Chapter One
RILEY ADDISON froze with her coffee cup halfway to her
lips, then leaned forward in her office chair to reread
the company e-mail from Jackson Lange, better known as the
Bane of her Existence.
Will require double the budget your department allotted,
i.e. a one-hundred-percent increase, effective
immediately. See attached spreadsheet for details. Contact
me if any questions.
Riley's brows hiked up, and with a humorless laugh, she
shook her head. The new head of Prestige Residential
Construction's marketing department was clearly insane.
The terse, robotic way in which Jackson Lange communicated
via e-mail and on the phone convinced her he'd lived a
previous life as some sort of despotic dictator who barked
out orders and expected the troops to fall meekly into
line.
"Well, you've picked the wrong person to bark at this
time," she muttered. "Today I'm giving out asswhuppings
and chocolate cookies, and sadly for you, I'm fresh out of
chocolate cookies."
The only saving grace for Riley was that Prestige's
marketing department was located in the company's New York
offices, while her accounting department was in Atlanta -
a safety buffer of over nine hundred miles that prevented
her from having to deal with the intolerable Jackson Lange
inperson.
She blew out a long sigh and rubbed her throbbing temples
to alleviate the headache that had plagued her ever since
Prestige had hired Lange. Had it been only just a few
short weeks ago when all had been right and rosy with her
working world? Yes. Then Jackson Lange had barreled - or
was slithered a more apt description? - into Prestige's
New York office and all hell had broken loose.
With the longtime head of marketing retiring, Riley, along
with everyone else in her department, had known changes
were inevitable. But Riley had expected a Prestige
employee would be promoted to the position. So much for
expectations. Instead, Jackson Lange was hired from the
outside. Company scuttlebutt was that Lange had a
reputation in the industry as a barracuda who wasn't
afraid to chew on a few people on his way to the top.
Rumor also had it that he was brought in because he had
connections to Elite Commercial Builders - a company the
residential-based Prestige's CEO was interested in
acquiring.
All the turmoil surrounding Lange's hiring led to a
newfound tense work environment that Riley resented. From
day one Jackson Lange had instigated changes to procedures
that had been in place for years. He'd made abrupt,
peremptory demands, and thoroughly disrupted the formerly
cordial working balance between the accounting and
marketing departments. She'd been forced to tolerate a man
she so far found intolerable, and with each passing day
the situation grew worse.
But she was particularly upset because as demanding as her
job was, her career provided the only calm in the storm
her personal life had become since her younger sister,
Tara, had moved in with her after their mother's death. At
work, Riley knew what she was doing. Numbers, financial
statements, budgets - all that she understood. Away from
the office, however, her responsibilities made her
constantly feel as if she were walking a tightrope above a
deep, dark canyon without benefit of a safety net. She
needed a break, a change. And she needed it now.
Unfortunately now she had to deal with this e-mail from
Lange, despite the fact that she'd already told him last
week that no budget increase would be coming his
way. "I.e. a one-hundred-percent increase," Riley
muttered. "As if I don't know what double means. Insulting
jerk."
"Uh-oh," said a familiar voice from the doorway.
"You're talking to yourself. And wearing your 'Jackson
Lange' killer glare. Is it safe to enter?"
Riley's gaze lifted to Gloria Morris, head of Prestige's
information technology department. Dressed in a tailored,
vivid turquoise dress that hugged her slim figure, with a
sleek auburn bob brushing her shoulders, Gloria looked
fresh and perky, and totally dispelled the typical image
of the nerdy IT computer geek. Gloria was the only woman
Riley knew who always looked as if she just stepped out of
some exclusive salon. She loved her best friend in spite
of that annoying trait.
"Safe to enter? Depends. Do you want your blood pressure
to soar into the danger zone? The veins on your forehead
to pop out and throb?"
"Not especially, but since you clearly could use some
cheering up, I'll risk it." Gloria settled herself in the
black leather chair opposite Riley. "So what's the
Barracuda done now?"
"The usual - barked out peremptory demands. Only this
time, he hit me before I'd finished my first cup of
coffee."
Gloria shook her head. "Clearly he has no idea how grumpy
you are pre-caffeine."
"Clearly not, although I wasn't grumpy until I opened
Lange's e-mail. Unfortunately, I suspect my mood isn't
going to improve after I look at his attached
spreadsheet."
"Ooh, a spreadsheet, too. Must be your lucky day."
"Oh, yeah, lucky. That's what I'm feeling right now."
Gloria tilted her head and gave a quick, assessing
look. "I don't think so. You look ... tired. Droopy."
Riley sighed. "Much as I hate to admit it, you're right. I
almost hung an 'out of order' sign on my bathroom mirror
this morning." She shot Gloria an apologetic look. "Sorry
for being a grump. In my efforts to appear outwardly calm
and collected to my staff, I let all my frustrations out
on you."
"Which is what friends are for. Lord knows I bend your ear
enough." A teasing light lit her eyes. "I'm just not as
grumpy about it as you are."
Riley laughed. "I know. I'm Grumpy, you're Happy. Throw in
a poison apple and an enchanted mirror and we'd have a
fairy tale."
"I'd rather throw in a handsome prince instead."
"Wouldn't we all. Although, at this point, I'd be happy
just to meet someone who interested me."
"Interested your mind - or your body?"
"Well, both would be nice. But if I had to choose?
Definitely my body."
"Amen, sister. But a somewhat surprising answer from you,
Ms. Cautious and Conservative."
Riley winced inwardly at the title, as she knew it didn't
aptly describe her - at least not the real her, but
instead only the Riley she'd forced herself to become
after Tara moved in. Her willful, impressionable younger
sister had badly needed a good example to follow, so Riley
had made certain her own behavior couldn't be called into
question. But now that Tara had finally graduated from
college and had announced she was moving out in two weeks,
the fun-loving, sometimes wicked, sometimes daring Riley
she'd ruthlessly suppressed was straining at the reins to
break free.
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