“Please,” Emily said, “you don’t need to
explain anything to me.”
Derian crossed her legs at the ankles and
managed to look relaxed even while appearing totally in control. “This is your
turf, Emily, and we ought to be very clear about that right from the outset.”
“It certainly isn’t,” Emily said, not
arguing, but adamant. They needed to be clear about a great many things, it
seemed. “If it’s anyone’s turf—after Henrietta’s, of course—it’s yours. Is
there something I can do to help?”
“How about relaxing? I was hoping you’d be
glad to see me.”
“I am,” Emily said quickly and, smiling
ruefully, shook her head. “I really am. I’m sorry. Everything is just a little
off track for me these days.”
“I understand. For me too.” Derian sat
forward, her forearms casually resting on her long, lean thighs. “You have me a
little off-kilter too.”
“Perhaps,” Emily said, although Derian looked
anything but off-kilter. She looked confident and self-assured. Under other
circumstances, Emily might have wanted to hear just how she’d managed to put
such a formidable woman off stride, but this was not the place. Warring with
her desire to verbally dance with Derian, she finally surrendered to reason.
“As unlikely as I find that, we should save that conversation for another
time.”
“You’re absolutely right. And we will.” Derian
grinned. Emily was interested, she could feel it. And Emily was also totally
correct that the office needed to be someplace where business, and only
business, was the topic. It was just so damn hard not to flirt with her, when
all she thought about was her. “I have evicted Donatella.”
“Bless you,” Emily said with real feeling.
“I’ll take that as a happy thought.”
Emily snorted. “You have just made a dozen
people very, very happy.”
“I doubt anyone downstairs in the business
department will like me very much,” Derian said. “She’s doing an audit and
there’s nothing I can do to stop it. I sent her downstairs where at least she
won’t have an opportunity to intrude on your end of things.”
“Thank you. Is the audit anything to worry
about, do you think?” Emily hesitated, unsure of her ground with a new chief
administrator, and added quickly, “Of course, that’s not something you need to
tell me, but—”
“Emily,” Derian said, “we both know you
should be sitting in Henrietta’s office. A snarl of red tape and some antiquated
opinions about lines of succession are the only things preventing it.”
“I appreciate you saying that, but neither of
those barriers is minor, and besides, it’s not entirely accurate. I’ll admit
Henrietta has intimated that one day, my role in the company might change, but
that time isn’t now. Certainly not when my status is so uncertain.”