DraculaVille - New York - Book One (14 page)

“At night?” he asked.

“Yes. Apparently, one of them is arriving late.”

“I promise to keep Pip under lock and key until then so you don’t have to worry.”

“Good. I appreciate it.” She stood. “I have to get some sleep.”

He rose and stepped close. “You look tired.”

His nearness gave her chills, and not from the cool temperature of his body. “Well, I couldn’t sleep last night after you left, so I’m properly zonked.”

He traced a finger down her cheek, his eyes brown and warm. “You’re a good person, you know that?”

Any more inspection from those piercing eyes and she’d fall apart. Happiness, relief, guilt and shame all battled for supremacy. She was such a fake. He thought she was good, but in reality, she was just selfish. She wanted him safe to save her campaign…and damn it, because of how he made her feel.

Chapter 17

“Stop messing with the projector.” Talia slapped Felix’s hand. “I have it focused and ready to go.”

“Okay, okay. Just checking.” Felix held up his hands in surrender and backed away.

She tugged on the jacket of her burgundy Donna Karan suit and glanced at her watch. Six p.m. Good. They were almost finished setting up. She turned in a circle, surveying the meeting room. She’d instructed the manager of the hotel to have black curtains hung on the walls. Easels covered with black drapes circled the long table at the center of the room. At one end, a blank screen waited. At the other, a projector and her laptop sat ready.

The door opened and Harvey stormed in red-faced and cheeks puffed. “Finally, you show your face. What the hell have you been doing all week?” He marched over, fuming. “How dare you not run this idea by me before presenting it.”

She’d managed to dodge his calls all week to avoid giving excuses for not involving him in the decision-making process. But this was her show, and she suspected he wouldn’t have liked her idea.

“Why, Harv, you sound like you don’t trust me.” She brushed past him to check the presentation packets her assistant placed at each seat. His face turned redder, and his eyes appeared ready to pop out of his head. “You need to tell me what’s going on here.”

“You’ll see it with everyone else,” she said. “Like you said, I’m the best in the business. So relax and enjoy the show.”

He let out an explosion of air and crossed his arms over his chest. “You screw this up, Tiger, and you’ll never work in advertising again.”

“Are you threatening me, Harv?” She kept her face composed but her heart lurched. She’d taken this too far. If it backfired, she was done. She swallowed and straightened her spine, refusing to let him see her fear. He and Saracin had screwed her. Let him sweat.

“It’s a fact, not a threat.”

“Hmm. Sure sounded like a threat to me.” She bustled to the front of the room and flipped through her notes. No wonder she’d turned into a bitch, being treated like this. “If you don’t mind, I have a presentation to give, and you’re distracting me.”

He growled and plopped into a chair near the front. He might be furious, but she knew he was also afraid. This whole thing reflected on him and the Saracin advertising group. He had bosses, too, and they’d have his head if this didn’t work out.

Felix returned with hotel staff who carried bottles of wine they’d be serving during the presentation. Talia smiled, imagining everyone drinking red wine while they talked about vampires.

She took a deep breath and blocked out the distracters in the room, and all the annoying issues poking at her brain, like what Drake might be doing right now. Reaching deep inside, she found her focus and let everything else melt away.

Promptly at seven, somber but expectant Romanians filed in. Their leader, the bald man with the bushy mustache, introduced himself to her as Cosmin Funar, undersecretary of internal affairs.

“We are very excited to see what ideas you have to help our country,” he said in his thick accent.

She shook his hand. His fingers were like plump sausages. He introduced her to the rest of the group, but she was so focused on remembering her presentation she forgot half of their names. Another man and four women, all in dark suits with somber expressions.

“The secretary herself will be here shortly,” Cosmin informed her. “She let us know she would be a few moments late.”

“Of course, have a seat and enjoy a glass of wine until she arrives.” She gestured to the table and was pleased to see his brows go up as he recognized the Blue Danube label on the bottle of
feteasca neagra
wine from Romania. He lifted his glass in salute to her before drinking.

Harvey milled around, talking shop with their guests. He kept saying things like, “you’re going to love what Talia has done.” He was a showman. A
tummler
. She had to give him that.

The door opened, and a hush fell over the room. A tall, thin woman with dark brown hair pulled in a bun entered. She stopped on the threshold, unsmiling, and surveyed the occupants. Dark brows swooped over piercing blue eyes.

Cosmin rose to his feet and cleared his throat. “May I present the Secretary of the Interior, Madam Amelia Negrescu.”

She inclined her head, her slender white neck bending gracefully like a swan. Her navy suit was unquestionably Chanel. “Thank you for the introduction. I’m very happy to be here and excited to see what you have come up with that will entice visitors to our fair country.” Only the slightest accent marred her English.

Felix stepped forward and escorted her and her two assistants to seats at the opposite end of the table from Talia.

Harvey stood and made a pretty speech about welcoming her and the other Romanians. He promised they’d be pleased with the campaign. When he sat, sweat beaded on his forehead. He gave Talia a nod.

She pressed her control to start the PowerPoint slides. Felix hit the lights and the room sank into darkness. A black and white image appeared on the screen. Her vision of Dracula’s castle. Showtime.

Thirty minutes later she had gone through the presentation outlining the theme park, rides, and resort. She’d included proposed locations as well as facts and figures from other countries that had opened major tourist attractions and what to expect in revenues not only from the park, but anticipated travel to other areas of Romania. Gesturing to one of the wine bottles, she indicated the benefit to Romanian products that would also increase in revenue. She played the TV commercials, and introduced Drake as the spokesperson in the guise of Dracula.

As Felix slowly raised the lights, hotel workers removed the covers on the easels. Life size photos of Drake stared at them with his eerie amber eyes. Felix wheeled in a cart displaying a miniature model of the park and resort. He positioned it beside the table.

“Here it is. Our vision of DraculaVille.” Talia swept her arm toward the model.

No one moved or spoke. The Romanians gazed at the head of the table where the secretary sat like an ice queen with a blank expression. Out of the corner of her eye, Talia noted Harvey’s face had gone paper white, and his lips opened and closed soundlessly.

Her heart sank. Her career was going down in an icy fog of ancient Romanian monsters. Felix leaned back against the door and closed his eyes.

Slowly, Madam Secretary raised her hands and clapped. The rhythm of her clapping steadily increased, along with her smile. The other Romanians joined, though their faces reflected confusion. They glanced back and forth at each other.

When the ovation ended, Madam Negrescu stood. “Well, Miss Quinton, I see your reputation was accurate. I sincerely believe no one else would have dared to throw our dark history in our face. Your vision is brilliant. This is exactly what we need to bring people to our country.”

“Thank you, Madam Secretary. I feel confident this will achieve your goals.” Talia smiled and inclined her head.

“This actor playing Dracula. May I meet him?” The lady’s blue eyes glittered.

“I’m afraid he’s out of town today, but you’ll meet him eventually if we go forward with the plan.” She glanced at Harvey who had regained the color to his cheeks.

Her boss came to his feet. “We’re glad you like the plan. I was sure you’d see the brilliance of turning the Dracula story into a benefit.”

Madam Negrescu moved smoothly to the cart and gazed at the miniature DraculaVille. She ran one finger over the peaks of the tiny castle. The other Romanians rose and joined her, murmuring in quiet tones as they pointed to various areas of the park.

Harvey sidled up to Talia. “Well, you pulled it off, Tiger. Congratulations. You realize what you’ve done, don’t you?”

She raised her brows.

“This is no longer a two hundred fifty million dollar ad campaign. You just raised the bar. They’ll need corporate sponsors and major investors to pull this off.” He tilted his head and studied her. After a moment he chuckled and shook his head. “This will probably end up topping Fizzola. But then I'm sure that was you're plan all along. Way to go, Tiger.”

She hadn’t even considered it. This was the right campaign, that’s all she knew. But Harv was right. This project would be huge.

“I think I’ll go see if anyone wants to negotiate a contract,” he said and wandered over to the group of Romanians.

As she closed her laptop and placed her notes in her briefcase, Felix joined her. “Way to go, boss. It was iffy there for a minute, but you pulled it off. We did it.”

“Yes, we did. Thank you for all your hard work. I really do appreciate it.” She smiled.

“I’ll look for that appreciation in the form of a bonus.” He gave her a wink.

Talia mingled with the group at the model and answered questions for over an hour. As the conversation progressed, the Romanians gained enthusiasm for the project and added ideas to incorporate into the plan.

Harvey and Madam Negrescu broke away to negotiate the contract, and she and Felix drank several bottles of the excellent
feteasca neagra
with the rest of the Romanian party. The wine loosened them up a bit and they chatted enthusiastically about the different products that would benefit from this project. No matter how much they interacted, Talia still couldn’t remember their names.

Despite the appreciative banter, she couldn’t wait to go home and tell Drake what had happened. She shook her head when offered another glass of wine, and gathered her coat and brief case. A glance at Felix revealed he’d made a special connection to a young man in the delegation and looked like he’d be willing to stay as long as the Romanians wanted to keep drinking.

She smiled and gave him a wink. When she turned her focus to the front of the room where Madam Negrescu and Harvey chatted, she found the Secretary’s gaze fixed on her. For a second the expression in her eyes glinted with intense scrutiny. Her expression smoothed immediately, making Talia wonder if she’d been mistaken. No. Why else did her skin crawl?

Chapter 18

Talia pushed through her door, tingling with excitement, Felix followed right behind.

“Drake?” She hurried into the living room, hungry for sight of him.

He sat on the floor across the coffee table from Pip who perched on the couch. They played some kind of board game. He stood when they entered, his piercing gaze going straight to her.

“Well?” he asked.

“It’s a hit.” She tossed her purse and briefcase on the sofa and raised her hands in the air.

Her assistant bounced into the room, pumping his fist, shouting, “Woo, woo, woo, woo.”

Pip jumped up and ran around yelling, “Wheeeeeeeeee.”

Drake grabbed her in a tight embrace and swung her around. She couldn’t stop grinning.

“They loved it,” she said when he set her down. “It was amazing. Harvey was ready to pass out when he saw what I presented. I loved it.”

“It was a triumph,” Felix said, giving Drake a high-five. “You were the star of the show.”

“The secretary of the interior was there,” Talia said. “Can you believe it? She said she wanted to meet you. How cool is that?”

“I can’t believe it. It’s really going to happen.” Drake shook his head.

“I want to be in a commercial,” Pip said. He tugged on Talia’s jacket.

“Maybe if you’re very, very good,” she said and ruffled his hair.

“Yippie! I’m going to be famous.” Pip bounded away, racing around the room.

Drake broke into an uncharacteristically broad smile. “Wow. I just realized how worried I’ve been. This means I have a job, right?”

“Oh, yeah,” Talia said. “For a long time, too. It’ll probably take them a couple years to build the park and resort. You’ll be busy promoting until then, and I’ve added a hundred thousand dollars a year salary for you to be the exclusive model for the campaign. After construction is finished, it’ll become even more hectic with a grand opening.”

Felix play-punched him in the shoulder. “You’re going to be famous, dude.”

“I don’t know what to say.” Drake ran his fingers through his hair. “I’m very grateful.”

She unbuttoned her jacket. “Say you’re happy.”

“I
am
happy.” He smiled.

The doorbell rang and Felix let Gerri in. She bore two bottles of Perrier Jouet and a big smile. “I hear congratulations are in order.”

“Woo hoo, let’s crack one of those bottles and celebrate,” Felix said.

He and Gerri went to the kitchen. Talia shrugged out of her jacket. The weight of the past two weeks slipped from her shoulders. She wanted to scream her relief at the top of her lungs. Everything was going to be okay. She’d keep her job and reputation. Drake had secured his position as spokesperson for DraculaVille. It was impossible to suppress the tickle of satisfaction in her gut from one-upping the ad world by making Romania into the top account over Fizzola.
Take that, suck-face Bill
.

“Here we go, guys.” Gerri carried three glasses and handed one to Talia.

Felix followed with two champagne flutes filled with blood. “I added a splash of champagne in them.” He handed them to Drake and Pip.

“Are you sure Pip should have alcohol?” Talia raised a hand.

“Aww, Mom.” Pip stuck out his bottom lip.