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didn't seem to find the remark off-base in the least.
    “Well, well, well,” George said, chuckling heartily as he gave Jessie a knowing look. “Sounds like things are getting serious here. Your father implied as much last time I talked to him. Are congratulations in order yet?”
    “No,” Jessie managed in a croaked voice as she picked up her wineglass. She took a sip and nearly choked as it went down the wrong way. Eyes watering from the strain of trying not to cough, she shot a quick glance at Hatch. He was smiling his remote, mysterious smile. He was fully aware of his impact on her. She longed to reach across the table and throttle him.
    “Jessie is feeling a little pressured these days,” Hatch explained gently to his guests. “It's no secret that everyone in the family is matchmaking.”
    “Oh, ho.” Ethel gave Hatch a droll look. “So that's the way of it, then, hmm?”
    Jessie wished she could count to three and vanish.
    “Pretty damn obvious why they'd all want you two to get together,” George observed cheerfully. “Your marriage would certainly simplify things, wouldn't it? Keep Benedict Fasteners in the family and at the same time give Vincent the man he needs to take over and move the company into the big time.”
    “George, really.” Ethel slanted her husband a chiding glance. “You're embarrassing poor Jessie.”
    “Nonsense.” George turned a paternal smile on Jessie. “Known her since she was a toddler, haven't I, Jessie?”
    “Yes,” Jessie agreed with a sigh.
    “And we know, of course, that Vincent intends to leave the company to her,” George concluded.
    “Unfortunately, I don't particularly want it,” Jessie muttered.
    “But you will take it,” Hatch observed quietly, “because if you don't, Vincent will either sell it when he retires or continue to run it until he drops dead at his desk. Either way, the family will lose the future potential of Benedict Fasteners, which is enormous. It could easily be worth five times what it is today within five years.”
    “If you're running things, that is, eh?” George gave Hatch a shrewd glance.
    Hatch shrugged. “I do have a few ideas for the firm.”
    “Ideas that he's done a wonderful job of selling to Dad and the rest of the family. Everyone's convinced that if Hatch remains CEO, we'll all get filthy rich,” Jessie said a little too sweetly. Nobody seemed to notice the sarcasm except Hatch, who merely gave her one of his faint, polite smiles.
    “Everyone's right,” Hatch said.
    A shark, Jessie thought nervously. The man was a cold-blooded shark. The fascination she felt for him was nothing more than the instinctual interest of a deer staring into a wolf's glowing eyes.
    Ethel's brows lifted. “How did you and Hatch first meet, dear?”
    Jessie managed a brittle smile. “I believe we first spoke the morning he fired me from my job in Benedict's personnel department. Isn't that right, Hatch?”
    Ethel and George Galloway looked at her in shock.
    “He fired you?” Ethel echoed in disbelief.
    “Yes, it was all very traumatic, actually.” Jessie saw the faint hint of irritation in Hatch's expression and she began to warm to her topic. Getting any kind of rise out of Hatch was a victory of sorts. It happened so rarely.
    “Didn't know you'd gone to work for your father,” George said. “Thought you'd always avoided working for Vincent.”
    “I had been working there only a few weeks. Dad had insisted I at least try a job at Benedict. He claimed I owed it to him and to the family. I was between jobs at the time…”
    “As happens so frequently in Jessie's life,” Hatch murmured.
    Jessie glowered at him. “I finally agreed to give Benedict a shot. It wasn't too bad, to tell you the truth. I discovered I rather liked personnel and I think I was starting to get the hang of it. But two days after Hatch was installed in the management suite, he canned me.”
    “Good heavens.” Ethel glanced at Hatch.
    “I'm sure it wasn't