Winds of Heaven

by Karen Toller Whittenburg

  For an infinitesimal tick of the clock, his gaze held her, silently weighing her courage and daring her to push him too far. Then he shook his head, muttered something under his breath, and resumed his study of the papers in his hand, putting her right back in the position where she had started.

  “I’m sorry,” she said blandly. “I couldn’t hear what you said. Was it anything important?”

  All the amusement had vanished from his gray eyes when he looked up. “I said, damn. You know, Kylie, it’s not surprising that you’ve never worked with a large corporation before if you’re always so sassy to your prospective employers.”

  Irritation replaced the bantering tone of her earlier remarks. “But you’re not my employer, Nick. Not even my prospective employer. I have a contract signed by the president of Southwest Textiles, and I’m answerable to him and only to him. Isn’t that right, Alex?” Without compunction Kylie threw the question at Alex and waited for him to sink or swim.

  “She’s right, Nick. I hired her to teach a crash course in management skills, and she’s not leaving until it’s done.” Alex’s voice expressed more determination than Kylie had believed possible, but she cringed inwardly at his description of her seminar.

  Nick stared at his cousin in pensive surprise, and then he pushed back the sleeve of his coat and glanced at his watch. “Let’s see,” he said, shifting his gaze to Kylie. “I’ve got about five minutes free this morning. That ought to give you enough time to teach me how to develop management skills.”

  Kylie didn’t even blink at his gibe. “Sorry, Nick. I prefer to teach someone who has real potential.”

  He leaned forward across the desk, his hands clasped and a tiny cleft of irritation etched in his firm chin. Kylie braced herself by curving her fingers inconspicuously around the arms of her chair.

  “Miss Richards,” Nick began, his voice deliberate and cool, “contract or no contract, you’re—”

  Alex intervened by clearing his throat and stationing himself behind Kylie. “Now look, Nick. This was my decision, and you’ll just have to get used to the idea.”

  The buzz of the intercom cut into the room, and Alex, with a frustrated sigh that didn’t quite match his relieved expression, moved to the phone. “Yes, Bunny? Yes. All right. Tell him I’ll be there as soon as I can.” He replaced the receiver and looked apologetically at Kylie. “Sorry, but there’s a problem at the warehouse. I’m afraid I’ll be gone all morning. You’ll have to work out the seminar arrangements with Nick.” Alex directed a firm stare toward his cousin. “And I expect it to be done without any further complications.”

  As Kylie watched him stride confidently from the room she had to control a curious impulse to giggle. She’d underestimated Alex. Apparently he could be very assertive…when on the retreat.

  “Pretty slick arrangement, don’t you think?” The hint of anger in Nick’s voice had given way to a thread of humor.

  “Arrangement?” Kylie turned to meet his eyes. “You mean the way he dumped you in my lap?” She smiled sweetly. “In a matter of speaking.”

  “Of course,” Nick agreed dryly as he relaxed in his chair. “It just always amazes me that some crisis seems to arise within ten minutes of the time I enter this office.”

  “That ought to tell you something.”

  “It tells me that Alex hired a damn good secretary.”

  “If that’s true, then I’m surprised you haven’t tried to fire her.” Kylie crossed her legs and felt a ripple of feminine vanity when she noticed Nick’s attention wander in that direction.

  “I’m not quite the tyrant you seem to think I am, Kylie. I don’t veto every decision Alex makes, regardless of what he’s told you. Besides, this office needs Stephanie. Sometimes I think she’s the only competent employee we have here.”

  “Then maybe you should make her the president of Southwest Textiles,” Kylie said, wondering if she could provoke that tiny cleft in his chin into making a reappearance. “Or are you too chauvinistic to consider a woman for an important executive position?”

  Nick’s jaw tightened with impatience, then relaxed. “Are you always this much trouble to work with?”

  “To work with? No.” Kylie shook her head and smiled a slow, soft smile. She pushed from her chair, walked to the window, and running her fingers through her chestnut curls, stared at the textile mill that sprawled before her. “How many employees do you have here?” she asked, just to show him she was capable of politeness. “Alex estimated the number at somewhere between four and five hundred,”

  “Six hundred thirty-two, including the office personnel. The type of seminar you propose could produce a sizable mutiny. Maybe you can understand my caution if I tell you that Southwest Textiles isn’t famous for its labor-management relationship. There’s been trouble in the past, and I can’t take the risk of stirring up any more.”

  Kylie turned with an exasperated sigh. “The training I offer will reduce that risk, not increase it. Why is it so hard for you to see that? If you open avenues of communication with the employees, they won’t be so quick to blame the administration for everything that goes wrong. Give them some options, and this company will reap the benefits.”

  “That makes a great theory, Kylie, but not good business sense.”

  “It does, Nick. Give me the opportunity, and I’ll prove it.”

  He twisted a pencil back and forth in his hands as he watched her. “You don’t make it easy to refuse.”

  “Then don’t. I realize that, given the choice, you would never have hired me, but I’m here now, and I do have a contract. I believe in developing positive thinking skills and in training individuals to use those skills on the job.”

  “I don’t doubt your sincerity, Kylie. I just don’t think you can accomplish what you say you can.”

  “Surely you’ve read the recommendations in the promotional material I mailed to Alex.”

  Nick stilled the movement of the pencil and leaned forward. “Recommendations from two companies with a third the employees of Southwest and with no history of labor disputes.”

  “Nick,” she began and then paused to quell the note of pleading in her voice. “I don’t see any way this seminar could precipitate the kind of employee problems you’re talking about. I’m certainly not going to promote dissension among the workers. When it comes down to it, I have much more at stake than you. If anything should go wrong during or after the training, my company and all I’ve invested in it won’t be worth two cents.”

  “It’s not the same sort of risk.”

  Kylie sighed, knowing she was losing the battle. “Progress always involves a certain amount of risk.”

  “Resorting to philosophical arguments, Kylie?”

  “If I thought it would change your mind, I’d be happy to argue all day.” She turned to the window again and stared sightlessly at the mill outside. “You know, Nick, I really am disappointed in you. I expected you to be more open to new ideas. Last night you seemed interested.”

  “I was interested. I still am.”

  His voice, soft and vibrant behind her, caught her by surprise. Wondering how he could have moved to her side without a betraying sound, she turned and looked straight into his mysterious smoke-gray eyes.

  “What?” She frowned and felt confusion shape a dimple in her cheek.

  “I’m interested in you, Kylie.”

  As a woman, not as a professional. It was an insult neatly rolled inside a compliment, but, she thought, it was still an insult. And it annoyed her out of all proportion. “Oh, I see.” Kylie hid her feelings behind a superficial smile. “Maybe I should approach this problem from a different angle. Would you prefer that I persuade you to honor my contract with a few feminine wiles, Nick?”

  “Kylie,” he said with quiet warning, “you know that isn’t what I meant.”

  “Wait,” she crooned in dulcet tones, no longer bothering to conceal her irritation. “I might make you an offer you can’t refuse. I would have changed tac
tics sooner, but I gave you credit for being more professional than Alex. Silly of me, wasn’t it? If I’d known that all I had to do to get this job was stroke your ego, flatter your male ego….”

  The sentence trailed off suggestively as her fingers toyed with the lapels of his suit. In some distant corner of her mind she was shocked at her own audacity, but she couldn’t seem to stop. Her hands pressed against his chest as she raised her lips to rest intimately against his mouth.

  A searing response jolted through her at the touch, but Nick stood rigidly still. His heart pounded evenly against her palms as she caressed the outline of his lips with her tongue. She tasted him, teased him, but wasn’t able to evoke a response from him. Hating and yet admiring his control, she finally stepped back and faced his cool stare.

  “What’s wrong, Nick? Or are you always this much trouble to work with?”

  His hands slid up her arms to grip her shoulders with biting impatience. “That little display was uncalled for, Kylie. But if you insist on finding out just how much trouble I can be, I’ll be glad to demonstrate.”

  A tap on the office door left the words hanging in midair. Her irritation faded as quickly as it had come. Maybe she had jumped to the wrong conclusion.

  “Miss Richards?”

  Kylie heard the door open and recognized Stephanie’s voice, but she couldn’t seem to shift her gaze from Nick to the doorway.

  “What is it, Stephanie?” Nick asked without looking around.

  “Mr. Jamison wanted me to give these to Miss Richards.”

  Blinking at the unexpectedly crisp tone, Kylie managed to free herself from Nick’s hold. She walked toward Stephanie, noting the militant sparkle in the secretary’s blue eyes. The animosity seemed directed at Nick, though, because Stephanie smiled easily as she extended her hand to Kylie. “These are the keys to a company car which Mr. Jamison has arranged for you to use. There’s also a key to the house, the company house.” Her blue eyes flicked a brief challenge at Nick, then switched back to Kylie. “Mr. Jamison said he didn’t expect any problems, but you could get in touch with him later if necessary.”

  Kylie closed her fist over the keys and, despite her best effort, looked to Nick for approval.

  He studied her clenched hand with hooded appraisal before turning a charming smile on Stephanie. “Thank you. Has Alex called from the warehouse? Did he get things under control?”

  “He hasn’t phoned,” she answered politely. “But I’m certain that Mr. Jamison has handled the problem in his usual efficient way. There’s no need to worry about it.”

  Expecting Nick to rise to the challenge with a quelling display of authority, Kylie watched in amazement as he simply nodded. Stephanie bit her lower lip, and then, with an odd little sigh, she left the room.

  “Hmmm,” Kylie murmured, glancing from the door to Nick’s impassive face. “Offhand I’d say you rate pretty low on her list of favorite employers. Have you been trying to intimidate her too?”

  Nick eyed Kylie with a frown, then moved to sit on the corner of the desk, one leg draped casually over the edge. “I don’t try to intimidate anyone.”

  “I know. It comes naturally, doesn’t it?”

  His lips tightened, and Kylie watched his chin, hoping to see that fascinating indentation, but his skin remained smooth. “I made the mistake of getting angry with Alex once when Stephanie was present. She’s never forgiven me for calling him an incompetent idiot. In case you haven’t noticed, Stephanie thinks Alex Jamison is just this side of a damn miracle.” Nick shook his head. “She’s been hopelessly in love with him for years.”

  Kylie lifted her gaze from the intriguing movement of his mouth. “Why hopelessly?”

  “She isn’t a blonde.”

  “Oh, Nick,” Kylie protested with a short laugh. “Surely that doesn’t make a difference.”

  “Not to me, anyway.” He folded his muscular arms across his chest and shrugged. “But my cousin’s personal life doesn’t matter. What he does with this mill makes a lot of difference, though.”

  “And that brings us right back to…”

  “…you,” Nick supplied. “You and whether you go or stay.”

  “I didn’t realize there was a choice.” She caught her breath as a flicker of hope surfaced. “Does that mean you might consider letting me conduct the seminar?”

  Nick watched her and correctly interpreted the sudden sparkle in her dark eyes. There might be hell to pay later, but he knew he wasn’t going to let her return to San Diego. Not just yet, anyway. “I seem to be outnumbered three to one,” he said. “With you, Alex, and Stephanie aligned against me, I feel pressured into giving you a chance.”

  Kylie didn’t dare breathe in case she was imagining the whole thing. “Would you mind repeating what you just said?”

  “You heard me. You can hold your seminar.”

  “Thank you, Nick. This means so much to me.”

  “Kylie,” he interrupted in a firm voice. “There are some stipulations. First I want you to agree that if I tell you there’s a problem—any problem at all—you’ll stop the sessions at once.”

  “There won’t be any problems.”

  “Agreed?”

  She nodded. “But, I promise you, there isn’t going to be anything to worry about.”

  “Second,” he continued. “I can only let you have three weeks.”

  “No, the training requires six full weeks, Nick. You can’t expect me to cut it in half without affecting the outcome.”

  “Three weeks. Take it or leave it.”

  “You don’t understand, Nick. I have to research the area and the mill itself. That’s important, and I can’t do it and still have time for the sessions.”

  “I’ll help you in the evenings. I can give you information about the jobs, and I’m familiar with the area, so that won’t be a problem.”

  Kylie fastened her attention on his first sentence and narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. “I don’t work in the evenings, Nick.”

  He arched a brow in deliberate dispute. “Working evenings is better than not working at all.”

  “If you think….” she began hotly.

  “Try listening for a change, Kylie, and keep these displays of outraged virtue to yourself. I haven’t said one thing that merits your annoyance. It’s only your interpretation that makes the comment suggestive.”

  “Really? Well, that’s not the way I see it. You—” Kylie clamped her mouth shut. What on earth was she doing? Nick had just given her the job, and she was quarreling with him. Much as she disliked the idea, an apology seemed to be in order.

  “Let’s finish the arrangements,” he said. “What materials will you need and when?”

  The apology slid down her throat, and with a resigned curve of her lips she answered, describing each item in detail. He took notes, of course. Neat, concise notes that annoyed her irrationally.

  “Anything else?” he asked when she’d finished. “Subversive literature? An arsenal maybe? Are you sure you don’t want me to order a pirate’s patch for your disguise?”

  She smiled at his attempt to lighten the mood. “That won’t be necessary, Nick. But couldn’t you stretch the three weeks to six?”

  “Sorry. Three weeks is the most I can spend in Santa Fe right now, and I’m not about to leave you on your own.” He snapped his fingers. “That reminds me. The woman who usually does the cooking and cleaning at the house is on vacation, so I’ll take care of dinner tonight, but tomorrow it’s your turn.”

  “My turn?” Kylie stiffened and swung an accusing gaze to meet his bland look. “I thought there wasn’t going to be any problem with the housing arrangements.”

  “You mean you object to sharing the kitchen duty?”

  “I object to sharing the kitchen or any other room in the house.”

  “All right. You can make dinner every night. I’m adaptable.”

  Her breath escaped in an angry rush. “That’s not what I meant!”

  “Then what did you m
ean, Kylie?” The way he shifted his weight from the desk and started toward her was as disquieting as the unamused tone of his voice. He stopped in front of her and grasped her wrist in one hand while taking a firm hold on her chin with the other.

  Kylie lifted her arm and then let the key chain slip from her fingers. Against her conscious decree her palm came to rest on his chest.

  “What did you mean?” he repeated. “There are three bedrooms in the house. I sleep in one, and you can take your pick of the other two. Now, if you meant that you object to sharing the house, then by all means, find yourself somewhere else to stay. I’m sure Alex could be persuaded to let you spend another night on his couch. Other than that, I think you’ll find the town crowded at this time of year. But if you want to use part of your three weeks to find something, be my guest.” His fingers tightened, tilting her chin up. “And if you meant you object to sharing my bed, then all I can say is you should wait to be invited.”

  Kylie drew in her breath. “You’re don’t intimidate me. If I decide to stay at the house, I’m giving you fair warning. I will not—”

  His mouth smothered her words with a firm insistence that teased her rebellion into retreat. She wanted badly to respond to the tempting taste of his lips, but she told herself to remain passive. Just as he’d been when she’d tried to arouse him. Fighting the sweet intoxication of his kiss, she trembled and drew on all her inner resources just to remain still. A slow shiver started in her knees and crept inch by inch up her legs, and her heart pulsed. It was all she could do to stay upright and not allow her body to sway against his for support.

  Whirling dizzily, disjointed thoughts raced through her mind, and her lips ached. Kylie moved them cautiously and was appalled by the sensual longing that raged within her. After that first tentative movement she was no longer in control, and she returned his kiss with only a remnant of caution.

  Sensing the change in her, Nick drew back and loosened his grip on her chin. His eyes were dark, but Kylie thought she saw a glimmer of triumph there, and she rallied her sagging defenses.

  “I won’t cook for you either,” she whispered.