Winds of Heaven (3 page)

From somewhere she managed to recover her voice. “I—uh—I’ll be here about six weeks. What about you?”

“I think that might depend on you.” The words caressed her with their huskiness. “And whether or not your friends will share your time with me.”

“Oh.” For a minute she couldn’t seem to manage more than the breathless whisper. “Well, actually I’m not visiting friends.”

His eyes were gray clouds of seduction as he reached across the table to cover her hand with his. “Good. Then I won’t have to share you with anyone.”

The pulse at the base of her throat skipped in confusion, and Kylie swallowed. It was definitely time she took command of the situation. Attractive as he might be, she’d only just met him. Summoning her poise, she smiled. “I’m on a business trip too.”

He seemed to take the hint concealed in her crisp tones and withdrew his hand from hers. “I’d like to see you again, Kylie. Will you have dinner with me tomorrow night?”

She laughed softly. “We haven’t even had dinner tonight.”

“All right, then. Make it lunch tomorrow.”

Pleasurable excitement bubbled inside her, but she tried to look suitably casual. “I think I’d better accept before you begin offering breakfast in….”
Bed.
The thought hovered in the air as if she’d spoken it aloud, and Kylie wanted to slide under the table.

With a gentlemanly arch of his brows Nick acted as if he didn’t know what she had so obviously almost said. “If you’d like, we can meet for breakfast,” he suggested.

“No.” Kylie refused with an emphatic shake of her head. “Dinner tomorrow night will be fine.” Mercifully the waiter arrived with their food, and she breathed a shaky sigh of relief. With studied calm she dipped a tortilla chip in the hot sauce and bit into it, hoping she would burn her tongue and thus prevent any further indiscretions.

By the time she’d dulled the edge of her hunger with the spicy
burrito,
her poise had returned.

“This is very good,” she commented.

He nodded. “Would you like to meet me here tomorrow, or shall I come for you?”

Kylie almost gave him the address but then remembered that she had no idea of the next day’s agenda. “I’ll have to let you know, Nick. I’m not sure of my schedule yet. Is there some way I can get in touch with you in the morning?”

Nick curled his index finger through the handle of his coffee mug and lifted it halfway to his lips. “I’ll be at the plant all morning. You can reach me there. The number’s in the book, or you can dial information and ask for Southwest Textiles.”

“Southwest Textiles?” Kylie repeated. “But that’s where I’ll be working.”

The coffee cup clattered against the saucer, and alarm tingled the back of her neck as she registered the look of stunned surprise on his face.

“You’re
Management Movers?” he asked in a hoarse voice.

“Motivation Management,” she corrected automatically. “That’s the name of my company. We conduct management development seminars for businesses. Well, really, there’s only me at the moment, but I’m planning to hire an assistant soon. Southwest Textiles is the first large firm to see the benefit of this type of training, and there’s—” Self-consciously she stopped herself. “But you already know all about that, don’t you? You probably were instrumental in authorizing the contract.”

Nick avoided meeting her eyes as he took a long swallow of his drink. “No, Alex Jamison gets full credit for that.”

“Oh, Alex.” Kylie kept her tone bright and innocent, hoping against hope that she was misreading Nick’s reaction. “I guess, then, he’s the cousin you were calling at the airport.”

“Yes, he gets full credit for that too.”

Her spirits plunged at the portentous tone of his voice, but still she managed a careless smile. “It’s a small world, isn’t it?” At his skeptical expression her smile faltered, but she made herself continue. “Who would have thought we’d meet in such an unusual way? I’m here to direct a conference for your company, and you’re here to—”

“Kylie,” Nick interrupted, pinning her with a regretful but steady gaze, “I’m here to fire you.”

Her heart plummeted and her mind raced in several directions at once. Shock and anger pushed a defensive response to her tongue, but Kylie made herself stop and think. She mustn’t let him intimidate her. “You can’t do that,” she said finally and prided herself that she sounded as cool and authoritative as he had.

“I believe I just did.” The sympathy in his eyes faded noticeably. “I’m sorry it turned out to be you, but that’s the way it is.”

That’s the way it is.
His words fell into the whirling chaos of her mind and restored order. Just like that. No questions. No explanations. Just,
That’s the way it is.
Outrage inflamed her cheeks with hot color, but Kylie calmly lifted her napkin to her lips and returned it to her lap before she slanted a strained but composed smile toward Nick. The need to challenge his assumption of unimpeachable authority was no longer a mischievous impulse. This time she had too much at stake.

“I don’t believe you understand the terms of the contract, Mr. Braden. My attorney was very thorough. A cancellation requires advance notice—a
month’s
notice.” She paused as his mouth firmed into a disapproving line. Masking her inner trepidation, she matched his hard stare. “In the long run, you know, a six-week seminar will be much less expensive than a two- or three-year lawsuit.”

His gaze didn’t waver in the deliberate one-on-one confrontation, and as the tense, silent seconds crept past, Kylie found it increasingly hard not to look away. Hidden from his view, her fingers pleated the linen napkin in folds of doubt.

“Is that the type of training you propose to give my employees, Kylie?” His voice, low and intense, rippled over her. “Do you teach them to assert themselves by threatening legal action against the management? Tell me, after the seminar do you stick around to oversee the mutiny, or do you scurry home to safety?”

The unjustness of his accusation refueled her temper. “I’ve never led a mutiny. Of course, I’ve never before worked with such an overbearing….”

“…autocratic idiot?” Nick supplied smoothly. “I believe that was your term for anyone who disagrees with your line of reasoning.”

“No. That’s my term for anyone who doesn’t take the time to find out what he’s talking about before he passes judgment.”

“And that’s the way you see my decision to nullify your contract?”

“How astute,” she said through tight lips. “But I should have known you would be. After all, there must be
some
quality that got you into a plush office where you can make arbitrary decisions instead of
working
for a living.” Kylie knew she was burning bridges she couldn’t afford to rebuild, but she couldn’t sit passively and allow him to deprive her of this chance to prove herself. She believed in the principles she taught, and if Nick would only give her a fair hearing she could convince him of the value of the training sessions too.

The flash of anger in his eyes was quickly brought under control. “Look, Kylie, I’m sorry. I know you must be disappointed, but I’m sure you can understand my position.”

“Certainly.” Her voice shook with cool hauteur. “Just as, I’m sure, you can understand mine.” With shaking fingers Kylie folded her napkin and placed it beside her plate. She pulled the strap of her purse over her shoulder. “Thank you for dinner.”

Nick’s hand closed around her wrist before she could get more than halfway out of her chair. “Sit,” he commanded gruffly. “We may as well get this thing straightened out now.” When she tilted her chin defiantly, his grip tightened. “I’m not going to let you walk out of here alone. The town is bulging at the seams with tourists and participants in the arts festival. It’s no place to be on your own. Now sit down, and let’s discuss this like two rational business people.”

“Which one of us is not,” Kylie said grimly. “Are you, Mr. Braden?”

“Sit,” he repeated with the barest hint of a threat.

She sank to the edge of the chair and glared at him, wishing she could freeze the overconfident expression on his face. And to think she’d really liked him. She’d almost fallen all over herself liking him! “Let go of my arm,” she snapped.

“And if I do?”

She leaned forward, her lips feigning a smile. “Now, what do you think?”

“I think you take this assertiveness training too seriously.” His fingers loosened their hold, but his hand remained over hers.

“And you don’t take it seriously enough. Offering your employees the opportunity to feel better about themselves and the job they do can be extremely beneficial to your company. The concept is new, but it works. Within two months you’ll see a significant increase in production.”

“Oh, really?” His gray eyes proclaimed a cynical disbelief. “Would you sign that in blood?”

Kylie held back a useless retort and suppressed the flood of disappointment she felt at his words. “Still afraid of a mutiny?”

His hand moved to the stem of his glass, and he watched her appraisingly before answering. “At the moment it seems a distinct possibility.”

“You know,” she said, her voice deliberately provocative, “if you’re that insecure in your job, perhaps you should take the assertiveness course.” She rose and faced him squarely. “Excuse me. I think I should phone Alex and let him know there’s a slight problem.”

“Why don’t you do that.” Nick stood, too, an impatient challenge mirrored in his eyes. “And while you’re at it, ask him if there’s a ‘slight problem’ with your accommodations.”

Kylie’s knees threatened to melt beneath her, but she kept her expression under strict control. “That’s already been taken care of,” she announced, quelling a rising uneasiness, “I’m staying in company housing.” Her words ended in a horrified silence. “You mean you’re staying there, too?”

“Exactly.”

Kylie drew a deep breath. “Well, then, all the more reason to call Alex now. He’ll be able to straighten everything out.”

Before Nick could command her to stay, she turned and walked toward the restaurant lobby.
Alex had better be able to straighten out the tangle,
she thought, her anger finding a new target. Although it didn’t seem likely, he might not be aware of Nick’s presence in town and the problem with the housing. But Alex must have known when he signed the contract that Cousin Nick wouldn’t approve. Well, innocent or not, Alex was about to find out just how assertive she could be.

Kylie felt Nick’s gaze follow her across the room, and inadvertently she remembered the gentle laughter in his eyes when he’d first touched her arm in the airport. She muttered an oath under her breath. A low, heartfelt “Damn.”

Damn,
Nick thought as he watched Kylie walk from the dining area. As he settled back in his chair and sipped at his now-watery margarita, he wished Alex were close enough to bear the brunt of his frustration. It was apparent that another test of executive power was in the offing. One of those battles that cast Alex in the innocent, just-trying-to-do-my-best-for-the-company role and Nick as the villain. If only Aunt Rosemary wasn’t so insistent that her “little Alex” be president of Southwest Textiles. And if only his grandfather hadn’t laid the responsibility for seeing that nothing went wrong squarely on Nick’s shoulders.

Frowning into his glass, Nick wondered if Alex had scheduled Kylie’s flight to coincide with his own. It was exactly the sort of thing that delighted Alex. Setting up some sort of confrontation and then letting it take place while he, Alex, was safely away from any possible repercussions. It might be unfair, but Nick felt Alex could take full credit for this disastrous evening too.

Disastrous,
he repeated silently as he visualized the furious sparkle in Kylie’s dark eyes. For an evening that had begun with such promise, it had certainly deteriorated rapidly, and Nick wasn’t even sure how it had happened. He could only remember that stubborn look on her face as she’d defied him.

It was almost funny. Would be funny, if only she weren’t so lovely. He drained the contents of his glass and muttered a low, heartfelt “Damn.”

Chapter Two

The office of Southwest Textiles was large and comfortable. Rays of early morning sunshine spilled through the window, providing the room with natural light. Woven rugs in vivid colors and designs adorned the rough-textured walls. Even in her present mood Kylie had to acknowledge the pleasant atmosphere of her surroundings. As she settled into a chair her gaze slid over the burnished desktop to the cactus plant that occupied one corner. It wasn’t the best example of desert flora, she admitted, but she felt a certain affinity with the thorny cactus. Spending a relatively sleepless night on the narrow sofa in Alex’s apartment had been bad enough, but when she added the pouty hostility of his current live-in blonde….

Well, it was no wonder the morning had gotten off to a bad start. And to think she still had to face Nick Braden and somehow convince him to honor her contract. Fat chance of that happening, her mind jeered. Not after last night.

The memory of her retreat from the restaurant warmed her cheeks with embarrassment. When she’d phoned Alex and asked him to come and get her, she’d told herself that she and Nick both needed some time to think things over.

But that wasn’t true, she thought now. It had been cowardice to leave, pure and simple. Cowardice, too, to send Alex to pick up her luggage once she was safely entrenched in his apartment. And during the restless night she’d wished a dozen times that she’d stayed and brazened it out with Nick.

Kylie smoothed the polished cotton fabric of her skirt. She’d hoped the navy-blue sundress with its crisp, bolero jacket would make her look and feel professionally cool, but her confidence still hovered near ground level. The echo of Nick’s voice telling her she was fired still thundered in her ears, and now—now she’d set herself up for another humiliating repeat.

The sound of tuneless whistling interrupted her dreary thoughts and directed them to the other occupant of the room. She tightened her lips and tapped one slim index finger against the other as she watched Alex fuss with the coffee maker. It was obvious he wasn’t accustomed to the appliance, and Kylie had a feeling that on top of everything else he was about to ask
her
to make the coffee.