“A reporter fromBusiness Todaymagazine contacted us recently. A Bianca Rutherford,” Ellie said, sitting down at the long table with her laptop. “She said she wanted an interview with you, our CEO, about the recent workplace relationship policy that the board set up and how that’s going.”
“Tell her she can have that interview as soon as aliens invade Earth. Anything else of importance?”
“I’m working to douse the last company fire, so I’m not telling her to go to hell,” Ellie retorted.
The last?
I raised an eyebrow at that, and she understood my implicit question.
“Where our subsidiary Gridwell Inc. had an embezzlement that they secretly tried to cover up.”
I remembered now.
I groaned and nodded. “It’s coming back to me. We had five different media companies stalk one of those employees to get the gory details from her.”
“Now, can you see how hard I’m working to get a good company image out? And to make sure we don’t repeat the last mistake?”
I exhaled. “Ellie, I don’t know what Luxe Hotels would do without you,” I said with more feeling this time.
I did value the head of PR. Which was why, even though she’d tried to leave us twice in the past year, I’d worked every angle I could to hold her back. Including more vacation time and what I knew would work in Ellie’s case—more access to media. She was a natural at these interviews and working with journalists, and she loved seeing the company she worked for in the news every other day. So, if keeping Ellie with us meant that more of my employees had to be pressed into meeting with journalists, so be it.
“I assume I can give her access to Thomas? She said she’d like to interview Thomas about the recent restaurants we’ve acquired.”
I nodded. “If Thomas doesn’t mind, you can let her interview him. If you’re sure it will do no harm, then it’s fine. I trust you.”
Ellie smiled her thanks and typed on her computer.
I frowned as I went over the conversation again mentally. “What did you say the reporter’s name was?” I asked.
Ellie gave me a knowing smile. “Bianca Rutherford.”
The smile disappeared from my face. “That can’t be right. Didn’t Bianca Rutherford recently write a nasty article about me and my dating life? I distinctly remember beingreferred to as the snarky bastard who has a thing for women with red-blonde hair—which she’s totally wrong about, by the way. Are you sure you have the name right?”
Ellie gave me a smug smile. “She is a business reporter who also writes for a gossip magazine on the side. I believe it pays better than the business reporting.”
“She referred to me as ‘an entitled prick, whose good looks will be the death of him.’”
Ellie suppressed a grin. “She might have said that.” She hesitated. “A year ago, Bianca tried to get a job at our firm. She almost made it—until you interviewed her and decided she wasn’t a good fit for our media team. I don’t think she’s ever forgiven you for it.”
I groaned.
“Also, she suspects you knew she was dating someone from our media team and that you put a stop to hiring her because of that relationship.”
I stared. “I didn’t know that.”
Ellie gave me a small shrug. “I learned about it later too.”
The doors to the meeting room opened, and I looked up briefly before returning to my notes. Then, I looked up again, a smile taking over my face.
Ava was here. Her red-gold hair was thick and extended up to her mid-back. I swallowed and looked at Ellie, who was observing me intently.
“I need coffee,” Ellie said, getting up and walking over to the station while Ava set it up on the counter at the end of the room. “We’ve not even begun this meeting, and I can feel a headache coming already.”
Ava nodded at us briefly, her eye catching mine before she resolutely turned her head away. Her face was bright and her cheeks pink. As though she’d been walking for a long time in the chill early morning before getting here. Sheplaced the carafes of decaf and regular coffee on the counter while Ellie and I continued to speak.
For the next few minutes of the meeting, I kept my eyes off Ava.
When Ellie spoke regarding legal work and papers that needed signing, I chanced a glance at Ava. She was bending down to pick up the stacks of sandwiches. Her amber eyes were fixed on Ellie, her hair falling over her shoulder. She was petite, with a graceful figure, with curves in all the right places, but her skin didn’t have that healthy glow that I remembered. The locket still glinted on her neck. With her cargo pants and sweater, she looked more like the girl I had known back in high school than she had in our meetings before.
