“She knows her father is not making the best decisions.Convincing the board is another thing.She needs a friend.An ally.Even better, a mentor.”
“I don’t plan on eating her for lunch, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“I was rather hoping you would.Call her, at least?”
He shook his head.
“Aunt Kathryn is right.Waiting for BHI Communications to implode is risky.Maybe we should be more strategic?Talk to board members.Some of them have to be sympathetic.There’s no doubt they’ve heard the rumors.And so have our competitors.There’s no guarantee we’ll win the battle.You need to gather support, make a preemptive strike.I know for a fact that Lara’s an excellent place to start.”With that, she left.
He rapped his knuckles on the table before gathering the discarded agendas and feeding the pages into the shredder.
Erin made a good point.Perhaps part of his hesitation was from Pernell Bertrand’s lunacy.Pushing aside the unwelcome thought, he went back to his office, returned a few phone calls, responded to a dozen emails then opened up a preliminary month-end financial statement.
When his mind kept returning to the topic of BHI and the best way to approach the problem, he opened a drawer and pulled out the file Nathan had provided on the company.
Connor found the section detailing the biographical information on each individual board member.He spent the next hour reading through the profiles, but he skipped the one on Lara.
Overall, there were few surprises.
The board was comprised mostly of Pernell’s associates.With the exception of Lara, he was surrounded by people of a similar age and thought process.Nothing new.No innovation.No bold moves.
He’d read the information on Pernell before but he reached for it again, just the same, wondering if his run-in with the man would give him new insight.
It didn’t.The Bertrand fortune was slowly being gnawed away.Pernell had recently been forced to sell their hotel holdings.Yet he remained stubborn, believing his divisions were worth more than they were.
Connor had saved the profile on Lara for last.He picked it up and studied it.
Initially, there weren’t a lot of unexpected revelations.She seemed well adjusted, the adored only child.She’d gone away to college, then had returned to Houston to earn her Master of Finance degree.After that, she’d taken a job at an insurance company.That was his first surprise.
As he read deeper, he learned that she’d completed a number of summer internships, one at an Internet startup in California, another at an oil company in Houston, followed by two at the same financial firm back east.It seemed that she’d tried to broaden her work experience as much as possible, and he applauded that effort.
He wondered then about the relationship between Lara and her father.Was it fractious or harmonious?Her lack of knowledge about his meeting with Pernell suggested the former.Or perhaps the man just ran his business that way.
Connor was the first to recognize that Donovan Worldwide operated differently from a lot of privately held family firms.The informal monthly meetings ensured everyone knew all of the big decisions being considered.Information was shared rather than hoarded.Differences of opinion were discussed and respected.
He scanned the rest of the report.There was a lack of information about her personal life.As he’d surmised, she wasn’t married and there were no reported engagements or even serious relationships.That didn’t necessarily mean anything.Perhaps, like him, she was too focused on business to consider dating.
If so, no doubt they both deserved a diversion.
It didn’t matter that she hadn’t telephoned him as he’d expected.The way she’d reacted to him last night had said things that words could not.
Her pulse had accelerated.Her mouth had opened slightly as she’d momentarily lost her composure.
Yeah, he wasn’t above spending a little time with the delectable Lara Bertrand.
He flipped to the attached picture.
It was a corporate one, probably taken for the times a headshot was required, the company’s website, press releases and such.Since there were no more photos, he dropped it on top of the report and closed the manila folder.
After waking up his computer, he searched her out on social media.Clever girl had her accounts locked down.So he searched his sister’s recent albums.Still nothing.A general search showed only the professional photograph.It showed her as tough, unapproachable, formidable.It didn’t show any of her vulnerability, appeal, or the depth of her rich brown eyes.
Another half hour of online searching didn’t turn up any information that Nathan hadn’t already supplied.
Connor sat back and closed his eyes, considering.
Erin’s earlier suggestion had been spot on.Lara was probably the best person to approach about BHI’s position.If she were amenable, she could then advise him on who else to talk to.The next step would be to garner the support of the board.He didn’t need everyone, just the right people.Once others were on his side, Pernell would have no choice but to capitulate.At the moment, that seemed to be his family’s preferred course.
Fine by him.The opportunity to spend time with Lara suited him.
