North Dakota Weddings (46 page)

Gail, FountainTech’s perky receptionist, smiled as they went past. “Coffee’s already made.”

“That sounds wonderful. I’m chilled to the bone.” Rayne exited the reception area into the main hallway. Her office was two doors down on the right. She opened the door, flipped on the light, and took in a deep breath.

Ah, she loved the smell of her office. And by this afternoon, maybe she could even say that success never smelled so sweet, because by then she might have heard about her promotion. She left the door open to hear the telltale sounds of employees as they arrived. She loved being back at work.

Giddy with excitement for what today—what this week—could bring, Rayne was overwhelmed. Humbled. She never stopped being amazed at the sort of talent walking the halls of FountainTech.

Astounding talent. In comparison, Rayne might consider herself ordinary—if not for her designs. She was on the creative team at FountainTech and had demonstrated a unique ability to pull the team together, guiding its direction. She’d also created the company’s latest design, now in production. The vice president, Harold Cullins, had spoken to her about her talent and asked if she was interested in managing the team. She knew the position was open, and he’d assured her she would have it.

But that was weeks ago.

After setting the folder with her old drawings on her desk, she hung her coat and stuffed her gloves and hat in the pockets. A glance out her window gave her a good view of Fargo and a few distant fields, snow clinging to both the city and landscape.

A light knock on her door drew her attention. She hadn’t taken a seat yet. She looked up to see Barb standing in the doorway holding out an extra cup of coffee.

“Is that for me?”

Barb smiled. “Of course. I couldn’t wait for you to get here. You’re running late today.”

Rayne savored the warm cup as she wrapped her hands around it. She slurped the hot yumminess before answering. “Had too much snow to shovel off my car this morning. Maybe I can move into an apartment with a garage soon.” Yep, right after she heard about her promotion.

Barb’s eyes twinkled as if she had a secret.

“What?”

The tall brunette laughed. “Have you seen him?”

Rayne shook her head and took a sip of coffee then pulled out her chair. “Seen who?”

She began pulling her sketches from the folder and spreading them across her desk. Time to get the creative juices flowing. They had a new design contract to fulfill.

“The new guy, who else?” Barb asked.

The designs on Rayne’s desk were quickly stealing her attention from Barb. Though crude and rough, the drawings still had merit; even the ones she’d drawn ten years ago had a glimmer of creativity in them.

Barb tugged on her arm. “Come on. You’ve got to see him.”

Rayne stared up at her friend. “You’ve got to be kidding, right? We’re not in high school here.”

“Yeah, well, professionals or not, this guy is gorgeous. I don’t want you to be shocked and have your mouth hang open the first time you see him like Margie did.”

Rayne almost lost her coffee at the comment. “I don’t think you have to worry about me doing that.”

She was interested in one thing—getting her promotion. Besides, handsome men didn’t do a thing for her. If the time came when she thought she was ready to settle down, become a wife and mother, she knew that a good husband could be found only in a man who had a good heart.

Barb looked wounded. “Are you kidding? You don’t want to see?”

Rayne shook her head. “I’m sure I’ll meet him soon enough. I’ve got to get my thoughts into my work now.”

Her fellow employee stepped into the doorway and peered down the hallway. She looked back at Rayne and frowned. Rayne heard someone she couldn’t see whisper to Barb.

Barb glanced back at Rayne. “He’s in his office now anyway. Door’s closed. Sorry I bothered you.”

Rayne felt badly. Barb was a member of the creative team, and Rayne would soon be her boss. “How about lunch?”

Barb’s expression softened, and she shrugged. “Lunch sounds good.”

Voices continued to resound in the hall as the eighty or so employees of FountainTech entered the workplace. To Rayne’s chagrin, she heard more whispers about the new guy—his abilities and talents and good looks. It didn’t sound as if anyone knew what he’d been hired to do, but the FountainTech employee roster had grown along with the company’s glowing reviews and client list. A new employee wasn’t unusual.

Rayne shut her door, silencing the gossip.

With the door to his office closed, Jack perused the files of the creative design team he would be managing.

Of course, the vice president of the company, Harold Cullins, had used the exceptional talent at the company to convince Jack to accept his offer. He wasn’t sure he’d believed Harold’s claims, but it was a great opportunity to come aboard a growing company near its inception. Never mind that he’d wanted to escape California.

He swiped a hand down his face and stood to stare out his window. It had started snowing again. A little bit of snow in San Diego would shut the place down.

Turning back to his desk, he fingered the files of those people he considered the most gifted—the top three members of his team.

One of them stood out above the rest. He flipped through the hard copy of some of her designs. Impressive.

Sitting again, he studied the 3-D design models of her drawings on his laptop. She might very well be the iron to sharpen iron, the challenge he—

The door flew open, Harold occupying the space. “There you are, champ.”

Startled by the intrusion, Jack minimized his screen. Hadn’t the man ever heard of knocking? Jack didn’t like being called “champ” either. His first day was getting off to a great start already.

Harold was at least six-two and appeared to enjoy that he intimidated people. In his fifties, his hair was completely gray, a statement of experience to back up his imperious attitude. His gaze did a 180 around Jack’s office, noting the awards and photographs Jack had put up last night.

Jack liked that Harold appeared momentarily taken aback. Jack slipped his hand over his mouth to hide his smile and leaned back in his chair to watch the vice president.

Harold came fully into the office, closing the door behind him. “You’ve been busy, I see.” He took the seat across from Jack’s desk and propped his ankle across his knee.

“I came in last night to get organized. No point in wasting time on that during the day.”

“That’s what I like about you, Jack. You don’t waste any time.”

Jack wondered if this conversation would be a waste of time. But he couldn’t exactly ask that.

“I came in here to inform you we’re meeting at nine.”

His thoughts scrambling, Jack nodded.

“I plan to introduce you to the company and specifically to your team. Are you ready?”

“Always.”

“Another good trait and one of the reasons I hired you. Plan to keep a low profile until then.”

Without another word, Harold rose and left Jack to think.

Did Harold want a PowerPoint presentation for the meeting? Jack wondered if he had been right to think that someone on the creative design team would be his challenger. Maybe Harold would be the one to keep him on his toes.

Jack twisted from his chair and out the door. Harold may not have wanted the news of Jack’s position to get out until the meeting, but he needed some caffeine. Surely he could manage to grab some coffee without blowing his cover.

He trotted down the burgundy carpeted hall and past the tall mahogany doors of the offices, making his way to the kitchen. He’d made sure to take a private tour of the place last night.

The company effectively shut down for two weeks over the holidays, giving all its employees that time in addition to vacation. Unfortunately, the impact of such generosity was apparent as employees lingered in the hallway, chatting it up with each other. “Catching up.” In Jack’s opinion, the company was now two weeks behind on its projects.

A few women huddled together near the doorway of an office and stopped talking as he drew near. Faces flashed with expectant smiles. They were waiting to meet him, of course. But he walked right past and saluted them, amused when he heard their quiet snickers.

Almost to the kitchen, he rounded a corner and…smack.

A warm female body slammed against him then jerked away and gasped.

Coffee painted the front of her blouse. She stepped further back and stared down, a look of horror on her face. With her hands held out as if still registering what had just happened, her mouth hung open. Jack noted her lipstick smeared over her upper lip. A pretty pinkish color.

“Here, let me help you.” Jack hurried into the kitchen. “Let’s clean you up.” He grabbed some paper towels and started to press them against the front of her shirt then paused, thinking better of it.

He handed the paper towels to her, seeing her blush. “Thank you,” she said, softly.

Kind brown eyes flashed up at him then down his neck where they lingered. “Oh…I’m afraid you have lipstick on your collar.”

Jack quickly lost his smile. “Lipstick?” Another glance at her lips and he knew.

That was one thing he’d failed to do yet. He liked to keep an extra starched white shirt in his office, just in case there was a coffee mishap. He’d seen it happen a gazillion times.

“If you try to rub off the lipstick, you’ll only make it worse, I’m afraid. I’d like to pay to have that cleaned for you.”

“And I should pay for getting the coffee out of that blouse. How about we call it even?”

Though Jack wouldn’t say she was a beauty—in fact, she was unremarkable—there was something behind her eyes that whispered to him.
This one is a deep thinker
.

She smiled with a disappointed shrug. “I have an important meeting in an hour. I can’t stand up in front of everyone like this.”

“You should keep an extra blouse in your office for this sort of thing.” Jack hung his hands in his pocket, wondering about her role in Harold’s announcement. “I’m Jack Kostner, by the way.” He thrust his hand out.

She met it with hers, her hand soft and warm. “Rayne Flemming.”

I know exactly who you are
. Though he’d not seen her picture, he’d read her file. He’d been right—she was a deep thinker, a creative designer. As far as he could tell, she was the most valuable person on his team.

Jack rocked back and forth on his feet, growing anxious. Normally he’d consider this sort of interaction a waste of time. What was the matter with him?

“You must be the new guy.”

“Yep.” Jack grinned, but he couldn’t say more, Harold’s words still fresh in his mind. He focused on getting his coffee, and when he turned around, she was gone.

Jack tugged on his collar. He needed to at least inspect the damage in a mirror. Maybe he could draw his suit jacket tight and look like a nerd but hide the lipstick.

And if not? Harold would introduce Jack, the new employee and manager, and he would stand in front of everyone with lipstick on his shirt.

That would give the women something to talk about.

B
arb was right. Jack was a looker, with the sort of thick black hair that made a girl want to run her fingers through it, and striking blue eyes that seemed to read her thoughts. He had that strong, rugged jaw and athletic physique she often saw on the cover of magazines while standing in line at the grocery store.

But Rayne wasn’t attracted to a man simply for his looks. As for his personality, though, Jack seemed pleasant enough.

Warm and friendly.

Rayne glanced at the clock on the wall. Only ten more minutes until the meeting. She fidgeted with her notes—an acceptance speech with details about preparing the team for its next project—doubt creeping in. Before the holidays, Harold had spoken to her in confidence about managing the team, and she’d accepted his offer, though not in writing. In fact, nothing had been in writing, or even set in stone, now that she recalled their exact conversation.

Rayne stood and took a deep breath. Maybe she worried for nothing. Still, why hadn’t he spoken to her more specifically about the position? All she could think was that Harold wasn’t the sort of manager who coddled. He liked forward thinkers and people who took initiative, who were willing to take what he offered and do something with it.

Unfortunately, that left Rayne unclear about where she stood. She had no way of knowing if his announcement today was regarding her as the new team manager. But she knew the creative team needed a leader, especially on its newest project. If not today, then soon.

Opening her door, she stepped into the hall, joining other employees headed to the small conference room. Of course, only those whose departments were affected would be there to hear Harold’s announcement.

Barb appeared, walking beside her. She glanced at Rayne’s blouse but said nothing. Rayne figured Barb didn’t want to embarrass Rayne further by talking about it in front of everyone.

“So what do you think Harold’s going to say?” Barb asked.

Rayne wanted to be excited and expectant, but for the first time since speaking to Harold on the matter of her managing the team, she pushed down her hopes. “I really have no clue.”