Silence.
Prolonged silence.
‘Hello?’
The phone went dead.
And I grinned even more broadly. Frey had not taken that well, but I hadn’t expected him to. Whatever he had planned, he could un-plan it. Rowan was mine.
Focusing on the still ashen Peters, I said the necessary because his heart rate was far too high. ‘Any issue Frey may have, I will ensure he settles it with me personally. I am assuming that would be acceptable?’
I watched the weight visibly lift from Peters’ shoulders.
‘And whilst we head to the board room, let us take the opportunity to get to know each other better.’
My suggestion resulted in the recovering colour blanching from Peters’ face afresh. But he deserved it. Unfortunate misunderstanding? I didn’t care what Frey may have said to him to convince him otherwise. Or how much he may have intimidated him. This man had been prepared to subject Rowan to that creature after everything she had told him.
And he had made her cry.
Once settled in the board room, there were a few minutes to spare before the scheduled meeting began, so I worked hard – very hard – at being civil. All the time I let my hearing range out in search of Rowan. Word seemed to have got around that we were moving our account from Shaftesbury, and my name was being mentioned rather a lot. But Peters had left only a voicemail message for Rowan, and I didn’t think she yet knew; she wasn’t in conversation and I hadn’t felt her reaction. And I was sure there would be one.
In the event, I knew exactly when she became enlightened, for I could both see and hear her through the glass windows going down one side of the board room. I had been listening to her heartbeat, but felt her eyes on me before I saw her. There was no question it was her eyes that made me blaze that way. There were a number of other young women standing outside the board room looking at me, but it was only Rowan’s eyes that caused that reaction.
I looked up. She was standing with an A4 file clutched to her chest and was feeling confused. It was not confusion in her look, though. When she moved her eyes to meet mine, I tentatively smiled. She questioned me with her look and I shrugged. I had been doing that a lot recently.
‘What’s going on?’ I heard her ask one of the girls stood watching me.
‘Oh! There you are, Rowan. We’ve been looking for you everywhere!’
She must have still been in the ladies’ room. I looked at her eyes again. I could see the tell-tale signs of her earlier tears, but doubted a human could; she had used make-up to effectively cover up the redness.
‘Haven’t you heard? Gray Portfolio is moving its account to us and we’re on the team … and just look who we’re working for!’ The girl nodded her head in my direction.
Irritation had now been added to Rowan’s confusion.
Another girl, also looking at me, piped in, ‘I’ve a friend at Shaftesbury. She says, he is the most seriously sexy man she has ever come across – and he doesn’t even know it. Apparently, he’s a real gentleman, but there’s something else … a promise of something more, and he’s guaranteed to get your juices flowing. His eyes, she says, are the deepest, softest, hot-chocolate brown … and they melt you. His voice … well, she says he’s a man of few words, but the way he speaks those words are enough … enough to make you come in your panties!’
I shifted awkwardly. Rowan was glowering at me and I quickly looked away. It wasn’t my fault! This was all new to me. I tend to zone out human conversations going on around me. And I had only ever met the Shaftesbury PR team once – and even then it had been accidental, their meeting overrunning prior to my own with my MD.
‘Apparently all the girls at Shaftesbury lust after him – and now he’s ours! This job just got so much better! Do you think we will get to see more of him than they did? Pleeease let there be a god!’
My eyes returned tentatively to Rowan. She was shaking her head and rolling her eyes at her team, but I also felt something else. She was feeling possessive, and it felt so good.
‘So what do you think of Nathaniel Gray, Rowan?’
I listened intently. I could feel her eyes on me, but didn’t dare look up.
‘Oh, I agree with you, the eye candy is pretty incredible …’ Eye candy? ‘… but I wager he might not be the easiest person to work for. This is not going to be plain sailing, girls. Control freak probably doesn’t even begin to go there!’
I laughed out loud, startling Peters, who now looked at me questioningly. ‘Apologies. A personal matter.’ I kept my eyes pointedly away from Rowan.
There was no question she was going to have issues with my being her boss. But needs must … and I was going to enjoy this!
After they had all settled in their chairs Peters started the meeting. ‘I’d like to introduce you all to Nathaniel Gray of Gray Portfolio, our latest new client. The account is substantial and will involve a dedicated approach. Rowan will be heading up the team and will now work on Gray Portfolio exclusively.’
I felt that spark of anger of hers but I suspected it couldn’t be given fuller vent because of where we were and her need to remain professional. There were evidently benefits to Rowan being in the workplace.
‘Mr Gray … Nathaniel … this is—’
‘Rowan Locke,’ I interrupted as Peters began the introductions. ‘We are acquainted. It is a pleasure to see you again, Miss Locke.’ My voice was subtly tinged with amusement, but nevertheless professional.
‘The pleasure is all mine, Mr Gray,’ she said, with more than a hint of sarcasm.
I spoke quietly and quickly, in a manner normally inaudible to humans, ‘No, believe me, Rowan, the pleasure is most definitely mine. Do you have any idea what your eyes have been doing to me?’
Rowan gasped and exclaimed indignantly, ‘Nate!’
Everyone around the table looked at her, shocked. What had I just done? Attempting to cover my lunacy, I spoke at a normal volume, ‘Indeed, Miss Locke. We will be working together so do feel free to call me Nate.’
Rowan looked around, confused. Bugger. Quietly and quickly, for her ears only, I attempted to explain, ‘They could not hear me, Rowan. You seem to be particularly attuned to my voice. Forgive me, please. I was unable to resist. I will explain later.’
I was an idiot. A complete and utter idiot. My euphoria at removing Frey from the picture, and being with Rowan, had destroyed any last vestiges of common sense I may have still possessed. And there was going to be hell to pay.
Rowan seemed to recover herself remarkably well – on the surface – but Christ was she confused and annoyed – and workplace or not, justice seemed to be at work and I found myself experiencing it all for myself. As for the look that was sent my way, it was harsh to say the least. But I deserved it. I deserved so much more.
I thankfully found I didn’t need to speak much during the meeting, which suited me to a tee. Rowan introduced the four other members of the all-female team, rolling her eyes dramatically after each introduction. I thought they had been very sweet, really. She had then taken control of the rest of the proceedings. I was asked for salient information, which I found myself able to provide – although I wasn’t involved in the day-to-day running of things, I was still the driving force behind the company – but then matters went back to her. I was impressed, very impressed … and proud.
It was about three-quarters of the way through the meeting when Rowan got called out. Somebody was on the phone for her. She had instructed a message be taken but the messenger came back, advising it was the police. I felt her worry as if it were my own.
‘If you would please excuse me, Mr Gray … Nathaniel … Nate,’ she said, momentarily meeting my eyes, before leaving the room.
She shouldn’t have been worried, however. It was me who should have been worried. My hearing tipped me off to the trouble I was in.
‘No, I’m sorry, Officer. I’m just checking you’re talking about the right car. Yes, that sounds like my car. And yes, that is my
car’s number plate. But you’re telling me … an out-of-control double-decker bus has driven into my parked car, and my car is fine, but the bus is a near write-off? No, of course I’ll get it checked out and get all the airbags reset. Oh! I see. Yes, some works were done on it recently. No, Officer, I agree, the sooner the better. Yes of course you can gain entry, um … yes, if that’s strictly necessary … I’m not sure this is really very amusing … yes, of course … yes, Officer … thank you, Officer.’
Bugger! Double bugger! If I wasn’t already in enough trouble! I had known the time would come, but hadn’t expected it to arrive quite so soon, and in quite such a fashion. I was already very aware of Rowan’s fury as she re-entered the room. I didn’t need to see it emanating from every pore of her body, which it was. Where was her professional hat? I didn’t dare meet her eyes. I couldn’t even excuse myself from the room, because the fury I had caused was currently rendering my body completely and utterly incapable of any form of coherent movement. Although I had discovered, on her return, that it was possible to slip a little further down in my chair.
I needed to be pre-emptive here. ‘Forgive me,’ I managed to get out, speaking quietly for her ears only. She would have no idea how hard it was for me to get any words out at all.
She pointedly ignored me.
‘I do hope everything is okay, Rowan?’ Peters asked. He was fishing.
‘Oh fine and dandy, Mike. Fine and bloody dandy!’ She was barely containing her rage. ‘An out-of-control bus has just hit my car, and a laughing policeman, no less, has suggested he break into it, to deflate the multitude of airbags that inflated on impact. He found great amusement in suggesting the action was necessary … in order to prevent it floating away and causing a hazard to air traffic across London!’
Bugger.
Everyone appeared stunned and confused. ‘I thought you had a Morris Minor?’ the person introduced as Carly bravely ventured.
‘Yes, Carly, that’s exactly what I thought I had. However, it would appear that the lying, deceitful bastard who ran me off the road and nearly killed me,’ I grimaced, ‘undertook some modifications to my car when it went to the garage. Apparently the traffic police have never seen anything like it. They consider the bodywork to now be reinforced with titanium, and when they popped the bonnet – something they simply “had to do” – they found a braking system you’d expect to find on a Formula Bloody One racing car!’
Snickers erupted around the room. The person introduced as Jenny took her life in her hands. ‘I’m sorry,’ and she started to giggle uncontrollably, ‘I’ve just got an image of the Morris Minor taking to the sky. It would be rather Harry Potteresque!’
Rowan glared. But then the whole room, bar me, erupted into uncontrollable giggles and laughter.
‘Okay, guys!’ Rowan cried, not able to stop smiling herself. ‘Enough of my problems; back to business!’
At last. Amusement I could deal with. However, when Rowan looked at me, it was far from amusement in her eyes. She was angry, very angry. We had mercifully passed the fury of earlier, though. I was hopeful.
Smiling sweetly at me, Rowan said, ‘I must apologise for the interruption, Mr Gray. It’s incredible what deceitful pricks you can meet on the roads these days!’
Ouch.
I wasn’t sure how the rest of the meeting went. I was concentrating so intently on trying to isolate Rowan’s anger, which had thankfully continued to abate, but which would intermittently resurrect itself every time she looked in my direction, that I just let them talk.
‘Mr Gray? Mr Gray?’ Ah – an answer was required. The anger was manageable, I should be fine. But I didn’t like the anxiety that was beginning to creep in now. I finally looked up into Rowan’s eyes. She was worried about me. My silence had caused her concern. So she should be! I was worried about me. This girl had to learn how to control her temper. And very significantly, I had yet to face her wrath one-on-one. I was unrepentant. I had my reasons for making her car safe. But I very much doubted that would be classed as a reasonable defence. But that was the car. I should have prepared her for the possibility of my working with her. But how could I have risked her vetoing the opportunity I had of removing Simeon Frey from the equation? As for speaking quietly to her … I couldn’t possibly come up with a defence for that. I was an idiot. It was completely inexcusable. I was worried. Really worried.
‘Nate?’ She was definitely concerned. I smiled and the worry lessened. ‘Are you happy with us proceeding on that basis?’
‘Absolutely. Thank you, Rowan, thank you everyone.’
‘Mr Gray – Nate – there are a few things we need to finalise. Shall we go to my office?’ Peters hovered behind my chair, whilst everybody else started filing out of the room. He seemed a different man to the one who had sat quaking at the thought of speaking to Simeon Frey. And I wasn’t remotely happy with him calling me Nate. But it was my own damned fault!
‘I will be there shortly, if that’s acceptable. I would like the room a while longer. Miss Locke, could I talk to you, please?’ There was that flare of anger again.
‘I’ve some calls to make,’ Rowan muttered, hobbling towards the door.
‘I’m sure they can wait,’ Peters declared, before shutting the door and leaving us alone in the room.
I spoke urgently and desperately, ‘Forgive me. You have every right to be angry with me.’
She was now standing in a very angry stance across the table from me, leaning in my direction, with her hands resting palm down on the table top. Trying not to raise her voice because of where we were, but struggling, she hissed, ‘So you should be! How could you do this to me? It shows a complete and utter lack of respect! You know, I don’t even know where to begin. The car! How about we start there? You even showed me the car, and didn’t once come clean. You must have known I’d find out!’
‘Not quite like this,’ I reflected, whilst shaking my head. At least that was one part of my body I had some control over. ‘You have to remember, I nearly killed you in that damned car. What did you expect me to do? I was hoping you would never find out about the airbags, because I assumed if you did, it was because you had been in an accident. But if, heaven forbid, that had happened,’ I visibly shuddered at the thought, ‘the hope was you couldn’t be angry with me, because it would have prevented injury to yourself, and any passengers you may have had in the car, like Clare, and Tom, and Nathan.’ I was shamelessly using everything I had. ‘I failed to account for an out-of-control double-decker bus, or a laughing policeman!’
I was beyond relieved when I felt her anger significantly ebb, and even felt a momentary spark of amusement, although it soon went out.
‘You should have told me!’ she hissed. ‘I need to trust you, and something like this doesn’t instil trust. You agreed to be honest with me …’
I leaned closer to Rowan, and looked at her intently, even for me. ‘I didn’t consider I had a choice … I worry about you.’ I paused before continuing, ‘I was not prepared to give you the option of refusing the additions to the car. Not when they made it easier for me to handle my worry and, at the same time, keep you safe on the road.’
Her anger was controllable, but she was far from happy. ‘Why didn’t you just tell me? Instead, you deliberately misled me!’
‘I would now, I promise, but at that point – you know how you would have reacted.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘Please forgive me. I am trying to adapt, but it is not easy. I respect you more than you can possibly imagine, but there are certain issues I find harder to deal with than … other individuals.’ She looked away, exasperated, before fixing me with a glare.
I felt the anger flare up again and knew she was moving on to another problematic point. I shut my eyes for a moment. I deserved this. I deserved all of this, but hated Rowan being angry with me. She was upset because of me. She had already had to go through the trauma of her meeting this morning … and then me!
‘And what about all this?’ She flung he
r arms around the room. ‘I’m now working for you?’ Her voice had risen several octaves and could not now be described as a hiss; a screech was probably more accurate. ‘Control freak doesn’t begin to go there with you, does it, Nathaniel Gray?’
‘It is not what it looks like— Are you going to take a seat, or are you going to carry on standing?’
‘I’m going to carry on standing, thank you very much!’
I sighed and spoke softly. ‘It is not what it looks like. The Gray Portfolio account coming to you is the side-effect. I promised I would help with removing you from Frey Investments, and this is the result. I considered it the only way to both achieve that and ensure you could keep the job you enjoy. I will not deny, however, that the idea of spending more time with you appeals – does it not for you?’ She looked at me and sighed exasperatedly. ‘It is not my attempting to control you. I doubt even I am strong enough for that.’
Rowan shook her head and muttered, ‘You have an answer for everything, don’t you? Gift of the bloody gab!’ She was calming down.
I met her eyes. No one had ever before said that about me. But then I had never before had Rowan as an incentive. ‘I do my best … but am afraid you challenge me in ways I have never before been challenged.’
‘Finally, words of comfort!’ she cried sardonically, and I had to smile, despite the situation I found myself in, and the fact they were hardly words of comfort.
She quickly looked away from me as confusion became her overriding feeling and she now sat down and rested her arms on the table. I knew what was coming.
She spoke quietly, whilst looking down and fidgeting with her pen, ‘So are you going to tell me what happened earlier? Nobody else heard you … You’ve unsettled me … no – you’ve effing freaked me out, Nate! I’m actually not sure I want to know the answer, but … why did you do it?’ She looked at me with pleading eyes and I felt her stab of fear, before it dissipated.
I stretched over to hold her hands, which she instinctively pulled away. She met my eyes for a long moment and then reached out to hold my hands herself. I wanted to hold her in my arms, but I really wasn’t sure how this was going to go. I couldn’t risk her seeing me debilitated. She had had more than enough to deal with today.
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