Excerpt of The Man Means Business by Annette Broadrick

"Man your battle stations! Incoming! Incoming!"

Jodie Cameron grinned at the innovative way the receptionist notified her that the man she worked for had finally arrived at the office on this gloomy winter day in Chicago.

"Thanks, Betty." Jodie cleared her computer screen, brushed a wisp of hair that had escaped the tidy knot at the back of her neck away from her face and waited for him.

Jodie knew something was up with Dean Logan. In the five years she'd worked for him Dean had never come to work this late in the morning. He generally was already there when she arrived.

Earlier she'd checked his calendar to see if he was scheduled to go out of town, but he had nothing written down. She had wondered if he'd decided not to come in since it was Friday and he planned to go on a week's vacation starting on Sunday. But that didn't seem likely. He would have called to let her know.

This would be the first vacation he'd taken since she'd been his secretary, and she looked forward to having the time to clean out files, set up subfiles and work uninterrupted.

At least Betty had warned her that he wasn't in the best of moods. Dean was moody at the best of times, but no matter how cranky he was this morning, she could put up with him for one more day.

She waited at her desk for him to enter her office. Dean was an astute businessman and he'd worked hard to build his electronic security business. She had no idea why he didn't appear content with what he'd accomplished during the past fifteen years.

The man looked more like a football player than the head of a multimillion-dollar corporation. Too bad he rarely smiled. As far as she could recall, she'd never heard him laugh.

He was not the jovial type.

His face looked as if it had been carved out of granite and his nose had been broken at some point. His heavy brows and piercing silver-blue eyes would never get him selected to a list of America's sexiest bachelors.

Not that his looks stopped the bevy of beauties who flocked around him. Each hoped to have the distinction of becoming Mrs. Dean Logan.

From what Jodie could tell, he neither encouraged them nor discouraged them. Rachel Hunt was his latest arm candy. He'd been seeing her for almost three months now, which was close to a record for him.

Jodie knew when he started seeing someone new because he had her take care of sending flowers, ordering gifts, obtaining tickets for various events and, at times, listening to his comments about the women who came and went in his life.

He knew that most of the women were more interested in his money and connections than in him. He listened cynically to confessions of undying love and a yearning for a commitment he refused to give.

Hence the number of women who came in and out of his life.

There were times when Jodie saw the loneliness in his eyes. At some point, long before she'd come to work for him, Dean must have made the decision not to allow anyone to get close to him. She found that to be very sad. Not that she'd ever let him know that she pitied him. No, she listened when he needed to talk and kept her opinions to herself.

Of course, her sister would never believe that, since Jodie was known for expressing her opinion on myriad subjects at any given moment. She smiled at the thought.

Dean moved silently, and she had grown used to his suddenly appearing in her doorway. As he did now.

"Good morn —"

"No, it definitely is not a good morning." Dean stopped in front of her desk, pulled an envelope out of his coat pocket and handed it to her. "I won't need these." He started into his office. "Would you mind getting me some coffee, please? I have a hellacious headache."

"Sure," she replied absently. She picked up the envelope and looked inside. The envelope held the airline tickets to Hawaii that she'd ordered for Dean and Rachel. Had Rachel changed her mind about going?

She stood and walked over to the coffeepot, filled one of the large mugs she kept nearby and followed him into his office.

Dean stood with his hands in his pockets looking out the window. She set the cup on his desk and sat in her usual chair.

"What happened, Dean?"

He didn't answer right away. Instead he stared out at the spitting snow and occasional ice blowing against the glass. She waited.

After several minutes of silence, he turned and sat down behind his desk, reaching for the coffee. "Do you have any aspirin?"

"Certainly." She went to the small bar behind a sliding door and poured him a glass of water before she picked up the aspirin bottle and set it in front of him.

He really was in a ferocious mood. His frown, always intimidating, was firmly in place. No wonder people were wary of him. She didn't think he realized how gruff he sounded…and that was on one of his good days.

When she'd first gone to work for him, Jodie knew she had replaced a string of four women who had attempted to work for him and left after only a few weeks. So she'd been warned.

However, she was made of sterner stuff. She'd been raised with three brothers and she and her sister had learned to hold their own with the boys.

After several minutes of silence, Dean looked at her with a puzzled expression. "Why are you here?"

"I work here," she replied with a straight face.

He closed his eyes. "Sorry. I'm not in the best of moods."

No kidding. And he'd actually apologized! She must mark the day on her calendar.

"How long have you worked for me?"

"Five years."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"If I'm such a disagreeable person, why do you put up with me?"

"Who said you're a disagreeable person? I find you extremely agreeable as long as you get your own way," she replied lightly.

"Rachel says that everyone in this office is intimidated by me. But you aren't."

"I wasn't aware that was part of my job description. Is that what's bothering you this morning?"

"No."

"Do you care what people in the office think of you?"

"No. Well, except for you. What do you think of me?" She sat back in her chair and considered her answer. Finally she looked him in the eye and said, "I think you're a brilliant man who is impatient with people, a man who has single-handedly built this company into a thriving corporation by ignoring the naysayers and following your own vision."

"Hmph."

He took the aspirin and drank the water. Then he picked up his coffee and sipped.

They sat in silence for several more minutes.

Finally Dean said, "Rachel broke up with me last night." She couldn't hide her surprise. That must be a first for Dean. He was generally the one who broke things off any time a woman wanted more from him than he was willing to offer.

"Because you wanted her to go to Hawaii with you?" she asked, her disbelief plain.

He grimaced. "Actually she didn't give me a chance to surprise her with the tickets before she informed me that she never wanted to see me again."

Jodie was caught off guard by his admission. "Oh? I didn't realize you'd planned the trip as a surprise."

"Well, I did. Turns out I was the one surprised."

"What in the world happened?"

"I forgot we had tickets to the opera last night. I worked late to clear my desk and I'd forgotten to put the opera on my calendar."

"Oops."

"By the time I checked my cell phone messages on the way home, I was an hour late picking her up."

"Uh-oh."

"She was furious when I arrived at her place. I pointed out that we could still get there before intermission. It wasn't as if we didn't know the story, after all. However, the opera no longer mattered as far as she was concerned." He scrubbed his face with his hand. "She handed me a sack with the things I'd left in her apartment since we've been seeing each other and told me to get out."

"Rachel was obviously upset at the time," Jodie said.

"Why don't you call her today and tell her about the trip you've planned? I'm sure you'll be back in her good graces once she discovers your surprise."

He was shaking his head before she finished. "I'm not going to do that. She made it plain she wanted no part of me, so why should I bother?" His mouth turned up at the corners. "I'll admit my ego might have been bruised a little and I went home to sulk, but she made it clear that we were through. I can accept that."

He nodded toward the envelope she'd placed on his desk. "So," he said with a shrug, "I won't be needing those."

Oh, dear. She'd promised herself never to offer her opinion unless he asked for it — and then any question he asked invariably had to do with business.

She wrestled with her conscience for a long moment but could no longer remain quiet. "I disagree," she said bravely, bracing for his response. "I believe you need the time away whether Rachel is with you or not. You know you love Hawaii and it's been three years since you acquired the condo there. I think you should go and spend some time on the beach. Forget the business for a few days. Catch up on your sleep. Once you're there, I know you'll enjoy it."

He leaned back in his chair and stared at her. She waited for his salvo telling her to mind her own business. Jodie was surprised when instead he asked, "Do you think I'm married to my job?"

She eyed him uncertainly. This man had never questioned himself in front of her before. Now that he'd asked her opinion, she wondered how candid she could be while he was in this unusual mood. "Maybe," she said cautiously.

He lowered his brows and stared at her. "Gee, thanks." She might as well continue. "Look at it this way. You needed to put in long hours when you first started the company and you got into the habit of spending most of your time here. Now you've hired people you can rely on to take care of the day-to-day business. Maybe it's time for you to discover other things you might like to do with your life besides work."

He rubbed his chin. "I suppose." He shook his head. "I still can't get over how angry Rachel was when I arrived. What did I do that was so bad, please tell me? She could have called a cab when she couldn't reach me and been able to see the whole thing."

"Did you by any chance call her after you listened to her messages?"

"Why? I was on my way to pick her up by that time." She coughed to hide her amusement. "My guess is that her irritation was the result of an accumulation of times when you've been late or forgotten to call or gone out of town without notice. Some women can find that sort of behavior off-putting."