'Why, hang it up, of course,' he said as if she were one card short of a pack. 'And when you've done that I'll need plenty of coffee-hot, strong and black. Oh, and when you come into the meeting later, don't forget your shorthand notebook.'
'My-?'
'You're the office manager now, Magenta-that's quite a promotion for you. You'll have to sharpen up if you want to set the seal on this position.'
She'd set something in concrete-the deeds of the building, perhaps, before she dropped them from a great height on Quinn's head …
But someone else owned the building now, she remembered, biting her lip. Steele Design had been called Style Design when her father had bought it. She had no stake at all here.
Now she found herself staring at the back of her own office door as Quinn closed it in her face.
Then it flew open again. 'Magenta?' Quinn rapped. 'My office. Now.'
You could have heard a pin drop behind her. They all anticipated her immediate dismissal, Magenta guessed. She countered that expectation with her sweetest smile. 'Of course,' she replied respectfully; respectful was good-essential-at least until she learned the ropes. Walking inside, she shut the door behind her.
'Let's get one thing clear,' Quinn said, handing Magenta the hairpiece she had left on his desk. 'You do not use my office in my absence for grooming purposes. You do not come in here at all, unless at my express invitation. And, if I'm at work early, you are too.'
'And how would I-?'
'How would you know?' he interrupted, narrowing his eyes. 'I was coming to that. Do you have your notebook? No? Carry it with you at all times? You have a "must do" list, don't you? When I give you a memo to alert you to the fact that I will be in here at six in the morning, I expect you to note it down. Why are you late, by the way?'
Magenta opened her mouth and wondered which of the million and one reasons on the tip of her tongue would work best in Wonderland. 'I apologise,' she said, thinking better of making a fight out of it just yet. 'I just thought you might appreciate a couple of days to become acclimatized.'
'Acclimatised? I've come over from the States, not the moon. What's wrong with you limies?' Limies? Whoah; that was an old term Magenta guessed hadn't been used much since the war. The term was a hangover from the way-back-when days, when British sailors were given limes to counteract scurvy. Surely they were way past that?
'I need you here on time, Magenta,' Quinn continued to rap. 'You're my assistant as well as the office manager. If the job's too much for you, just let me know.'
'It isn't-I mean, yes, sir,' Magenta spat out crisply, stopping just shy of a salute.
This was novel. This was annoying and confusing. And, alarmingly, it was pretty amazing too. Quinn was pretty amazing, with all that dark hair escaping his best attempt to tame it from falling over his brow. And those eyes, steely and fierce-not to mention the body currently concealed beneath some pretty sharply tailored clothes. Here at last was a man who was really worth taking on. Had she met her match at last? Forget all that nonsense about not wanting to add him to her workload; she would gladly put Quinn on her 'must do' list.
'Please accept my apologies.' She wanted to keep the job, such as it was, didn't she? 'I forgot you intended making such an early start. And I'll be sure to remember my, er, "must do" list in future.'
'Be sure you do. Just remember, this might be your first day on the job, but it gets you no special favours from me. I expect you up to speed by the end of the day. And any thoughts you might have had about taking time off before the holidays, cancel them.'
She had to swallow her pride. She'd been doing a lot of that recently, but it would only be until she found her feet down this complicated rabbit-hole-or, better still, until she woke up. 'I'll get the coffee, shall I?'
'Yes, you do that,' Quinn agreed. 'And take that dead rat with you.'
'Of course.' She was only too happy to drop the horrible hairpiece in the first bin she found.
The men filed in and sat around the boardroom table as Magenta set the coffee down in front of Quinn. Her team, nearly all female, could have run rings around them, she concluded five minutes into the meeting. What were the women doing sitting outside typing? Surely some of them had flair?
She glanced at Quinn as he rubbed a hand across his eyes, as if he had forgotten something. Was it too much to hope he had intended to include some of the women in the meeting?
'I should have asked for coffee for everyone,' he apologised-to the men. 'Magenta?' he added brusquely, shooting an impatient glance her way.
She wasn't going to snap back in front of the men, she decided. Quinn might have lost all sense of business protocol by speaking to her so rudely, but she hadn't. 'No problem at all,' she said pleasantly, sweeping out of the room, surprised by the openly admiring glances she was attracting. She would gladly exchange those looks for a return to the casual acceptance of her gender she was used to. The men's gazes burning a hole into her back made her really uncomfortable, though she was pleasantly surprised when one late arrival rushed to hold the door for her. Were her sensibilities changing too?
No. She bridled outside the room, hearing some very male laughter erupting behind the door. Quinn barked a command and there was silence, but Magenta got the distinct impression that the laughter had been directed at her.
She made the coffee and took it into the men, but held back from serving it. If they wanted a coffee, then one of them would have to pour it. She left the room and returned with her notebook as instructed. She didn't know shorthand, but she could write fast.
And she had to. Quinn wasn't short of ideas, most of which she agreed with, but it would have been nice if he consulted his team along the way, rather than issuing instructions. He ignored her completely. She might have been invisible. 'Can I ask a question?' she said at one point.
'If you want to leave the room, you don't have to be coy,' he said while the men sniggered and Magenta's cheeks flamed red.
'I don't want to leave the room,' she said, conscious of the other men looking on with interest as the little drama unfolded.
'Then please be quiet,' Quinn rapped impatiently. 'Can't you see we're having an important meeting here?'
And clearly it was a meeting she wasn't up to taking part in, according to Quinn, who seemed stuck in a chauvinist mindset.
What to do? She could argue her point, but it would only be counterproductive in this company. She wanted Quinn to listen to her and to take her seriously. She would have to play this subtly for the sake of the team she had already decided she must build-at least until she got the hang of the workings of this strange new world.
But as she sat through the meeting, Magenta's anger grew. As she'd thought, many of the men weren't up to much, while she was increasingly certain that the women currently wasting their talents typing up dictation were being held back. Everything was upside down. She sighed, frustration beating at her brain. She was impotent to do anything about it until she'd worked things out.
'Magenta?'
She jumped with surprise as Quinn rapped out her name.
'If you find it so hard to pay attention, I can always get someone to replace you-'
Quinn wasn't joking. She was in imminent danger of losing her job. And this might be a crazy dream-world, but right now it was all she had got.
CHAPTER SIX
WHEN the meeting ended, Quinn asked Magenta to remain behind, and her heart sank as the last man out of the room threw her a pitying look. But even if this was a dream she had to defend her corner. Was Quinn content with a weak team? Wouldn't he at least evaluate the skills of his female workforce and give them a chance? The more she thought about it, the more fired up she became. 'This is quite an experiment you've got going on,' she commented lightly as she shut the door.
'An experiment? This is no experiment, Magenta. This is my company, and you work by my rules or you walk out that door and you don't come back.'
'You can't just fire me.'
'Watch me.'
Was she au fait with sixties employment law? No. And what good would she be to the girls she hoped to recruit if Quinn threw her out?
'For someone so recently promoted, you have a disappointing attitude, Magenta-which is why I want to speak to you.'
'I'm just surprised by the quality of the team you've drawn around you.'
'Firstly, it's not in your remit to pass comment on my decisions. And secondly, that's not my team. That's a batch of individuals I am evaluating.'
Like battery hens. 'Ruthless' didn't even begin to describe Quinn. She was almost sorry for the men.