Bedding The Billionaire(53)

"Oh, my goodness, sir, are you ill?"

"Yes. Go away."

He heard Beverly hesitate before the door clicked closed again.

"Damn women," he muttered to the empty room.



Abbey wandered aimlessly around her apartment. She tried to eat an apple but threw it away after one bite. She wasn't hungry. She turned on the television but the daytime programs were dull. She opened the doors to the balcony and sat in a deck chair, opened her book and tried to read. She closed it again with the bookmark on the same page.

Maybe she should try to get more sleep. She'd barely slept a wink all week and she felt like a zombie.

She went inside, lay on the bed, and images of Nick Delaware floated in front of her closed lids. She groaned and got up again.

She opened the employment section of the papers and tried to concentrate. She could contact a few agencies, mail off her resume.

For the hundredth time she went over the events of Friday night and came to the same conclusion she'd come to every time -she was a fool for letting Nick think she'd slept with Vane.

Then she changed her mind again and decided she was better off without a lying cheat like Nick, then she changed her mind back again and lamented everything about her sorry situation.

When the phone rang, she snatched at it, half hoping it would be Nick.

"Abbey McPherson?"

The voice sounded familiar. "Yes?"

"It's John Goldstein here. I want to talk to you about your position at JJC Pharmaceuticals."

Abbey sat up straight and listened to what Goldstein had to say. Half an hour later she was dressed in a navy blue suit and crisp white shirt. She got into her car, switched the air conditioning on high and turned up the volume on her radio.

She smiled to herself despite the lingering misery in her gut. She deserved this. She deserved to get something after all the crap of last week. Part of her felt sorry for Tarken though. He didn't deserve to lose his job. On second thought, he did deserve it. He'd never been able to run that office. Abbey had done everything for him.

Thank goodness Goldstein recognized that and wanted her back-as the office manager.

She hoped Tarken wasn't still there. It could get awkward between them when he learned she was his replacement.

Fifteen minutes later she strolled into the city office. The first thing she heard was Tarken shouting. The second thing was Melinda crying.

Abbey walked in, back straight, chin up and stared Tarken straight in the eye. "Is there anything I need to know before you leave?" she asked.

Tarken's jaw dropped open. "You're going to run the office?"

"Goldstein didn't tell you? How remiss of him."

"Get Goldstein on the phone now," shouted Tarken. No one moved. He picked up the phone himself, dialed, said a few harsh words to Goldstein that included several expletives. Then he listened and finally he handed the phone to Abbey.

"He wants to talk to you," he said levelly.

Abbey took the phone and watched as a deflated Tarken opened the door and left, slamming it behind him.




 

 

"Yes, Mr. Goldstein?"

"Your first priority is to close the deal on the software. I want it installed before June."

"Yes, Mr. Goldstein."

Abbey hung up, smiled reassuringly at the stunned staff around her, and entered Tarken's office. Her office. She closed the door and slumped into the chair.

Incredible. A totally new career without even searching for it. It would involve enormous amounts of responsibility and a lot of hard work. All these things flittered through Abbey's mind, but one thing stuck with her above all others. New software meant contacting Software Solutions. And that meant speaking to Nick again.

She didn't know whether to laugh or cry.



A MONTH LATER

Nick paced the length of his office trying to work off his excess energy. He was up to his fifth cup of coffee and it wasn't even lunchtime. A month of carefully piecing his self-respect together again and all shattered by a letter of intent to purchase from JJC Pharmaceuticals.

He really didn't know why he was so nervous. It was only that fool Tarken after all. It's just that he was his only link to Abbey. Whether Tarken still saw Abbey or knew what she was up to didn't really matter. He knew her and the thought that he might have news about her was enough to shatter Nick's concentration.

And more than anything, Nick wanted to hear about her. He wanted to know what she was up to, how she was going. If she had a boyfriend.

Okay, maybe he shouldn't ask Tarken-the answer might not be something he wanted to hear.

He stopped pacing. What was he thinking? He shouldn't be this nervous over a meeting with a jerk like Tarken. He could run rings around him. By the end of the day, he'd have Tarken eating out of the palm of his hand.