* * *
Within the next hour the phones began ringing fast and furious with calls from all around the globe. By one o’clock the two secretaries Clay had requested appeared at her desk. One was set up at Sophie’s desk, the other at a temporary table next to it complete with a computer and phone. Instructions were given and by noon Sophie was headed to her house to pack a bag and make sure her cottage was closed up nice and tight.
Had she really agreed to stay in Clay’s house? He had promised this would be strictly business. She had to believe him. At least she believed he would try to keep it that way. Truth be told, she had no room to talk. However strong his attraction was to her, she could double that if not triple it. Theirs had been a close relationship out of necessity since the day she’d accepted the position as his administrative assistant and ever since his accident.
She thought back on how that time had brought them even closer together. Other than his fiancée, who’d rarely shown up at the hospital,
Sophie was his only companion. And he’d needed someone to hold his hand and assure him everything was going to be all right. No way could she have left her boss and friend lying in a hospital bed wondering how to deal with the fact he might never walk again. Those months had changed her and her feelings for this man. And more recently what had started out as her admiration for his strength had turned into unwanted and unexpected feelings of love.
Clearly he was attracted to her, too. But she only hoped his romantic interest in her would soon pass and he would go on to other conquests. Her heart would break, of that she had no doubt. Theirs was an affair that had nowhere to go. And once he found out about the baby, she had no idea how he would react. She had to steel herself to be strong. Clay had made it clear he didn’t want a family and if he asked her to marry him when he found out about the baby, it would be for the wrong reason and she knew she would have to say no.
While she was at her cottage gathering the necessary clothing and miscellaneous items, her mind twirled around Clay’s statement about rechecking every employee who’d been hired in the past couple of years. She’d been with Everett far longer than that, but what if the incidents of her past came to the surface? What would Clay say? What would he do? It had been written off as a childish teenage prank and no official charges had been filed. But the fact was a man had died and she had been partly to blame for that. The community was small and the rumors had abounded: among the neighbors, in the churches, in the schools. There had even been talk about it in the neighboring counties. The name Sophie Prescott had been linked to the man who died.
Finally she had changed schools and as soon as she received her diploma, she’d thrown a dart at the map and packed her bags. And she had never returned. She didn’t know if she could ever go back. But with the baby coming, her options were few.
Her mother had insisted that she could come home, that in the intervening years everything had settled down and there was no reason not to return to her childhood home. But Sophie remembered the taunts and the stares and the fingers pointed at her with whispers of Isn’t that Sophie Prescott? Wasn’t she one of the four teenagers who set that barn on fire and killed that elderly man?
She realized just thinking about it made her mouth go dry and the tears well in her eyes. If only some parts of life were do-overs. She would’ve never gone to that barn, would never have sat next to her friends as they watched in silent horror as the match’s flame had blazed out of control. They had never seen the elderly man who had fallen into a drunken stupor in the corner of the ground floor.
She placed the last of her items in the suitcase and closed the lid. She made sure the little cottage was locked up tight. She had just stepped out onto the front porch when Clay pulled up to the curb in a pickup. He helped her with her bag and they were off.
It was a brief ride back to the Flying E Ranch, down the extended driveway and into a parking space at the back of the house. Clay brought in her bag. If he noticed she was unusually quiet during the trip, he said nothing.
His home left the description of “large” in the dirt. Three considerably sized houses could fit inside his mansion with room to spare. She followed him through the maze of hallways, past more than ten bedrooms that filled the third floor, finally opening a door on the right. The room was as large as her entire cottage.
“The bath and closets are through that door.” He nodded toward a single door next to the fireplace. “After you get settled then come and find me. I’ll be in my office.”
Ten minutes later she entered his spacious office, pulled a chair closer to his desk and with pen in one hand, notepad in the other, she was ready to go to work.
By ten o’clock that evening Clay called a halt to the insanely busy day and insisted on walking her to the temporary suite where she would stay.
“I appreciate you, Sophie.” He leaned forward and briefly traced her lips with his. “Good night.”
“Good night, Clay.”
After closing the door behind her, she walked to the bed and opened the small suitcase sitting next to it. What a day. One full of surprises. There would definitely be a better, more appropriate time to advise Clay he was going to be a father after this situation with his company was put to rest. In the meantime, it would allow her a chance to get used to the idea. She looked down and placed her hands over her flat stomach. Being in Clay’s home twenty-four hours a day would make it difficult to conceal the morning sickness. But she had to find a way, for Clay’s sake. It wouldn’t do to have him worried about this when he had so many other things stacked on his plate. Everest was a major global corporation and God only knew who was trying to shut it down and why.
Over the years, Sophie had met a good many secretaries and administrative assistants of local companies here in Royal. Tomorrow she would begin calling them to see if she might gain some insight as to what is going on. Sometimes the assistants knew as much as or more than their bosses.
She grabbed a T-shirt and some clean panties from her bag and headed toward the bathroom. A long soak in a hot tub of water sounded like it would hit the spot. She picked up the jar of bath beads and the bubble bath, deciding to go all the way. It didn’t take long for the huge spa-like bathtub to fill with water. Once she’d shed her clothes, she stepped into the hot bath.
She lay back and just soaked for a long time. Finally, deciding she was about to become a prune, she reached for her shampoo. It wasn’t next to the tub. Sitting up, she looked around the room. No sign of it. She must have left it inside of her suitcase. Standing, she then exited the tub and ran into the bedroom. No shampoo inside her bag.
Could it have fallen out somehow when Clay brought the bag upstairs? Chewing her bottom lip, she eased open the outer door. Nothing. Pushing the door open a bit more, she spotted the silver cap of the bottle under the palm plant just a few steps down on the other side of the hall. After looking both directions down the long hallway and seeing nothing, she slipped out of the room and rushed over to the plant. Just as her fingers touched a metal object and she realized it was not her shampoo, she heard her bedroom door click closed behind her.
She rushed back to the door. It was locked! She could feel the blood drain from her face. Crap! What was she going to do now? She stood naked in the hall with nothing but a few bubbles to cover her and they were fading fast. She again tried to turn the doorknob in both directions. Nothing. She tried shaking the door. It remained firmly closed.
It was then she heard someone exit the elevator and walk in her direction. Panic set in every cell of her body. She looked around her, but the only shield was the palm plant. There was no time to question the logic of the idea. She bolted over to the plant, pulled it away from the wall and squeezed in behind it. It stood four feet high and was about the same width as her body but there was plenty of space in between the leaves. Maybe whoever it was coming her way wouldn’t notice. Or maybe the person would enter a room before they came this far down the hall.
Her luck wasn’t that good. She caught sight of long, muscled legs clad in worn jeans striding past her. Clay stopped a few steps past the plant then turned around and stood directly in front of her.
“I assume you have a good explanation,” he said in that deep voice.
“Get me a towel,” she whispered loudly, anger lacing her words.
After hesitating only a few seconds, he walked toward her room and found the door locked. Uproarious laughter followed. She didn’t know whether she should be furious with him for laughing at her situation or smile at the beautiful ring in his voice. She’d known Clay a long time and it was rare for him to smile, let alone laugh. She decided rather quickly, since she was still in the embarrassing situation, anger was her friend.
He dug deep in his pocket and pulled out a set of keys, quickly finding one, which he inserted into the lock. The door opened.