Dreaming Of… Italy. Alison Roberts

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СКАЧАТЬ I’m sorry.” She knew Tucker Engle was the CEO and chairman of the board of Inferno. Before she’d interviewed for this job, she’d researched the company and his name had popped up. But the company’s annual statements had said little about the reclusive billionaire. When she’d searched the internet, she’d only found an interview with the Wall Street Journal and a Facebook rant by a former employee who had called him the Grim Reaper because the only time he came out of his ivory tower was to fire someone. Still, none of that information gave her any clue what his assistant’s accident had to do with her.

      “As the newest employee in the company, it falls to you to stand in for Betsy.”

      Her already-fallen stomach soured. She had to work directly with a guy called the Grim Reaper by his staff?

      She gulped. “An accountant stands in for a personal assistant?”

      “You won’t be a personal assistant.”

      Following the sound of the deep male voice, Vivi swung around. A tall, dark-haired man leaned against the door frame. Her gaze crawled from his shiny black loafers up his black trousers and suit jacket, past his white shirt and sky-blue tie to a pair of emerald-green eyes.

      Wow.

      “Or even an administrative assistant. You’ll be an assistant.” He pushed away from the door frame and walked over to her. “The assistant to the chairman of the board. The assistant who must be able to read financial reports and change things I need to have changed. An assistant who has to be able to keep up.” His lush mouth thinned. “Do you have a problem with that?”

      Intimidation froze her limbs, her tongue, and she could only stare.

      “Good.” Obviously taking her silence for acceptance, he headed for the door. “Spend the twenty minutes you need with Mrs. Martin to get your ID badge and fill out your paperwork then report to my office.”

      He strode out and she stared at the empty space he left in his wake.

      “He’s a whirlwind.”

      Obviously, Mrs. Martin was paid to say nice things because Vivi wouldn’t call him a whirlwind. He was more like a bully. A really good-looking bully, but still a bully.

      Bile rose to her throat, but she shoved it down again. She’d dealt with bullies before. “I take it that’s Tucker Engle.”

      “In the gorgeous flesh.”

      “He demoted me even before I started.”

      Mrs. Martin shook her head. “It’s not a demotion. That’s what he was telling you. The assistant job is a lot more than you think it is.”

      “But I need to start my real job now. I have to keep my skills sharp to take the CPA exam. I don’t want to fall behind.”

      “You’ll be working with the Tucker Engle. The man who leads Inferno. You’ll see everything he does—learn everything he knows.”

      That didn’t mesh with the picture painted in the Facebook rant, but it sounded promising. Like something she could cling to to force herself to be able to work with him. “So he’ll teach me things?”

      “I don’t know about teaching, per se.” Mrs. Martin motioned for her to sit in the chair in front of her desk. She pointed to a little camera attached to her computer monitor. “Take a seat so I can get your employee picture.”

      Vivi sat.

      “Anyway, I don’t know about him teaching you, but you’ll learn a lot working with him. He built this company—”

      “With help.”

      “Help?” Mrs. Martin laughed. “You think he had help? Everybody who works here supports him. He’s the idea man. No one else.”

      That did mesh with what she’d read. In the interview he’d given the Wall Street Journal, he’d bragged that he used only accountants, lawyers, PR people—support staff. He didn’t want, or need, an equal.

      “Fantastic.”

      Mrs. Martin smiled sympathetically. “I understand you’re disappointed. You see this as a setback. And I probably can’t talk you out of that.” She paused and sucked in a resigned breath. “So, I’m going to stop the sugarcoating and be totally honest with you. Tucker Engle is a suspicious prima donna. He gives assignments piecemeal so that no one can figure out what he’s working on. He’s so demanding that none of our employees would volunteer to replace Betsy—even for a few weeks.”

      Her heart stuttered. “And you think I can?”

      “I didn’t pick you. We gave Mr. Engle the files of the accountants starting today and he chose you. Like it or not, you’re stuck. But Betsy won’t be out forever. Eight weeks—”

      Her eyes bulged. “Eight weeks?”

      Mrs. Martin grimaced. “Twelve tops.”

      “Oh, my God!”

      “But you still get your accountant’s salary. And your time with Mr. Engle counts in your seniority with the company. It’s not as if you’ll be starting over when Betsy returns.”

      “No, thanks. I’ll just keep my job in Accounting.”

      Mrs. Martin sighed. “How good do you think it’s going to look on your employee records if you refuse your first assignment?”

      “It’s not the position I was hired for.”

      “Nonetheless, it’s your first assignment and if you don’t take it, he may tell us to fire you.”

      She was really, really sorry she’d found that Facebook rant because she couldn’t even argue that. “Of course he will.”

      Mrs. Martin’s face fell into sympathetic lines. “The other option is to quit.”

      * * *

      “The other option is to quit.”

      Vivi muttered those words under her breath as she made her way through the maze of red-, orange-and yellow-walled corridors, looking for the private elevator to the executive office. She finally reached it and inserted the magic key card that would start the plush car, giving her access to the inner sanctum of Inferno. Which, she was beginning to think, had been named appropriately since this company really might be the pits of hell.

      The doors swished closed and she shut her eyes. She was the toughest person she knew. She had survived an attack at university that had nearly ended in her being raped and the bullying that had resulted when she’d tried to prosecute the boy involved—the son of Starlight, Kentucky’s leading family. One grouchy, narcissistic CEO would not stop her from reaching her dream of being somebody. Somebody so important that the people back in Starlight would see that despite all their attempts to break her, she had succeeded.

      They had failed.

      And Tucker Engle wouldn’t break her either.

      The elevator bell pinged. The doors opened again. Like Dorothy entering Oz, she stepped СКАЧАТЬ