he was just being polite when he came to visit.”
Truth was, Mark had been adamant about visiting my father with me and insisted on speaking to the hospital director to make sure that Dad had the best doctor on his case. It was one of the only times in recent memory that he hadn’t hounding me about leaving Ladies World alone.
“Oh please, Julia, I saw the way you two looked at each other last time he was here. He can’t be so busy that he doesn’t have time for my lovely daughter.”
I had always been attracted to Mark, and he really went out of his way to help me out so he must have felt something for me too, but neither of us ever acted on those impulses. I guess he always seemed so composed and distant. Thinking about Mark’s square chin and piercing eyes was sending uncomfortable waves of heat between my thighs and I wasn’t quite ready for those feelings again. Nor did I want to have to justify my relationship status to Dad yet again.
“Listen Dad, I have to get to work. I’ll be around to visit later tonight okay?”
“Okay, bye honey.”
“Love you, Daddy”
Chapter 1
Something’s different today. I can tell the second I walk in the door to the office. Instead of the usual noise and chatter of reporters and designers brainstorming and teasing one another, or the frantic scurry of interns running photos to various cubicles, there is a hushed and focused pall across the room. I see Jeff mouth, “She’s here” to the layout manager.
Crossing the room in silence, acutely aware of the absence of clicking keyboards, I push this morning’s conversation with Daddy out of my head and put on my business face.
Janice stands up as I approach. That’s not normal.
“You need to wait here,” Janice says in a quiet but heavy voice. I try to push past her.
“Why would I do that? I need to be in my office.”
“Julia. Stop!” Janice jumps between me and the door. “Just stop a moment.”
“What on earth?” I try to control my confused reaction. Janice has been my administrative assistant since the first issue of Lynx went to press. She’s a good employee and an even better friend. When we’re at yoga, lunch or anywhere else she calls me Julia. But in all these years inside this office I have always been “Miss Sharp.”
“Julia, I don’t know what’s going on, but some lawyer from Sandstone came in today with security guards. They’ve been going through the stuff in your office all morning, I tried to stop them but...”
“Janice, what the hell is…”
“I’m sorry Julia, I have to let them know that you’re here.”
“Miss Sharp has arrived,” Janice says into the intercom and sits down looking at the desk. Before I can get a grasp on what any of this means, two armed security guards emerge from my office. One reaches out toward me and motions me into the door.
“Did something happen here?” I ask the somber guard. “Have I been robbed?”
“Oh, someone was robbed, Miss Sharp,” the oily voice I recognize at once calls from the inner office. “But, it wasn’t you.”
“Mr. Allen.” I shudder when I say his name. As one of Sandstone Venture’s attorneys, and the personal lawyer of Blake Stone, Kenneth Allen is more of a pompous bully than an officer of the court. He’s been insufferable ever since I turned down his clumsy attempts at courtship.
“How nice of you to visit. What brings you here, and why have you commandeered my property?”
“You’re wrong on all counts, Miss Sharp,” Kenneth drawls, his voice thick with superiority. “This is neither nice nor a visit, and nothing here is your property. This magazine and this office are the property of Sandstone Ventures. Of course, if you had known that we wouldn’t need the added security.”
Kenneth is standing behind my desk, his meaty paws thumbing through folders he has pulled out of my drawers and placed all over. Red tags cover my computer, my file cabinet and
Truth was, Mark had been adamant about visiting my father with me and insisted on speaking to the hospital director to make sure that Dad had the best doctor on his case. It was one of the only times in recent memory that he hadn’t hounding me about leaving Ladies World alone.
“Oh please, Julia, I saw the way you two looked at each other last time he was here. He can’t be so busy that he doesn’t have time for my lovely daughter.”
I had always been attracted to Mark, and he really went out of his way to help me out so he must have felt something for me too, but neither of us ever acted on those impulses. I guess he always seemed so composed and distant. Thinking about Mark’s square chin and piercing eyes was sending uncomfortable waves of heat between my thighs and I wasn’t quite ready for those feelings again. Nor did I want to have to justify my relationship status to Dad yet again.
“Listen Dad, I have to get to work. I’ll be around to visit later tonight okay?”
“Okay, bye honey.”
“Love you, Daddy”
Chapter 1
Something’s different today. I can tell the second I walk in the door to the office. Instead of the usual noise and chatter of reporters and designers brainstorming and teasing one another, or the frantic scurry of interns running photos to various cubicles, there is a hushed and focused pall across the room. I see Jeff mouth, “She’s here” to the layout manager.
Crossing the room in silence, acutely aware of the absence of clicking keyboards, I push this morning’s conversation with Daddy out of my head and put on my business face.
Janice stands up as I approach. That’s not normal.
“You need to wait here,” Janice says in a quiet but heavy voice. I try to push past her.
“Why would I do that? I need to be in my office.”
“Julia. Stop!” Janice jumps between me and the door. “Just stop a moment.”
“What on earth?” I try to control my confused reaction. Janice has been my administrative assistant since the first issue of Lynx went to press. She’s a good employee and an even better friend. When we’re at yoga, lunch or anywhere else she calls me Julia. But in all these years inside this office I have always been “Miss Sharp.”
“Julia, I don’t know what’s going on, but some lawyer from Sandstone came in today with security guards. They’ve been going through the stuff in your office all morning, I tried to stop them but...”
“Janice, what the hell is…”
“I’m sorry Julia, I have to let them know that you’re here.”
“Miss Sharp has arrived,” Janice says into the intercom and sits down looking at the desk. Before I can get a grasp on what any of this means, two armed security guards emerge from my office. One reaches out toward me and motions me into the door.
“Did something happen here?” I ask the somber guard. “Have I been robbed?”
“Oh, someone was robbed, Miss Sharp,” the oily voice I recognize at once calls from the inner office. “But, it wasn’t you.”
“Mr. Allen.” I shudder when I say his name. As one of Sandstone Venture’s attorneys, and the personal lawyer of Blake Stone, Kenneth Allen is more of a pompous bully than an officer of the court. He’s been insufferable ever since I turned down his clumsy attempts at courtship.
“How nice of you to visit. What brings you here, and why have you commandeered my property?”
“You’re wrong on all counts, Miss Sharp,” Kenneth drawls, his voice thick with superiority. “This is neither nice nor a visit, and nothing here is your property. This magazine and this office are the property of Sandstone Ventures. Of course, if you had known that we wouldn’t need the added security.”
Kenneth is standing behind my desk, his meaty paws thumbing through folders he has pulled out of my drawers and placed all over. Red tags cover my computer, my file cabinet and
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