Jennifer tried hard not to show how his comment affected her. She had tried to make only the revisions she felt absolutely necessary.
"You seem to feel the necessity to correct my grammar and my sentence structure from time to time," he pointed out in a dry voice.
She forced herself to meet his bland gaze, but she could read nothing. The golden eyes seemed to look right into the most vulnerable part of her being.
"Tell me, how did you hear about this job?"
Jennifer was surprised at the sudden change of subject.
' 'A friend at school mentioned that the agency was looking for stenographers. So I applied."
He continued to sit there, waiting, as though she had more to say. Jennifer had never seen a man who could be so still. His hands rested on the desk in front of him and she covertly studied them. They were large, strong hands. He was a large, strong man.
"Had you ever heard of the agency before? Or of me?"
She glanced up at his face again, startled by his questions.
"No, sir."
"You don't have to keep calling me 'sir,' you know. I may look old enough to be your father, but that's not quite the case."
The personal remark unnerved her, just as their whole conversation had done. She had never known anyone like him and didn't know how to respond to the man.
"Are you always so quiet?" he asked.
"When I don't have anything to say," she admitted.
He smiled and she was amazed at how the smile softened his harsh features. The smile quickly disappeared.
"I'd like you to begin working closely with Marlene for the next few weeks and learn her job before she leaves us, if that's agreeable with you."
Jennifer gasped. "Me?"
He glanced quickly over her shoulder, then his gaze pinned her to her chair. "I believe you're the only other person in the room. Why? Do you see some problem?"
"I, well, I, uh, no, not exactly. I mean,I don't have much experience and-" She couldn't think of anything else to say.
"I realize that. What I also realize is that despite your rather tender years, you show a great deal of initiative, intelligence, ability to grasp a new situation, willingness to work-in other words, all the attributes I want in an assistant. Do you want the job?"
Dazed, she stared back at him. Did she want the job? Did she want to work closely with this man every day? She knew so little about men. Chad? What should I do?
There was no answer. Chad was good at that. He might spend time with her going over her options, but he never made up her mind for her.
"Mr. Cameron, as you may well guess, this comes as quite a surprise to me." She searched for the right words. "If you don't mind, I'd like a day to think it over."
He watched her for a moment, then said, "Ah, yes. I did forget one rather important piece of information-your salary." He named a figure that doubled what she was presently making. "That's a beginning salary, of course. As you progress and take on more responsibility I will see that your raises reflect your increased worth to the company."
He stood up and she immediately got to her feet. "Perhaps you're right, Ms. Chisholm, to want to think this offer over. I will be waiting to hear your decision."
Jennifer barely remembered leaving his office and returning to her desk. She worked the rest of the day with no idea of what she was doing. Thank goodness the transcriptions of tapes had become so routine by then she could manage without her total concentration.
As soon as she got home that night and greeted Sam, who was still little more than a kitten at the time, she said, "Chad? I really need to talk to you."
"Go ahead, Sunshine. Talk."
Jennifer gave a sigh of relief. There were times when she couldn't get in touch with him, and she'd been afraid that tonight of all nights he wouldn't respond.
Kicking off her shoes she sat down in her favorite chair with a sigh.
"I got a terrific job offer today, Chad. I need to talk to you about it."
"I thought you just started a job."
"I did. It's the same place, only a different position. A much higher position. I'd be working as Mr. Cameron's assistant."
"Isn't he the fellow who runs the place?"
"That's right."
"Who is he?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, what do you know about him?"
"Not all that much, really, except for office gossip. He's single, attractive-"
"And that's why you'd go to work for him?" She could almost hear the disgust in his voice.
"Of course not. I'm not even sure I want to work for him, actually."
"What's the problem?"
"The problem is that I don't know that much about men. I don't remember my father that well. I never had any brothers. The boys I knew in school were more friends than anything. I think I'm a little afraid of him."
"You mean you think he'd chase you around the desk?"
She thought about that for a moment. "No, I don't think so. He doesn't seem to be the type of person. If he were, I'm sure the office staff would know about it. There's never been any talk about his personal life."
"Then what's to be afraid of?"
"He's so stern, so rigid. All business. He doesn't ever seem to relax."
''Maybe he's busy. "
"I'm sure he is. I understand his dad opened the agency some years ago and when he was killed his son came home to run it." She got up and wandered into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of apple juice. "I'm sure that wasn't easy for him to do."
"Probably not. What had he been doing before then?"
"Nobody has ever said."
"I'm afraid I don't quite understand what you want from me, Sunshine."
"I'm not sure, either.I think I'm afraid of failing. The job has so much responsibility attached to it. I'm not sure I can handle it."
"Your boss must think you can or he wouldn 't have offered you the position.''
"I thought of that. I just don't know how he can tell so much about me. He doesn't know me at all."
"Maybe he's a good judge of character."
"What if I let him down?"
"But if you don't try, won't you be letting yourself down?"
"I suppose. I hadn't thought of it that way."
"Only you can decide what you want out life, you know. Nobody else can do that for you. If you're content working as a stenographer, if you don't want to learn anything more, then be the best stenographer you can be, and be happy doing it."
Jennifer was quiet for a few moments. "I guess I've still been blessing my opportunity to get a job as soon as I finished school. I hadn't looked any farther down the road than that."
"Now you're being challenged to look down that road to your future."
"Yes."
"Well, for the record, I believe in you, Sunshine. I know that you can do anything you decide you can do."
"Thank you, Chad. What would I do without you?"
"You'd do just fine and you know it."
The next morning she went into the office and told Mr. Cameron that she would be pleased to work as his administrative assistant.
Jennifer sat there in the truck, watching the two men talking. Slowly she opened the door and crawled out of the cab, already feeling the bruises on her backside. When she approached the two men they stopped talking and turned to her. Tony smiled, obviously pleased that they had found his friend. Chad, or C. W. Cameron, she wasn't sure how she was going to be able to think of him from now on, stood there waiting, watching her expression, revealing nothing of his thoughts to her. He never had. Only Chad had done that. Chad. She felt such a sense of loss that she almost crumpled with the pain. Chad, her lifelong friend, seemed to be gone. In his place stood the cold, aloof and distant man she had worked for all these years.
She didn't know what to say.
C. W. Cameron suddenly smiled, a warm, relaxed smile that caused a feeling of light and energy to flood over her. He took a couple of steps toward her and enfolded her in his arms. Holding her close, he laid his cheek on the top of her head. "You finally found me out, didn't you, Sunshine?"
Chapter Five
Contents - Prev / Next Jennifer's ear was pressed hard against Chad's chest and she could feel the heavy thumping of his heart inside. She had never been so close to him before, never felt the strength of him.
Raising her head she looked into his eyes. They were guarded, but there was a hint of emotion that she had never seen before. "How are you feeling?" she managed to say. Her voice sounded weak and trembling.
"I'll feel better once we get away from this place. If you hadn't arrived, things could have gotten a little desperate. There's nothing to eat up here and the nights get a little cold, even in August."