Chapter 3 #2
That was when Ellie’s rage, rather than the numbing heartbreak she had been stuck in, had taken over.
Ellie had pared the office staff down to just herself and the loyal Sally and Benny and charged less for services to the clients they had managed to keep.
Since then, she had also managed to pick up several smaller companies as clients, ones that Andrew hadn’t yet had a chance to poison against her.
It was going to take time, but Ellie was slowly rebuilding HERA’s and her own reputation for reliability and excellence.
Wynter Security was one of the original clients she still had and didn’t want to lose.
Which was why, when Karen had called her early this morning and said she was on her way to the hospital to give birth, Ellie had chosen to come to Wynter Security herself so that someone would be here until Sally arrived after doing all those other tasks Karen had said needed to be done this morning.
Ellie now lifted her chin to meet Knox’s questioning gaze from behind the glasses that she acknowledged had now become the shield between her and the rest of the world.
She felt comfortable with that barrier between her and everyone else.
After learning the truth about Andrew’s infidelity and stealing from her and embezzling from the company, Ellie had not only taken a blow to her self-confidence but also to her trust, in both her own judgment and in other people’s motives.
* * *
Knox knew, from the distress and then resolve he had seen in Ellie’s expression after her thoughts had turned inward, that there was a lot more to the ending of her partnership with Andrew Day than she was currently sharing with him. Understandable when they had only just met.
Except he really didn’t like seeing her weight loss and that haunted expression on her face.
“It was a mutual decision for Andrew to step down six months ago and leave the company,” she finally answered him.
“For good?” he prompted.
“Yes.”
“Halliday is a cute play on both your surnames, by the way.”
Her top lip curled. “We thought so at the time.”
“You could drop the last part now and just use Hall and the acronym HERA would still be applicable.”
“I’ve thought of it.”
“But not acted on it.”
“Not yet.”
“Is he still your husband?”
“We were never married,” she dismissed harshly.
“But you were…romantically involved?”
She was so tense, she looked as if she might break in two. “Yes.”
“Are you still?”
“No.”
“That ended too?”
“Yes.”
“Amicably?”
Her gaze was scathing. “Does anything about the way I look or the way I’m answering you give the impression that any of that situation ended amicably?”
From Ellie’s bleak expression, it looked to Knox as if Andrew Day had betrayed this woman on several levels. He could be wrong, of course, but somehow he didn’t think he was.
“Why didn’t the two of you get married?”
Her mouth twisted. “Andrew said it was an outdated institution forced on couples by people with equally antiquated beliefs.”
“And do you think that too?”
Her brow creased in an impatient frown. “I’m pretty sure that your own bio said you aren’t married either,” she accused rather than answered.
“And I believe I told you that whoever wrote the bio obviously doesn’t know everything about me.”
Ellie eyed him curiously. “Meaning?”
“Meaning I was married.”
“But you aren’t any longer?”
“No.” Before Knox could add anything else, a young woman who looked slightly familiar—Sally?—with short red hair and deep green eyes, appeared in the doorway carrying a coffee cup with the logo of the popular franchise down the street.
She was also carrying his dry cleaning in her other hand.
“This is Sally,” Ellie confirmed, obviously relieved at this timely diversion from their previous conversation. “With your agreement, Sally has offered to stand in as your full-time PA until Karen returns.”
“Offered or been coerced into it?”
Ellie felt her cheeks warm. “I ask, Mr. Wilder. I don’t coerce.”
“Knox will do,” he dismissed. “And what are you going to do for a PA during that time?”
“Wynter Security is a long-standing client of ours.”
“And?”
“And the…split in management six months ago wasn’t, as I’ve already stated, amicable.
” She grimaced at Sally’s audible snort.
“Some of our clients aren’t happy with Andrew’s departure and have decided to take their business elsewhere.
You didn’t like any of the candidates we sent to you for an interview, so I’m willing to sacrifice my own PA, who I know to be excellent at her job, if it means we keep your company as one of our clients. ”
Knox studied her for several seconds, but this time found it impossible to read her expression.
Whatever had happened to bring about this change in ownership of HERA, and, by default, Andrew Day leaving Ellie’s private life had obviously been very traumatic for her. Probably still was if her private and business life had been so interconnected with Day’s.
He turned to the slightly younger woman.
Sally was probably aged in her midtwenties, a few years younger than the website had revealed as being Ellie’s twenty-nine years.
She was wearing a sharp black business suit with a white blouse.
She wasn’t Knox’s type, but he could appreciate that she was attractive, with her sharp pixie-like features surrounded by that short red hair.
“Are you willing to stand in as my PA until Karen returns?” he asked her.
She glanced briefly at Ellie before answering him. “If that’s what Ellie wants me to do, yes.”
Not quite the wholehearted affirmation he was looking for, but it would do for now.
“Okay.” He nodded abruptly. “Here’s what I think needs to be done.
Ellie, you should return to the HERA offices and arrange for a temporary replacement for Karen for the next six months.
The sooner the better, so that Sally can return to being your PA.
There was nothing wrong with any of the previous applicants you sent for interview.
I just wasn’t ready,” he admitted with an acknowledging nod of blame to Ellie.
“Are you ready now?”
“If that plan sounds reasonable to you, yes.”
* * *
It sounded perfect to Ellie.
Then why did she have this lump of what she thought might be disappointment in her chest?
Because once she had returned to HERA, she would have no reason to ever see Knox Wilder again?
If so, that was ridiculous.
Mainly because she no longer trusted her own judgment in finding any man attractive.
Except for those initial few minutes of awkwardness when she first met Knox, for the first time in a long time, she had felt…at ease in someone else’s company. As if all the thoughts and problems that had plagued her waking moments for the past six months had quieted in his presence.
Which really was ridiculous when the complete betrayal of a man she had known and trusted for almost ten years, the man she had loved unconditionally for those same years and thought loved her in the same way, had soured her to even the thought of being interested in another man.
She couldn’t allow Knox Wilder to get past the barriers she had built up to protect herself and her feelings, even if he did have a sexy voice and body, and a natural, if blunt, charm.
No, her main priority, her only priority, was to keep trying to salvage what was left of her business.
Before it became as much of a lost cause as her private life already was.