Texas Christmas

by Nancy Robards Thompson

He hung up and spent the next forty-five minutes with Pepper, discussing the particulars of her position, how she could help behind the scenes until he obtained board approval to bring her on full-time at the Foundation and her salary.

  He was amazed by her candor and how she truly seemed to want what was best for the organization. She told him she was happy to work behind the scenes sharing her expertise until they were sure her coming on board was a good fit.

  “Don’t sell yourself short,” he said. “I am perfectly aware of the situation with Texas Star. You didn’t work for them. In fact, yesterday, Kate said it best—you should not be held accountable for the sins of your father.”

  For the first time since he’d met her, he saw her visibly relax.

  “I haven’t gotten where I am by taking the safe route. I take calculated risks. Right now, my money is on you.” He glanced at his watch. “I guess Kate is still tied up in her meeting, but I know you have her endorsement. So, let me tell you what I’m thinking. The board will meet again in January—about a month from now.” He leaned in. “I’ll tell you something if you promise to keep a secret.”

  Pepper nodded enthusiastically. “Of course. I’m a vault.”

  Actually, you’re more like an hourglass—

  And that thought was so unbelievably inappropriate.

  He cleared his throat. “Anyway, the board has decided to reward my sister with a promotion. Currently, she’s the Foundation representative. They want to make her the executive director. They want to surprise her at the next board meeting. What I foresee that to mean is after her promotion, we will need to hire another Foundation rep. That would be where you might come in. But in the meantime, if you’re on board with it, I can put you on Macintyre Enterprise’s payroll and you can start learning the ropes. Of course, if you made the switch to the Foundation, we could negotiate salary then. Does that sound like something you’d be interested in?”

  The way Pepper’s eyes sparkled he couldn’t tell if they were brown or green. Whatever the color, they were gorgeous.

  “Absolutely, I’m interested. But are you sure hiring me before the fact—before the board even approves the position—won’t somehow backfire?”

  He chuckled. “I may have to get board approval for the Foundation, but they have absolutely no say in what I do at Macintyre Enterprises.”

  They couldn’t stop me if I wanted to hire you to sit here all day just so I could look at you. But he shoved that thought behind the door in his head he’d labeled Inappropriate—even though the thought came from the heart, it would be insulting if he tried to use that analogy. Hadn’t he just reminded her not to sell herself short? He certainly wasn’t going to make her feel as though he’d done exactly that.

  The woman was smart. She had a quick wit and a sharp take on life. She also happened to be incredibly beautiful.

  Her looks were simply a bonus.

  He stood and extended his hand. “Welcome aboard. When can you start?”

  She shook his hand. “Tomorrow?”

  “Great. Do you have time to stop by human resources to do the paperwork right now? That way we can get the formalities out of the way.”

  “Sure,” she said.

  They paused by his office door, and he could smell her perfume—a hint of roses and spice. She smelled so good, he had to resist the urge to lean in.

  Brand me inappropriate all day long.

  Now that he’d brought her on board, he would be able to put his business hat back on and be her boss.

  Strictly her boss, which meant no fraternizing.

  But no fraternizing didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy looking at her.

  He opened the door. “Becca, would you please direct Ms. Merriweather to human resources? She will be joining our team starting tomorrow.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me!”

  The shrill voice came from behind him and he turned to see Raven Chairez standing with Kate. Kate looked as if she wanted to crawl under Becca’s desk.

  “Robert, did I hear you correctly?” Raven asked. “Did you just say Pepper Merriweather is going to work for you?”

  “Hello, Raven,” Pepper said. “It’s been a while.”

  Raven didn’t answer. Instead, she made a sound somewhere between a huff and a snort.

  “You must have perfect hearing. That’s exactly what I said. Becca, would you please—”

  “No, Becca, wait.” Raven sounded as though she were talking to a dog. “Robert, may I have a moment, please?”

  She didn’t wait for him to answer. She simply walked into his office, obviously expecting him to follow her.

  “Oh, for God’s sake.” Did her drama ever end?

  “Excuse me for one second,” he said to Pepper. “One second.”

  He stepped into his office and closed the door.

  “Robert, what are you doing? I have no idea how on earth this woman could be useful to you. I am about to stop you from making the worst decision you could possibly make. Don’t hire her, Robert. Believe me, you’ll thank me later.”

  Was this really happening? Was he caught in a living nightmare or was this just another dramatic moment courtesy of Raven Chairez?

  “Thank you, but Pepper didn’t list you as a reference.”

  “As if anyone in this town would give her a reference. She’s bad news. She and her crooked family.”

  He frowned. “I don’t agree. She’s smart. She has a lot of talent, good ideas. And a lot of heart.”

  He knew the heart comment would be the kicker.

  Raven looked stunned for a moment. Then her black eyes flashed and she flicked her dark hair off her shoulder. “I will not be associated with the Merriweather family. Harris Merriweather has cost so many people their livelihoods, their life savings. Robert do you not have any sympathy for the poor people who have been robbed by that family? If you hire her, you are in effect offering a personal endorsement to what they’ve done. You will render yourself as big a social outcast as Pepper Merriweather is.”

  He nodded. “Lucky for me, I don’t give a damn what society thinks. I live by my gut and my conscience.”

  Raven laughed, a brittle, hollow sound.

  “Well, I will have you know, if you hire her, your gut and conscience will cost the Celebration Memorial pediatric wing a lot of money.”

  He crossed his arms and cocked his head to the side. “How much money, Raven? You’ve been dangling this carrot long enough. Either pay up or—”

  “Or what? Or what?” she demanded.

  Rob just shook his head. “Okay, I think we’re finished here.”

  He reached for the doorknob, and she reached out and grabbed his hand. Her long, red nails cut into his skin. “The Raven Chairez Foundation was prepared to gift one million dollars to the pediatric wing fund. But if you hire Pepper Merriweather, we can gladly find another recipient whose values and mission are more in line with what we stand for.”

  “Our mission statement says we stand for ‘family, community and education,’” he said. “If you don’t believe in that, then maybe this isn’t a good match.”

  He opened the door and Raven flew out of there without as much as a glance back.

  The four of them—even Becca—stood in stunned silence until after the elevators had carried Raven away.

  Kate was the first to speak. “Oh, my gosh, I’m so sorry.”

  “No.” Pepper shook her head. A shaking hand flew to her mouth. “I’m sorry. You see, this is what I was afraid of. This is what you will have to deal with if you bring me on board. I can’t do that to you—to the pediatric wing. I heard what she said. One million dollars, Rob? You can’t turn down that kind of money. I’ll go. I’ll just—”

  He put a hand on her arm to keep her from leaving. “Are you kidding? A reacti
on like that from a person like Raven is the best endorsement you could hand me.”

  Pepper squinted at him, obviously confused.

  “You’re hired,” he said.

  “But you can’t pass up a million dollars,” Pepper argued.

  “Then you owe the Celebration Memorial pediatric wing a million dollars. Go out there and raise it. Ultimately, that’s why I’m hiring you. Prove your worth. Prove Raven Chairez wrong.”

  Pepper blinked. She looked from him to Kate to Becca and back to him, as if digesting what he’d just said.

  Then she nodded as if she’d finally realized the beauty of the challenge. “Well, I’ve already brought you five hundred thousand, from Agnes Sherwood. So, technically, I only owe you another half million. But I can do it. I’ll show you. I can do that and so much more.”

  And that promise of so much more was exactly what he was counting on.

  Chapter Eleven

  Pepper had a job.

  A bona fide, paying job, doing what she loved to do for an organization she believed in. Life finally felt as if it the clouds were clearing. It was great to have something positive and constructive to focus on.

  Robert had been out of town, so she’d spent her first days on the job in the office working with Kate. Later, there might be occasions when Pepper had to travel with Rob, but today they were sticking close to the home front. Kate was bringing her to Robert’s ranch so that she could familiarize herself with his home office. Kate had told her it was in an outbuilding separate from the main house, located on 125 acres in a rural unincorporated area halfway between Celebration and Dallas.

  As they drove, Pepper and Kate talked like old friends. There was such an easy flow between them. Kate was doing a fabulous job with the Foundation, but she was also receptive to Pepper’s ideas and suggestions.

  “At lunch, I got a phone call from my friend Sydney,” Pepper said. “She’s one of the girls who is on that Catering to Dallas television show that’s taping locally. She had a brilliant idea. Several months ago, before the opportunity for the television show came up—” before Texas Star collapsed, she thought, but didn’t say “—we were all pitching in and helping our friend AJ get a catering business off the ground. We participated in that Taste of Celebration food festival. Remember that?”

  “I do,” said Kate. “I was there.”

  “So was I. I was at the Celebrations, Inc., Catering booth.”

  “I loved their food,” Kate said. “In fact, I’d hoped to use them to cater events. Until they went and got famous on me. Now, I’m sure the waiting list is years long.”

  “Hey, I’ve got connections,” she joked. “So just let me know.”

  “You seem to have a lot of good connections,” Kate said, as she stopped the BMW in front of a huge wrought-iron gate and swiped a plain white card. The gate swung open to admit them. Kate drove down the long gravel driveway, the tires crunching the rocks as they rolled toward an estate in the distance.

  “Anyhow, I was talking to Sydney and we were wondering whether Taste of Celebration presented the Foundation the check they promised from the proceeds of the food festival.”

  “They did send us a check,” Kate said.

  “But they didn’t do a formal grip-and-grin presentation?” Pepper asked.

  “No, they didn’t, why?”

  “Well, Sydney suggested that if they hadn’t done something formal, maybe Catering to Dallas could work it into their show. You know, stage a big check presentation and get the action on camera. It would be a win-win-win—great publicity for the hospital, the Foundation and Taste of Celebration. What do you think?”

  “I think it’s a wonderful idea.” As Kate tossed out ideas of how the presentation could take place, Pepper watched Robert’s estate draw closer.

  She wasn’t sure why, but the enormity of it and its sprawling land took her by surprise. Rob, in his true essence—that unpretentious guy she’d first met on the plane—was such a down-to-earth man. Maybe that was why his penchant for mammoth buildings seemed to contradict his laid-back personality. Not that he did things in a small way. Actually, the more she learned about Rob, the more she realized he didn’t skimp on anything, especially his protective love for his family. But he didn’t flaunt his wealth, either. He could afford his own small airport full of jets, yet he still chose to fly commercially.

  She’d asked him about that before he left on this trip to California. Even her own father had purchased a private jet right before his empire crashed around him, but then again, outrageous extravagance had been one of the biggest contributors to Texas Star’s demise—even though whether or not her father was solely to blame would be decided by a judge and jury.

  Rob maintained that he couldn’t justify the expense of owning an aircraft. He had no problem using charter services, but owning a plane just felt like too much of a commitment.

  He wasn’t exactly a commitment-phobe. More like he didn’t take commitment lightly. It was easy for her to say since the commitment issue didn’t apply to her. Her mind flashed back to the kiss they’d shared and she ignored a vague sense of disappointment. Better to know where she stood now—and to stand on solid ground—than to have this, too, crumble around her.

  Pushing aside her personal feelings, she focused on what was good and right. She admired his commitment to family, business and his charity. She’d learned through a little internet reconnaissance that Rob’s family was small and no stranger to tragedy. In an interview with the Dallas Journal of Business and Development that was dated three years ago, he’d talked about how his mother’s death when he was a teenager had set him on a path to make the most of his life. He’d said he saw how difficult the loss had been on his father and that his father had succumbed to drinking for a short period of time, but thanks to the love and support of family and Alcoholics Anonymous, he’d pulled through.

  But her good friend Caroline, whose fiancé, Drew, was the editor of the Dallas Journal of Business and Development, told her that about two years ago, Rob had moved the Macintyre Enterprises headquarters to Dallas from South Texas, and a couple of months later Rob’s father had been killed in an alcohol-related auto accident. Rob’s son had been badly injured, too.

  Her heart broke for Rob and for Kate. And for the son she never knew Rob had. She suspected the boy was the reason for the home office. And what about the boy’s mother? Where was she? And how come the Dallas rumor mill had failed to churn up that juicy tidbit?

  Now that she thought about it, it seemed that the Robert Macintyre gossip chain ended with him being a gorgeous, reclusive billionaire, who obviously guarded his and his family’s privacy jealously.

  Pepper had so many questions.

  But she was sure she would learn the answers in due time. She certainly didn’t want to barrage Kate with too many questions. Especially ones of a personal nature.

  Kate steered her BMW convertible up the long drive, pointing out various features of the property.

  “Those are the stables,” she said. “My brother is a huge horse fan. So prepare yourself. Sometimes I think he’d rather lose himself in the barn than dress up and date. And I just realized how bad that might have sounded. My brother hasn’t been himself for the past couple of years. He went through a pretty nasty divorce, and I think he’s still trying to pick up the emotional pieces.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” she said.

  Okay. One mystery solved. Divorced and brokenhearted. No wonder he tended to be a bit reclusive. And his having a son suggested a very good motive for advocating for a pediatric wing.

  Interesting.

  “Do you ride?” Kate asked.

  Pepper shuddered and blocked an avalanche of bad memories that would bury her if she allowed them to. She wouldn’t let them.

  “I used to. A long time ago, but hon
estly, I’m not a big horse fan anymore.” Frankly, she wished she’d never set eyes on the beastly animals. If she hadn’t, life would have been a lot different.

  Kate parked the car in front of a massive six-car garage, next to a black Range Rover. “Looks like Rob’s home,” she said. “He’s probably in the stables. He usually heads there first after he’s been away—as long as Cody’s not home. Cody is his son. I’m sure you’ll meet him eventually.”

  She opened the door and a chill breeze blew in. “I know you’re not a horse fan, but would you mind if we went out to the stables to say hello? I have some things Rob needs to sign.”

  It wasn’t where she would have chosen to hang out, but really there was no way she could refuse, it being her third day on the job. She just wished she had known she would be stomping around a horse barn and navigating mud puddles from where it had rained yesterday. She would’ve dressed a lot differently...worn boots or something.

  “Sure,” she said. “Not a problem at all. I’m adaptable.”

  She hoped her red suede Christian Louboutin pumps were, too.

  She pulled her cashmere scarf tighter around her neck and walked the distance to the barn with Kate. The Louboutin pumps were definitely not hiking shoes, either, she thought when they finally reached their destination. Then the task of watching where she stepped superseded the way her shoes were pinching her feet. But she did her best to keep a smile on her face and go with the flow.

  * * *

  When Rob turned around and saw Kate and Pepper enter the stables, the first thing he thought of was how utterly out of place and uncomfortable Pepper looked tottering around on high heels in her cream-colored suit in the middle of a dirty, dusty horse barn. The way she was backlit, she looked like an angel in white—and wickedly high red heels.

  “We need to get you some boots,” he murmured. “Kate, why did you drag her all the way out here dressed like that? She’s going to get dirty.”

  “Well, hello to you, too,” Kate said. “We saw your car. I need to talk to you about some things. I didn’t want you to take off riding where I couldn’t get hold of you.”