Balancing Act. Laura Browning

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ my calendar for this weekend.”

      She didn’t need to check, she’d memorized it. “You have a Sigma Delta Chi dinner at which you are the keynote speaker this evening. The rest of the weekend is clear.”

      “Damn!” He stood up and paced his office, once again reminding her of a wild animal trapped in a cage not of his own choosing. He paused at the corner and looked back at her.

      “Where’s the jet?”

      “Brandon Barrett has it, sir, in Puerto Rico.”

      “Then get me the first commercial flight you can after that damn dinner to Durham, North Carolina. First-class. There’s never enough leg-room anywhere else.”

      Tessa had already logged off her computer. She gestured toward Seth’s.

      “May I?”

      “Yes.” He waved her toward the oversized leather chair. She felt almost like a child sitting in it, her legs very nearly dangling without touching the floor.

      It took a few minutes, and Barrett’s gaze seemed to bore into her the entire time. The man was an expert at looming. It hadn’t taken her long to figure out most of his attitude was not directed at her. The biting temper was who he was allowed to be. The arrogance, she was sure, was inbred at this point.

      The controlled anger that bubbled up now and then was another matter, but not her problem. If Seth Barlow-Barrett was unhappy in what he did, that was too bad. There must be a lot that more than made up for it. Financial gain, for one thing. Right now, in her book, that was a pretty fair trade-off. With a couple more keystrokes, she turned to him.

      “You leave National at five-fifteen a.m. and arrive at Raleigh-Durham at six AM Saturday morning,” she said at last. “A rental car will be waiting for you. When would you like to return?”

      “Sunday.”

      She punched a few more keys. “I can get you on a noon flight back.”

      “Book it. Use my travel account. The number’s there next to the keyboard.”

      A couple more minutes and Tessa was pulling his ticket voucher off the computer printer.

      “Done.”

      She crossed the room and handed him the voucher, and then Barrett did do something that caught her off-guard. He smiled. It transformed the lean features of his face and made him look years younger.

      “Thank you, Tessa.”

      Now he’d rattled her. A smile and her correct name. She knew she was staring at him, probably with her mouth gaping, but she couldn’t help it and could only nod in response.

      “Go home. Enjoy your weekend.”

      She smiled back. “Thank you.”

      * * * *

      Seth watched the door close behind her. Tessa Edwards. She’d made it through the first week, and that was an accomplishment in and of itself. It had taken him a few days to notice, but she was stunning in her own way. Hers was not a stand up and smack you in the face kind of pretty, but a harmonious blend of classic bone structure and subtle curves with the staying power pretty women seldom had. Not until she smiled at someone else had he seen the vivid personality to go with the flamboyant coloring. Fiery red hair, thick and straight, and the most unusual ice-blue eyes. Yes, he’d noticed Tessa Edwards, not just for her looks, but for the grit and unflappable serenity she’d demonstrated all week long.

      He needed that right now, especially after the little nuclear bomb she’d unknowingly dropped in his lap with that package. Seth tapped his fingers on his desk.

      He was not an easy man. He knew that. In fact, many of the people who had faced him across a negotiating table described him as a Class-A bastard who made his father look like a blessed saint. Seth knew what people thought, what some even voiced behind his back, but didn’t care. He was what his father had molded him to be. He had taken over daily operations of Barrett Newspapers four years after college. When all was said and done, he was a Barlow-Barrett and couldn’t drop that responsibility from his shoulders to pursue his own desires.

      One soft spot remained in the armor he’d built around himself over the years. That was his sister Anna. He and Brandon were the only ones who called her that, yet that was the name she now chose to use in her professional life. Little Anna, the veterinarian. So different from the rest of them, yet she was the embodiment of what he longed to be. She was his heart, and he would do anything to protect her. He knew she viewed herself as the ugly duckling, but he saw her as the one Barlow-Barrett who had dared to be different, inside and out. When the rest of them had followed like sheep in the family footsteps, Anna had walked away. Phillip, his youngest brother, had taken a slight detour into law, but he was still right in the family fold. Anna was the rebel, and he admired her to no end.

      His eyes lifted to the DVD player and the disc he still hadn’t removed. Watching even a portion of it had made him almost sick. Then the anger had exploded, costing him a piece of artwork he’d paid through the nose for. He wanted not only the blackmailers who’d sent the video, but the fucker on the disc with her.

       Chapter 2

      Tessa pushed thoughts of Seth from her mind as soon as she arrived at her neighbor’s apartment to pick up Zach. His freckled face split into a huge grin when he saw her and he leaped up from the video game he played. She laughed and hugged him. He was the joy in her life and had been ever since his birth. Their parents’ deaths had served to draw them even closer.

      “Tessa! I got to the third level of Space Zombies.”

      “That’s great, Zach.” Tessa grinned back at him.

      Reading might be a problem, but he was a real whiz when it came to math or anything resembling computers. They had bought this latest video game just yesterday. If she allowed it, he would play all the time, but Tessa tried to make sure they spent time doing other things when they were together.

      She read to him and took him out in the country as much as possible.

      “Why are you home so early? Was your boss as bad as everyone told you and you quit?”

      “No. He told me I could leave. You know what that means?”

      Zach’s eyes widened. “We’re going to the beach today?” At her nod, he tossed down his game remote and danced around the room. “Yes! It’s almost like getting a whole ‘nother day.”

      Zach talked almost non-stop as they packed their camping gear, fishing poles and plenty of snacks. Tessa knew he got bored over the summer. As much as he disliked school, it still offered a change of scenery from the neighbor’s apartment.

      “Do you think we can catch any sharks?”

      “Sharks!” Tessa laughed. “Who’s going to take them off the hooks?”

      “I can,” Zach reassured her with an air of importance. “Remember, I did last year.”

      Tessa smiled. They had caught some baby sharks that Zach insisted on taking off the hooks. Tessa had let him. It made him СКАЧАТЬ