Perfect Stranger (7 page)

Back in my London office, I wasn’t surprised to see Cassie at her desk, despite the early hour. My personal assistant was superbly efficient, and after working with me for over a year, she was able to anticipate my needs.

I smiled a greeting and slid a box of fudge across her desk. “A souvenir from Devon. Apparently it’s a local specialty.”

Her eyebrows tugged together in a frown, but then she smiled back. “Go on. What are you after?”

“Can’t I buy my favorite PA a box of candy?”

“Your
only
PA. This might be a good time to remind you I could really do with an assistant?”

“Okay. Book a slot this afternoon, and we’ll talk about it. How’s my schedule today?”

Without looking, she reeled off a list of appointments, the first one only an hour away. “I’ve left you some time to catch up on your email, like you asked. Did you have a good trip? Was the conference useful?”

“Yes and yes. I’ll make a start, but first I want you do a little job for me.”

“Don’t tell me you want to cancel your meetings?”

“Nah.” I handed her Kate’s business card. “When you get five minutes, get me a profile on this company, please. It’s not urgent.” ComCo sounded familiar. I’d come across them somewhere else, but couldn’t remember where.

Marcus teased me about Cassie, saying he wanted to entice her away to his office. In his words, she was
heaven to look at and brilliant at her job
. She was engaged, as far as I knew. She wore a diamond on her ring finger but never mentioned her fiancé. She was happy to work long hours, do all kinds of dull jobs, and generally make my life easier. I paid her generously, and we worked well together.

My thoughts bounced back to Kate. Cassie would soon have some information on ComCo. Then maybe I could engineer a meeting? On business grounds, of course. The devil on my shoulder wanted me to call Kate. I had her number, after all. I could simply phone, and say… What?
Hey, remember me? I’m the guy you promised to meet for dinner and then ran out on.
Nope, wasn’t going to happen.

I already acted out of character with her and had no intention of making more of a fool of myself. More information was needed, and
then
I’d decide what to do.

It took effort to concentrate on the page full of emails waiting for me, but I worked through them, pausing only to thank Cassie for the coffee she fetched.

I’d worked for my father’s company since my fourteenth birthday, spending every holiday and most weekends learning the business from the ground up. By the time I was eighteen, I’d interned in all the major divisions, as well as spending weeks in the overseas offices. I never thought about a career anywhere else, and now I ran the European arm of TM-Tech, and for the most part, was happy in my role.

It truly was a family company. Marcus worked for us too. He was currently engaged in developing the European market, and I hadn’t seen him for weeks. It’d be good to catch up with him.

The morning flew by. Cassie stuck her head around my door before lunch and announced she had some papers for me, if there was time to go through them. I waved her in, and she settled into the seat across from me.

“I’ve got invoices that need your signature, a couple of contracts to be counter-signed, some meetings I have to schedule, and the portfolio on ComCo.”

That got my attention. “Let’s do ComCo first. That was quick by the way.”

“They’re an IT reseller. UK-only at the moment, but hustling for a bigger share of the market. Mergers and Acquisitions have them on their database, and they supplied me with this initial report. If you’re looking for more, let me know, and I’ll carry on digging.”

It wasn’t unusual for the M&A division to carry data on other companies. TM-Tech constantly acquired other businesses, and we had multiple options on the go at once. That was almost certainly where I’d heard the name.

I flicked through the thin dossier, while Cassie recounted the main facts—customer reach; number of employees; profitability; position in the marketplace.

“They’ve submitted a bid for the data-center-expansion project,” she continued, “and they’ve been selected as a potential supplier.”

My mind leapt with the possibilities. “Find out if we’re doing a site visit, please. I may tag along.”

Cassie didn’t miss a beat. “ComCo is based in Manchester, and the procurement team is heading up there at the end of next week.”

“Perfect.”

Cassie scribbled a note on her pad, and then nodded. “Anything else?”

I thought for a moment. “Can you track Marcus down, please? Ask him to give me a call. Tell him I want to play squash next time he’s here.”

A half-smile hovered on her lips, as she took another note. “I didn’t realize I was your social secretary as well.”

Her dry sense of humor amused me. Cassie wasn’t afraid to say what she thought. I liked that. “Do you mind, Cass?”

She looked up, surprise written on her face. “No. I just like teasing you.”

“Okay, then. Now, what’s this about an assistant?”

I listened, as she outlined her workload and suggested the additional responsibilities she wanted to take on, but it was a struggle to concentrate, when thoughts of meeting Kate again danced at the front of my mind.

I tried to be discreet, but since Rob called my desk phone, I couldn’t walk away to speak to him. I had to be quiet. We’d been invited to a get together at his boss’s place on Saturday night, so I had to tell him I was already going out for Kate’s birthday. So much for my plans of slipping in the news when he was in a good mood.

In the space of two minutes since my phone jangled, he went from pleased and upbeat to cold and angry. “I don’t see the need to hang around with my ex-colleagues all the time. Why do you? What’s so special about you? You don’t work with them now; you certainly don’t need to socialize with them anymore.”

Far be it for me to point out that, unlike Rob, I had a group of friends from work I
liked
to spend time with. This was an old argument, and one we’d sparred over many times. I tried to placate him. “It’s Kate’s birthday, and since she’s just split up with Tony, she needs her friends right now.”

“You’re too soft,” he said, as though I was a sagging mattress. “You need to tell her to get her act together. She’ll never keep a guy with
her
attitude.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well. She’s the kind of chick who always has to be right. She walks all over you, dumpling.”

I grimaced at his nickname for me. Why couldn’t he just use my name? “Regardless of what you think about my friends, I promised to go out with Kate on Saturday, so I’m really sorry, but I can’t go with you. Can you go alone?”

“Suppose I’ll have to. I’m not happy about it, though. What time will you be finished?”

“On Saturday? I don’t know. Might be late.” There was an ominous silence, and as usual, I leapt to fill the void. “I won’t be out all night.”

“I hope not. Who else is going?”

Did he need to know? Isobel organized it, and I was sketchy on the details. When I saw my team leader walking toward my desk it was enough of an excuse to leave the call.

“Sorry, Rob, I have to go. Marella needs me.”

“We haven’t finished yet.”

I ignored the warning note in his voice and spoke over him. “I
have
to go. I’ll see you tonight.”

“Trouble?” Marella raised one delicately sculpted eyebrow.

“Oh, nothing really. Just a bit of confusion over the arrangements for this weekend. Rob forgot I’m going out with my friends.” The moment I said his name, my phone rang. The display showed Rob’s number, and my heart sank. “Can I take this call?” I grabbed the receiver, conscious of her gaze following me. “Hi, Jenny speaking.”

“I told you, we hadn’t finished.” Rob’s voice was icily controlled.

Dear God, this would piss him off no end. “I’m sorry. I’m in the middle of something right now. I’ll call you back in five minutes. Thanks.” I hung up before I could over-think the conversation.

My chest was tight, and I knew my cheeks were going pink, but I managed a pleasant smile for Marella. “Sorry about that. What can I do for you?”

Her lips tugged up at the corners. “It’s something I can do for you. I want to introduce you to our newest developer. He’s going to be working on the Ynos account, so you’ll be spending a lot of time together.”

Marella glanced over her shoulder and beckoned someone forward, and the bottom dropped out of my world.

Oh. Fuck. No.

My face froze in a parody of a smile, but Marella didn’t seem to notice. “Jenny, this is Cade Brisley. Cade, meet Jenny Allerton, Customer Liaison.”

He gave me a jerky nod, his eyes wary. Neither of us reached out to shake hands, and Marella frowned. “Do you guys know each other already?”

My phone rang. I was so pleased at the rescue, I snatched up the receiver without checking the caller details.

“Don’t hang up on me this time.” Oh shit, it was Rob. Which was the lesser of the two evils? Making small talk with Cade Brisley or pacifying my husband?

“I’m sorry.” I worked hard to inject a humble tone. “I have my boss at my desk. I’ll call you back in a few minutes. Okay?”

“No, it’s
not
fucking okay. Okay?” His shout hurt my ear. Worse, Marella and Cade must have heard him too. I wanted the floor to open and swallow me up. I wanted them to walk away from my desk and forget they’d heard Rob’s words. I wanted Cade to stop staring as though he was sorry for me.

Paralyzed with embarrassment I didn’t pay attention to Rob, apart from registering that he got louder.

I looked at Marella. She opened her mouth to speak, but Cade interrupted. “I’ve got a ton of questions. Why don’t we grab a coffee, if you’ve got time, and I can run through them with you?”

The phone was pressed so hard to my ear, my head hurt. Or it might be Rob’s voice causing that. I still hadn’t managed to get a word in. Marella’s frown looked somewhere between concerned and curious, and I silently begged her to go with Cade.

“Back soon,” she whispered to me, and mimed taking a drink. I nodded, the fixed smile on my face hurting my cheek muscles, and with an immense sense of relief, watched them walk away. Cade was talking about something, moving his hands rapidly as he sketched out some shape in the air.

Holy shit. Had he just rescued me? Again?

As I walked into the conference room with my team, Adam stepped forward and halted me with a hand on my arm. “Kate. Do you have a minute?” I couldn’t very well say
no
, and he carried on anyway. “Hunter Travel. Did you fulfil the urgent order?”

They were one of our top ten customers, and we’d pulled out all the stops to complete their requirements for a new data center. Everything shipped on time, and as a courtesy I’d emailed Adam to let him know. “Yes, it all went out. Did you not see my email yesterday?”

“Yesterday?” His sandy brows dipped in a frown. “I’m talking about the order that came in this morning.”

My team sat quietly, listening to the exchange. I beckoned to Paula. It was her account. “Was there an urgent order today?”

She came to my side. “Yes. They realized they needed another switch and asked for it to go on a same-day shipment. It’s being packed as we speak.”

Adam nodded and pinned me with his icy gaze. “How come you didn’t recommend the switch on the original order?”

“We did, as part of the quote, but they wanted to keep the costs down. They said they’d consider the extra switch for a future order, once the data center was up and running.”

“We should have pushed them to take it. You know that. Make sure we don’t charge them for shipment. You can absorb the cost.”

I couldn’t decide what irritated me the most—that he made a show out of a routine query in front of my entire team, or that he overrode my judgment with this particular customer. I swallowed down my anger.

“Adam, we’re about to have our team meeting. Would you care to join us?” My stomach clenched at his reptilian smile. It felt as though I needed a pointed stick, to control him.

I handed out the revised account lists to everyone. There were the usual rumbles of discontent, as I explained my thinking behind the reallocations. I had to give some accounts to Caroline and Liane, the two new team members, although they’d work under supervision for the first month or so. I tried to keep reshuffles to a minimum. There was no point in getting familiar with a customer and then moving on to another. The whole point of the department was to work closely with customers and account managers, and offer stability for the day-to-day operations.

Adam kept interrupting, asking why I’d done this or that, and generally being disruptive. At one point, he shook his head, sighed, and gazed out of the window, his disdain clear.

Finally, the meeting was over. Caroline and Liane were allocated their
buddies
, in this case Paula and Dave, and I was about to suggest we head back to the phones, when Adam took the floor.

“A few words from me.” He smiled around the room. “In view of how rapidly the team is growing, I think it’s time we had some off-site meetings, team-building events, that sort of thing. I’d like to suggest we have end-of-month team meetings at the pub. After work, of course.” He smirked at me. “We can all relax more over a quiet drink.”

I refused to be intimidated, but to my disgust, he winked at me—in front of the team—before casting his attention back to the assembled group. “So how about next Wednesday, at the Lovely Legs Bar?” The raised eyebrows and titters from Paula and Liane made him smirk some more. He held up his hands. “Okay. It was worth a try. So how about the Quay House? Four thirty. I think we can safely knock off half an hour early, once a month.”

Next Wednesday was when I had to assemble the data for the monthly reports, and Adam knew it. A meeting at the pub meant I’d have to come back to work afterward or come in ridiculously early, in order to finish the reports. He wouldn’t accept a team meeting as an excuse not to get his monthly figures. I almost missed his next statement.

“I don’t think Kate mentioned it today, but we have another new team member starting soon. Colin Hooper.” I hadn’t mentioned it, because I didn’t know anything about it. “Colin is joining us as Relationship Manager, and he’ll be working closely with me, to ensure we maximize our potential across the customer base. I’ll invite him on Wednesday. It can be an informal introduction for him, before he starts the week after.”

Relationship Manager? What the hell was that? I tried to cover my annoyance at Adam’s hijacking the meeting. The team filed out of the room and back to their desks. I tried to catch Adam’s eye, but he was deep in conversation on his phone.

Paula snagged my attention. “What’s Colin like?”

“Sorry, I’ve no idea. I didn’t interview him.”

“Oh.” She fidgeted in her seat. “It’s just that you and Adam are so close, we all assumed you knew him as well.”

Me and Adam close? Never in a million years. What the fuck had he been saying? My chest was tight when I spoke. “What do you mean,
as well
?”

“He’s Adam’s best mate, isn’t he?”

I almost asked her to repeat herself.
Adam’s best mate.
My throat constricted, and I couldn’t draw breath into my lungs. How could he do this? How could he get away with recruiting his friend to a senior position? And why did I know nothing about it?

“I must dash; I’m late for something.” I walked away, unsure where I was heading but needing some space. My head spun.

Common sense began to reassert itself when I sat behind my desk. I knew nothing, because he was nothing to do with my team. He’d be working with the account managers.

It niggled at me, though. If Adam could get away with this, what else was he up to?