3. Chapter Three
Chapter Three
A n interview was not what Gerard wanted to spend his Monday morning doing. Especially not with a whiskey hangover. He rubbed his temples as Emersyn walked down the hall to her office to get the woman—correction—young woman she said was the perfect fit for Director, Global MegaCorp Division. A young woman. Gerard wasn’t opposed to women in his line of work. They were as good at money management, if not better, than most men. His sister was a perfect example of that. It was the young that he objected to.
Companies with investors at the level of theirs had to remain profitable and grow in order to thrive. This was Barrett Investment Group’s flagship division, the signature they showcased every time they bid to become the financial manager of another company. Under Cranshaw’s direction, that division had stagnated. Without quick, decisive changes, a downturn they couldn’t afford might happen.
They needed knowledge, drive, and hard work in a director. An ability to lead, communicate, and think on the fly. They didn’t need some starry-eyed college graduate. He watched the woman stand when Emersyn entered her office. Together, they walked down the hall to his. For Gerard, life was business. But he was also a man, and the woman walking down the hallway grabbed his attention in every way she could. There was a confidence in her stride he admired, though not as much as the shapely legs and black high heels that had to be four inches. He squinted. Were those white bows on her shoes?
She was about the same height as his sister, though she wore a gray suit. His favorite color. And oh, did that suit fit her well.
He stood as Emersyn opened his door and let Rowan precede her inside.
“Gerard Barrett, meet Rowan McCarthy. Rowan, this is the other half of the CEO team here at Barrett Investments.”
Gerard took hold of the slender hand Rowan held out, surprised to find red painted nails. Her hand was also warm and dry. Shouldn’t she be nervously sweating? He looked for signs, finding none. In fact, there was nothing he could find fault with. Large expressive dark eyes centered in a heart-shaped face, full lips painted candy apple red to match her fingers, and a slightly upturned nose that added an air of mischief to her overall appeal. Perfection.
Emersyn cleared her throat, and Gerard realized he still held Rowan’s hand. He let go, trying hard not to show haste or give his sister the impression that he liked what he saw. Emersyn needed no additional fodder to tease him.
“Ms. McCarthy,” he said, indicating the chair in front of his desk.
“I’ll leave you to get to know each other,” Emersyn said. Giving her brother the stink-eye behind Rowan’s back, she told Rowan to stop in when she was done and waltzed out of the office.
Which left him alone with a woman he did not want to hire. And one he found himself very attracted to. This was not good. The pledge he’d made a mere three nights ago now burned a hole in his pocket.
She watched him as they both sat down. Gerard got the impression Rowan didn’t miss much. They sat there, not speaking, staring at each other in some sort of power standoff. He’d almost flinched from the punch to his gut when he saw her eyes. Chocolate pools of curiosity, determination, and something more. A hunger, maybe? Something he couldn’t define, but wanted to understand better.
Emersyn had been right. He was so screwed.
Damn . Rowan McCarthy tried hard to maintain the decorum of an almost-hired director as she watched the man who would hopefully become her boss. Barrett was more handsome in person than his online head shots. And those eyes. They bored into her with laser-like intensity, as if trying to divine her darkest secrets. Double damn. A shiver slid down her back. Fear? No. Something else. Something she didn’t want to think about right now. Working for him would be hard enough. If she gave in to some misguided attraction to the man, she’d fail. And failure would not happen. She would succeed here.
Rowan schooled her face to hide all emotion and waited for him to speak. It took every bit of willpower she had to wait him out, but she sure as hell wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of blinking first.
A couple of eternal minutes later, he moved, and Rowan gulped back a huge sigh of relief.
“Do you have a resume?” he asked.
Oh, Lordy, his voice could melt chocolate. This was not good.
“You have my resume in the folder Emersyn handed you.” Rowan swallowed to clear the lump in her throat. Her first day and already she was more intimidated than ever before.
Sure enough, there it was, and not even five minutes into this meeting. His eyes dipped to her chest. The boob assessment men used to tell women they had the upper hand. Typical one-track minds. Rowan couldn’t control the blush, but she strengthened her resolve to show him she had the chops for this job.
He opened the folder and scanned her resume so fast there was no way he could have read anything.
“I see you have master’s degrees in both business admin and finance. Yet you’ve never actually managed people.”
Okay, maybe he read that fast. But the remark was uttered in a slow, determined cadence with just the slightest hint of a patronizing tone that told Rowan everything she’d begun to suspect. He wasn’t happy about hiring her, and he expected her to fail.
This wasn’t her first rodeo, and she delivered her response in the same slow, determined cadence. “Mr. Barrett…” She emphasized the mister. “I eat, sleep, live, and breathe money management.”
He leaned back in his chair, telegraphing that he was the big dog in the room. “Why should I believe you?”
In that moment, Rowan threw away the last of any deference she might have brought into this encounter. “I’m hungry, Mr. Barrett, hungrier than anyone you know except maybe for you and your sister. I did not get to where I am without the knowledge, skills, and yes, instinct to back up that declaration.” In one fluid movement, she allowed herself to relax against the back of the chair and crossed her legs before sweeping her curly hair over her shoulder.
Emersyn had told her the job was pretty much hers, but clearly, this man had the final say.
Gerard Barrett drummed his fingers on the desk and glanced at them as if surprised. He moved her resume to the short stack of files on his desk. Had she been dismissed?
“I guess we’re going to find that out, aren’t we?”
With a slow, measured exhale, Rowan let go of the breath she’d been holding. It wasn’t easy when she wanted to scream, shout, and dance around the room. Emersyn had warned her about her brother, and Rowan had just passed the biggest hurdle.
Rowan knew Barrett Investment Group inside and out, or as closely as she could without being part of the executive board. She’d devoured everything she could find on the company. Studied them and lost sleep as she figured out how to get them to take her seriously. She needed this job to prove herself. With her sights set on an executive position, she’d put her plan into action.
Refocusing, Rowan realized the co-CEO and co-owner of Barrett Group had continued speaking, spouting the standard company overview and mission, all things she knew from her research.
“And we do not allow fraternizing with employees or clients.”
What had he just said? Rowan concentrated, recalling his last statement, feeling the ire drip from her brain to her mouth and trying hard to not let it loose. “Fraternizing?” Rowan’s Irish anger drowned out the fantasy flash of bodies writhing on satin sheets and hit her like a blast from a furnace. She could feel her cheeks heat from the mixed emotions racing through her.
Rumors abounded in places like this. At Murdoch Industries, she’d gotten one pitiful promotion because she’d earned it. That hadn’t mattered to the guys working there. The assumption that she’d slept with someone to get that, instead of the fact that she’d worked her ass off, had circulated the office with record speed. Calling on every bit of her professionalism, Rowan buried that anger deep.
“You know what I mean, Ms. McCarthy.”
Rowan stood, placed her palms on her boss’ desk, and leaned in. “Mr. Barrett, I’m a professional, and I don’t require a lesson in ethics from you or anyone else. I’ve enjoyed our meeting, and Ms. Barrett is expecting me.”
Rowan picked up her portfolio and strode to the door with measured steps and head held high. She’d met her boss’ disdain with a competent, professional decorum and would continue to do so.
“Ms. McCarthy?”
She froze with her hand on the door, unwilling to dignify his use of her name by turning around. “What?”
“I’ll be watching you.”
Gulping down shaky breaths, Rowan bit her lip to keep the retort on the edge of her tongue from going any further. Instead, she turned the knob and quickly exited the office, her heels pounding the floor until she’d passed Emersyn Barrett’s office and reached the reception area beyond all the glass walls. Where no one could see her lose control. Especially one extremely irritating Mr. Gerard Barrett.
The nerve of him, implying she would act unprofessionally. It was Murdoch all over again, damn it. She sank to the couch and pounded the arm over and over again with her fist, grateful there was no one at the main desk to see her frustration.
For several minutes, she nursed her hurt pride, feeding it with anger and frustration. She could make her way to the top without sex. She was that good. All she needed was for someone to give her the chance to prove herself, damn it.
Swiping beneath her eyes to make sure her makeup was still acceptable, Rowan straightened. If the owner of Barrett Investment Group thought she was some gold-digger, planning to sleep her way to the top, the man had better think again. She’d show him by acing the position, making it better than it had ever been.
Rowan stood and smoothed her skirt, intent on heading to Emersyn’s office to start her new job, only to turn and find Gerard Barrett leaning against the hallway wall, watching her.
Refusing to give him the satisfaction of knowing he’d caught her in a vulnerable moment, Rowan raised her chin, said a clear “Good day, Mr. Barrett,” and marched past him to his sister’s office.
Gerard watched her walk past him, his gaze dipping of its own volition to her hips. Did she know she had a sashay in her walk that stroked him in all the right places?
Unsure why he’d followed Rowan, he was now more confused than ever. The woman had worked for their direct competition, and she’d said she was hungry. Just how far would she go to get what she wanted? Would she resort to tears? No. She hadn’t known he’d follow her.
He’d expected to see her throwing things, or, at the very least, standing at the elevator, tapping those bow-tied black heels and barely keeping her fury in check until she could leave. He hadn’t expected to see her hunched over and holding back tears. Shit. Up until now, he’d regarded women’s tears as nothing more than a method to get their way. Not her. She’d been turned away, as if embarrassed for anyone to see her like that. And when she stood and saw him, fire immediately returned to those dark eyes. He respected that.
In fact, there seemed a lot to respect about Rowan McCarthy.
As she reached for the doorknob to his sister’s office, she glanced his way again and caught him staring. Her chin edged up a notch farther as she held his gaze.
Something deep inside him cringed, saying his ego had met its match, and the wolf wasn’t dressed in sheep’s clothing. Instead, she was swathed in an allure he barely kept at bay, dressed in his favorite color. Rowan McCarthy seemed to be the whole package.
Gerard glanced through the clear wall of Emersyn’s office. His sister wasn’t watching her protégé settle in a chair. She was looking directly at him. From the glee in her eyes and the smile on her lips, he could see she was laughing her ass off on the inside. At him. With a deep scowl, he headed back to his office to take another look at Rowan McCarthy’s resume. He wanted to know what she’d done for Murdoch. Not that it mattered, since Emersyn wanted her hired. But he couldn’t seem to get thoughts of the woman out of his pants.
He shook his head. The pledge he’d made only three nights ago continued to burn a colossal gaping hole in his pocket. Time to put it in his safe and put Rowan McCarthy out of his mind and other places.
He knew that wasn’t going to be an easy thing to do.