Last Resort (14 page)

"Nepotism?"

she said derisively.

That's it/ Penny confirmed shortly.

"Now, back to the matter of recruitment: I'd like to know how you managed to round up all those remarkably talented people in such a short space of time."

Marielle shrugged.

"It wasn't difficult. I know a lot of people."

Penny's eyes bored into hers, but though it was evident that Marielle wasn't going to relinquish the credit she did at least have the grace to blush.

Penny flicked a glance towards Sammy, who was watching them from the doorway; then, making a supreme effort to keep the chill from her voice, she said,

"Maybe, Marielle, you would like to come into my office where we can discuss exactly what it is that you object to

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so strongly in me."

Marielle looked at her, and for the second time that day she allowed a condescending sweep of her eyes to speak for her.

"It doesn't need to be this way/ Penny told her, hanging on to her temper.

"I'm perfectly prepared to accept you as an integral part of the team, but in turn you are going to have to accept that I am your boss."

"Correction,"

Marielle said smoothly.

"David is my boss."

Penny inhaled deeply and closed her eyes for the count of ten. But before she could speak again Marielle said,

"Would you mind telling me what qualifications your sister has to run a problem page?"

Penny looked at Sammy and Sammy gave a brief shake of her head.

"Sammy's qualifications are known to me,"

Penny answered,

"and will also be made known to David. All you need to know is that Sylvia Starke is happy with my decision. And quite frankly, Marielle, if you don't buck your ideas up a bit your dismissal will become another of my decisions Sylvia Starke is happy with."

Marielle rose majestically to her feet, her glassy eyes glittering with malice. She uttered not a word as she started packing up her briefcase, then walked across the office to get her coat.

"That is the second time today you have threatened me,"

she said icily.

"I will not be putting you to the trouble again. I resign,"

and swinging the door open she stalked out.

"Fuck,"

Penny muttered.

"Good riddance,"

Sammy added.

Penny turned to her, shaking her head.

"As much as it galls me to admit it/ she said,

"we need her. There's still a hell of a long way to go and her knowledge of the region, as well as her efficiency in getting things together the way she did today, is too valuable for me to let go."

"So what are you going to do?"

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'Right now? I'm going to start preparing for tomorrow's meeting. Then early in the morning I'll swallow my pride and call her."

After working through until almost midnight the night before, Penny was back at her desk at seven the next morning. Until Clothilde arrived at eight she was alone in the office, having left Sammy at home boning up on pop psychology. During the evening she had found another task for Sammy, that of seeking out all the happening hot-spots along the coast, particularly those around the ports. She had an idea for a column that, if it worked, could be quite a winner.

She was just going over the itinerary of the up-coming meeting again, making sure she'd covered everything and trying to shake off the feeling that actually none of it was in the least bit relevant, when the door to her office opened and David walked in. A bolt of nerves instantly shot through her, but having taken a resolution to be pleasant to him and at least to try to forge a partnership that worked for them both, she plastered a smile of welcome on her face.

"Hi,"

he grinned, seeming to find her warmth as amusing as he did surprising. His unruly blond hair was damp from the rain and his fine-boned face was as handsome and self-assured as ever. Penny wasn't sure whether it was that which irritated her the most or whether it was the domineering power of him that seemed to swamp her authority the moment he walked in the door. He was wearing a faded blue sweater over a pale-blue denim shirt and jeans and managing to look far more relaxed in her office as he pulled up one of her visitor chairs than Penny did.

"So, how you doing?"

he asked.

Tine, thank you,"

she answered.

"It's good of you to grace us with your presence today."

Think nothing of it,"

he told her, waving a dismissive

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hand.

"As a matter of fact I intended to be here yesterday, but a couple of things cropped up that meant I didn't fly in until late last night."

"I see/ Penny replied, not bothering to ask where he'd been.

"I spent the day interviewing yesterday,"

she said, looking back down at the paperwork in front of her to make a show of being distracted by more important matters than his company,

"and it appears, somewhat incredibly, that we are almost up to full strength already. However, I would appreciate it if you didn't go ahead with such major decisions without me in the future."

"You got it,"

he told her affably.

"And I can't help wondering/ she added, fixing him with boldly sceptical eyes,

"where such an extraordinary amount of talent came from and so quickly."

Laughing he said,

"From you, who do you think? You were the one who went to see Couval at the Nice-Matin, you were the one who charmed him into giving you the list Marielle worked from, and I, well, I guess I just got lucky that the couple of guys I knew were available."

Penny's eyes were still narrowed, but she quickly looked away as he narrowed his too.

"Seem to be a lot of bees around this place, wouldn't you say?"

he remarked, looking up at the ceiling.

Penny frowned.

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, Marielle's got one in her bonnet about you and it seems to me you've got one in yours about me ..."

"David, I have nothing in my bonnet about you/ she told him with exaggerated patience.

"All I have is a desire to make this magazine work, with or without your help."

He grinned.

"Hey, you're not about to fire me too, are you?"

"If you're referring to Marielle, I didn't fire her: she resigned."

"Put it whichever way you like/ he shrugged.

"But if you take my advice you'd do well to try and get along 102

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with her,

"cos she's going to be pretty invaluable around here over the next few months."

Penny's eyes dilated.

"Do I take it from that,"

she seethed,

"that you have reinstated her?"

He put his head to one side while he considered the question.

"Yep,"

he said,

"I guess you could say that."

"So you've gone over my head?"

Penny said, her voice trembling with rage.

"Uh-uh/ he said, shaking his head.

"All's I did was accept her apology on your behalf."

Penny was on her feet.

"How dare you!"

she cried.

"Just who the hell do you think'

"Hey, hey,"

he laughed, holding up his hands,

"calm down. What I meant was, / accepted her apology for the way she's fucked you around and I felt sure you would too once she offered it. Which she's prepared to do if you're prepared to listen."

"But you've already reinstated her,"

Penny reminded him tersely.

"Yep,"

he said,

"but I reckoned you didn't really want her resignation any more than I did.

But, if you're dead set against her

"Don't play around with me!"

she snapped.

"I'm as aware as you are how valuable she is and if she's prepared to apologize I want to hear it. In the meantime maybe you'd care to let me know just what your input is going to be around here and just how often we might have the dubious honour of your presence."

His eyes were alive with laughter as, getting up from the chair and strolling back to the door, he said,

"Dubious, eh?"

As Penny's eyes sparked with impotent rage she was so sorely tempted to fling something at him that had he not ducked as though something were already hurtling through the air, she might have. As it was, her lips gave an involuntary twitch of laughter before, collecting herself quickly, she said,

"If Marielle is already out there I'll

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see her now, before the meeting starts."

"Sure/ he said, his expression turning serious for a moment.

"And just a quick word of advice, Pen,"

he added, making her start with such a familiar use of her name:

"get yourself straightened out on the manmanagement front,

"cos it's kind of important."

Half an hour later, Marielle's churlish apology dealt with, Penny was standing at the head of the production table flicking through her last-minute notes while Clothilde and Brigitte circulated copies of a procedural plan intended as a spring-off point for them all. As the general hum of conversation washed over her, Penny was assuming an air of total concentration while very much hoping that by decking herself out in a smart, black-and-white dog-tooth dress and tying her hair back with a neat velvet-covered slide she was looking much more the editor than she felt. At the same time she was savagely reproaching herself for allowing such petty considerations to matter.

Most of the contributors were there, perched on the high stools around the table; so too were the new staff and this, Penny imagined, was probably the first and last time they would all get together between now and the launch.

After today she'd be dealing with them on an individual basis, while scouting around for more contributors to fill the still-vacant slots.

When Clothilde and Brigitte were finished Penny looked up, feeling as nervous as a gauche young actress on opening night. All eyes were on the agenda in front of them and for one panicked moment Penny wondered if she was going crazy. What on earth was she doing here, on the point of telling all these people what she wanted of them? How could she possibly think she was up to this? She allowed her eyes to rest a moment on David, who was sitting at the other end of the table, an elbow hooked over the back of his chair and a foot balanced on one knee as he

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waited for her to begin. Marielle was next to him, scribbling something on a pad, and to his other side was a small, rather effete-looking man with large glasses and neatly combed black hair whom Penny had never seen before. He looked vaguely Asian in origin, but on the other hand he could be Italian; she was sure she'd find out soon enough - maybe he'd come with a straitjacket ready to carry her off!

Dropping her eyes back to the agenda she allowed herself a few seconds in which to pull herself together, then with an encompassing smile that totally masked her confidence failure she said,

"OK, before we get started there are a couple of general things I would like to say. The first is that from here-on-in this meeting,"

and here she switched into French,

"is going to be conducted in French. If anyone has a problem with that/ she said, looking at David,

"then you shouldn't be on the team."

She paused, belatedly remembering that he had spoken French the night they'd been at the restaurant in Gourdon. When no one else spoke up, which was as she expected, having tested all the non-French the day before, she continued.

"As we take each point at a time I would like those of you concerned to make notes that I will be happy to discuss on a one-to-one basis later. Delving deeply into the content of each subject as we go will only serve to draw the meeting out for much longer than necessary and won't have much relevance at this stage. All we need to do is make everyone aware of what is going into the magazine and what our main aims are. There will, of course, be a question-and-answer session as soon as we have been through the agenda.

T think you are all by now aware that I am keen for the magazine to be as sharp and, I hope, witty as possible. Intellectual pomposity and stodgy, self-congratulatory reportage are out. We have two excellent subs to help with this and until we get ourselves fully established Paul Smith and I will take on the more serious issues as

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they come up. And puffs can hit the bin as soon as they come in."

Tuffs?"

David enquired.

"Publicity hand-outs masquerading as editorials,"

Penny explained, looking around the table. Satisfied that everyone understood and amazed that no one had yet booed her off, she continued.

"As I told you all yesterday, we will be producing a fortnightly publication of fiftytwo pages selling at a price yet to be fixed."

Twelve francs/ David interjected.

"Thank you,"

Penny said, smiling at him gratefully as she clenched her nervously shaking hands. It was a small contribution on his part, but an important one which showed that he at least was taking her seriously. She glanced down at her notes.

"Ah, yes,"

she said,

"just one other little matter: we need a new name for the magazine and we have to come up with one before the end of next month so that Jeffrey here can get to work on it. And I imagine it would be helpful to the advertising agency handling the launch to know what to call us. So, again, any suggestions welcome."

She looked expectantly around the table, but at this stage none was forthcoming.

"All right,"

she said, hooking a leg up on to the stool beside her. It was as she attempted to bring the rest of her weight behind it that the stool skidded from under her and to her undying mortification she disappeared beneath the table.

There was a sudden flurry of activity as those closest rushed to help her up and collect together the paperwork she had dropped. Not knowing whether to laugh or cry and desperately wishing she had knocked herself out, Penny got back to her feet and began mumbling an apology for the interruption. When at last she brought herself to look across at David she instantly wished she hadn't, for he was clearly in pain, he was trying so hard not to laugh.