would have cost you, helped the board and hurt OI.”

There was also the question of how they had met, which would have made it impossible for her to defend him. Nor could she have revealed to whatever attorney he did hire what she knew of internal company business.

Ethically, it was still questionable but she could live with that.

Her answers rendered Connor silent. He heard the undercurrent of pain in her voice.

“So,” she said, puzzled, “I thought we had everything straightened out. Why did you call me here when we already talked down in my office?”

“Why did you leave?” Connor asked.

Both of them knew what he was really asking.

“No one asked me to stay,” she said simply.

They
had
asked the first morning…but they hadn’t the second.

That wasn’t the answer Connor had expected. He winced. It stung. Considering all that happened between them, all they had done to and with her, that must have hurt.