Sometimes It Is Rocket Science (15 page)

Dan snorted, ran a hand through his silver hair.  “Don’t see how anything could, son.  I’ve been up all night thinking about Prask.  I don’t like the way he’s been fixated on Georgiana.  There’s no telling what he’ll do if he decides she’s in his way.”

“I know.”  Robert didn’t want to bring up Prask’s potential involvement in Tab’s accident.  Though his father was recovering at a remarkable rate, there was still the possibility of a set-back.  “Georgiana and Tab are moving in to the house.  I’ve already instructed Allan to evaluate Collier Analytics’ security.”

“Have you informed Georgiana of that fact?”

Robert winced.  It wasn’t a conversation he was looking forward to having.  “Not yet.”

Dan rubbed his chin as he eyed his son critically.  “I like the ring.  It’ll match your mother’s wedding ring nicely.  I assume you still have it and didn’t give it to one of your
women
.”

“It’s in the vault at the house, Dad.”

“Excellent.  Your mother was good friends with Corrine.  She thought Georgiana was precocious and adorable.  You two were too young for them to do any matchmaking, but I’d like to think they’d be pleased with the way things worked out.”  Dan spun the worn gold band on his left hand.  He missed his wife keenly.  Andrea would have known exactly what to say to their son.  “I’d believe it if you were engaged to anyone, even that Tammy.  You’ve done plenty of fool things in your life.  Georgie’s not impulsive like you.  She’s never done anything like this.”

“I can be very persuasive when there’s something I want, Dad.”  A slow grin spread across Robert’s face at the remembered taste of Georgiana’s lip balm.  “She’s what I want.  She’ll make the perfect wife.”

“Taking the Board’s nagging to heart?”  Dan’s teasing smile faded when Robert didn’t deny the accusation.  “She deserves more than a cold, impersonal business relationship.  That girl’s been through a lot the last couple of years, son.”

“I assure you, Dad, my relationship with Georgiana will be anything but
cold
or impersonal.”

Dan looked as if he was going to vomit.  “It’s one thing hearing about your escapades when you’re off in New York, but I expect you to act with more discretion here.  With Georgie.” His face smoothed out when Robert nodded in agreement.  “I won’t lie and say I’m not wary of the suddenness of your engagement, but you’re both adults.”

“So we have your blessing?”

“For what it’s worth, yes you do.”

The door opened before Robert could come up with a suitable reply.  He glad they had secured his father’s blessing because if Georgiana was the only one who saw their engagement as a sham it would be easier to convince her to make it a reality.  The hint of pride his father’s blue eyes touched something deep in Robert’s soul and brought a swell of emotion to his throat.  How long had it been since he’d seen that look?

“Glad to see you haven’t killed each other.  That would have been a pain in the ass to explain to the authorities.”  Georgiana dropped a warm, napkin-wrapped pastry in Robert’s lap and perched on the bed near Dan’s feet. 

“I thought you were going to take your time,” Robert said, biting into the apple and cinnamon-filled roll. 

“I lied, and I’m nosy.”  Georgiana shrugged and licked a bit of icing off her thumb.  “You’ll get used to it.”

Suit jacket looped through the strap of her purse and tank top clinging to her sweat-slick back, Georgiana stumbled in to Yvonne's office.  She winced when her bare left foot struck the edge of a chair.  Her fashionable, but definitely not designed for hiking, red pumps had been abandoned on the landing between the sixth and seventh floors. 

"The elevator's out," Yvonne announced, not bothering to look away from her laptop screen.  "Maintenance is aware of the problem."

"And you couldn't have called to warn me?"

"I didn't realize warning people of major headaches was company policy.  I mean, I know it's common courtesy, but I don't think
that
is company policy, either.

Georgiana plopped a rectangular, red-with-embossed-roses box on the corner of Yvonne's desk.  "Ta da," she said, wriggling her fingers over the box in an attempt to make up for her lackluster greeting.  Her plans for a big, extravagant reveal had dissipated the instant she realized she'd have to walk the fourteen flights of stairs to her office.

"I didn't want to believe it when three different people called to tell me that you were engaged to Robert Norwood.  I thought that
surely
I would be one of first five people you told, even if you had been keeping it a secret from everyone else."  Yvonne kept her eyes fixed firmly on the laptop and tapped her fingers on the keys so hard Georgiana feared for the motherboard.  "'Not my boss,' I thought, 'Not Georgiana.  We're friends, and she can be a little flaky, but she's good with the big stuff.'"

"We are friends, Yvonne."

Yvonne growled.  "Besides, she knows my job is to absorb and deflect.  I can't effectively do either if I don't know what's coming.  A heads' up is the
very
least she can do when she plans on hooking up with the nation's most eligible bachelor six years running. Furthermore, she...
ohmygod
!  Is that a C.P. Custom?"

"Ta da," Georgiana repeated, managing to summon a dash more enthusiasm. 

Yvonne sucked in a fortifying breath and used the sharp, manicured nail on her thumb to slit the tape holding the ends of the box closed.  The faint aroma of lilacs and roses wafted from the delicate, pink tissue paper when she lifted the lid.  Her jaw fell open at the sight of the midnight blue chiffon beaded-waist gown. 

"I'll be right back," she said, voice low and reverent.  She gathered the box to her chest and practically floated down the hall to the private bathroom she shared with Georgiana.

A minute later, Yvonne returned to the office.  The magenta underwire bra she'd worn under her conservative sweater peeked out from beneath the V-neckline and deep V back.  The wide shoulder straps helped soften her generous chest while the banded empire waist and fluted hem made the ten pounds she'd been trying to lose for months simply disappear. 

"So?  You love it, don't you?"  From her position flopped in one of Yvonne's visitor's chairs, Georgiana grinned at her assistant.

"This is a Claire Prask Custom dress.  Dress number one of one.  The sketch got burned as soon as the dress was finished.  Claire Prask
personally
signed the tag before she stitched it on."  Yvonne trailed a fingertip along the silver beads at the waist.  "She only does twelve custom orders a year.  The waiting list is over five years long, and she's extremely picky about who gets on the list."

"Yep, you love it."  Georgiana's smile widened.  She saw no point in telling Yvonne that Claire reserved two secret slots a year for her old friend, and Georgiana had used both orders to select items for her assistant.  She'd intended the dress to be a Christmas present, but it made an excellent get-out-of-jail-free card.  "Claire will be thrilled.  She enjoyed designing that dress."

"I do love it," Yvonne admitted.  Her head snapped back and her eyes narrowed threateningly.  "This doesn't mean I completely forgive you."

"Dinner and symphony tickets on me?"

Yvonne shook her head.  "I'd have to actually have time off for that.  Running
your
life takes up most of
mine
, you know."

"Saturday night.  I won't go anywhere but the shop at Dan's house.  I won't send out any emails, and I won't piss anyone off."  Georgiana placed her hand over her heart.  "Swear on the memory of my first erector set."

"Well, I suppose I could take Frankie.  He's the least embarrassing of my relatives."

Georgiana's scowled.  She scratched her nose, tilted her head.  Yvonne’s cousin Frankie played football for Rice University and, though graceful on the field, he moved like a wrecking ball everywhere else.  "Blond or brunet?"

Laughter burst from Yvonne's lips.  "You think I have any standards left, honey?  I'll take whatever I can get."

“Fantastic.”  At the sound of footsteps on the stairs just outside the door, Georgiana craned her neck to peer out the window.  Robert had sent a text message from the building’s garage while Yvonne was changing in to the dress.  She expected him to have at least one member of his entourage with him.  The bodyguard or assistant would make the perfect date for Yvonne.

Allan appeared in her line of sight first, though Cedric was right on his heels.  Both were disgustingly handsome and, given Robert’s exacting standards, undoubtedly perfectly capable of holding an intelligent conversation.  Or at the very least house-trained.  Georgiana flipped a mental coin and pointed at Cedric. 

“You.  Saturday night you’re taking Yvonne to Quattro and then the symphony.  She’s going to have a good time.  The best night of her life.”  Quattro was the only Mobil Four-Star restaurant in the city, and Georgiana rarely used the symphony season tickets she’d purchased in her father’s memory.

To his credit, Cedric didn’t even blink.  “Yes, ma’am.”

"Your elevator is out," Robert said.  He looked as cool as a cucumber though he'd just climbed two hundred twenty-four steps.  Georgiana wanted to strangle him.

"I'm on it."  Georgiana wearily rose out of the chair.  Her arches throbbed in protest and her calves burned with every inch she shuffled forward. 

“Oh no!”  Yvonne reached for her boss.  “After what you did to the lights in Accounts Receivable three months ago, you promised maintenance you’d keep your wrench to yourself.”

“Don’t you have dinner reservations to make?”  Georgiana’s eyebrows arched.  “Unless you’d like me to make them, that is.”

“No, no, I’ll make them.  I’ll just order a fruit basket for maintenance while I’m at it,” Yvonne grumbled.

“Might want to order me a new pair of those red satin pumps with that spindly heel and the buckle.  I broke the heel on the left one on the sixth floor.”

Yvonne’s gasp echoed in the otherwise silent room.  Eyes round with horror and jaw agape, she pressed a hand to her heart.  “Those were discontinued last fall.  They were impossible to find in your size in the first place.  They were gorgeous shoes.”

“Should have thought of that before you disabled the elevator and forced me to hike.”  Georgiana winked at a grinning Robert.  “Next time just leave a nasty voicemail and save yourself the fashion heart attack.”

“I did
not
tamper with the elevator”

“And I didn’t break my shoes.”  Georgiana skipped out of the office before Yvonne could retaliate.  She wasn’t surprised Robert followed her to the elevator.  She retrieved a stainless steel, compact multi-tool from her pocket and used the knife to pry off the access panel.  When the alarm beeped, she entered her security code.  The beeping stopped.

“Do you suspect an electrical short?” Robert asked, peering over her shoulder at the circuitry. 

“Not sure yet.  Penlight?”  Georgiana held her palm up.  She grumbled under her breath when, rather than hand over his mini-flashlight, Robert used the light to illuminate the dark recess of the access hole.  “I’m appropriating your assistant.  He’ll be busy tomorrow night.”

“Stealing my employees already, doll?  I know Texas is a community property state, but aren’t you jumping the gun?”

“He’s taking Yvonne to dinner.  She’s pissed I didn’t tell her about the engagement, which is ridiculous because
I
didn’t know about the engagement until last night.  Your Cedric maybe impervious to bribes, but Yvonne isn’t.  Besides, this mess is your fault and you owe me one.”

“If memory serves correctly, Gigi, it was the flowers you sent to my office that prompted the entire building to congratulate me on my engagement.  I believe we are even,” he countered.  “A fancy dress and dinner in a swanky restaurant will get you back in Ms. Ruiz’s good graces?”

“Oh, she forgave me the moment she saw the dress.  Dinner’s just protection against future incidents.”  Georgiana scowled at the recently updated, computerized controls.  “I liked the old system better.”

With his hip, Robert bumped Georgiana out of the way.  “Let me see.”  He tapped the end of a USB port with his finger.  “Bring me one of your tablet PCs.”

Though her feet ached, Georgiana rushed back in to the office to retrieve her tablet and returned to Robert’s side.  While Robert used Georgiana’s password to log on to the maintenance network, she grabbed two stools from a nearby storage closet.  Seated at his side, she asked a question with every keystroke he made.  Not knowing how to do something was one of her pet peeves. 

“It’s set to fire mode,” Robert announced a few minutes after logging in.  “No wonder the elevator wouldn’t budge.”

“Is it just a circuit that would trip or a computer glitch?  It’s never done that before.”  She shifted on the stool so she could get a better look at the tablet’s screen.  “Is it something someone could have done?”

“I would have to perform a full diagnostic and look at the logs.”  With a few keystrokes, Robert reset the elevator.  The buttons beside his knee lit up.  “It’s fairly simple if you know what you’re doing.  You wouldn’t necessarily have to be in the building to access the controls.  It’s set up for remote access.”

“Joy.”  Georgiana rubbed the back of her neck.  She didn’t have time to deal with a prankster or sabotage.  “I’ll have the heads of security and maintenance go over the logs and perform a full diagnostic on all the systems.”

Robert logged out of the program but did not return the tablet to Georgiana.  He didn’t want her to have a weapon in her hand when he informed her of his plans for her security system.  “Given Prask’s level of interest in you, I think it’s best if Allan evaluates your security here.  I’ve already had him look over NORA.”

“Our security here is the same as yours at NS.  Our fathers used the same contractors and the guards went to through identical training regimes.”  Georgiana’s eyes fell on the small nameplate on the corner of the access panel.  Conveyance Solutions, the company who’d installed the new elevator controls was a subsidiary of Prask’s Tomorrow Solutions.  She swallowed heavily.  “Never mind.  I’ll inform my guys, make up a story for them.  I don’t want them to think I don’t trust them.”

Robert followed her gaze to the nameplate.  “How long ago was the system installed?”

“Before Tab’s accident.  After Dad died.  Somewhere in between the two.”  Her life was divided into the period before her father’s death and the period after Tab’s accident.  The half a year or so of time between the two incidents was a blur.  “It was something Dad had put in motion.  I just signed off on the paperwork.  There’s nothing to gain by sabotaging the elevator.  It’s not as if anyone was in it or the cables snapped.  The worst thing is I may have sprained an ankle.  If anything, he saved me from having to use the treadmill tonight.”

“Georgiana.”

“I said we’d do it your way.  Have Allan do the evaluation.  I will be kept in the loop, though.  Non-negotiable.”  Georgiana popped the access panel back in place.  “Still wish we had the old system.  That was practically unhackable.”

“And you would have been able to fix it,” Robert added, sly grin curving his lips.

“Well, yeah.  That, too.”  Georgiana folded her arms across her chest and puffed out her lower lip.  A good bit of old-fashioned repair work would have gone a long way to making up for her less than spectacular morning.

Robert watched her out of the corner of his eye.  With sweat drying on her skin, hair mussed, and makeup streaked she shouldn’t have held his attention so fully, but she did.  He longed to bury his fingers in that thick, curling hair and lick the salt off her skin.  Pouting over having her fun ruined and repairing an elevator with him, she was most genuine, most approachable, than any woman he’d met.

“I want to take you to dinner.  Tomorrow night.  Somewhere that’ll cause a splash, and we can get the tongues wagging.”

“Can’t.” She shrugged, slipped the tablet from his lax grasp.  “I promised Yvonne I wouldn’t do anything to ruin her night out.  It’s dinner at home and a night in the workshop for me.”

“Tonight then.” 

“No can do.  We’re doing the big move, remember?  As soon as I’m done here, I have to go home and pack.”  She jabbed her finger in his shoulder.  “You’re not skipping out on us, either.  You and those behemoths you hired are in charge of carrying boxes.  There’s no way in hell I’m letting outsiders in either house.”

“How much could there possibly be?  I know teenage boys.  Tab can’t have more than a suitcase or two.”