Marrying Her Billionaire Boss
Myrna Mackenzie
Carson Banick: The black sheep of the family is back– and now his family's future and fortune are in his hands.He must marry a suitable woman and provide an heir. Beth Krayton: Carson's feisty PA is determined to succeed on her own, without a man…. They shouldn't suit one another at all. They shouldn't even be together.But as the attraction grows between them Carson has to ask himself what's more important, saving his family or claiming Beth's heart?
Marrying Her Billionaire Boss
Myrna Mackenzie
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER ONE
DESPERATION WAS SUCH an ugly word. Unfortunately it described Beth Krayton’s situation. She had roughly forty-eight hours to find a good job and a nice place to live in her brand-new hometown of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, before her brothers discovered her whereabouts and attempted to bring her back to Chicago.
She knew just what weapon they would use, too. Guilt. And she had never been good at handling guilt. Her brothers and former guardians had always been excellent at ladling it on, but after her “incident” two years ago, things had gotten worse. And lately, since she’d lost her job…
The memory of the totally humiliating scene that had unfolded two days ago sent a sick feeling rushing to her stomach. When she’d overheard her brothers and their wives discussing solutions to “the Beth problem” she had finally realized that, as hard as she had fought for her independence, the older she got the more determined to manage her life her family became.
When her parents died, years ago, her brothers had vowed to raise her and protect her. She’d been convinced that one day they would see her as an equal. But that overheard conversation, which branded her as a woman incapable of making good decisions, had killed her hopes. Now she understood: They would never rest until they felt she was safely in some other man’s care. Only by proving that she could go it alone without a husband would she convince them to stop interfering in her life.
“If that’s even possible,” she whispered to herself as she barely refrained from groaning.
It wouldn’t make the right impression in her upcoming job interview if people reported that she had been seen talking to herself and moaning out loud in public places. And she had to make a good impression, because with the clock ticking away, all that stood between her and her goals (and her brothers) was a man named Carson Banick, a wealthy hotelier who had advertised for an assistant well-schooled in the hospitality industry.
Beth didn’t have a single ounce of experience in the hospitality industry.
That can’t matter, she told herself, heading toward the building where her interview was being held. Perusing the classifieds, she had found few jobs she was qualified for that would pay a living wage. This job would ensure basic survival, it hadn’t mentioned a college education and, more importantly, it might help her establish a career and an identity of her own. She’d never had either and she needed them with an ache she couldn’t explain.
Carson Banick had to hire her. She had to convince him to like her. She had to exude charm in spite of the fact that she had never been called anything close to charming.
“I’ll be charming today, darn it,” she said, forgetting her vow not to speak to herself as she pushed open the door to the trailer thrown up on the edge of a leveled building site, stepped inside and came face-to-face with the most gorgeous, dark-haired man she had ever seen.
He was frowning at her.
Carson looked up from the stack of papers on his desk, irritated by the distraction of the door opening. He had already interviewed a number of people, but he still hadn’t come close to finding what he was looking for. Judging by the appearance of the woman standing just inside the door, it was unlikely that this interview would turn up anything more positive.
It wasn’t her dowdy sack of a brown skirt that troubled him. Neither was it the slightly ragged edges on her chin-length, astonishingly red hair. Clothing and hair could be fixed with an infusion of money, and he had plenty of money to spend.
No, it was the wounded, defiant expression in her eyes. The woman clearly had issues, and he was the last person in the world who ought to be allowed near wounded creatures with issues. He’d already proven that several times in recent history. People, important people—his former fiancée, his brother—had been damaged in the process.
Carson tried not to think of how Emily had looked when he’d left her. He fought not to remember his brother’s pain-racked face right after the accident or Patrick’s complete lack of responsiveness when Carson had visited him last week. He battled like crazy to keep from remembering that he was the one responsible for his brother’s fall on that mountain. And he was nearly slayed by the injustice of Patrick losing the use of his lower extremeties while Carson took his brother’s rightful place here at this desk.
Rising, Carson fought to keep his hands from curling into fists. Concentrate on this minute and this place and this woman, he told himself. Do the job. Keep things going until Patrick heals. Carson prayed that Patrick would heal, even though the doctors had told him that Patrick wasn’t making the kind of progress they had hoped for. The only way Carson could help his younger brother was to hold his position and do the work well.
Carson took a breath. He looked the woman over carefully. No, she wouldn’t do at all. He certainly wasn’t going to hire someone who would need nurturing or who would remind him of his own failings.
He needed an assistant who was competent and knowledgeable, someone who could help him make a miracle happen at his hotel and help him make it happen fast. The woman before him didn’t look as if she’d had any recent experience with miracles. She looked fragile, vulnerable and—
Damn! Why was he even noticing such things, and anyway perhaps she wasn’t even here about the job. She might be a salesperson or someone simply lost. He frowned. No, she had the desperate look of a jobseeker. Carson stepped around the desk.
The woman clenched a fold of that ugly brown skirt.
“May I help you? I assume you’re here about the position,” he said.
She nodded tightly, but she raised her chin as if he’d just insulted her. “Yes, I’m here to apply for the assistant’s job at the Banick Resort.”
She looked as if she might be holding her breath, but her chin remained high, her shoulders back, almost as if she was daring him to ask her to leave.
He managed not to sigh. “Then you’ve come to the right place. I’m Carson Banick.”
Those brown eyes blinked. “You…own the place?”
“You don’t believe me?”
“It’s not that. It’s just that I wasn’t expecting someone so exalted to be conducting the job interviews.”
Carson shrugged. “The person who gets this job will be working directly with me.”
She lowered her lashes and nodded curtly. “Do you have an application?”
“Yes, of course, and I’ll have you fill one out, but an application is a formality. I’d rather get my information firsthand.” There was no point in putting her to the trouble of filling out paperwork when she would be gone in the next two minutes. The people he had already interviewed had not been right but every one of them had seemed more professional than she did.
It was, Carson conceded, proving to be difficult to find the appropriate person. It was high season in Lake Geneva and there were more jobs to fill in the exclusive resort town than there were people to fill them.
That was unacceptable. He had to make a decision within the next few days. He’d known things were falling behind schedule, but he’d waited, hoping Patrick would make a miraculous comeback. He had ignored his parents’ demands the way he always had. But, eventually he’d been forced to concede that he would have to take over the building of this hotel, his brother’s greatest project. When the doctors had told him that Patrick’s lack of progress seemed to be stress-related, Carson had finally stepped in. At least he could help his brother in this one rather inadequate way. He could get the stockholders and Rod and Deirdre Banick off Patrick’s back. For once Carson could be the responsible older brother and do what he could to protect Patrick.
The irony didn’t escape Carson. His parents had spent years trying to get him to take his rightful place, but he had always rebelled. He’d done as he liked, shunning the family business. Patrick had been the genial one who had sat at the helm of Banick Enterprises for five years since their father’s health had forced him into retirement. But now things had changed. When Patrick was healed and ready to reclaim his place as the Banick heir, the hotel had to be up and running smoothly. It had to be a masterpiece. That meant Carson had to do what he’d never done before: leave his rebellious days behind and become a true Banick. It also meant that a top-notch assistant was imperative, but right now the room was empty of candidates except for this lone woman.
The pale curve of her jaw was rigid as she waited for him to take the next step. No wonder. He’d kept her waiting and he was staring at her a bit too hard, he realized.
“Have a seat,” he said, motioning her toward the guest chair.
She moved forward quietly, sitting and smoothing the skirt over her knees. There was something innocent and feminine about the gesture, despite that bold chin. Carson wanted to throttle himself. He and innocence didn’t belong in the same room, and the woman’s femininity or lack of it was none of his concern.
“Tell me something about yourself,” he said, moving back to the issue at hand. It was a rotten interview question, but the answer tended to be revealing. Interviewees told him what they thought he wanted to hear. That could be important. An assistant needed to be able to anticipate what was needed in sometimes trying situations.
“My name is Beth Krayton. I’m new to Lake Geneva, but I’ve visited before. I’ve always loved it and I hope to build a wonderful life here.”
It was a bit of a beauty pageant-style answer, but when Carson looked into Beth Krayton’s eyes he saw that she was sincere. He saw something else, too. She had latched on to the folds of her skirt again, twisting it a bit.
When his gaze touched on her fingers, she let go of the cloth. Suddenly she sat up straighter.
“Look, Mr. Banick, I can see that you have no intention of hiring me.”
Now he was the one who blinked. He leaned back and folded his arms across his chest. “What makes you say that?”
“Other than the fact that you’re frowning, you’re clearly capable of hiring anyone you please, and I’m sure you have plenty of qualified candidates camping out on your doorstep.”
He waited to see if she had more to say. She had given him the perfect opening to dismiss her, and that was just what he should be doing. But her actions hadn’t matched her words. She wasn’t rising to leave, and curiosity got the best of him.
He had always been a sucker for the unpredictable.
“So why did you come if you’re so sure you wouldn’t get this job?” he challenged.
She looked up into his eyes, and something shifted inside him. That wounded look still lurked but there was something else as well, something he couldn’t quite name but that he knew was admirable.
Carson almost smiled. His mother had always admonished him to do something admirable. He never had.
“I came because I…really wanted the job. I thought I would be working for one of your employees, someone more like me. Instead…well, it’s your hotel.”
Not really. He benefited from the family’s business financially, but the hotels were Patrick’s. Carson had made his own place in the world, and even when the thrill of that world had palled, he had not come home. Yet here he was, the prodigal son in charge of the company and the family. Only he stood between the company and failure. A disastrous or even a poorly managed project and the Banick’s carefully tended reputation and resources could crumble. He held his brother’s and the family’s future in his hands. Sobering thought, but now was not the time to ponder it.
“So you’re bowing out because you don’t want to work for the owner?” he asked Beth Krayton.
She stood but instead of turning and leaving, she leaned forward. She actually put one hand on her hip. “Not at all. I may have come here with the wrong impression and I may not be what you expected or what you were looking for, but I really think that you should hire me anyway.”
Okay, he couldn’t help himself. Carson let a smile slip in. “Why is that?”
“Because I need this job more than any other interviewee will. Because I was raised by four older brothers who all wanted to run the show, so I’m used to dealing with powerful and difficult people.”
He tilted his head, and warm pink crept up her throat. “I didn’t mean that you would be difficult, but if you’re working with contractors and such, I’m sure some of them may be troublesome from time to time. I’m not afraid of tough situations.”
“Good. What are you afraid of?”
She didn’t hesitate. “Not much.” But she dropped her gaze ever so slightly. Bold as she was trying to be, there were definitely things that scared her. Carson wasn’t sure if he should applaud her bravado or turn away from her obvious innocence. What he did know was that she suddenly seemed much more interesting than any of the other more conventional and staid candidates he’d interviewed so far. He frowned at that incongruous and ridiculous thought.
Beth Krayton either hadn’t noticed that frown or she was choosing to ignore it. She stood straighter. For a tiny thing she was making an excellent attempt at being regal. “I’ll be honest with you, Mr. Banick. I might not have all the skills you’re looking for, but I learn very fast and I’ll devote myself to absorbing everything I need to know as quickly as possible. You’ll be able to count on me completely. I’ll do whatever is necessary.”
“Do you have experience in the hospitality field?”
She shook her head and that unkempt mop of red hair slid against her cheek. “None. And I don’t have a college degree, if you’re going to ask about that, but I can take direction and I know how to identify and pursue opportunities. I’ve never shied away from challenges and I don’t believe in the word impossible.”
“Lots of people say that.”
That stopped her for a second. Then she took an almost visibly deep breath. “Yes, they do, but…I tend to live it. The fact that I’m here when I don’t have any reason to believe that you would hire me is partial proof of that. I promise you that I will make this job the top priority in my life.”
Carson frowned. That was what he needed to hear, but it also sounded a bit too pat. He wanted to ask some follow-up questions, personal questions, but there were boundaries an employer couldn’t cross. His next question would have to be phrased carefully.
“If I need you here at night?”
For a second those brown eyes lit. She looked hopeful, almost pretty, which was a ridiculous thought. He liked curvy women, not skinny, nervous ones with bad hair and eyes that were feverish in their intensity. A good thing, since he couldn’t get involved with an employee. Frankly, after Emily, he didn’t intend to get involved with any woman who wasn’t capable of fitting into the Banick world. It just wouldn’t be fair to either of them, especially since he had recently decided that he would have to marry. Patrick could no longer father children, and there had to be a Banick heir….
“Mr. Banick?”
Carson gave himself a mental shake and concentrated on Beth Krayton. Despite her obvious misgivings at his so-called “exalted status” she was determined to make her case. She deserved his full attention. “Yes?”
“I said that I could be here whenever necessary. This will not be just a job to me.”
“It’s a temporary job,” he warned. “Once the hotel opens, my involvement and this position end.”
She paled slightly. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“I can deal with that. It will still look good on my résumé.”
“I haven’t hired you yet.” More and more he was thinking that while she was definitely the most enthusiastic and driven—and therefore the most promising—candidate, hiring her might prove to be a mistake—on a personal level. There was something intriguing about her, and he couldn’t afford to be intrigued by a down-on-her-luck employee.
“I know you haven’t hired me.”
“Tell me about your last job.”
She blanched and then she blushed. “I was a customer service representative in an automotive parts store.”
“And you left for what reason?”
For the first time she looked away.
Ah. “Were you…let go?” he asked quietly.
“Yes, in a sense.”
He could see she wanted to leave it at that. No chance. “In what sense?”
“In the sense that…” She sighed and turned her attention back to him. “I’ll be honest, Mr. Banick. In my younger days I was a bit wild. I did things that got me into trouble and made my already overprotective family even more protective. They knew my last employer and they thought he would make a great husband for me. He seemed to think the same thing. Since I’m not interested in a relationship or in getting married, I was the only one who didn’t think Barry and I were well suited.
“No one was forcing me into anything, of course, but the situation still became very awkward. When I declared my lack of interest, Barry asked me to leave. But rest assured that I didn’t get fired because of incompetence. And also rest assured that my youthful ways are behind me. If you hire me for this job you won’t regret it. I need this position and I do exemplary work. I hope you won’t hold the circumstances of my last job against me. For what it’s worth, I was very good with the customers. I just wasn’t very good at telling my boss that I wasn’t interested in him as a man.”
Beth finished this long speech, two bright spots of color in her cheeks. It was obvious that the subject of her last employer was more than a little uncomfortable.
She didn’t realize it but she had just said exactly the right things. She had been a bit wild in her younger days. So had he, so he knew about trying to move past that. More importantly, she wasn’t interested in romance. That simplified things. In a working relationship this close he couldn’t afford even the possibility of an inappropriate entanglement, especially given the fact that he’d finally accepted that he needed to marry and produce an heir to keep the Banick line going. Still…
“Ms. Krayton,” he began, knowing that his tone was enough to ready her for bad news.
“Don’t say no yet. I realize my background isn’t ideal, but…why don’t you hire me on a trial basis?” she offered suddenly. “If I don’t prove useful in two weeks I’ll help you find a replacement. I’d even be willing to work those two weeks for free.”
Carson raised a brow. She didn’t look like someone who could go without a paycheck for two weeks. “That’s very accommodating of you, Ms. Krayton.”
Carson looked at the clock and then at the calendar. When Patrick began this project, he had planned to complete it by the end of the year. Since his accident three months ago, little had been done and the shareholders were getting restless. Disaster threatened, and the future of the business, Patrick’s pride and joy, was at stake. Carson had waited too long to step in. Now he had to move mountains.
The truth was that he didn’t know if Beth Krayton was the best candidate, but she appeared to be totally committed to acquiring the position and proving herself. That was more than he could say for any of the other people he’d interviewed, most of whom had been more interested in the salary and benefits than in the job itself. And she had offered him an easy out if things didn’t work.
It was tempting to hedge his bets. He was almost as new at this as she was. But there would be no tiptoeing around for him or for anyone who worked for him. Once they began, life would become a whirlwind. The schedule for the hotel was being stepped up.
“No trial period,” he said. “I’ll hire you until you do something that justifies firing you. Banicks treat their employees fairly.” Carson held back a groan. He sounded just like his father. Beth grinned.
“What?” he said.
“You said you would hire me.”
Carson allowed himself a hint of a smile. “Yes, I did, didn’t I?”
He looked across the desk and saw that his new, petite assistant was practically bouncing. “Thank you, Mr. Banick. And thank you for not making me go through a trial period. I would have gone through with it, but being able to eat for the next two weeks will be nice, too.”
He shook his head and smiled again. “I wouldn’t want my assistant missing meals. You’ll let me know if that’s ever a problem, won’t you?”
Bright pink suffused her face. “I shouldn’t have said that. I was kidding.”
She hadn’t been. He was sure of that. “Of course. Still, you’ll let me know if you need anything.”
A curt nod from her was the best he would get. Carson nearly sighed. So the woman was proud and he would have to waltz around that pride. That didn’t exactly bode well for their working relationship, but it was too late for regrets. Beth Krayton was officially his new assistant.
He held out his hand and she placed hers in it. Her fingers were unusually long and graceful.
He frowned.
She looked alarmed, and he shook his head.
“Welcome to Banick Enterprises,” he told her, trying to smile the way Patrick or his father might have.
She smiled back. “I’m happy to be here.”
“You’ll start at nine tomorrow morning.”
Beth nodded. “I’ll let you know where I’m staying as soon as I have an address.” She started to withdraw her hand, but Carson was still holding on.
“You don’t even have a place to live?”
She shrugged and blushed. “I left home suddenly.”
“Suddenly?”
“This morning.”
Carson nodded, wondering what exactly he had gotten himself into. He was, of course, going to do a background check on Beth Krayton. He wondered what it would turn up.
Not that it really mattered. He wasn’t interested in anything about her except for her ability to help him get this job done.
He was on a mission and nothing, especially not a pint-size woman, was going to stop him.
CHAPTER TWO
BREATHE DEEPLY.
The next morning, standing in the doorway of her creepy little rental room on the far edge of town, Beth coached herself to breathe, trying not to think of how much had changed in one day. This temporary home had been all she could afford, and it wasn’t exactly pleasant. It was a far cry from the clean, bustling beauty of most of the lakeside town, but that was all right. For the first time in her twenty-five years she was living on her own, a fact that brought a sense of triumph to her soul. Moreover, she had survived her interview with Carson Banick and she’d landed a decent job. Now all she had to do was keep it, get settled and stop thinking about her new employer’s dangerous silver eyes.
Beth took another deep, ragged breath. “Well, that solved one problem,” she finally said to herself. She was definitely breathing deeply now.
Too bad it was the thought of her boss’s eyes that was causing her to hyperventilate, because that just wouldn’t do. This would not be like her last job. No one was matchmaking. Carson Banick wasn’t interested in her. It was good that she could think logically about the situation, because she had been stupid about men before.
Beth tried not to think about how idiotic she had been about Harrison, the man she’d fallen so hard for two years ago, thinking he loved her when he’d only wanted a physical relationship. She came from a poor family so they weren’t from the same class at all, he had explained, as if she should have known that his words of love had been lies. But what she had realized after she finally stopped hurting was that her foolish mistake had given her brothers even more reason to protect her.
As surrogate parents, they had always worried she would be an easy and naive sexual target. In the past Beth had never told them about the passes men had made. She’d never believed any of the lies until Harrison had lied more convincingly than the rest. Now, her brothers knew for sure that she had been used. At last they had been proven right, and, despite the fact that she was an adult, they had set out to protect her in every way they could.
Which was well meaning, but…
Sighing, Beth tried not to think of her brothers as captors. They had raised her after their parents’ deaths when she was ten. Her brothers loved her, and she adored them, but as the only girl and the youngest, a somewhat rebellious youngest at that, she had frequently wanted to escape their smothering ways. Now, she had taken the first steps in that direction.
Her brief conversation last night with Roger, her eldest brother—when she’d finally decided to let him know that she was safe and settled—had gone as she’d expected. Poorly. Roger had threatened to come to Lake Geneva, but she’d held her ground.
“I’ve got a good job and a good place to live,” she said, stretching the truth. “If you come up here in your current state, you might jeopardize my situation.”
“I wouldn’t hurt you, Bethie,” he argued.
“You wouldn’t mean to,” she agreed, “but I told my boss I was capable of acting independently. This job is temporary, but it can be a stepping stone to something better. I’m working directly under Carson Banick of the Banick Enterprises Banicks.”
Roger had sworn. “I’ve read about him in the business pages. He lives a reckless existence.”
“I’m not helping him do that. I’m helping him build a hotel. That’s all.”
“Beth…”
“Roger. I love you and Jim and Albert and Steve, but you’re not letting me breathe. Mom and Dad wouldn’t want you to stand in the way of my success.”
“That’s not fair.”
It wasn’t. She knew they just wanted her to be happy. But they wanted her to be happy by treating her the way they had when she was ten. “When this job is done, then I’ll let you know if I’m ready to come home,” she promised.
“I’ll come now.”
“If you do, I’ll just have to go somewhere else. You have to let me make it on my own, and I can’t do that if you and everyone else are standing around frowning and waiting to see if I fall so you can pick me up. I have to make my own mistakes.”
He grumbled at that and told her he would be reading up on Carson Banick. He wasn’t leaving his baby sister alone with a man who might try to take advantage of her.
“He doesn’t even see me as a woman,” she promised.
Finally Roger agreed to keep his distance and let her spread her wings unsupervised.
Not that Beth was fooled by his agreement. Eventually her brothers would show up in Lake Geneva to check up on her. Knowing them, they wouldn’t wait long.
“I’d better turn myself into a success quickly,” she told herself. When her brothers finally arrived, she needed to be rooted, an independent woman rather than the perpetual little sister. Never again would she sacrifice her pride or dignity for what appeared to be love. She wouldn’t live under a man’s thumb. Nor would she freely give her heart away, at least not to the wrong kind of man.
Thank goodness Carson Banick was the wrong kind of man.
Carson looked at the calendar and grimaced. Three months behind schedule.
“We need you to get this right,” his father had said last night. “The family has fallen down on its commitments to the business, to our communities and to our loyal employees, Carson. One failure affects everyone who associates with Banick. It has always been that way, going back to the European inns where the Banick legend began. People count on us. They trust us. You know that. We can’t break that trust.”
Now Carson stifled a groan. His parents were stodgy and stuffy. He knew better than anyone how unbending and even unfeeling they could be, but they had principles and they lived by them. They were only being what they’d always been and doing what they’d always done. He was the one who had shrugged off his responsibilities in the past. He was the one responsible for Patrick’s current condition, and it was up to him to do something about the existing crisis, not only for the business and the family but for his own peace of mind.
Over the past few months, since Patrick’s fall, Carson had watched his loving, joyful brother lose the use of his legs and eventually lose the hope of returning to a normal life. After completing rehab, Patrick had holed himself up in a luxury apartment with only a nurse for company and he didn’t welcome Carson’s weekly visits. Patrick had rebuffed all Carson’s assistance, but he had to help his brother in some way.
He looked up at the clock. It was almost nine. Time to begin, he thought as Beth Krayton came through the door. It was obvious she had been rushing. Her hair was windblown; her ugly navy balloon of a skirt had flipped up slightly in the back. She looked deliciously flushed.
Carson grimaced. Bad choice of words. Delicious shouldn’t figure into things.
Carefully Beth smoothed one hand over her skirt as if that would repair the wind damage. She stood up straighter and smiled. “Good morning, Mr. Banick. I’m ready.”
Carson blinked at that and tried not to think any prurient thoughts. Ridiculous. She didn’t even look like a woman a man would have prurient thoughts about. His brother would never have had such improper thoughts about an employee.
He smiled tightly. “Well, we have a lot to do. We’re meeting with the city planning committee in two hours.”
“We?” Her voice seemed suddenly a bit weak.
He ignored that. He had hired her. Now they had to make this work.
Frowning, Carson continued, “Yes, I’ll need you to take notes and help me focus on any problem areas I might miss. You’ll need…” He gazed at her skirt. “You’ll need a change of clothing.”
Immediately she blushed. “This is what I have right now, other than what I was wearing yesterday. I haven’t had a chance to complete my work wardrobe yet.”
At the auto parts store she had probably worn jeans. He tried not to think about the fact that her slender body and fresh, pretty face would perfectly complement any pair of jeans known to man.
“Your skirt will be fine for my office, but for this meeting you’ll need a suit. We’ll take care of that right away.” When she held out one hand in protest he waved away her objections.
“Ms. Krayton. This job…well, it’s not business as usual. My brother began this project but he’s temporarily indisposed. We’re well behind schedule and the planning commission was kind enough to grant me an audience on short notice. That doesn’t mean they’ll roll over and accede to our every wish. They have a job to do and responsibilities to this town. I have a job to do and a responsibility to my brother and to my business. In order to win the commission members over on as many points as possible, we’ll have to do everything right. Image is important. It’s part of your job. I’m buying clothing for you. Right now.”
She looked him full in the face and the impact of that nakedly appealing expression was like a blow. Her emotions were written as clearly in her eyes as if a pen had put them there. Pride warred with need.
“All right. I understand,” she said. “I’m willing, but—”
He raised a brow. “But?”
She looked away. “I have zero fashion sense.”
“I do. Let’s go.” Rising to his feet, he moved around his desk and held out his hand.
She stared at him as if he’d just suggested something illicit. “You’re going to help me pick out clothes?”
Carson smiled. “If you really have zero fashion sense, I’m going to choose the clothing.”
“You’ll tell me what to wear.” Was that a stubborn note in her voice?
“Is that a problem? As I said, appearance is part of the job.”
Beth took a visible breath before nodding. “I’m sorry for hesitating. Being raised by four brothers, I’ve had to argue for the right to do things my way, but you’re right. Appearance is part of the job, and you’re the expert.”
She tilted her chin up and prepared to move toward the door. It was clear that she was a woman with a lot of pride, and he had just asked her to ignore that.
“Beth?” he said gently.
She turned slightly, her hair catching the glint of sunlight, turning it to copper. “Thank you,” he said.
Rather than respond to his gratitude, she looked at her watch, a slight hint of pink in her cheeks. “The meeting is in only two hours? Well, we’d certainly better get going if we’re to get back and have time for you to fill me in on everything I need to know.”
Carson chuckled. “Well, it seems I hired the right person to keep me in check. I tend to be hopelessly late and I have a bad habit of coming and going as I please.”
She rolled her eyes.
“What?” he asked as he walked out the door and led her to his car.
“Coming and going as you please might be considered hopelessly arrogant by some.”
“Yes. But I’m trusting you to get me there on time.”
She laughed, a low, earthy sound that reminded Carson of wine, candlelit bedrooms and sin. He tried not to panic at the images that would only interfere with what he was trying to do for Patrick.
“Here,” he said a few minutes later, opening the door to a boutique that specialized in classic clothing.
Beth walked in the door ahead of Carson. He hadn’t thought of it before, but the place smelled of class, of opulence. She stood there looking uncomfortable and small and pretty and completely out of place.
“Please…fix me up,” she said, her voice husky and thick. “And quickly.”
Her words were practical, but they sounded erotic to Carson’s ears. He ignored his reaction.
Instead he nodded to a salesperson and forced himself to behave like the businessman he was. “I want something chic, smart and businesslike. Not gray or black,” he said, glancing at Beth’s pale skin. “Jade, I think. Or gold. We don’t have much time.” He looked at Beth. “How much?”
She didn’t hesitate. “If we need to allow ourselves time to prepare for the meeting, I think…twenty minutes. Thirty, tops.”
Carson grimaced. He nodded to the salesperson. “Can you do it? We’ll want several changes of clothing, head to toe, inside and out.”
Beth yelped. “My underwear?”
He did his best not to imagine the garments she was referring to. He especially tried not to imagine them sliding against her pale flesh. “If you’re going to act the part of an accomplished and skilled assistant, you have to feel as if you’re used to luxury and privilege, right down to the skin.”
She nodded, but he noticed that her cheeks had gone even paler. The saleswoman scurried off, returning with a mountain of clothing. “We’ll make her irresistible,” she promised.
Carson’s last thought before Beth disappeared into the dressing room was, Oh, no, don’t do that.
He didn’t want to desire her. That would interfere with all his plans, and it would ultimately hurt her. Carson had already hurt too many people, and he did not want to see Beth’s brown eyes fill with pain.
After numerous changes, Beth finally emerged from the dressing room and heard Carson say, “Perfect. That’s the one you’ll wear today.”
She was dressed in a jade suit with a jacket that nipped in at her waist and a skirt that brushed her knees. A rich cream camisole peeked out from the lapels and beneath that she wore bits of ivory satin and lace. It was the most luscious, luxurious clothing she had ever owned, which bothered her. There was now a sense of obligation attached to this business relationship.
And there was something more. Longing. She hated that feeling. Over the years, she’d trained herself not to envy what other girls had. Her brothers had done their best. Neighbors had often donated bags of ill-fitting clothing their children had outgrown, and she’d always known that people judged her by what she was wearing. Pretending she didn’t care had been a badge of honor. Now…Beth glanced down at the skirt that hung just the way a skirt was meant to hang. She felt as if she were playing dress-up. She would eventually have to put the things back in the box and don her old clothes. But for now…she stroked her hand over the silky cloth.
The movement must have caught Carson’s eyes. He glanced at her, and she quickly slipped her hand behind her back, unwilling to let him see her as pathetic or needy or even more untutored than she had admitted to. His gaze never left hers as he told the saleswoman to send the rest of the things he had chosen to the office.
“Ready?” he asked Beth as they left the store.
“Yes.” She followed him out into the sunlight. “Thank you,” she added. “I doubt anyone would have known if you had spent less money.”
He shrugged and smiled. “I would have. This suits you. Think of it as your uniform.”
She liked that. It lessened her sense of obligation. “Thank you for the uniform, then,” she conceded. “It’s much nicer than the red apron I wore over my jeans at the auto parts store. Not as many pockets, but a lot more silk,” she said, trying to lighten the mood. “And you were very good at operating within a limited time frame.”
Carson chuckled. “Well, those evil glances you were giving your watch helped.”
She lifted one shoulder in acquiescence and smiled. “What will help with the planning commission?”
“Not sure. I’ve never done this before.”
Beth yelped. “You haven’t? Why not? My landlady said that your family—”
Carson looked grim. She clapped a hand over her mouth.
He shook his head. “Don’t apologize for asking questions. The Banicks are well-known around here, and people talk. Gossip is not a sin. Yes, my family has been in the luxury hotel business for years. My father, my mother and my brother, that is. I was never interested, but I’m needed now. My job—our job,” he amended, “is to hold the fort, to do our best to bring this hotel on line and to maintain the reputation and the solvency of Banick Enterprises.”
“Is that all?” Beth tried to joke, but there really wasn’t anything amusing about the situation. She clenched her fists, hiding them behind her back.
There was so much riding on her performance, and for a few seconds she considered the fact that she might not have the skills to do this job, after all. In truth, Beth felt as if she were going to hyperventilate. A paper bag would have been nice, but she didn’t have that luxury. “All right, I understand. So, what do you think you want me to do?”
He turned those exquisite silver eyes on her. “Take copious notes. Not just about what’s being said, but about your impressions of the people on the commission, how they react. What they like, what they don’t like, how they conduct themselves. This meeting today is just a formality to ensure that we can begin working again, but in the weeks that follow we may have to go back to them if we make any changes to the structure.”
“Will we do that?”
Those silver eyes connected with her in a way that was deeply disturbing, primal, male. “Undoubtedly. There’s always competition to be the best. My brother has been out of commission for a while, but the hotel world has kept moving. We’ll need to make improvements, to hunt for the next trend, to discover what it is that will bring guests to our hotel rather than to another one.” His voice was deep, dark, ragged, earnest.
“I thought you didn’t have experience with this,” she said softly.
“I don’t have much, but I’ve sat in on plenty of discussions between my brother and my father. I’ve run my own firms and been a lifelong consumer of luxury products. As fickle as any customer, I’ve moved from one thing to the next.”
For a moment, Beth had the discomfiting feeling that when Carson said “thing” he meant women, his voice was so low and seductive. It was terribly easy to believe that women would parade their wares before him, each trying to outdo the other.
She swallowed hard. “I’ll take detailed notes,” she promised.
It seemed a simple task when she thought of it that way. Taking notes? What could be so difficult? She would be a great assistant and make Carson glad that he had chosen her. Maybe she could even turn this into a career that would grant her the independence and the future that she needed.
A sense of confidence and well-being filled her soul…until she walked into the office where the meeting was being held.
A row of eyes met her entrance. A wall of men were seated at the table. In other years, Beth was sure, there had been women present, either as members of the commission or as architects or attorneys, but not today. Today she was the lone female, and, she was well aware, the only inexperienced person in sight, no matter what Carson had said.
The minute he entered the room, he seemed to fill it. He was taller, more powerful-looking, more confident than any man present—even though every person in the room looked important. This was no small potatoes meeting.
Everything that happened here mattered. That meant that everything she did mattered.
She could help Carson, or she could prove her brothers right and be a helpless female who needed assistance.
Beth swallowed hard and sat down, pen poised. She cast one look at Carson and found him studying her. He smiled slightly, and she knew instantly that he had loved and left many beautiful ladies.
He might need her help today, but she must never make the mistake of thinking he needed anything else from her. She’d erred that way before. No more.
Dredging up a look of confidence from some hidden place inside, Beth managed to give Carson a flippant smile. She began to scribble, and she knew that this man could help her free herself from the prison she had inhabited.
Or he could create a new kind of prison for her. If she let him.
CHAPTER THREE
“WELL, THAT WAS incredibly interesting, Ms. Krayton,” Carson said as they returned to the office.
She placed her hands over her face. “I can’t believe I did that, said that.”
He couldn’t help chuckling even though he had been as horrified as she when she had gotten up to speak at the meeting. That certainly hadn’t been on the agenda. “You did that,” he agreed. “You said that. It most definitely broke the ice.”
A look of horror came over her face. “I’m sure that one isn’t supposed to tell a commissioner that our pool would be so fun and romantic that he and his wife would feel as if they were giggling newlyweds on their honeymoon. I mean, I didn’t even know if he was married.”
Carson shrugged. “He is, but I don’t think it was the comment about his marriage that intrigued everyone. I believe it might have been your enthusiasm that won them over.”
“Well what’s not to like about a series of round stepping stone pools connected by ladders and slides? I especially liked the idea of the slide-away ceiling and the changeable lighting and movable landscaping to take the atmosphere from family swim parties to romantic adult evenings. But, when I stood up I wasn’t thinking. I only meant to say that I hadn’t seen anything like that in Chicago.”
And she had said that…just before launching into a rapt speech about how the commission members themselves might benefit from a stay at the hotel.
The look in her fine brown eyes now couldn’t be construed as anything other than guilt. Remorse. A truckload of both. Carson knew those feelings. He lived them every day, and one guilty person in their office was more than enough, especially since she had struck a chord with the commissioners.
“Beth, you were fine.”
“I wasn’t supposed to talk at all. I just…they were asking so many questions.”
Carson couldn’t help smiling. “They’re supposed to do that. It’s their job.”
She nodded. “Yes, I know. I mean, now that I’ve stopped to think, I know that. But the problem was that at the time I didn’t stop to think. I just jumped up and butted in where I didn’t belong.”
She had flung one hand out and Carson caught it, holding her still. Her skin was warm and soft beneath his fingertips, but he tried not to notice that. In that boardroom she had been passionate, electric, her face suffused with a glowing enthusiasm that had spilled over into her speech about the selling points of the hotel and the pool. “Beth, they gave us permission to go on with the plans.”
“Because of you. I’ll bet mere assistants don’t usually hop up during presentations and launch into wild speeches. They were probably too shocked to shut me up.”
“Maybe,” he said with a grin, “but they knew you were a member of the Banick team. Your speech might have been a bit out of the ordinary, but it was effective and impressive. It’s good to see that kind of enthusiasm. It means that you’re part of a team that will work toward excellence.”
She fidgeted. “I’ve never been called impressive.”
Carson looked down at Beth, remembering the moment when she had put down her pen and gotten to her feet, beginning her speech. Politely at first, but then with more depth of feeling. She had made eye contact with the others sitting at the table. She had spoken to them as if she valued their opinions and expected something from them beyond business as usual.
Beth might not be a lot of things…she clearly couldn’t dress herself, he thought, noting that her jacket was riding up, exposing a sliver of creamy skin she didn’t even seem to be aware of. Untamed strands of her hair framed her face, the result of her impassioned soliloquy. From what she had said he gathered that she had never met a person with a pedigree outside the working world.
His mother would faint if he brought her home, even for a single dinner. Deirdre Banick wouldn’t have liked the speech about honeymoons, either. Her entire life was lived according to a strict set of rules, and she never spoke of anything remotely related to the more sensual aspects of life. Elegance and class were paramount.
She had long been the driving force behind Banick Enterprises, and elegance had always been part of the company’s reputation. His foray outside the usual Banick standards in hiring someone as unpredictable, outspoken and untutored as Beth had probably been ill-advised. Nevertheless, that didn’t change what had just happened in that meeting. Beth Krayton was one hell of an amazing woman when she got excited about something.
He wondered what else excited her, other than hotels and swimming pools.
Immediately he wanted to slap his own face. She’d been trying to help him and here he was on the road to imagining what the rest of her skin would look like if he lifted her jacket.
“All right, now that we have approval, let’s get back to the more boring stuff,” he forced himself to say.
She nodded. “Like what?”
Like not imagining you half-naked, he thought. “Contractors,” he said. “Details. I want things underway as quickly as possible.”
The doctors had said that Patrick should be making better progress given the nature of his injuries. Carson hoped that presenting his brother with something well on the way to completion might help bring back the old Patrick. At the very least, Carson hoped to make up for what had happened, at least in some small way. When Patrick finally felt up to living again—
Carson fought to keep breathing. He hoped that the little brother he knew was still in there somewhere.
“Mr. Banick?” Beth said.
He looked down at her. “Yes?”
“Are you all right?”
He gave a tight nod. “I’m perfectly fine.”
What a total lie. He had traveled through life breaking hearts and bringing distress. Because of him, his brother was paralyzed and divorced from all the things in life that had brought him joy. So, it was only fitting that Carson should finally be forced into a business he had long hated. It was retribution. But not enough. Nothing could ever be enough.
He led Beth back to the office in silence. Then, together, they planned a course of action. He schmoozed contractors. She kept records of all that transpired and drew up the paperwork.
The clock’s hands twirled around, the hours passed. When Carson heard a slight, quickly stifled yawn, he looked up to see that it was nearly seven o’clock. Beth was still working, but it was clear that she was starting to droop. Her eyes looked tired. She even looked thinner, if that were possible.
“Enough for today.”
She glanced up at him and blinked, staring at his outstretched hand as if she didn’t quite comprehend what he meant.
“I’ll buy you dinner,” he offered.
Instantly she looked alert, wary. “No, that’s all right,” she said.
A flash of anger ripped through Carson. At himself. Was he looking at her as if he expected something more of her than an after-business dinner between colleagues? It was possible.
“Just food,” he clarified. “I’m not proposing anything indecent, Beth.”
Automatically she rose, looking flustered. “I didn’t think that.”
He could swear she was lying, but he didn’t intend to engage in a battle of wills. Carson lifted a brow. “Beth, I don’t know what you’ve heard about me…I’m not an exemplary man, but I can assure you that I don’t assault my employees and I don’t engage in personal relationships with them.”
“I know. I know. It’s not you. It’s just…nothing. I would love to have dinner. I’m absolutely famished.” Her voice grew stronger, bolder. The Beth of the meeting had returned and she ended her speech with a smile that transformed her face. For a moment he had the fanciful thought that the light coming in through the window picked up golden glints in her russet hair, turning it a remarkable color that made him itch to touch the soft stuff.
Damn it. Carson was forced to remind himself of what he’d just told her. Was he already going back on his word?
No, he wasn’t. He wouldn’t. “I know a nice place,” he told her as she obliged him by placing those pretty fingers in his grasp. A very public place, he told himself.
He refused to keep having improper thoughts about Beth. He had plans. She undoubtedly had plans, too, and plenty of reservations.
He was going to change his life, settle down and provide the long-awaited Banick heir. She would eventually go back to her safe working class family in Chicago.
No one was going to get hurt here, Carson promised himself. That meant no touching, no wanting, no anything beyond business.
And that was the end of that.
Well, she had certainly made a fool of herself back there, Beth mused, acting as if he was offering to take her to bed instead of just offering her dinner.
She hadn’t really thought that he was doing any such thing. It was just the notion that if word of her socializing with her boss got back to her brothers, they would be rushing up here to defend her honor or something suitably ridiculous. After all, Chicago might be as different from the resort town of Lake Geneva as her red hair was from something tame but it was still only a ninety-minute drive.
Not that she was afraid of her brothers, but their actions made her feel like a little girl. And she found, looking across the table at Carson, tall and dark and sophisticated in his white shirt and navy tie, that for once in her life she wanted to be taken seriously. She wanted to stop feeling like a girl and start taking her place in the world as a woman. And she couldn’t do that if Carson ever knew that her brothers were watching her and checking up on his background.
How mortifying would that be!
“Is there something wrong?” Carson asked.
Beth almost jumped. Had she said something out loud again? “I—”
“You’re not eating,” he said gently.
She looked down at her plate of perfectly prepared food and realized that he was right.
“Sorry, I guess I’m still getting used to the newness of everything…a new job, a new apartment, a new town. Especially my new town. That probably sounds weird.”
He gave a slight laugh. “No, actually, I can relate completely. My family is from Milwaukee and I’ve been to Lake Geneva many times, but usually for vacations. This is a bit different.”
“For me, too. The few times I’ve been here it was because my brother was making a delivery and he allowed me to tag along.”
Carson nodded. “What were you delivering?”
“Plumbing supplies. Steve’s a driver for a firm that manufactures them. I don’t think he was supposed to be carrying human cargo, but it was summer and it was his day to make sure his little sister stayed out of trouble.” She didn’t want to say more about that so she took a bite.
“You’re the youngest, you said?”
She nodded. “By ten years. Steve’s thirty-five.”
“He the one who tried to match you up with your last boss?”
Beth felt panic welling up inside her. “You don’t have to worry. He wouldn’t try to match me up with you.”
Carson almost choked on a piece of steak.
Beth wanted to crawl underneath her plate. “That didn’t come out the way I wanted it to. What I meant was that he would know that you’re out of my league, that you’d only marry someone rich and sophisticated. If he has any thoughts about you, it’s that I shouldn’t get involved with you at all.”
Which sounded even worse. She closed her eyes and prayed for the flowers on the table to ignite…or anything that would distract Carson and enable her to exit this uncomfortable conversation.
“He’s right,” Carson said.
Beth opened her eyes. “What?”
“I have a bad reputation with women. Your brother is right to have those kinds of thoughts, although…as I mentioned…”
“I know. You don’t get involved with your employees and I shouldn’t worry.”
A grim smile lifted his lips slightly. “Exactly.”
Beth managed to nod. “I’ll tell him that. Not that it will matter. Older brothers tend to be overprotective.”
She said that last sentence in a casual, offhand, flippant way. She was trying for a light, teasing tone, anything to let him know that she wasn’t worried, that she would never think of him in a romantic or lustful manner.
But Carson wasn’t smiling. “Older brothers should be protective,” he said.
She opened her mouth to speak, but he shook his head. “Forget I said that. I was just thinking of my own younger brother.”
He didn’t say more. Carson turned the conversation to business, and soon the meal was over. “I’ll take you to your car,” he said.
“I walked to work. I like to walk.” She didn’t want to add that the reason she had walked had less to do with her love of walking and more with the fact that her beat-up pickup truck looked like something she had gotten from the junk yard. It didn’t fit the image of a successful professional.
“Then I’ll drive you home.”
Panic welled up. “That’s all right.”
“No, it’s not. It’s getting late and we have another big day ahead of us. I wouldn’t want you to fail to get enough rest and end up being late tomorrow.”
“I wouldn’t do that.”
Carson sighed. “I know that. I just—let me do this. That line you said earlier about older brothers…I haven’t always been protective of my brother and there have been consequences. Let me do one good, if small, thing today.”
So, what could she say? Reluctantly she gave him her address. To her relief he didn’t say anything negative when they turned into the driveway. There weren’t exactly any bad neighborhoods in Lake Geneva, but there were some houses that were a bit neglected. The room she was renting was in one of those neglected, dumpy houses. Siding falling off, a crack in the window that hadn’t been repaired, weeds turning into a forest.
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