Operation Valentine

by Loretta Hill

  Andrew Whenam was the new up-and-coming mining magnate who had just finished establishing a rail network that ran all the way through the Pilbara. Sarah knew well that Mr Penwick wanted to use that railway to move his own cars across the country. This dinner, she realised, was his first step towards a joint venture.

  ‘Don’t worry, Mr Penwick, I’m sure this ball will really impress Andrew Whenam. Isn’t he also a big humanitarian?’

  ‘He’s a bloody philanthropic family man with all the anal tendencies of a goody-two-shoes,’ Mr Penwick groaned, as though the knowledge were a great trial to him.

  Sarah bit down hard on her trembling lower lip as she waited for him to continue.

  ‘It is therefore imperative,’ Mr Penwick stabbed his thick hairy finger at her, ‘that we show him that I am also a good man because,’ he added quickly, ‘I am.’

  ‘Of course, Mr Penwick.’ Sarah nodded. ‘What would you like me to do?’

  ‘Fill that seat.’

  She blinked. ‘Er, all right. How about Lesley Hartworth? She’s the minister for –’

  ‘I don’t want a politician at my table!’ Mr Penwick snapped. ‘Think, Sarah, think. We want Andrew to trust me.’

  She swallowed. ‘Right.’ Who else? ‘Did you have a particular person in mind, Mr Penwick?’

  ‘No, I don’t. And that reminds me, who the hell is Eric Crown? And why is he at my table?’

  She glanced down at the seating plan again. ‘Ah yes, Mr Eric Crown. He’s the President of the Cancer Foundation.’

  ‘Oh.’ Mr Penwick’s face fell. ‘I guess we can’t really put him anywhere else then, can we?’

  ‘No, sir,’ she agreed, but added reassuringly with a finger to the page, ‘As you can see, though, I’ve taken the liberty of placing myself at the seat beside him and his girlfriend. I am quite happy to keep them both occupied while you woo Mr Whenam, who is seated to your left.’

  Mr Penwick immediately brightened. ‘Good idea, Sarah.’ He nodded approvingly. ‘Very good idea.’

  She smiled, moving her finger over the page. ‘On the other side of Mr Whenam we have Chris Cooper, the retired Eagles player, and his model girlfriend. And next to her is Ian Hawke, that journalist who just came back from the Middle East. Then there is Simon Fairmount and your wonderful wife. So as you can see, even with an empty seat, Mr Penwick, you have a very well-balanced table.’

  ‘You’re right,’ he mused. ‘There is no need for another big personality. Better to fill that seat with someone more down to earth.’

  ‘Er, can you be more specific, Mr Penwick?’

  ‘Why don’t you just bring a date, Sarah?’

  She choked on her own spit. ‘I beg your pardon, sir? Did you just say I should bring a date?’

  ‘Yes. It’s the perfect solution.’

  ‘Er … no it’s not, sir.’

  ‘Yes it is.’ He waved his hand. ‘Just bring that husband of yours.’

  ‘I’m not married, sir.’

  ‘A boyfriend then.’

  ‘I don’t have one of those either, Mr Penwick.’

  ‘Really, Sarah. I didn’t think you would have such a complete lack of foresight.’

  She stalled the ready retort on her lips and said with studied politeness, ‘I’m sorry to have inconvenienced you, Mr Penwick.’

  ‘Not to worry,’ he grudgingly excused her. ‘It’s not too late for you to make up for it, you’re a very resourceful young lady.’

  ‘Thank you, sir, but –’

  ‘Find a man to pander to Andrew’s high moral standards and family values and bring him along for me.’

  How on earth am I supposed to do that?

  ‘What if I can’t find that sort of man, sir?’

  He looked at her so sternly she wished she were a tortoise so that she could retract her head into her shell. ‘You can’t let me down, Sarah. This joint venture is imperative now that China has pulled out of its investments.’

  Even though her mind was currently spinning like a merry-go-round, she managed to stop the horses long enough to gasp.

  ‘Sorry, sir. Did you just say China has pulled out of its investments?’

  ‘Yes, didn’t Lucy tell you?’ He shook his head. ‘You girls really need to communicate better.’

  If China had pulled their investment, that meant three Penwick Pilbara projects were on hold.

  Three hundred jobs or more stood in the balance, possibly hers as well.

  He shook his finger at her. ‘Don’t let this company downsizing get to you, Sarah. I need your best work right now. You and Lucy. You need to focus.’

  His phone rang then and he picked it up without hesitation, swinging his chair around to take the call. She could only presume that she was required to let herself out. On shaky legs, she rose and left the room.

  Why had Lucy kept this from her?

  Which jobs were being cut?

  And where the hell was she supposed to find a man with high moral standards to bring to the ball on Valentine’s Day?

  Pursing her lips, she made a beeline for Lucy’s desk. The hard-nosed blonde, dressed in funeral-black, was sitting there writing a press release. Sarah picked up the draft that was by Lucy’s elbow and scanned it in horror. She read to halfway down the page, where one shocking line jumped out at her: ‘Unfortunately, Penwick will be forced to cut half its workforce across all departments due to the decreased demand for iron ore.’

  Half its workforce!

  Lucy only now seemed to sense someone standing beside her and turned her head crossly. ‘What do you want?’

  Sarah shook the piece of paper at her. ‘Why didn’t you tell me about this?’

  A shuttered look crossed Lucy’s face and even as Sarah stared at her, awaiting a response, the answer dawned on her. Half the workforce.

  ‘Oh crap, which one of us is being fired?’

  Lucy’s eyes flickered but she didn’t immediately answer.

  ‘Tell me,’ Sarah implored, placing the draft release back on the desk.

  ‘He hasn’t decided yet,’ Lucy finally admitted gruffly. ‘Announcements won’t be made till mid-March.’

  Sarah’s eyes widened. No wonder Lucy hadn’t told her. They were in a competition to win their boss’s favour. She had just over two months to prove to Mr Penwick that she was a better public relations manager than Lucy – who would be trying to do exactly the same thing to her.

  What a nightmare. She pinched her arm. ‘Ouch.’ Nope, not dreaming.

  Her gaze returned to Lucy, who was now leaning back in her chair, hands laced together.

  ‘Why not just quit now and save yourself the pain, Dubert? We both know I’m going to get this job.’

  ‘How do you figure that?’ Sarah folded her arms across the tightness in her chest.

  Lucy shrugged too nonchalantly. ‘I have more experience.’

  Sarah rolled her eyes. ‘By six months. I wouldn’t get too comfortable.’

  Lucy glared at her. ‘You were forty minutes late this morning.’

  ‘But I had a very successful meeting.’ Sarah glared right back.

  Okay, that was only half true. But good enough.

  Lucy’s eyes narrowed. ‘Mr Penwick has asked me to handle the press on a major company restructure. You’re doing a charity ball. Come on, Sarah, wake up and smell the roses.’

  She couldn’t think of a good comeback for that one. So with pursed lips she backed out of Lucy’s cubicle and retreated to her own.

  Unfortunately the woman was right. Lucy had been given the big responsibility of smoothing the way for mass job termination. By contrast, she was publicising a social function.

  But it’s a very important function, a small voice said in her head.

  It could be the beginning of a joint venture – a partnership that could generate more jobs and save the company. Hadn’t Mr Penwick said that this ball was imperative to his success with Mr Whenam?

  What he said was that it was imperative I have a date for it.<
br />
  Sarah sank dejectedly into her chair.

  She could not lose her job. Certainly not in this economic climate. Besides, she loved her position here at Penwick Pty Ltd. She didn’t want to say goodbye to it yet.

  She turned on her computer, biting her fingernails as it loaded up. There was no escaping it now.

  She needed that date for Valentine’s Day.

  And not just with someone she could fall in love with.

  But someone Mr Penwick could fall in love with too.

  Someone Andrew Whenam could fall in love with.

  Someone with high moral standards and family values.

  Where could she go to find a man with such a specific set of criteria?

  She closed her eyes as the answer presented itself. Whipping her phone out of her pocket, she typed a text message addressed to both her friends.

  All right. Operation Valentine. I’m in. When can we get started?

  Chapter 4

  Week 1, Day 2: Profiling

  The beauty of owning The Blue Saloon was that Owen could pick his own hours. Most weeknights, he liked to go home early enough to spend time with his daughter – make sure she did her homework, find out how her day went and, God forbid, discuss her upcoming puberty-related shopping excursions. However, this particular Friday, just as he finished the handover to his night shift manager, Sarah Dubert walked in.

  She was wearing a dark green, sleeveless dress that was cut for business, which hinted that she had come straight from work. It was neither too short nor too snug, but its understated suggestiveness was like an unspoken challenge to every man in the room.

  Not that he intended to answer that call, as tempting as it may be. He waited for her to approach the bar, but instead she went straight for a table by the window. The expression on her face suggested she was preoccupied, like she was there to work, not play. As if to add proof to the pudding, she took an iPad from her handbag and immediately became absorbed in whatever was on the screen. Head bent low, her fingers played with a few strands of hair that had come away from the loose knot at the back of her head. Her thin-rimmed metal glasses, which she hadn’t been wearing yesterday, lent an air of seriousness to her project. He eyed her in mild amusement.

  What was she doing?

  Online shopping?

  Watching Foxtel?

  Reading Fifty Shades of Grey?

  Whatever it was, it certainly took her complete and undivided attention.

  She clearly didn’t notice the three men on the couches who had simultaneously lowered their beers to eye her.

  He frowned.

  Now was probably as good a time as any to give her back her jewellery box. Though, from the looks of her, she hadn’t even missed it. Reaching under the bar, he retrieved the silver-plated item from where he had placed it yesterday for safe keeping. He smiled at the sight of it.

  This is going to be fun.

  He went over to her table and sat down opposite her. She didn’t even look up before saying, ‘So glad you’re finally here,’ as she tapped wildly on her screen. ‘I’m nearly finished. This questionnaire has taken me ages. But only a couple more questions to go before my profile is done. Then we can start going through potentials.’

  ‘Potentials? Potential what?’ he asked bemused.

  She gasped at the sound of his voice and looked up in horror. He used her stupor to lean forward slightly and read the webpage she was looking at.

  ‘Soulmates.com. “A pathway to your happily ever after.” What the hell?’

  She hastily switched off the screen. ‘What are you doing here?’

  ‘This is my bar.’

  ‘I mean, at my table.’ She frowned. ‘I’m not looking for company.’

  ‘Well then you shouldn’t sit by yourself.’

  ‘Didn’t we establish yesterday that I’m not your type?’

  ‘Completely and absolutely,’ he said with a firm no-nonsense inflection in his voice.

  ‘Then what do you want?’

  ‘I think I have something that belongs to you.’ He lifted her box from his lap and placed it on the table between them.

  Colour spread through her face like pink dye tipped into fairy floss. ‘How did you get that?’

  He tilted his head at her. ‘I think you must have left it on the bar yesterday when you were emptying your handbag.’

  ‘Oh.’ She licked her lips and his eyes were immediately drawn to her tongue. ‘I suppose I must have.’ She drew the box self-consciously towards her, opened her giant handbag and flicked it in.

  ‘It’s a very pretty box,’ he murmured casually. ‘Very expensive looking. Is it real silver?’

  With a groan, she looked up. ‘You opened it, didn’t you?’

  ‘Well of course I opened it.’ He grinned. ‘Who doesn’t open a box like that? The Hope Diamond could be in there.’

  ‘Okay, yes the box is expensive.’ She lifted her chin. ‘It’s even one of a kind, actually. My ex-boyfriend, Travis, gave it to me for my birthday. He said it was a symbol of our love.’ Her expression clouded. ‘Then a couple months later he dumped me to be with the woman he’d been seeing behind my back.’

  ‘Ouch.’

  She gave a deep sigh. ‘Yep, he was a bastard. But I couldn’t throw away the box.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘Come on, you said it yourself, it’s too expensive. Besides the fact that it’s got my name engraved on it so …’

  ‘So …?’

  She lifted her chin. ‘I did the only thing I could think of.’

  ‘You put your tampons in it.’

  She shrugged. ‘It seemed fitting.’

  ‘Hold a grudge much?’ He laughed.

  ‘Well, now that you’ve completely embarrassed me,’ she looked back at her iPad, ‘don’t you have something better to do?’

  ‘I’ll stay till your friend gets here.’ He glanced sternly at the men on the couch behind her, who immediately resumed drinking and looked away.

  Her eyes flicked up from her screen again. ‘But I don’t want you to.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘Because I’m trying to do something very important here and I don’t want to be distracted.’

  ‘Filling out an online dating profile?’ He squinted at her. ‘Honey, if you want to get picked up there’re three guys behind you who would be happy to volunteer.’

  She rolled her eyes. ‘I told you yesterday, I’m not looking for a fling. I’m going to fall in love. This is the real deal. Besides,’ her finger flicked across the screen, ‘I have very strict selection criteria.’

  He raised his eyebrows. ‘Really?’ He didn’t quite know why but he was finding this conversation fascinating. Perhaps it was her no-holds-barred honesty. The girl didn’t bother with guile. She was who she was and didn’t pretend to be anybody else.

  ‘Well.’ She ticked off her fingers. ‘Intelligent, kind-hearted, high moral standards, has good family values, and some mining knowledge would be preferable.’

  ‘Mining knowledge?’ he choked.

  She squared her shoulders. ‘What’s wrong with that?’

  ‘Just a little odd, that’s all.’

  ‘I’ll have you know, mining is the backbone of our economy.’

  ‘Yes, I’m aware. What I didn’t know was that it was also the backbone to a relationship. Guess I’m out then.’

  ‘No offence,’ she lowered her voice while pinching thumb and forefinger together, ‘but you were never in.’

  He grinned. ‘Yes, I received that message loud and clear.’

  At that point her phone started ringing and she dived into her handbag and drew it out. ‘Amy! Where are you?’

  Her hopeful expression faded as her friend obviously made excuses. ‘Oh no. So you’re not coming? At all? But you know how important this is, right? I’m running out of time. We’ve got a six-week deadline, remember? Oh … okay.’ She paused. ‘Fine. I’ll catch you tomorrow. Bye.’

  She hung up, dejectedly putti
ng her phone back in her bag.

  ‘What’s happening in six weeks?’

  She shook her head. ‘I’m not telling you.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘You’ll just laugh at me.’

  ‘Honey, I’m already laughing at you.’

  She considered this. ‘Okay, fine, if you must know, it’s Valentine’s Day. I need to have a date for it.’

  ‘You’re kidding me, right?’

  She sighed. ‘I wish I were.’

  ‘You’re afraid you might miss out on flowers and chocolate this year?’

  ‘No.’ She glared at him. ‘I’m not that shallow.’

  ‘Pity,’ he mused. ‘I am.’

  ‘Urgh.’ She closed her eyes and threw back her head, sucking in a deep breath as though finding her centre. He was left with a rather lovely view of her throat and just for a second he imagined kissing a path from her collarbone to her earlobe … before he mentally slapped himself and dropped his eyes.

  Don’t go there. You’ll regret it.

  ‘Okay then.’ He forced himself to speak. ‘So why do you need a date for Valentine’s Day?’

  She sat back up. ‘I have a lot of reasons.’ He watched her withdraw wistfully into her own thoughts for a moment before she said softly, ‘Apart from falling in love, I need to break a curse and save my career.’

  Normally this was exactly the kind of female he avoided, but her dreamy voice made him smile. ‘Sounds exhausting.’

  She shrugged. ‘What about you? Do you have a date for Valentine’s Day?’

  ‘Thinking I might be able to help you out?’

  ‘No.’ She immediately coloured up. ‘I was just curious that’s all, making conversation –’

  ‘Take a breath,’ he assured her. ‘I was just teasing. The truth is, I don’t do holidays. Valentine’s Day, Christmas, Easter, New Year’s, et cetera. As far as I’m concerned those are commitment days. And I don’t want to give any woman the wrong idea.’

  ‘Look at you.’ She widened her eyes in feigned admiration. ‘What a stand-up guy.’

  He grinned.

  ‘Now as much as I’ve enjoyed our conversation,’ she rolled her eyes to refute the claim, ‘can you give me some space? I need to go through my potentials.’