A Reclusive Heart

by R. L. Mathewson

  The few times she got an opportunity to try and explain that he needed to put some space between them had ended with a murderous glare and her screaming his name until she thought her head would explode. The man was too stubborn to think clearly. She knew that he thought he was in love with her, but she also noticed that he hadn’t spoken a word about the future. There was no point in asking if there was a future when she knew there wouldn’t be. He’d told her that he couldn’t give her a future and she knew that his telling her that he loved her hadn’t changed that.

  As much as it hurt, it was also a bit of a relief because that meant that she still had a chance to explain things and help him see that he really shouldn’t be taking any chances by being around her. She knew he felt protective of her and that was sweet, but she really could take care of herself and besides, the police were looking into it. Plus, she was planning on being careful, really careful so there really was nothing to worry about.

  After a moment she realized that the usually busy office that made her nervous with its constant “Go, go, go” mentality was eerily quiet. Had everyone left?

  she wondered as she chanced a peek and immediately wished that she hadn’t. The normally busy office was still overflowing with people, but instead of rushing off here and there like they normally would they were all standing around, staring at her and Nick.

  Her cheeks burned as she registered looks of disgust from most of the women and a few leering looks from some of the men. Of course they’d seen the video, she realized, feeling like an idiot. Everyone on earth probably saw that video by now and thanks to that little performance they probably thought that she was a slut.

  That thought was confirmed by a few gestures and soft chuckles directed her way.

  What she wouldn’t give to be able to make a run for it at that moment.

  Nick suddenly stopped, causing her to slam into his back, but he barely noticed as he leveled a scowl on the onlookers. “Is there a problem?” he asked in calm tone, but there was no hiding the fury in his tone or his challenging stance as he silently dared anyone to say anything. If she hadn’t been so stressed or worried about Nick at the moment the way they jumped back into whatever it was they had been doing before they spotted her and Nick would have made her smile. As it was it barely took the edge off of her humiliation.

  He gave her hand a gentle squeeze as he once again headed down the now thankfully busy hall towards the boardrooms. When he pulled her through the open doorway of the room she recognized as the one they held their morning meeting in she became very nervous. If two minutes of being stared at by her co-workers, the same co-workers she had a legal contract forcing her to face when she was required to come to the office, was unsettling she doubted that an hour or more under the same scrutiny would do anything ease her nerves.

  “Dana? What the hell are you doing here?” Nick asked, drawing her attention to the beautiful woman sitting at the large table. She wasn’t too surprised when she spotted Edward Pierce sitting to her right, holding her hand.

  Jamie watched as the beautiful woman shrugged. “I decided to attend this meeting since it affects my next book,” Dana explained, sending her a discrete wink that had her chewing her bottom lip nervously as she looked around the room to find a very somber Rick sitting at the table along with several men and women she was pretty sure that she didn’t know, but was pretty sure judging by the looks they were sending Dana and Edward that they were not happy with the power couple’s presence.

  “Please have a seat,” Rick said, giving them a forced smile as he gestured for them to sit across from Dana and Edward.

  As much as she would love to run away she forced herself to walk the ten feet and sit down. She needed to do this for Nick. She needed to help save his job and do whatever she could to keep him safe. The scent of cheap perfume hit her nose a few seconds before she heard the sounds of heels clipping against the floor. When she looked up she wasn’t too surprised to see Holly, whom she kind of thought had been fired, walk into the room, looking smug.

  Jamie watched as the woman walked around the table and took a seat near an older gentleman, who didn’t look pleased with her sitting next to him. Not that she could blame the man. Even from here the perfume was starting to sting her nose and eyes.

  “Why don’t we begin?” Nick asked pleasantly as he entwined their fingers and faced off against the men and women that were probably seconds away from firing him.

  If, no there weren’t really any ifs, when they fired him she fully planned on walking out with him. The only problem she had would be finding a lawyer good enough to get her out of the iron clad contract that she’d signed. She didn’t like the idea of staying here without Nick. It didn’t feel right that she got to stay while he had to”Miss. Harris, I’m sorry to say this, but you’re fired,” the man in the coal gray suit who was sitting next to Rick said, kind of shocking her.

  “You’re letting me out of my contract?” she asked, trying not to sound too eager. If they did, that meant that she could go with Nick. She wasn’t allowed to start up another publishing company, but he would be. She didn’t think that they’d really have any kind of futur,e but she could show her thanks by signing on with him and maybe J.L. Lewis could help him build a lucrative business.

  The man shook his head. “No, you’re still contracted through us for J.L.

  Lewis, but we’ve decided that as Jamie Harris you will no longer be associated with Rerum Publishing House,” he explained before shifting his eyes to Nick.

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Quinn, but I’m afraid you’re fired as well,” he said, surprisingly not sounding very happy about it at all.

  Then again from what she saw, Nick was a hard worker. His personal life might have drawn concerns, but his work ethic was irreproachable. He worked hard, put in long hours and wasn’t afraid of doubling his workload to get the job done. Personally she thought they were foolish to let the man go.

  “I understand,” was all Nick said.

  What the heck? He was just going to sit back and let this happen? This was her fault, not his. None of this would have happened if it weren’t for her and she sure as heck wasn’t about to sit around while they destroyed Nick’s career. She opened her mouth to say, well, she really wasn’t sure what the heck she was going to say when Dana spoke.

  “I guess this is where I tell you that I will not be signing my contract to continue with Rerum Publishing,” she said quietly. Rick for some strange reason looked slightly relieved while the rest of them, even Holly, looked panicked.

  “Let’s talk about this, Mrs. Pierce,” the man who’d fired them said almost desperately.

  Dana simply shook her head. “I’m sorry, but I don’t feel comfortable signing with Rerum Publishing when you’re releasing one of the main reasons that I enjoy working with this company in the first place. Mr. Quinn has always double checked my work for me, helped plan my tours when I decide to take them and if I can’t reach Rick for some reason he’s the person I go to. If I can no longer count on having someone like Mr. Quinn for support then I don’t believe I will continue with Rerum Publishing.”

  “Mrs. Pierce, any of our agents can do that for you. They’d be more than happy to help you with any problems that you have,” a middle aged woman with graying chestnut hair that was pulled back into a painful look bun explained imploringly.

  “Although I have the utmost respect for your employees, none of them are as dedicated as Mr. Quinn.”

  “Our hands are tied on this matter, Mrs. Pierce. Not only did Mr. Quinn have an inappropriate relationship with his client and employee, but he also put Rerum into a very unpleasant situation by canceling dozens of interviews and personal appearances. That’s not something that we can simply-“

  Edward Pierce cut the man off. “I’ve known Mr. Quinn for several years now and I’ve never known him to act inappropriately with clients or employees for that matter, which is pretty impressive given his personal reputation. I can understand that you�
��re not thrilled with the situation, but from what I saw on the video this is not a simple fling nor did either one intend on making their situation public. It appears to me that two people very much in love had a very personal moment stolen from them and exploited,” he said before throwing her a wink that had the blush that she was pretty sure was going to reduce her to ashes intensifying.

  She felt her eyes widen and a whimper work its way up her throat at the realization that Edward Pierce and no doubt Dana Pierce, judging by the soft blush painting the woman’s cheeks, had watched her have sex. Oh god……

  Everyone in this room had watched the video but her, she realized with horror. When the detective played the video she’d been too mortified with him in the room to look up. Of course she could have watched it from any number of sites on the internet, but she hadn’t exactly been in a rush to see any negative comments like, “Fat ass” or “How could he sleep with her?” which she was sure were all over the web by now. Maybe she should watch the video so that she at least knew how horrible it was.

  “With all due respect, Mr. Pierce, but this doesn’t concern you or your wife,” a man said with a crisp voice that was as hard as ice, but instead of finding out who’d spoken she kept her eyes on the table, too humiliated to do anything else. “If you would like to arrange a meeting to discuss your contract we’d be happy to accommodate you, but for right now I’m afraid that I’m going to have to ask you to-“

  “I’m afraid it does concern us if you ever expect my wife to do any promotions for the books that you currently have her contracted for. If memory serves me correctly she has the right to refuse any promotional event that makes her uncomfortable and I have to be honest,” Edward said, drawing her attention against her will. She looked up to find the man leaning back in his chair, looking comfortable as he addressed the men and women who were visibly panicking.

  “Having my wife work with a company who would place profit before her safety is not making me very comfortable,” he said firmly, leaving no doubt in her mind at least that the man didn’t play games when it came to his wife.

  “I support Mr. Quinn’s decision to cancel the promotional dates considering the situation,” Rick said. “Between the video and the threats I think he made the right choice.”

  “It wasn’t his call to make,” the woman with the severe bun explained tightly.

  That was the main problem? Jamie thought with an inward snort. Well, she could clear that up right now. “Mr. Quinn didn’t cancel the rest of the tour I-“

  “I canceled the tour,” Nick explained, cutting her off as he gave her hand a warning squeeze, “because I could not guarantee her safety as long as there was a threat out there. After speaking with the police it was agreed that until they caught whoever sent threats was identified or caught that it would be better to get the attention away from her.”

  “You should have spoken with us before you made that decision,” the man with the crisp voice said. Jamie looked to her right to find the man sitting next to the still smug Holly was the one who had spoken.

  “I apologize for that. However, I felt an obligation to cancel the most immediate dates out of respect for our contracts. I explained the situation and told them that the contracts would be honored as soon as the matter was cleared up,”

  Nick smoothly explained. The men and women didn’t look happy about it, but they did seem less tense at the moment.

  “Right now my only concern is Miss. Harris. There’s obviously a very disturbed person out there with a fixation on her. I don’t think it would be appropriate or fair to ask her to put herself in danger to promote her books. Until the matter is settled I believe there are other methods better used to promote her books at the moment that I think should be utilized,” Nick suggested calmly.

  “Thank you, Mr. Quinn. We’ll look into it,” crisp voice man said in clear dismissal.

  “Fine,” Dana said with a sigh as she got to her feet. “Just let me know where you end up or if you decide to start your own company and I’ll be more than happy to sign with you.”

  “Wait!” crisp voice man said, sounding desperate. “Please reconsider, Mrs.

  Pierce!”

  Jamie tightened her hold on Nick’s hand as she took a deep breath and stood up, hating all the attention as every set of eyes settled on her expectantly, but she had to do this.

  “This is probably where I should tell you that the last two books that I contracted with Rerum Publishing are done and that I won’t be renewing my contract as well.”

  With that announcement that seemed to have stunned everyone including Nick into silence she walked out of the room, forcing herself to walk slowly until she reached the hallway and closed the door behind her. The second it was closed she turned and rushed off towards Nick’s office in desperate need of that coffee roll now more than ever.

  Chapter 29

  “Good luck, Nick,” Dana said softly as she gave his hand a comforting squeeze but his attention was on the double doors. He wanted to go after his little recluse and make sure that she was alright and of course didn’t consume a shit load of sugar, but he had to fix the damn problem she’d just created for herself.

  She’d worked too damn hard to throw it away now and as much as he appreciated her trying to help him out he could take care of himself. He knew that every publishing company in the world would probably kill to sign her, but he wanted her here where Rick could watch over her. Once Dana and Edward walked out of the room all hell broke loose.

  “Can somebody please explain to me how in the hell we just lost our two top clients in one day?” Jonathan demanded in that crisp voice that always annoyed him.

  “Because instead of allowing me to explain the situation you listened to Miss.

  Johnson,” Rick explained tightly as he stood up and walked over to the mini bar to poor himself a drink. “And now we not only lost one of our best editors,” he said, gesturing towards Nick with his drink, “But two of the top authors in the world.”

  Who in the hell was Miss. Johnson, he wondered as he joined Rick at the bar for a drink. Since no one had called security on him yet he thought he’d stick around and try to fix this mess before his little recluse got in over her head.

  “I’m not too concerned with my job, but I think you should reconsider your position on Miss. Harris’ job. She’s a damn good editor and our clients trust her.

  They rely on her in fact and taking her away will be like taking away their support system,” Nick said before taking a sip of his drink.

  “He’s right. The second they hear that she’s no longer working for us they’ll pull back and the ones that were considering signing with us will go elsewhere,”

  Rick said, backing him up.

  “I didn’t want to fire either of them in the first place, but after what Miss.

  Johnson said I didn’t feel as though we had a choice and now look at the mess that we’re in,” Margaret said, running a hand over her tight bun as she walked over to the bar and gestured for him to get her a drink.

  With a shrug he made hers a double as he asked, “Who is Miss. Johnson and what exactly did she say that cost me my job?” he asked, forcing himself to remain relaxed as he wondered who had just fucked them over.

  “Holly,” Rick drawled.

  Nick looked around the room for the woman so that he could strangle her, but at some point she’d snuck off. He should have known the woman would do something when he sent her packing, but admittedly his focus had been elsewhere.

  “Oh? What exactly did she say?” Nick asked in a bored tone as he took a sip of his drink, welcoming the burn as it coated his throat.

  “Apparently she decided to go behind my back after I refused to allow her to return to help with the tour,” Rick said, surprising him. The woman actually tried to come back? That was a little odd.

  “She claimed that under your direction Miss. Harris wasn’t getting much work done and you were ignoring your duties to be with her. At first we
didn’t think much of it,” Jonathan said as he joined them for a drink. “But after that video, the tour cancelation and of course the complaints we received in the past couple of days”

  “What’s this about complaints?” Nick asked, interrupting the man.

  Anthony, who’d been pretty quiet up to this point, joined them for a drink.

  “We started to receive calls that you and Miss. Harris were caught in several indecent situations over the past couple of days. There were also complaints that the two of you were constantly ducking out of conventions. When we asked Miss.

  Johnson about it she reluctantly admitted that it was difficult to find you, you refused to help her and that Miss. Harris disappeared for a good hour, leaving the convention coordinators high and dry.”

  “Why didn’t you ask me what happened?” Nick asked, pouring the man a drink and handing it to him. “I could have cleared this whole thing up. I don’t know about the complaints, but we never left a convention early. In fact, Jamie worked her ass off and stayed as long as it took to meet every single fan because she felt bad about them waiting to meet her and in case you haven’t noticed she’s painfully shy and that was a hell of a lot of stress for the woman, but she did it,” Nick said, noting the look his bosses, well, technically ex-bosses now, shared.

  His little recluse had worked her ass off and shouldn’t be facing this bullshit.

  She had enough to deal with. Her family screwed her over and lied to her and thanks to a few well placed calls he now knew they’d fucked her over once again.

  She just lost her home. She had a psycho on her ass and he’d be damned if he let them take away something she truly enjoyed doing.

  “As far as Miss. Johnson is concerned,” he said tightly, “I’m afraid you’ve been mislead. During the brief time Miss. Johnson accompanied us on this tour she proved to not only be incompetent, but resentful as I explained to Rick. She caused problems that I was forced to deal with and she left Miss. Harris near tears. Before the convention was even over I decided that she was not capable of doing her job and asked Rick to remove her.”