“Lena!” I called. “We’re not done here.”
“Do me a favor, Weston, and get on the damn helicopter!” she said, jamming her finger into the elevator button.
Fucking hell!
“Listen, boss,” Arnie said, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. “I’ve got this lead on an alpaca farm in rural Bolivia that captures methane.”
“Arnie, I don’t have time for this,” I snapped as I continued to fight Milo for the file. But I wasn’t fast enough. Milo flung his head up, yanking the file out of my grip and sending it flying through the air. The papers exploded everywhere, fluttering down as I watched the elevator door close on Lena’s fiery expression.
“It’s expensive and a little obscure,” Arnie admitted, “but if it all works out, we’d be industry leaders in?—”
“Arnie,” I growled, trying to shove the man off as I snatched the scattered papers from the floor before Milo could trample them. I didn’t want to hear about alpacas right now. And Lena damn well knew that. Letting Arnie in to talk my ear off was one of her favorite ways to show me when I’d ticked her off, but today, the timing couldn’t have been worse. The elevator dinged again.
I whirled around, praying to God Lena had come to her senses.
But instead of Lena, another woman—middle-aged, tight perm—spilled out, clutching her belongings. She walked over, took one look at the mess, sighed, and sat herself down in Lena’s spot.
I blinked at her as she opened her company-issued laptop.
Milo whined, turning his big, dopey eyes on me like it was my fault Lena had disappeared, leaving this woman in her wake.
“Who the hell are you?” I asked, gruffer than I’d intended.
She glanced up at me under wire-rimmed glasses. “Nancy Clarence, sir.”
“Weston,” Arnie said, trying to get my attention back. “If we’re going to jump on this, it should be now. I think the PR alone?—”
“And what are you doinghere?” I asked Nancy, holding my hand up to hush Arnie.
Nancy’s eyes widened in confused surprise. “Well, er…I’m from the secretarial pool. Lena called down saying that you’d require coverage for the day because she had to step out for an emergency.”
Emergency?All I did was ask her to marry me. How on earth was that an emergency? This whole thing was ridiculous, andwhen she came back, I was going to tell her as much. I released a heated breath. “Did she say when she’d be back?”
“I don’t know anything else. Sorry, sir,” Nancy said. “I just go where I’m told.”
Of fucking course she does.
I turned and stalked back into my office, slamming the door before Arnie could follow. I snatched my phone from my desk, immediately dialing Lena’s number. She had some bloody nerve pulling this today of all days.
I pressed the phone close to my ear as it connected. “You’ve reached Lena Harp at…” I growled, hanging up as the voicemail started to play. Lena never sent me to voicemail. Not even that time I made her find an emergency vet on Christmas morning because Milo kept pawing at his nose, and I was worried he’d gotten into a wasp nest again.
Well, this was all just grand. I’d have to keep calling her until shedidpick up. My thumb hovered over her name, preparing to dial her again when my phone started ringing.
Lachlan Fraser.
“All right?” he asked when I answered.
“Finally decided to phone, did ya?” I’d known Locke since Grandad’s Highland Adventure Camp brought us together over two decades ago.
“Told you my reception was shite,” Locke said. And it was. That was why I’d sent him an email while he was traveling to let him know about Grandad. “But I’ve just landed back in the UK.”
I released an unsteady breath.
“Seriously,” he said, concerned. “How’s things?”
“Could be better, honestly. Today isn’t off to a great start.”
Locke sighed. “I still can’t believe he’s gone. When I got your email…”
