Fortune's Legacy. Maureen Child

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СКАЧАТЬ There was something going on here, and she didn’t have a clue what it was. Reviewed early meant one of two things: either she was going to be promoted—or fired.

      Watching Garrett Wolff’s closed expression didn’t really give her any hints as to which way the wind was blowing on that score. But she had a pretty good idea where he would stand on the issue.

      His pale blue eyes were steady on her and completely unreadable. It was as if that brief, electrical spark that had flashed between them hadn’t even happened. Cold, she thought. He was cold, right down to the bone.

      Too bad he looked so darn good. Garrett Wolff had blond hair that looked both too long and too tempting. He wore elegantly cut suits with the air of a pirate, and the swagger in his step was always just enough to make a woman either want to drool or kick him.

      He was a presence at Voltage.

      The bigwigs liked him. Trusted him.

      Listened to him.

      And he hated her.

      She’d known that for months. Ever since she’d spoken up during a marketing meeting and said what everyone else had been thinking: that Garrett’s ideas were outdated and too conservative.

      Okay, she thought now, maybe not the best way to make a good impression on your boss. But she hadn’t been trying to piss him off. Just make him see that she had good things to offer. That if given a chance, she could make a difference at Voltage.

      Now it looked as though all she’d done was earn the enmity of the one person who could make or break her career.

      Swell.

      Well then, if she was already sinking, she might as well go for broke.

      “Look, I know you don’t like me—”

      He cut her off. “This isn’t personal, Ms. Fortune.”

      “The hell it isn’t,” she snapped, surging to her feet as the tidal wave of anger carried her along in its wake. She was in this too deep now to start hedging her words or watching her step. Might as well be hanged for a lion as a lamb.

      “Every time I make a suggestion for this company or take a stand against doing things the traditional way, you shoot me down.”

      He stood up, too, and towered over her. Not easy, since she was by no means a tiny little thing. It irritated her, having to tilt her head back to glare at him, but she managed.

      “You don’t make ‘suggestions,’ Kyra,” he countered, through gritted teeth. “You torpedo other people’s ideas and then try to ram your own through, with all the tact and sensitivity of a rampaging army.”

      “Is there something wrong with wanting to succeed?” She felt the temper bubbling inside her. Knew she should dial it down. Knew she should get a grip. But she just couldn’t.

      “Not as long as you don’t eviscerate those who don’t agree with you,” he retorted, his eyes snapping now with a temper to match her own.

      “You just don’t want anyone rocking the boat,” she challenged, planting her hands on the edge of his pristine desk and leaning toward him.

      “And you,” he declared, doing a little leaning of his own, “don’t have the patience to let things develop naturally.”

      “What good is patience?” Kyra lifted one hand and pushed back a fringe of hair that had drifted into her left eye. “While we’re being patient, Fortune TX, Ltd. will sweep in and hustle off our major clients.”

      “They haven’t yet,” he reminded her.

      “That’s not to say they won’t.” Kyra stared him straight in the eye, unwilling now to back down from the precipice where her temper had carried her. “At Fortune, they’re not afraid to take chances. To try something new. To foster their employees’ imaginations.”

      “Then maybe you’re working for the wrong company, Ms. Fortune.”

      She hissed in a breath. Ooh, that one hurt.

      She pushed up from the desk. Folding her arms across her breasts, she concentrated for a full minute on inhaling and exhaling. She counted to ten. Then twenty. Then thirty.

      Didn’t work.

      Still furious.

      “Maybe you don’t know this about me, Mr. Wolff, so let me be the first to tell you. I don’t trade on my family name. It’s for exactly that reason that I came to work for Voltage. I wanted to make it on my own talents. I’ve worked hard to earn my position here. And I’ll work even harder until I have your job.”

      He snorted a derisive laugh that had Kyra’s hackles lifting.

      “Is that a threat, Ms. Fortune?”

      “That’s a promise, Mr. Wolff.”

      “I’ll keep that in mind.”

      A tiny, tiny voice in the back of Kyra’s brain was screeching, telling her that she was being an idiot. That she was risking everything she’d worked for by pissing off her boss.

      But, she thought as she deliberately squashed that shrieking voice, at this point what did she have to lose? He already didn’t like her. Maybe if he knew she was willing to stand up to him and fight for respect, he would, at least, admire her.

      After several long seconds of silence ticked past, Kyra spoke again. “This review. You’ll be doing it?”

      He smiled again. “Yes.”

      A cold chill snaked along her spine. “I won’t make it easy on you.”

      “What?”

      “I know you want me fired.”

      He shook his head. “Contrary to what you believe, you don’t actually know everything.” He paused. “But the fact that you always act as if you do is irritating to some.”

      She squirmed uncomfortably.

      “And I will say,” he continued, “that maybe, Kyra, you’ve finally irritated the wrong people.”

      Another chill caught her and she stiffened. Lifting her chin high and squaring her shoulders, she nodded briskly. “Think whatever you want to think, Mr. Wolff. But I’m damn good at my job. And my record will speak for itself.”

      “We’ll see, won’t we?” he asked, and slowly sat down in his chair again. Picking up her employee file, he tucked it away in one of his desk drawers, then lifted his gaze to hers. “That’s all for now. You can get back to work.”

      She opened her mouth to say something more, but shut it again almost instantly. She’d already said way too much. And knowing Garrett Wolff, he wouldn’t forget a word of it.

       Two

       K yra was still shaking as she left Garrett’s office. She deliberately closed the door gently, wanting to kick herself СКАЧАТЬ