Gray Quinn's Baby(2)

       
           



       

He had some parting words for her. 'If you'll take my advice,  Magenta-which I doubt-you'll make yourself scarce until the new owner is  settled in. Quinn will soon lose interest and leave the running of the  company to the old guard.'

'Goodbye, Dad.'

Lose interest? That didn't sound like the Gray Quinn Magenta had read  about. 'Dynamic and cool under pressure' was how the financial papers  described him-not to mention ruthless and tough. Oh yes, and practically  invisible. If there was a good photograph of Gray Quinn in existence,  he had managed to keep it out of the public eye. Life under her father's  autocratic rule had been bad enough, but Quinn was an unknown quantity,  and Magenta's major concern was for her colleagues. Of course, if Quinn  wanted a clean sweep, he might fire them all-and if he squashed the  zing out of the ad agency's creative personnel it would go down anyway.

If Quinn booted her, she would just have to keep an eye on things from  the sidelines, Magenta concluded, going to the window to stare out. If  she had to remortgage her house and start a new company to keep everyone  in work, then she would.

And what exactly was she looking for now? The biker? She should know better.

She did know better, and pulled away.

Turning her back to the window, she huffed wryly. Business might come  easily to her, but where men were concerned she had a long history of  failure. She didn't have the right chat, the right look-and the guy on  the bike would almost certainly know that she hadn't had a date in ages.  He looked like some sort of expert where women were concerned. Magenta  smiled as she perched on the edge of the desk to call a cab. The famous  orgasm was probably a fiction dreamed up by ad men, anyway.

There were no cabs, at least not for an hour or more. Snow and Christmas  shoppers were held to account for the shortage of vehicles.

So, the underground it was.

Having checked she had everything she would need to work at home,  Magenta called the garage to come and sort out the car and then brought  her team into the office for one last discussion. The holidays were  almost on them and she wanted everyone to feel confident about launching  the campaign in the New Year before she left.

Would she even be coming back? Magenta wondered as her friends filed  into the room. She couldn't afford to think like that. She owed it to  the team to be positive. She couldn't let them see how worried she was.  This wasn't the end of Steele Design, it was a new beginning, she told  herself firmly as she announced, 'I'm going to be working at home for  the time being.'

'You can't leave the week before Christmas,' Magenta's right arm, Tess, stated flatly.

'I'll be in touch with you the whole time.'

'It's not the same,' Tess argued. 'What about the Christmas party?'

'There are more important things than that-like keeping our jobs?'  Magenta suggested when Tess protested. 'And why can't you organise it?'  Magenta prodded gently.

'Because you have the magic,' Tess argued.

'I'll be in touch every day, I just won't be physically sitting at my  desk-where, apparently,' Magenta added mischievously, 'I might present a  threat to Quinn. Yes, I know I'm scary,' she said when the team began  to laugh.

While she had them in a good mood she turned the conversation to  business. 'You're a fantastic team, and it's crucial that Quinn sees the  best of you guys, so I want you to forget about me and concentrate on  making a good first impression.'

'Forget about you?' Tess scoffed. 'How are we going to do that when you haven't even given us a theme for the party yet?'

'Glad to hear I've got some uses,' Magenta said dryly, glancing at her  wristwatch. She was starting to feel edgy. She had made a promise to her  father to keep out of the way, so there wasn't much time for dreaming  up ideas for the party. 'Keep it simple,' she instructed herself out  loud. 'What about a sixties theme?'

'Brilliant,' Tess agreed. 'We've got half the props already, and you'd look great in a paper dress.'

'Ah … I won't be at the party this year.'

'Well, that's nonsense. What will it be like without you?'

'Much more fun, I should think.' Magenta was remembering how she'd  pulled the plug the previous year when she had thought the men in the  office were getting a little out of hand. 'I'm only on the end of the  phone.'

'I give you twenty-four hours and you'll be back here,' Tess predicted.  'There's too much going on for you to stay away. And there's another  thing,' she murmured, drawing Magenta aside. 'I've noticed something  different about you this morning. Can't put my finger on it yet, but I  will.'                       
       
           



       

'I don't know what you mean.'

'Ha!' Tess exclaimed. 'You're on the defensive already. You look wary.  No,' she argued with herself, 'not wary. You look alert-excited, alive.  Yes, that's it. Have you met someone, Magenta?'

'Don't be ridiculous! I'm only worried about the future here.'

'No … ' Tess gave a confident shake of her head. 'There's something else-something you're not telling me.'

Maybe her red cheeks had given her away, Magenta thought wryly as the biker flashed into her mind.

'It's nothing to be ashamed of if you've met someone you like,' Tess insisted.

'But I haven't,' Magenta argued-too heatedly, she realised now.





CHAPTER TWO




TESS hurried to reassure her. 'I know you're worried about the company,  and what's going to happen under the new owner, but you're entitled to a  private life, Magenta. In fact, as your friend I'm going to be blunt  about this-you need a private life.'

Magenta paused before continuing. 'All right. This is going to sound ridiculous … '

'Try me.'

Tess was waiting but, though she worked with words for a living, Magenta  was suddenly struck dumb. How could she explain the trembling inside  her, or the excitement, the awareness, even the outlandish suspicion  that she had met her soul mate this morning? The biker had caught her at  the worst possible moment and yet with his arrival it was as if  everything had brightened. As if the world had suddenly come into sharp  focus-and in a freezing-cold car park, of all places. How romantic!

The fact remained, it was as if the sun had shone down just on her, as  if her life had opened up to a multi-coloured carousel of opportunity.

If she'd had the courage to seize it, which she clearly she hadn't. 'There was a guy this morning in the car park.'

'I knew it.'

'Shh.' Magenta glanced round, but no one was listening; they were too  busy fighting over the choice of music for the party. 'It was  nothing-just a good-looking guy. Not my type at all, and he wasn't  remotely interested. So now you know.'

'But he excited you?'

'He certainly did something.'

'He made you tingle. He made you feel alive.'

'You're a romantic, Tess. He made me angry.'

'You shouted at him?' Tess frowned.

'I gave him a piece of my mind, yes.'

'And how did he react?'

'He laughed at me.'

'But that's wonderful!' Tess exclaimed. 'What a start.'

'There is no start, it was just an episode.'

'And episodes have sequels.'

'Not this one, Tess.'

'You never know, he may come back. He's seen you now-how could he  resist? And when a man laughs with you, well, that's the start of  intimacy, in my book.'

'It is?'

'Don't you know anything?'

'Not much,' Magenta confessed. 'After the rush of gold-diggers when I  was in my first flush of youth, all the likely contenders lost  interest.'

'Only because you frightened them away, dragon lady.'

'They weren't worth keeping.'

'And this guy's a keeper?'

'For someone, definitely, but not me.'

'Why not? What's wrong with you?'

'It's not even worth discussing,' Magenta said wryly. 'He's not going to  ask me out on a date. I don't expect I'll ever see him again. It was  just a chance encounter that made some sort of ridiculous impression on  me because I was feeling tired and vulnerable, and-'

'Lacking in confidence where the mating game is concerned,' Tess  supplied. 'Just promise me one thing, Magenta-if you do see him again,  don't shout at him. Try a smile next time.'

They both laughed as Tess demonstrated how to do it.

'Come on,' Magenta said, turning back to the room. 'I need to call this  meeting to order or the Mighty Quinn will be here and my father will  never speak to me again. So, are we good?' she asked her team. 'Does  everyone like the theme for the party?'

'Can we share out the sixties samples for costumes and accessories?' one of the girls asked her.

'Of course. Just help yourselves.'

Magenta was relieved her idea had gone down so well. Everyone needed a  boost. They were all on edge wondering what changes the new owner would  bring, and the sixties theme allowed them to indulge their fantasies and  forget about work for a while. Her team had really been infected by the  sixties bug, with quite a few of them trialling the fashions of the  time. The sixties styling really suited Tess, Magenta noticed now, with  her smoky eyes, long, curving fringe and high ponytail, Tess looked  fabulous.