Chapter 2 #4
Blessedly, the ride back to the office went as quietly and dull as the drive out. She waited until she saw him get in his vehicle and dialed the follow car, miming that her phone had rung when he glanced at her questioningly.
“Rebel is flying solo on the home route and it’s twenty-two eighteen.” The follow car repeated their acknowledgement and she waited for Richard to back out of his parking space. “Handing off the ball.”
Hanging up, she followed him up the ramp to the exit gate and then out onto the street. The black SUV and a second follow car slid out, one ahead and one behind. It took skill to follow a driver by staying in front of them, but since Richard was heading home, they knew where to expect him to go.
Turning in the opposite direction, she had one more stop to make before she could get some sleep. The grand duke wanted a report on his best friend’s security situation.
And won’t that be an entertaining conversation…
Twenty-five minutes later, she found the grand duke waiting for her in Peterson’s office. He was alone, and to her surprise, Peterson didn’t remain to supervise the discussion. The grand duke was still in his suit, though he’d forgone the tie.
“Thank you for coming by so late, Kate.” He waved her toward a chair and settled against the desk rather than sitting. His offer of seating was more an order than a request, so she sat obediently.
“It’s not a problem, Your Highness.” She clasped her hands together.
“Richard hired you.” It wasn’t a question, but concern furrowed the grand duke’s brow. The man transformed control freak into dignified art. “How is he?”
“He’s well.” It was a non-committal answer, but their brief acquaintance said a great deal about Richard’s tenacity. He didn’t give in to the suggestion of weakness.
“That I know, but how is he really? What is his schedule like? Do we need to try and lighten his workload? Should I bully him into taking more time off?” The grand duke’s European accent sharpened and he enunciated each word with care.
“Your Highness, you’ll have to forgive me. The parameters of my assignment are clear. Mr. Prentiss is my protectee, I cannot discuss the behavior of my protectee. Not even with you.” Unfortunately, that answer didn’t satisfy him.
“Richard is my dearest, oldest friend.” If he thought repeating the same information to her would get him what he wanted He was wrong.
“I understand, Your Highness.” And she did. She understood the lengths to which he would go to protect those he considered his. He’d hired her twice now to do the exact same job. “I must still say no.”
As a man few people ever denied, he really didn’t like her telling him no.
So he called in Peterson.
Thankfully, the security chief backed her.
It was after midnight by the time she left the tower and almost one before she fell face-first into her bed.
5:00 a.m. came too swiftly, but she lunged out of bed and did a five-mile run on the treadmill before showering and heading to the office. She wanted to be in place before Richard and she wanted a good look at his fellow attorneys.
She really did need a raise. This undercover shit blew.
The next several days mirrored the first in terms of workload.
Needing the additional time to begin building profiles of his employees, Kate arrived at the office every morning before seven.
If she didn’t, Richard beat her. In addition to Richard, his firm included a dozen senior associates and nearly two dozen junior associates.
As the only named partner, Richard had the final say on all their cases—a fact he seemed to take to heart.
“What are you doing?” Richard’s arrival had been announced by his security tail, so she had time to put away her research notes and meet his inquiry with a faint smile.
“Catching up with He Who Does So Much.” Rising, she preceded him to his office door and opened it.
“I set up your coffee maker, you just have to hit brew. Your morning meds are on the desk. I’ve pulled the two briefs you wanted to review.
The Wilkinson deposition has been rescheduled, and Mr. Grange’s secretary called.
Mr. Grange would like you to sit in on a phone call this afternoon for Mr. Voldakov if you have the time. ”
And most of that was in the last fifteen minutes. She’d changed her mind, Richard Prentiss had enough work for four assistants. That she had to oversee his security simply added to the load.
His cell phone rang before he could respond. Richard pulled it out of his pocket and answered it with a thumb swipe. “Morning, Armand, you’re at your desk earlier than I am.”
Ignoring his conversation, Kate took his brief case and carried it over to the desk and started the coffee going before withdrawing a bottle of water from the fridge. She opened it, and put it on the desk right next to his meds and pointed at them while he continued talking.
Richard paused and covered the phone. “I’ll take them in a minute.”
“No, you’ll take them now because His Highness will talk business for at least twenty minutes, then you’ll discuss his upcoming wedding before you segue into his management plans for the rest of the family and you’ll forget to take them before the deposition you wanted to sit in on with one of the junior associates.
” She folded her arms and stared at him, daring him to deny it.
“Give me a moment, Armand.” Richard hit a button on his phone and set it down. After opening the bottles one at a time, he took the meds he was supposed to and washed them down with water. “Happy?” He eyed her, his expression more fitting a recalcitrant six-year-old than a grown man.
“Did you eat this morning?” she countered. In her limited experience over the last four days, the man didn’t eat unless someone dropped a meal on him during a meeting.
“I have a call,” he told her pointedly.
“I’ll take that as a no and order you up a steak bagel breakfast sandwich.
It will be here in thirty minutes. Wrap up with His Highness before then and I’ll let you have another cup of coffee with your breakfast.” Amused by his blink of surprise, she put away his prescription bottles then delivered his coffee before retreating out of his office, aware of his stare the whole time.
The man needed a keeper.
After placing the breakfast order, she checked her surveillance on his office—he was seated behind the desk and had the cell phone back to his ear. Satisfied, she pulled out her notes on the attorneys in his office—so far they all proved to be as clean and honorable as the man who’d hired them.