The Corporate Bridegroom

by Liz Fielding

  Only partly true, as she was sure he knew. ‘The buck stops on the top floor, Mr Macaulay. I’m simply making the point that I’ve been down there on the shop floor. I’ve worked in every department. I’ve driven delivery vans—’

  ‘You’ve even been one of Santa’s little helpers, according to the Evening Post,’ he interrupted. ‘How much did you learn from that?’

  ‘Never to do it again,’ she offered, with a genuine smile—one she hoped he might accept as a peace-offering. Then maybe they could stop sparring and start over. As equals.

  ‘You didn’t know about the agreement, did you?’ he responded, bypassing the peace-offering and going straight for the jugular. ‘That you’d have to surrender the store when your father retired?’

  She was a fraction too long in telling him that he was wrong. While she was still reaching for words that wouldn’t make a liar of her, he said, ‘I thought not. Your father should have been honest with you all from the outset. It would have been a lot kinder.’

  That would have been a first, Romana thought. If ever a man had lived with his head in the sand… ‘We have no intention of meddling with the details, you know. We’ll employ the best management team available to run the store—’

  ‘We’re the best management team available,’ she retorted. Probably. She had no point of comparison. But they were family. No matter how much a high-flying executive was paid, he would never care in quite the same way. ‘Leave it to us and we’ll continue to deliver the profits you’ve enjoyed for years without ever having to lift a finger.’

  ‘And without having any say in what happens. Profits haven’t budged in three years. The store is stagnating. It’s time for a change,’ he announced.

  Oh, knickers! The banker had done his homework. She’d bet he could tell to a penny how much they’d made in the last fiscal year. Last week, in all probability.

  ‘The retail market has been difficult all round,’ she said. She’d already said way too much. India was right. She should have kept her head down and her mouth shut.

  ‘I know.’ He sounded almost sympathetic. Romana wasn’t fooled for a minute. ‘But Claibourne & Farraday appears to have become entranced with its own image as the most luxurious store in London.’

  ‘Well, it is,’ she declared. ‘It may not be the largest, but it has a style of its own. And it’s definitely the most comfortable store in town.’

  ‘Comfortable? As in old-fashioned, boring and lacking in new ideas?’

  Romana almost winced at this telling description. ‘And you have them?’ she demanded. They might have sat around bemoaning their father’s refusal to modernise, get away from the mahogany and red-carpet nineteenth-century decor. Let in some light. She wasn’t about to tell Niall Macaulay that. ‘You have brilliant new ideas?’ she asked. It was far too late to keep her head down.

  ‘Of course we have plans.’ Niall Macaulay said this as if anything else was unthinkable. All buttoned-up in his dark suit, with not a scintilla of passion behind his stone-grey banker’s eyes, what did he think he could bring to the greatest department store in London?

  ‘I didn’t say plans, I said ideas. Plans are something altogether different. You might be planning to sell out to one of the chains,’ she said. ‘None of the hassle, just loads of money to play with at your bank. And if you were holding the golden share, we wouldn’t be able to do a thing to stop—’

  ‘Romana…’ A disembodied voice from the intercom stopped her in full flow. ‘I’m sorry to interrupt, but if you don’t leave right now—’

  Niall Macaulay glanced at his watch. ‘Five minutes to the second,’ he said.

  Five minutes too long, she thought. ‘I’m sorry, Mr Macaulay, fascinating as this exchange of views has been, I do have to be somewhere else right now. On Claibourne & Farraday business. I’ll have to leave you to compare diaries with my secretary. Just let her know when you can spare some time for the store and I’ll include you in my plans.’ Without waiting to listen to his views on that suggestion, she grabbed her bags and, not bothering to wait for the lift, headed for the stairs.

  Spare some time? Niall wasn’t about to let a chit of a girl get away with a put-down like that. She was the one not giving full value and he was about to prove it. Collecting his overcoat and umbrella, he followed her.

  ‘Miss Claibourne?’

  The uniformed commissionaire at the main entrance had summoned a taxi and was holding the door. She stepped in. She was in a hurry and didn’t need another dose of Niall Macaulay. ‘That didn’t take long,’ she said. Not nearly long enough. He’d obviously followed her straight down the stairs. Then, because politeness appeared to demand it, she said, ‘Can I drop you somewhere, Mr Macaulay?’

  ‘No.’ Her relief was short-lived as he climbed in beside her. ‘I’m going wherever you’re going, Miss Claibourne. When I said I was going to spend some time shadowing you, I wasn’t referring to some stage-managed occasion, set up for the purpose. I meant now.’

  ‘Now?’ she repeated stupidly. ‘You mean now, this minute?’ She laughed—an unconvincing ha-ha-ha sort of laugh—hoping that he was joking. He didn’t join in. Her mistake; the man didn’t joke. ‘Forgive me. I understood you had a bank to run. I assumed you were a busy man, that you’d want to pick and choose.’ She hoped she looked sincere when she said, ‘You might prefer not to get involved in everything I do,’ because she really meant it. She didn’t want to be involved in everything she did.

  ‘I’m here. You’re here. Let’s not make a performance over this. Let’s just get on with it.’

  He thought she was trying to hide something, and it was very tempting to say yes and let him see for himself, but really it wouldn’t be a good start. ‘Trust me, you really don’t want to shadow me today.’

  ‘Trust me when I say that I really do, Miss Claibourne. If I don’t stay with you all the time, how will I ever learn?’

  And she’d thought the taxi driver had been sarcastic.

  ‘You don’t understand. I’m not—’

  ‘You’re not working today?’ He glanced at her shopping bags in a manner that suggested he wouldn’t need a month to discover everything there was to know about her. His look suggested that he’d had her all weighed up from the moment half a carton of latte had taken the shine off his shoes.

  ‘Yes, but—’

  ‘Hadn’t you better tell the driver where you want to go?’

  ‘I really think it might be wiser if I faxed you a list of what I’ll be doing for the rest of the month,’ she replied firmly, ignoring his suggestion.

  ‘I’m sure it will make interesting reading. But I particularly want to see what you’re doing today.’

  She doubted that. She really doubted that. A little shiver of fear erupted as a giggle. ‘It’s very commendable of you to take this so seriously.’

  ‘I take everything seriously. I’m certainly not the kind of man who believes he has nothing left to learn. Even from you,’ he added.

  ‘That’s very generous of you.’ Her smile disguised a level of sarcasm that she rarely stooped to. Could it be catching?

  ‘You are working today?’ he repeated. ‘You do draw a full-time salary?’

  He made it sound as if she was somehow cheating. Taking the money but not putting in the work.

  ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘I draw a full-time salary.’ And today she was going to earn every penny, she thought, as she leaned forward to give the cab driver their destination.

  India had been surprised that the Farradays had bought her delaying tactic, and it suddenly occurred to Romana that perhaps things weren’t quite as simple as had first appeared. Why else would three busy men give up so much time to shadow three young women who could teach them nothing?

  Niall Macaulay had already admitted that they wouldn’t be running the store, but putting in their own management team. Did they need to prove the Claibourne women incompetent before they could hope to dislodge them from the boardroom?

  But t
hey weren’t incompetent. So everything was just dandy…

  ‘Miss Claibourne?’

  ‘What? Oh… You want to see how I earn it?’ she asked.

  ‘You made a big pitch back there about how hard you all work. How nobody else could do the job.’

  ‘I didn’t say nobody. But I don’t believe an investment banker could easily step into my shoes.’ Not this investment banker, anyway. Public relations required warmth. An ability to smile even when you didn’t feel much like it.

  ‘Well, you’ve got a month to convince me. Perhaps you shouldn’t waste the time.’

  She glanced at him, startled by the grimness of his tone. The man certainly knew how to bear a grudge. ‘You’re quite sure about this? You wouldn’t like to reconsider?’ she asked, offering him a final chance to escape an experience she wouldn’t wish on her worst enemy. She’d be happy to make an exception in his case, but she didn’t want him crying foul afterwards.

  ‘On the contrary. I’d be interested to see what you do for the fat salary you draw on top of your share of the profits. It’s not a problem, is it?’

  It was the word ‘fat’ that sealed his fate. ‘Absolutely not,’ she said, fastening her seatbelt. ‘Be my guest.’ And she dug out her cellphone and pressed a fast-dial number. ‘Molly, I’m on my way. Make sure there’s a spare C&F sweatshirt available.’ She eyed the man next to her. ‘Forty-four chest?’ He made no comment on her estimate, merely regarded her suspiciously through narrowed eyes. ‘That’ll do. Better make it extra long. And I’ll need an extra chair in my box tonight for another guest. Niall Macaulay.’ She spelt it out. ‘Include him in everything this week, will you? And you’ll have to double up all arrangements for the rest of the month. I’ll explain when I see you.’

  ‘Tonight?’ He was regarding her through narrowed eyes. ‘What’s happening tonight?’

  ‘A charity gala. Today is the start of a week of JOY, which is why your arrival is so untimely.’

  ‘JOY?’ Niall Macaulay looked slightly bemused. ‘Should I know what that is?’

  ‘A word for delight, pleasure, merriment?’ she offered. ‘It’s also the name of the Claibourne & Farraday charity support event that we started a couple of years ago. It’s a great public relations opportunity,’ she added pointedly.

  ‘Oh, yes. I remember reading about it in the annual report.’

  What else? ‘We do it every year and raise a lot of cash for under-privileged children.’

  ‘And get a lot of free publicity at the same time.’

  At last! ‘It’s not exactly free. You wouldn’t believe the cost of balloons these days. And sweatshirts. But it’s good value for money, especially for the children. Of course we do have a very good public relations department.’ She smiled at him, but only because that seemed to annoy him most. ‘You didn’t think this was a nine-to-five job, did you? I don’t keep bank hours, I’m afraid.’ Then, ‘I’m sorry, will your wife be expecting you home?’ She was catching onto this sarcastic lark. She was rather afraid she might get to enjoy it.

  ‘I’m not married, Miss Claibourne,’ he replied. ‘I haven’t been for some time.’

  Romana wasn’t in the least bit surprised.

  CHAPTER TWO

  NIALL took out his mobile phone and called his secretary, reorganising his schedule for the rest of the day, dealing with queries that wouldn’t wait. At least the evening presented no problems. His date with a report on the steel industry would keep.

  Romana was making calls too. One after another. Talking to an endless stream of people involved in the gala, checking last-minute details about flowers and programmes and seating.

  It was possible she was attempting to impress him. Or maybe she was simply avoiding conversation. For that, at least, he should be grateful.

  Staring out at the passing streets as the driver edged slowly through the city in the heavy midday traffic, he had plenty of time to regret the impulse that had prompted him to follow Romana Claibourne out of the office.

  Heaven alone knew that he didn’t want to spend a minute in her company that wasn’t absolutely necessary. He had precious little time for ditzy blondes at the best of times. He had none at all for those who played at being ‘company director’ in the little time they could spare from shopping. He glanced at the designer label carrier bags, scattered about her long, narrow feet.

  Encased in designer shoes with a price ticket to reflect the label, he had no doubt.

  His lip curled at such conspicuous extravagance even while the man in him recognised the beauty of the feet, the slender ankles and the legs to which they were attached. There was a lot of leg to admire—Romana Claibourne clearly didn’t believe in hiding her best features.

  She was pushing back her wild, thick mane of curls when she realised that he was staring at her. Every instinct warned him to turn away as she paused, querying his look. Instead, he did what he knew would most irritate her. He raised one brow…bored, unimpressed…and turned back to the more interesting view of passing traffic.

  A charity gala, no matter how good the cause, wasn’t his idea of work. It wasn’t even his idea of fun. Such events were right at the bottom of his ‘must-do’ list. He’d far rather send a cheque and pass on the manufactured glamour.

  But he could scarcely complain. She’d given him every opportunity to escape, offered to sort out the shadowing in a civilised manner; he’d simply assumed she was trying to get rid of him in order to get on with whatever that overnight bag had been packed for.

  It was too late now to wish he’d simply asked her what she was doing for the rest of day. There was just something about the girl, the way she looked at him with those big blue eyes as if she was used to twisting men around her little finger and having them sit up and beg for more. He’d wanted her to know that he was made of sterner stuff.

  The taxi finally came to a halt just upstream of Tower Bridge, where the burgundy and gold livery of Claibourne & Farraday was much in evidence on balloons and sweatshirts and a huge crowd was being whipped up into a state of wild excitement for the television cameras.

  ‘We’re here, Mr Macaulay.’

  ‘Niall, please,’ he said. Not out of any desire for informality, but because a whole month of being addressed as “Mr Macaulay” in a manner just short of insolent was not going to improve his temper.

  And he could see for himself that they’d arrived.

  It was what they were going to be doing that bothered him. Then, as he stepped out of the taxi and saw the C&F banner draped over the length of a very tall crane and a huge sign inviting participants to ‘Jump for JOY’, it became blindingly obvious.

  He discovered that charity galas were not, after all, at the bottom of his list.

  Charity bungee-jumping was right off the page.

  ‘It’s not always like this,’ Romana said, as she turned from paying the cab driver. ‘Some days are quite dull.’ She tucked the receipt into her wallet, then looked up and flashed a quick smile at him. ‘Although not many—not if I can help it.’

  ‘You’re going to jump?’ he asked. Silly question. Of course she was going to jump. She was being paid to have fun and she was enjoying every stupid, reckless minute of it.

  ‘Do you wish you’d gone back to your office when you had a chance, shadow-man?’ The challenge was light enough, but it was unmistakable. It said, Where I go, you follow.

  ‘Not at all,’ he replied. ‘I’m finding the experience highly informative, but you appear to have misinterpreted the word “shadow”. You could have saved yourself the bother of organising a sweatshirt for me. I’m not playing follow-my-leader, Romana. I’m simply observing.’

  She glanced up at him. ‘Scared, huh?’

  He let that go. He had nothing to prove. There had been a time when he’d been as reckless as a man could be. But life had a way of mocking you. The gentlest of pastimes could be more dangerous than jumping into thin air.

  ‘Have you ever done this before?’ he asked.
<
br />   ‘Me? Good grief, no. I’m scared of heights.’ For a moment he believed her, then, when she had him hooked, she grinned. ‘How else do you think I managed to drum up so much sponsorship?’

  ‘You could have pinned your victims down and threatened to pour coffee over them unless they signed on the dotted line?’ he offered. She was bright and bubbly, and no doubt very good at this kind of mindless nonsense, but she wasn’t his idea of a company director.

  She acknowledged his bull’s-eye with the slightest nod. ‘I’ll bear that in mind for next year. Thanks for the tip.’

  ‘There won’t be a next year.’

  ‘Well, no, not a bungee-jump, but…’ She suddenly realised that he wasn’t referring to the bungee-jump, but the imminent eviction of the Claibournes from the boardroom. ‘But I’ll come up with something equally exciting,’ she continued firmly. ‘If you’d like to show your own enthusiasm it’s not too late to phone your office and drum up some sponsorship yourself. It’s for a great cause, and I’m sure there are any number of people who’d pay good money to see you jump a hundred feet from a crane with an elastic band tied to your feet.’ Her smile was gratingly sweet as she offered him her phone. ‘It’s being broadcast on the internet,’ she added, ‘so they’ll be able to watch the whole thing live and get their money’s worth.’ Then, because she couldn’t resist it, ‘I’ll sponsor you myself.’

  He’d just bet she would, but he shook his head. ‘I’ll stick to the arrangement we made. You do whatever you usually do. I’ll observe.’ No hardship on the eye, at least. Just on the brain. ‘You are jumping?’

  ‘One of the Claibournes had to make the opening jump and since India and Flora suddenly discovered pressing appointments elsewhere…’ She shrugged. ‘It’s a pity, though. If I’d known you’d be here I could have billed us both as the opening jump. We’ve already got the front page of Celebrity magazine for next week, but with you arriving out of the blue we could have sold pictures to the financial pages, too.’