A Bride For The Boss

She sighed. “I didn’t leave you. I left my job.”

But she had left him, Mac thought. It hadn’t felt like an employee walking out, but a betrayal.

“Same thing.” His gaze fixed on her and for the first time, he noticed that she wore a tiny tank top and a silky pair of drawstring pants. Her feet were bare and her toenails were painted a soft blush pink. Her hair was long and loose over her shoulders, just skimming the tops of her breasts.

Mac took a breath and wondered where that flash of heat swamping him had come from. He’d been with Andi nearly every day for the past six years and he’d never reacted to her like this before. Sure, she was pretty, but she was his assistant. The one stable, organized, efficient woman in his life, and he’d never taken the time to notice that she was so much more than that.

Now it was all he could notice.

* * *

A Bride for the Boss is part of the series Texas Cattleman’s Club: Lies and Lullabies–Baby secrets and a scheming sheikh rock Royal, Texas

A Bride for the Boss

Maureen Child

www.millsandboon.co.uk

MAUREEN CHILD writes for the Mills & Boon Desire line and can’t imagine a better job.

A seven-time finalist for a prestigious Romance Writers of America RITA® Award, Maureen is an author of more than one hundred romance novels. Her books regularly appear on bestseller lists and have won several awards, including a Prism Award, a National Readers’ Choice Award, a Colorado Romance Writers Award of Excellence and a Golden Quill Award. She is a native Californian but has recently moved to the mountains of Utah.

To all of the wonderful writers in this fabulous continuity series—it’s been an honour working with all of you.

And to Charles Griemsman, thanks for being such a great editor and for not tearing your hair out during this process!

Contents

Cover

Introduction

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Epilogue

Extract

Copyright

One

“What do you mean, you quit?” David “Mac” McCallum stared at his assistant and shook his head. “If this is a joke, it’s not funny.”

Andrea Beaumont took a deep breath, then said sharply, “Not a joke, Mac. I’m dead serious.”

He could see that, and he didn’t much care for it. Usually when Andi stepped into his office, it was to remind him of a meeting or a phone call, or to tell him she’d come up with some new way to organize his life and business.

But at the moment, she had angry glints firing in her normally placid gray eyes, and he’d do well to pay attention. Having a younger sister had taught him early to watch his step around women. Violet had a temper that could peel paint, and Mac knew that a wise man stayed out of range when a woman got a certain look about her. Right now, Andi—his calm, cool, organized executive assistant—appeared to be ready for battle.

Andi looked the same as always, even though she was in the middle of tossing his well-ordered world upside down. June sunlight slipped through the wide windows at Mac’s back and poured over her like molten gold. Her long, straight, dark brown hair hung past the shoulders of the pale blue blazer she wore over a white dress shirt and dark blue jeans. Black boots, shined to a mirror gleam, finished off the outfit. Her storm-gray eyes were fixed on him unblinkingly and her full, generous mouth was pinched into a grim slash of determination.

Looked like they were about to have a “discussion.”

Mac braced himself. Whatever she had in mind just wasn’t going to fly. He couldn’t afford to lose her. Hell, running McCallum Enterprises was a full-time job for ten men and damned if he’d let the woman who knew his business as well as he did simply walk away.

She’d been his right-hand man—woman—person—for the last six years and Mac couldn’t imagine being without her. When something needed doing, Andi got it done. Mac didn’t have to look over her shoulder, making sure things were handled. He could tell her what he needed and not worry about it. Andi had a knack for seeing a problem and figuring out the best way to take care of it.

She could smooth talk anyone, and if that didn’t work, he’d seen her give an opponent a cool-eyed glare that could turn their blood cold. There’d been plenty of times when Mac had actually enjoyed watching her stare down an adversary. But he had to say, being on the receiving end of that icy look wasn’t nearly as enjoyable.

What had brought this on?

“Why don’t you take a seat and tell me what’s got you so angry.”

“I don’t want a seat,” she said. “And I don’t want to be soothed like you do those horses you love so much...”

He frowned. “Then what exactly do you want?”

“I already told you. I want to quit.”

“Why the hell would you want to do that?”

Her gray eyes went wide, as if she couldn’t believe he even had to ask that question. But as far as Mac knew, everything was just as it should be. They’d closed the Donaldson deal the day before and now McCallum Enterprises could add Double D Energy Services to its ledgers. And Andi’d had a lot to do with getting David Donaldson to sign on the dotted line.

“I just gave you a raise last night for your work on the energy project.”

“I know,” she said. “And I earned it. That deal was not pretty.”

“So what’s the problem?”

“You told me to take over the planning for Violet’s baby shower.”

He drew his head back and narrowed his eyes on her in shocked surprise. With her talent for list making and organization, Andi should be able to handle that shower in a finger snap. “That’s a problem? I thought you and Vi were friends.”

“We are,” she countered, throwing both hands high. “Of course we are. That’s not the point.”

“What is the point, then?” Mac dropped into his chair and, lifting his booted feet, crossed them at the ankle on the edge of the desk. “Spit it out already and let’s get back to work.”

“For one, you don’t decide on Vi’s baby shower. For heaven’s sake, you stick your nose into everything.”

“Excuse me?”

“But my main point is,” she said, setting both hands at her hips, “I’m tired of being taken for granted.”

“Who does that?” he asked, sincerely confused.

“You do!”

“Now, that’s just not so,” he argued. “Let’s remember that raise yesterday and—”

“In the last day or so, you had me arrange for the new horse trailer to be dropped off at the ranch. I called Big Mike at the garage to get him to give your car a tune-up before the weekend, then I saw to it that the new horses you bought will be delivered to the ranch tomorrow afternoon.”

Scowling now, Mac bit back on what he wanted to say and simply let her get it all out.

“I drew up the plans for the kitchen garden your cook wants for behind the house and I made sure the new baby furniture you’re giving Vi was delivered on time.” Andi paused only long enough to take a breath. Her eyes flashed, her mouth tightened as she continued. “Then I called Sheriff Battle to make sure he cleared the road for the delivery of the last of the cattle water tanks.”

“Had to clear the road—”

“Not finished,” she said, holding up one hand to keep him quiet. “After that, I bought and had delivered the standard half-carat diamond bracelet and the it’s-not-you-it’s-me farewell note to the model who can’t string ten words together without hyperventilating...”

Mac snorted. All right, she had a point about Jezebel Fontaine. Still, in his defense, Jez was seriously built enough that he’d overlooked her lack of brain cells for the past month. But even he had his limits.

“You’re my assistant, aren’t you?”

“I am and a darn good one,” she countered. “I’ve kept your life running on schedule for the last six years, Mac. No matter what you throw at me, I handle it and add it into the mix I’m already juggling.”

“You’re a damn fine juggler, too,” he said.

She kept talking as if he hadn’t said a thing.

“Then when I asked you for this afternoon off so I could go see my nephew’s baseball game, you said you had to think about it. Think about it?”

“I appreciate a good Little League game as much as the next man,” Mac said slowly, keeping his gaze fixed on hers, “but we’ve still got some details to be ironed out on the Double D deal and—”

“That’s my point, Mac.” His eyes widened when she interrupted him. “There’s always something that needs to be handled and I’m so busy taking care of those things I haven’t had time to find a life.”

“You’ve got a pretty good life from where I’m standing,” he argued, pushing up from his desk. “Great job, terrific boss—” He paused, waiting for a smile that didn’t come, then tried to continue, but he couldn’t come up with a third thing.

“Uh-huh. Job. Boss. No life.” She took a deep breath. “And that stops today.”

“Okay,” he said flatly. “If it’s that important to you, go. See your nephew’s game. Have some popcorn. Hell, have a beer. We’ll talk more tomorrow morning when you come in.”

“I won’t be in,” she said, shaking her head. “It’s time for a change, Mac. For both of us. I’ve gotten too comfortable here and so have you.”

He laughed abruptly. “You call dealing with what all that’s been going on around here comfortable?”

She nodded. “There’ve been problems, sure, but we handled them and things are slowly getting back to normal. Or, as normal as life gets around here.”

Mac sure as hell hoped so. It had been a wild time in Royal, Texas, over the past couple of years. A lot of turmoil, more than their share of trouble. There was the tornado, of course, then the drought that held most of Texas in a tight, sweaty fist and then a man he used to think of as one of his oldest friends, Rafiq “Rafe” bin Saleed, had come to town with the express purpose of ruining Mac’s reputation, his business and his family. And he’d come damn close to pulling it off.

Remembering that was still enough to leave Mac a little shaken. Hell, he’d trusted Rafe and had almost lost everything because of it. Sure, they’d worked everything out, and now Rafe was even his brother-in-law, since he and Mac’s sister, Violet, were married and having a baby.

But there were still moments when Mac wondered how he could have missed the fact that Rafe was on a misguided quest for revenge.

Without Andi to help him through and talk him down when he was so damned angry he could hardly see straight, Mac didn’t know if the situation would have resolved itself so quickly.

So why, when life was settling down again, had she chosen now to talk about quitting? Mac had no idea what had brought this nonsense on, but he’d nip it in the bud, fast. Now that things were calming down in Royal, Mac had plans to spend more time actually working and even expanding the family ranch, which Violet used to handle. With his sister focusing on the place Rafe had bought for them, Mac wanted to get back to his roots: being on a horse, overseeing the day-to-day decisions of ranch life and working out of a home office to keep his wildly divergent business interests growing.

Life was damn busy and Andi was just going to have to stay right where she was to help him run things—the way she always had.

“Where’s this coming from, Andi?” he asked, leaning one hip against the corner of his desk.

“The fact that you can even ask me that is astonishing,” she replied.

He gave her a slow grin, the very same smile that worked to sway women across Texas into agreeing with anything he said. Of course, Andrea Beaumont had always been a tougher sell, but he’d use whatever weapons he had to hand. “Now, Andi,” he said, “we’ve worked together too long for you to get snippy so easily.”

“Snippy?” Her eyes fired up again and Mac thought for a second or two that she might reach up and yank at her hair. “That is the most insulting thing...”

She took another deep breath and Mac idly noticed how those heavy breaths she kept taking made her small, perfect breasts rise and fall rhythmically. For such a tiny woman, she had curves in all the right places. Funny he’d really not taken the time to notice that before.

Andi was simply there. She kept on top of everything. Nothing ever slipped past her. But apparently this had slipped past him.

“This is coming out of the blue and I think you owe me some sort of explanation.”

“It’s not out of the blue, Mac,” she said, throwing both hands high. “That’s the point. I’ve worked for you for six years.”

“I know that.”

“Uh-huh. And did you notice I didn’t even take a vacation the last two years?”

His frown deepened. No, he hadn’t noticed. Probably should have, though, since every damn time she did take some time off, he ended up hunting her down, getting her to solve some damn problem or other. The fact that she’d stayed here, working, had only made his life continue on its smooth, well-planned path, so he hadn’t had to think about it.

“Is that what this is about?” He pushed off the desk, braced his feet wide apart and folded his arms across his chest. “You want a vacation?”

Her mouth flattened into a straight, grim line. “No. I want a life. To get that life, I have to quit. So, I’m giving you my two weeks’ notice.”

“I don’t accept that.”

“You don’t get a vote, Mac.”

“See,” he said tightly, “that doesn’t fly with me, either.”

It was like talking to two brick walls, Andrea thought, staring up at the man who had been her focus for the past six years. About six foot one, he had short, dark blond hair that in another month or so would be shot through with sun streaks. His summer-green eyes were cool, clear and always held a sort of calculating gleam his competitors usually took for affability. He was lean but strong, his build almost deceptively lanky.

Mac McCallum was the stuff women’s dreams were made of. Sadly, that was true of Andi’s dreams, too.

Six years she’d worked for him. She wasn’t sure exactly when she’d made the supreme mistake of falling in love with her boss, but it seemed as if those feelings had always been with her. A part of her had always hoped that one day he might open his eyes and really see her—but the more rational, reasonable part of Andi knew that was never going to happen.

To Mac, she would always be good ol’ Andi. She knew he saw her as he did the new laser printer in the office. Efficient, able to get the job done and nearly invisible. The raise he’d given her notwithstanding, he didn’t really appreciate just how hard she worked to keep McCallum Enterprises running smoothly—he just expected it. Well, it had taken her a long time to reach this point, but she really wanted a life. And as long as she was here, mooning after a man she couldn’t have, that wouldn’t happen. Andi had been working up to quitting for a long while now, and today had finally given her the last little nudge she’d needed.

It was liberation day.

“Go on, Andi. Go to your nephew’s game. Enjoy the rest of the day and we’ll talk about this again when you calm down.”

He still didn’t get it, and she knew that she had to make herself clear. “I’m completely calm, Mac. I’m just done.”

A slow, disbelieving smile curved his mouth, and Andi told herself to stay strong. Stay resolved. There was no future for her here. But watching him, she realized that he would spend her two weeks’-notice time doing everything he could to change her mind. Knowing just how charming he could be was enough to convince her to say, “I haven’t had a vacation in two years. So I’m going to take my vacation time for the next two weeks.”

“You’re just going to leave the office flat?” Stunned now, he stared at her as if she had two heads. “What about the contracts for the Stevenson deal? Or the negotiations on the Franklin Heating project?”

“Laura’s up-to-date on all of it and if she needs me,” Andi said firmly, “she can call and I’ll be happy to walk her through whatever problem she’s having.”

“Laura’s the office manager.”

True, Andi thought, and though the woman had been with the company for only a couple of years, she was bright, ambitious and a hard worker. And as a newlywed, she wouldn’t be spinning romantic fantasies about her boss.

“You’re serious?” he asked, dumbfounded. “Now?”

“Right now,” Andi told him and felt a faint flutter of excitement tangled with just a touch of fear.

She was really going to do it. Going to quit the job she’d dedicated herself to for years. Going to walk away from the man who had a hold on her heart whether he knew it or not. She was going out into the world to find herself a life.

With that thought firmly in mind, she turned and headed for the door before Mac could talk her out of leaving.

“I don’t believe this,” he muttered.

Can’t really blame him, she thought. This was the first time since she’d met Mac that she was doing something for herself.

Andi paused in the doorway and glanced back over her shoulder for one last look at him. He was everything she’d ever wanted and she’d finally accepted that she would never have him. “Goodbye, Mac.”

* * *

Outside, the June sunlight streamed down from a brassy blue sky. Summer was coming and it seemed in a hurry to get here. Andi’s footsteps crunched on the gravel of the employee parking area behind the office. With every step, she felt a little more certain that what she was doing was right. Sure, it was hard, and likely to get harder because Andi would miss seeing Mac every day. But hadn’t she spent enough time mooning over him? How would she ever find a man to spend her life with if she spent all her time around the one man she couldn’t have?

“Just keep walking, Andi. You’ll be glad of it later.” Much later, of course. Because at the moment, she felt as if she couldn’t breathe.

What she needed was affirmation and she knew just where to find it. When she got to her car, Andi opened the door and slid into the dark blue compact. Then she pulled her cell phone from her purse, hit the speed dial and waited through five rings before a familiar voice answered.

“Thank God you called,” her sister, Jolene, said. “Tom’s shift ended two hours ago and now that he’s home, he says he needs to unwind...”

Andi laughed and it felt good. “So which wall is he tearing down?”

Jolene sighed. “The one between the living room and the kitchen.”

While her sister talked, Andi could picture exactly what was happening in the old Victorian on the far side of Royal. Her brother-in-law, Tom, was a fireman who relaxed by working on his house. Last year, after a brushfire that had kept him working for more than a week, he built a new powder room on the first floor.

“It’s a good thing you bought a fixer-upper,” Andi said when her older sister had wound down.

“I know.” Laughing, Jolene added, “I swear the man’s crazy. But he’s all mine.”

Andi smiled sadly, caught her expression in the rearview mirror and silently chastised herself for feeling even the slightest twinge of envy. Jolene and Tom had been married for ten years and had three kids, with another on the way. Their family was a sort of talisman for Andi. Seeing her sister happy and settled with her family made Andi want the same for herself.

Which was just one of the reasons she’d had to quit her job. Before it was too late for her to find what her heart craved. Love. Family.

“And,” Jolene was saying, “I love that my kitchen’s about to get a lot bigger. But oh, Lord, the noise. Hang on, I’m headed out to the front porch so I can hear you.”

Andi listened to the crashing and banging in the background fade as her sister walked farther away from the demolition zone.

“Okay, backyard. That’s better,” Jolene said. “So, what’s going on, little sister?”

“I did it.” Andi blew out a breath and rolled her car windows down to let the warm Texas wind slide past her. “I quit.”

“Holy...” Jolene paused and Andi imagined her sister’s shocked expression. “Really? You quit your job?”

“I did.” Andi slapped one hand to her chest to keep her pounding heart from leaping out. “Walked right out before I could change my mind.”

“I can’t believe it.”

“You and me both,” Andi said. “Oh, God. I’m unemployed.”

Jolene laughed. “It’s not like you’re living on the streets, Andi. You’ve got a house you hardly ever see, a vacation fund that you’ve never used and a rainy-day savings account that has enough in it to keep you safe through the next biblical flood.”

“You’re right, you’re right.” Nodding, Andi took a few deep breaths and told herself to calm down. “It’s just, I haven’t been unemployed since I was sixteen.”

The reality of the situation was hitting home and it came like a fist to the solar plexus. If this kept up, she might faint and wouldn’t that be embarrassing, having Mac come out to the parking lot and find her stretched out across her car seats?

She’d quit her job.

What would she do every day? How would she live? Sure, she’d had a few ideas over the past few months about what she might want to do, but none of it was carved in stone. She hadn’t looked into the logistics of anything, she hadn’t made even the first list of what she’d need do before moving on one of her ideas, so it was all too nebulous to even think about.

She had time. Plenty of time to consider her future, to look at her ideas objectively. She would need plans. Purpose. Goals. But she wasn’t going to have those right away, so it was time to take a breath. No point in making herself totally insane. Jolene was right. Andi had a big savings account—Mac was a generous employer if nothing else—and it wasn’t as if she’d had time to spend that generous salary. Now she did.

“This is so great, Andi.”

“Easy for you to say.”

Jolene laughed again, then shouted, “Jilly, don’t push your sister into the pool.”

Anyone else hearing that would immediately think built-in, very deep pool. In reality, Andi knew the kids were jumping in and out of a two-foot-deep wading pool. Shallow enough to be safe and wet enough to give relief from the early Texas heat.

“Jacob’s game still at five today?” Andi asked abruptly.

“Sure. You’re coming?”

Of course she was going to the game. She’d quit her job so she’d be able to see her family. She smiled at her reflection as she imagined the look on Jacob’s little face when she showed up at the town baseball field. “You couldn’t keep me away.”

“Look at that—only been unemployed like a second and already you’re getting a life.”

Andi rolled her eyes. Jolene had been on her to quit for the past few years, insisting that standing still meant stagnating. As it turned out, she had a point. Andi had given Mac all she could give. If she stayed, she’d only end up resenting him and infuriated with herself. So it was no doubt past time to go. Move on.

And on her first official day of freedom, she was going to the Royal Little League field to watch her nephew’s game. “I’m just going home to change and I’ll meet you at the field in an hour or so.”

“We’ll be there. Jacob will be so excited. And after the game, you’ll come back here. Tom will grill us all some steaks to go with the bottle of champagne I’m making a point of picking up. You can drink my share.”