HH02 - A Reclusive Heart (32 page)

Everyone in this room had watched the video but her, she realized with horror. When the detective played the video she'd

been too mortified with him in the room to look up. Of course she could have watched it from any number of sites on the

internet, but she hadn't exactly been in a rush to see any negative comments like, "Fat ass" or "How could he sleep with her?"

which she was sure were all over the web by now. Maybe she should watch the video so that she at least knew how horrible it

was.

"With all due respect, Mr. Pierce, but this doesn't concern you or your wife," a man said with a crisp voice that was as

hard as ice, but instead of finding out who'd spoken she kept her eyes on the table, too humiliated to do anything else. "If you

would like to arrange a meeting to discuss your contract we'd be happy to accommodate you, but for right now I'm afraid that

I'm going to have to ask you to-"

"I'm afraid it does concern us if you ever expect my wife to do any promotions for the books that you currently have her

contracted for. If memory serves me correctly she has the right to refuse any promotional event that makes her uncomfortable

and I have to be honest," Edward said, drawing her attention against her will. She looked up to find the man leaning back in his

chair, looking comfortable as he addressed the men and women who were visibly panicking. "Having my wife work with a

company who would place profit before her safety is not making me very comfortable," he said firmly, leaving no doubt in her

mind at least that the man didn't play games when it came to his wife.

"I support Mr. Quinn's decision to cancel the promotional dates considering the situation," Rick said. "Between the video

and the threats I think he made the right choice."

"It wasn't his call to make," the woman with the severe bun explained tightly.

That was the main problem? Jamie thought with an inward snort. Well, she could clear that up right now. "Mr. Quinn

didn't cancel the rest of the tour I-"

"I canceled the tour," Nick explained, cutting her off as he gave her hand a warning squeeze, "because I could not

guarantee her safety as long as there was a threat out there. After speaking with the police it was agreed that until they caught

whoever sent threats was identified or caught that it would be better to get the attention away from her."

"You should have spoken with us before you made that decision," the man with the crisp voice said. Jamie looked to her

right to find the man sitting next to the still smug Holly was the one who had spoken.

"I apologize for that. However, I felt an obligation to cancel the most immediate dates out of respect for our contracts. I

explained the situation and told them that the contracts would be honored as soon as the matter was cleared up," Nick smoothly

explained. The men and women didn't look happy about it, but they did seem less tense at the moment.

"Right now my only concern is Miss. Harris. There's obviously a very disturbed person out there with a fixation on her. I

don't think it would be appropriate or fair to ask her to put herself in danger to promote her books. Until the matter is settled I

believe there are other methods better used to promote her books at the moment that I think should be utilized," Nick suggested

calmly.

"Thank you, Mr. Quinn. We'll look into it," crisp voice man said in clear dismissal.

"Fine," Dana said with a sigh as she got to her feet. "Just let me know where you end up or if you decide to start your own

company and I'll be more than happy to sign with you."

"Wait!" crisp voice man said, sounding desperate. "Please reconsider, Mrs. Pierce!"

Jamie tightened her hold on Nick's hand as she took a deep breath and stood up, hating all the attention as every set of eyes

settled on her expectantly, but she had to do this.

"This is probably where I should tell you that the last two books that I contracted with Rerum Publishing are done and that

I won't be renewing my contract as well."

With that announcement that seemed to have stunned everyone including Nick into silence she walked out of the room,

forcing herself to walk slowly until she reached the hallway and closed the door behind her. The second it was closed she

turned and rushed off towards Nick's office in desperate need of that coffee roll now more than ever.

Chapter 29

"Good luck, Nick," Dana said softly as she gave his hand a comforting squeeze but his attention was on the double doors.

He wanted to go after his little recluse and make sure that she was alright and of course didn't consume a shit load of sugar, but

he had to fix the damn problem she'd just created for herself.

She'd worked too damn hard to throw it away now and as much as he appreciated her trying to help him out he could take

care of himself. He knew that every publishing company in the world would probably kill to sign her, but he wanted her here

where Rick could watch over her. Once Dana and Edward walked out of the room all hell broke loose.

"Can somebody please explain to me how in the hell we just lost our two top clients in one day?" Jonathan demanded in

that crisp voice that always annoyed him.

"Because instead of allowing me to explain the situation you listened to Miss. Johnson," Rick explained tightly as he stood

up and walked over to the mini bar to poor himself a drink. "And now we not only lost one of our best editors," he said,

gesturing towards Nick with his drink, "But two of the top authors in the world."

Who in the hell was Miss. Johnson, he wondered as he joined Rick at the bar for a drink. Since no one had called security

on him yet he thought he'd stick around and try to fix this mess before his little recluse got in over her head.

"I'm not too concerned with my job, but I think you should reconsider your position on Miss. Harris' job. She's a damn

good editor and our clients trust her. They rely on her in fact and taking her away will be like taking away their support

system," Nick said before taking a sip of his drink.

"He's right. The second they hear that she's no longer working for us they'll pull back and the ones that were considering

signing with us will go elsewhere," Rick said, backing him up.

"I didn't want to fire either of them in the first place, but after what Miss. Johnson said I didn't feel as though we had a

choice and now look at the mess that we're in," Margaret said, running a hand over her tight bun as she walked over to the bar

and gestured for him to get her a drink.

With a shrug he made hers a double as he asked, "Who is Miss. Johnson and what exactly did she say that cost me my

job?" he asked, forcing himself to remain relaxed as he wondered who had just fucked them over.

"Holly," Rick drawled.

Nick looked around the room for the woman so that he could strangle her, but at some point she'd snuck off. He should

have known the woman would do something when he sent her packing, but admittedly his focus had been elsewhere.

"Oh? What exactly did she say?" Nick asked in a bored tone as he took a sip of his drink, welcoming the burn as it coated

his throat.

"Apparently she decided to go behind my back after I refused to allow her to return to help with the tour," Rick said,

surprising him. The woman actually tried to come back? That was a little odd.

"She claimed that under your direction Miss. Harris wasn't getting much work done and you were ignoring your duties to

be with her. At first we didn't think much of it," Jonathan said as he joined them for a drink. "But after that video, the tour

cancelation and of course the complaints we received in the past couple of days-"

"What's this about complaints?" Nick asked, interrupting the man.

Anthony, who'd been pretty quiet up to this point, joined them for a drink. "We started to receive calls that you and Miss.

Harris were caught in several indecent situations over the past couple of days. There were also complaints that the two of you

were constantly ducking out of conventions. When we asked Miss. Johnson about it she reluctantly admitted that it was difficult

to find you, you refused to help her and that Miss. Harris disappeared for a good hour, leaving the convention coordinators high

and dry."

"Why didn't you ask me what happened?" Nick asked, pouring the man a drink and handing it to him. "I could have cleared

this whole thing up. I don't know about the complaints, but we never left a convention early. In fact, Jamie worked her ass off

and stayed as long as it took to meet every single fan because she felt bad about them waiting to meet her and in case you

haven't noticed she's painfully shy and that was a hell of a lot of stress for the woman, but she did it," Nick said, noting the look

his bosses, well, technically ex-bosses now, shared.

His little recluse had worked her ass off and shouldn't be facing this bullshit. She had enough to deal with. Her family

screwed her over and lied to her and thanks to a few well placed calls he now knew they'd fucked her over once again. She

just lost her home. She had a psycho on her ass and he'd be damned if he let them take away something she truly enjoyed doing.

"As far as Miss. Johnson is concerned," he said tightly, "I'm afraid you've been mislead. During the brief time Miss.

Johnson accompanied us on this tour she proved to not only be incompetent, but resentful as I explained to Rick. She caused

problems that I was forced to deal with and she left Miss. Harris near tears. Before the convention was even over I decided

that she was not capable of doing her job and asked Rick to remove her."

"He did," Rick agreed, finishing off his drink. "If you had explained what was happening I would have been more than

happy to go over this with you."

They let out a collective sigh as they shared another one of those looks that gave him hope that they'd let his little recluse

back. "I apologize for the misunderstanding, Mr. Quinn. Would you please consider forgetting this incident and continuing with

us?" Jonathan asked, looking suddenly exhausted. Not that he could blame the man since this little episode left his head reeling.

"As long as you allow Miss. Harris to do the same," Nick clarified.

Jonathan didn't bother looking at his partners as he nodded. "Consider it done."

"Thank you," Nick said, more than willing to let this go as long as his little recluse was safe and happy. He was just about

to head after her when one of the secretaries burst through the doors. "The police are here and they're looking for Miss.

Johnson," she said anxiously.

For some reason he really wasn't at all surprised, he thought as he put his drink down and went to hunt down his little

recluse.

********

coffee roll that desperately needed her attention.

She was a little stressed out and honestly, she didn't do well with stress. She needed a sugar fix and she needed it quick.

Then when she was done she fully planned on trying to figure out what to do with the rest of her life since she'd just lost her job

and pretty much her contract within the last hour. Her game plan had been to follow Nick wherever he went, but now that she

was out of that situation and thinking a little clearer she realized that he just might not appreciate that one bit.

After all he'd just lost his job and probably his reputation because of her. Why would he want her to go with him? He

probably wanted to get the heck away from her as fast as he could and she really couldn't blame him.

She needed chocolate, sugar, caffeine, just something sweet to calm her down, she thought as she left his office. For a

moment she stood there contemplating her options. There weren't many. For one thing she couldn't leave the building. Well, she

could, but then she'd have to face the paparazzi that were stationed outside. She did have her car, but she doubted they'd let her

get to it without harassing the heck out of her.

Granted, she had to leave sometime. Why not now? She needed to get some sugar, clear her head, and think and there was

no way that she could do that with an office full of people who'd seen her have sex. Yeah, it was definitely time for her to

leave, she decided as she lowered her gaze to the floor and made her way to her office.

Less than five feet from her office the scent of cheap perfume hit her hard. She wrinkled her nose up in distaste at the

offending odor as she headed for her door, hoping the scent hadn't seeped into her office. When she opened her office door she

was hit full blast by the eye stinging aroma. It took her a moment before she managed to get her focus off the horrible scent and

onto the woman standing frozen at her desk in front of her laptop computer, her laptop computer that should still be in her bag

and beneath her desk, but wasn't.

"What are you doing in here?" she asked, walking to her desk just as the woman ejected a disc from her laptop and placed

the disc in the front pocket of her brown blazer.

"I was just leaving you a note," Holly said, smiling as she stepped away from the desk and headed for the door.

"On my computer?" Jamie asked, frowning down at her computer. It was open to her desktop and she wondered how the