Read Fair Game Inc (2010) for Free Online

lateness and her business activities.
    To her surprise, he snorted softly. "Barlow's as uptight as they get."
    She choked back the peal of laughter. A case of calling the kettle black, don't you think? But she kept her lips resolutely shut.
    "They don't call him Jumpy John for nothing," Grayson supplied. Then as if he'd just spilled a dark personal secret, he firmly shut his mouth.
    "So why'd you want him for a partner then?"
    "He was my father's partner." His expression darkened. "It was obvious Roger was never going to be a lawyer, so that left me to join the firm."
    There was pain behind that dark gaze, as he stood before her disheveled and wounded-looking. Amber found herself wanting to circle him with her arms, rest her head against his chest, and tell him it would be all right. She shook herself from her thoughts. No way was she going to feel sorry for Grayson Charles, who for all the opportunities he'd been granted obviously couldn't organize so much as his date book. But she couldn't stop herself from asking softly, "Your father died young, I take it?" Research, her conscience insisted. Just research.
    "Heart attack."
    Grayson's words were short, clipped. She knew when a subject didn't want to talk. She'd get no more from him even if she tied him to a chair and interrogated him under a bare light bulb.
    But then he surprised her by saying, "Worked himself to death."
    "I'm sorry." The words slipped traitorously from her lips. The only thing she was sorry about was having to work for Barlow & Charles, she told herself sternly.
    Grayson drew in a deep breath. "Well, Ms. Shaw, as you can see there is plenty of work to be done. I'm afraid I have to make several more calls this evening, so please," he cast a grim glance over his shoulder at the decimated reception area, "jump right in."
    Amber rose from behind Barlow's desk. "You don't have a secretary?"
    "We did, until quite recently."
    "How recently?"
    "About a month ago?"
    Her eyebrows rose, in spite of her vow to remain detached. "You made this mess in just a month?"
    Grayson sighed. "Suffice to say NicoleAEs departure was ill-timed."
    "What happened to her?"
    "She ran off to Mexico."
    "Ran off?"
    "She got married, Ms. Shaw. Her new husband was offered a job in Mexico."
    "Isn't that always the way?" Amber said hotly. "A man gets offered a job and he thinks nothing of uprooting his wife and dragging her off to another country. Would he do the same for her? I doubt it."
    He opened his mouth to object, but she charged resolutely ahead.
    "And once she's given up everything for him, what does he do?"
    Grayson threw up his hands in defeat. "I don't know. Please enlighten me, Ms. Shaw."
    "He leaves her for his blonde secretary. Just like your brother Roger." The words leapt from her lips. She hadn't meant to say them, hadn't meant to think about Sandy, Roger, nor a certain male named Eric and his blonde secretary, Daphne. But it was too late to call back the traitorous words, so she settled for leveling him a searing stare and daring him to take offense at it.
    The corners of his mouth twitched with amusement, but he caught himself. "Is that so?"
    She nodded curtly, hands on her hips.
    "Allow me to point out that you're operating on a couple of incorrect assumptions here."
    "I--"
    "In the first place, you're assuming the advantages in relocating were all skewed toward NicoleAEs husband. That wasn't the case. Nicole was also able to secure herself a substantial promotion. It was a great opportunity for both of them. A great opportunity for everyone except Barlow and me," he looked around at the stacks of files everywhere, "who'd come to depend on her. But what could I say? I didn't want to stand in the way of her chance to start an exciting new life."
    "Oh right. Away from her family and friends."
    "Perhaps she considered her husband both family and friend. It isn't impossible you know, Ms. Shaw."
    "It is from my experience," she shot back at him. Now where had that come from?