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CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER ONE
DESPERATION WAS SUCH an ugly word. Unfortunately it described Beth Krayton’s situation. She had roughly forty-eight hours to find a good job and a nice place to live in her brand-new hometown of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, before her brothers discovered her whereabouts and attempted to bring her back to Chicago.
She knew just what weapon they would use, too. Guilt. And she had never been good at handling guilt. Her brothers and former guardians had always been excellent at ladling it on, but after her “incident” two years ago, things had gotten worse. And lately, since she’d lost her job…
The memory of the totally humiliating scene that had unfolded two days ago sent a sick feeling rushing to her stomach. When she’d overheard her brothers and their wives discussing solutions to “the Beth problem” she had finally realized that, as hard as she had fought for her independence, the older she got the more determined to manage her life her family became.
When her parents died, years ago, her brothers had vowed to raise her and protect her. She’d been convinced that one day they would see her as an equal. But that overheard conversation, which branded her as a woman incapable of making good decisions, had killed her hopes. Now she understood: They would never rest until they felt she was safely in some other man’s care. Only by proving that she could go it alone without a husband would she convince them to stop interfering in her life.
“If that’s even possible,” she whispered to herself as she barely refrained from groaning.
It wouldn’t make the right impression in her upcoming job interview if people reported that she had been seen talking to herself and moaning out loud in public places. And she had to make a good impression, because with the clock ticking away, all that stood between her and her goals (and her brothers) was a man named Carson Banick, a wealthy hotelier who had advertised for an assistant well-schooled in the hospitality industry.
Beth didn’t have a single ounce of experience in the hospitality industry.
That can’t matter, she told herself, heading toward the building where her interview was being held. Perusing the classifieds, she had found few jobs she was qualified for that would pay a living wage. This job would ensure basic survival, it hadn’t mentioned a college education and, more importantly, it might help her establish a career and an identity of her own. She’d never had either and she needed them with an ache she couldn’t explain.
Carson Banick had to hire her. She had to convince him to like her. She had to exude charm in spite of the fact that she had never been called anything close to charming.
“I’ll be charming today, darn it,” she said, forgetting her vow not to speak to herself as she pushed open the door to the trailer thrown up on the edge of a leveled building site, stepped inside and came face-to-face with the most gorgeous, dark-haired man she had ever seen.
He was frowning at her.
Carson looked up from the stack of papers on his desk, irritated by the distraction of the door opening. He had already interviewed a number of people, but he still hadn’t come close to finding what he was looking for. Judging by the appearance of the woman standing just inside the door, it was unlikely that this interview would turn up anything more positive.
It wasn’t her dowdy sack of a brown skirt that troubled him. Neither was it the slightly ragged edges on her chin-length, astonishingly red hair. Clothing and hair could be fixed with an infusion of money, and he had plenty of money to spend.
No, it was the wounded, defiant expression in her eyes. The woman clearly had issues, and he was the last person in the world who ought to be allowed near wounded creatures with issues. He’d already proven that several times in recent history. People, important people—his former fiancée, his brother—had been damaged in the process.
Carson tried not to think of how Emily had looked when he’d left her. He fought not to remember his brother’s pain-racked face right after the accident or Patrick’s complete lack of responsiveness when Carson had visited him last week. He battled like crazy to keep from remembering that he was the one responsible for his brother’s fall on that mountain. And he was nearly slayed by the injustice of Patrick losing the use of his lower extremeties while Carson took his brother’s rightful place here at this desk.
Rising, Carson fought to keep his hands from curling into fists. Concentrate on this minute and this place and this woman, he told himself. Do the job. Keep things going until Patrick heals. Carson prayed that Patrick would heal, even though the doctors had told him that Patrick wasn’t making the kind of progress they had hoped for. The only way Carson could help his younger brother was to hold his position and do the work well.
Carson took a breath. He looked the woman over carefully. No, she wouldn’t do at all. He certainly wasn’t going to hire someone who would need nurturing or who would remind him of his own failings.
He needed an assistant who was competent and knowledgeable, someone who could help him make a miracle happen at his hotel and help him make it happen fast. The woman before him didn’t look as if she’d had any recent experience with miracles. She looked fragile, vulnerable and—
Damn! Why was he even noticing such things, and anyway perhaps she wasn’t even here about the job. She might be a salesperson or someone simply lost. He frowned. No, she had the desperate look of a jobseeker. Carson stepped around the desk.
The woman clenched a fold of that ugly brown skirt.
“May I help you? I assume you’re here about the position,” he said.
She nodded tightly, but she raised her chin as if he’d just insulted her. “Yes, I’m here to apply for the assistant’s job at the Banick Resort.”
She looked as if she might be holding her breath, but her chin remained high, her shoulders back, almost as if she was daring him to ask her to leave.
He managed not to sigh. “Then you’ve come to the right place. I’m Carson Banick.”
Those brown eyes blinked. “You…own the place?”
“You don’t believe me?”
“It’s not that. It’s just that I wasn’t expecting someone so exalted to be conducting the job interviews.”
Carson shrugged. “The person who gets this job will be working directly with me.”
She lowered her lashes and nodded curtly. “Do you have an application?”
“Yes, of course, and I’ll have you fill one out, but an application is a formality. I’d rather get my information firsthand.” There was no point in putting her to the trouble of filling out paperwork when she would be gone in the next two minutes. The people he had already interviewed had not been right but every one of them had seemed more professional than she did.
It was, Carson conceded, proving to be difficult to find the appropriate person. It was high season in Lake Geneva and there were more jobs to fill in the exclusive resort town than there were people to fill them.
That was unacceptable. He had to make a decision within the next few days. He’d known things were falling behind schedule, but he’d waited, hoping Patrick would make a miraculous comeback. He had ignored his parents’ demands the way he always had. But, eventually he’d been forced to concede that he would have to take over the building of this hotel, his brother’s greatest project. When the doctors had told him that Patrick’s lack of progress seemed to be stress-related, Carson had finally stepped in. At least he could help his brother in this one rather inadequate way. He could get the stockholders and Rod and Deirdre Banick off Patrick’s back. For once Carson could be the responsible older brother and do what he could to protect Patrick.
The irony didn’t escape Carson. His parents had spent years trying to get him to take his rightful place, but he had always rebelled. He’d done as he liked, shunning the family business. Patrick had been the genial one who had sat at the helm of Banick Enterprises for five years since their father’s health had forced him into retirement. But now things had changed. When Patrick was healed and ready to reclaim his place as the Banick heir, the hotel had to be up and running smoothly. It had to be a masterpiece. That meant Carson had to do what he’d never done before: leave his rebellious days behind and become a true Banick. It also meant that a top-notch assistant was imperative, but right now the room was empty of candidates except for this lone woman.
The pale curve of her jaw was rigid as she waited for him to take the next step. No wonder. He’d kept her waiting and he was staring at her a bit too hard, he realized.
“Have a seat,” he said, motioning her toward the guest chair.
She moved forward quietly, sitting and smoothing the skirt over her knees. There was something innocent and feminine about the gesture, despite that bold chin. Carson wanted to throttle himself. He and innocence didn’t belong in the same room, and the woman’s femininity or lack of it was none of his concern.
“Tell me something about yourself,” he said, moving back to the issue at hand. It was a rotten interview question, but the answer tended to be revealing. Interviewees told him what they thought he wanted to hear. That could be important. An assistant needed to be able to anticipate what was needed in sometimes trying situations.
“My name is Beth Krayton. I’m new to Lake Geneva, but I’ve visited before. I’ve always loved it and I hope to build a wonderful life here.”
It was a bit of a beauty pageant-style answer, but when Carson looked into Beth Krayton’s eyes he saw that she was sincere. He saw something else, too. She had latched on to the folds of her skirt again, twisting it a bit.
When his gaze touched on her fingers, she let go of the cloth. Suddenly she sat up straighter.
“Look, Mr. Banick, I can see that you have no intention of hiring me.”
Now he was the one who blinked. He leaned back and folded his arms across his chest. “What makes you say that?”
“Other than the fact that you’re frowning, you’re clearly capable of hiring anyone you please, and I’m sure you have plenty of qualified candidates camping out on your doorstep.”
He waited to see if she had more to say. She had given him the perfect opening to dismiss her, and that was just what he should be doing. But her actions hadn’t matched her words. She wasn’t rising to leave, and curiosity got the best of him.
He had always been a sucker for the unpredictable.
“So why did you come if you’re so sure you wouldn’t get this job?” he challenged.
She looked up into his eyes, and something shifted inside him. That wounded look still lurked but there was something else as well, something he couldn’t quite name but that he knew was admirable.
Carson almost smiled. His mother had always admonished him to do something admirable. He never had.
“I came because I…really wanted the job. I thought I would be working for one of your employees, someone more like me. Instead…well, it’s your hotel.”
Not really. He benefited from the family’s business financially, but the hotels were Patrick’s. Carson had made his own place in the world, and even when the thrill of that world had palled, he had not come home. Yet here he was, the prodigal son in charge of the company and the family. Only he stood between the company and failure. A disastrous or even a poorly managed project and the Banick’s carefully tended reputation and resources could crumble. He held his brother’s and the family’s future in his hands. Sobering thought, but now was not the time to ponder it.
“So you’re bowing out because you don’t want to work for the owner?” he asked Beth Krayton.
She stood but instead of turning and leaving, she leaned forward. She actually put one hand on her hip. “Not at all. I may have come here with the wrong impression and I may not be what you expected or what you were looking for, but I really think that you should hire me anyway.”
Okay, he couldn’t help himself. Carson let a smile slip in. “Why is that?”
“Because I need this job more than any other interviewee will. Because I was raised by four older brothers who all wanted to run the show, so I’m used to dealing with powerful and difficult people.”
He tilted his head, and warm pink crept up her throat. “I didn’t mean that you would be difficult, but if you’re working with contractors and such, I’m sure some of them may be troublesome from time to time. I’m not afraid of tough situations.”
“Good. What are you afraid of?”
She didn’t hesitate. “Not much.” But she dropped her gaze ever so slightly. Bold as she was trying to be, there were definitely things that scared her. Carson wasn’t sure if he should applaud her bravado or turn away from her obvious innocence. What he did know was that she suddenly seemed much more interesting than any of the other more conventional and staid candidates he’d interviewed so far. He frowned at that incongruous and ridiculous thought.
Beth Krayton either hadn’t noticed that frown or she was choosing to ignore it. She stood straighter. For a tiny thing she was making an excellent attempt at being regal. “I’ll be honest with you, Mr. Banick. I might not have all the skills you’re looking for, but I learn very fast and I’ll devote myself to absorbing everything I need to know as quickly as possible. You’ll be able to count on me completely. I’ll do whatever is necessary.”
“Do you have experience in the hospitality field?”
She shook her head and that unkempt mop of red hair slid against her cheek. “None. And I don’t have a college degree, if you’re going to ask about that, but I can take direction and I know how to identify and pursue opportunities. I’ve never shied away from challenges and I don’t believe in the word impossible.”
“Lots of people say that.”
That stopped her for a second. Then she took an almost visibly deep breath. “Yes, they do, but…I tend to live it. The fact that I’m here when I don’t have any reason to believe that you would hire me is partial proof of that. I promise you that I will make this job the top priority in my life.”
Carson frowned. That was what he needed to hear, but it also sounded a bit too pat. He wanted to ask some follow-up questions, personal questions, but there were boundaries an employer couldn’t cross. His next question would have to be phrased carefully.
“If I need you here at night?”
For a second those brown eyes lit. She looked hopeful, almost pretty, which was a ridiculous thought. He liked curvy women, not skinny, nervous ones with bad hair and eyes that were feverish in their intensity. A good thing, since he couldn’t get involved with an employee. Frankly, after Emily, he didn’t intend to get involved with any woman who wasn’t capable of fitting into the Banick world. It just wouldn’t be fair to either of them, especially since he had recently decided that he would have to marry. Patrick could no longer father children, and there had to be a Banick heir….
“Mr. Banick?”
Carson gave himself a mental shake and concentrated on Beth Krayton. Despite her obvious misgivings at his so-called “exalted status” she was determined to make her case. She deserved his full attention. “Yes?”
“I said that I could be here whenever necessary. This will not be just a job to me.”
“It’s a temporary job,” he warned. “Once the hotel opens, my involvement and this position end.”
She paled slightly. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“I can deal with that. It will still look good on my résumé.”
“I haven’t hired you yet.” More and more he was thinking that while she was definitely the most enthusiastic and driven—and therefore the most promising—candidate, hiring her might prove to be a mistake—on a personal level. There was something intriguing about her, and he couldn’t afford to be intrigued by a down-on-her-luck employee.
“I know you haven’t hired me.”
“Tell me about your last job.”
She blanched and then she blushed. “I was a customer service representative in an automotive parts store.”
“And you left for what reason?”
For the first time she looked away.
Ah. “Were you…let go?” he asked quietly.
“Yes, in a sense.”
He could see she wanted to leave it at that. No chance. “In what sense?”
“In the sense that…” She sighed and turned her attention back to him. “I’ll be honest, Mr. Banick. In my younger days I was a bit wild. I did things that got me into trouble and made my already overprotective family even more protective. They knew my last employer and they thought he would make a great husband for me. He seemed to think the same thing. Since I’m not interested in a relationship or in getting married, I was the only one who didn’t think Barry and I were well suited.
“No one was forcing me into anything, of course, but the situation still became very awkward. When I declared my lack of interest, Barry asked me to leave. But rest assured that I didn’t get fired because of incompetence. And also rest assured that my youthful ways are behind me. If you hire me for this job you won’t regret it. I need this position and I do exemplary work. I hope you won’t hold the circumstances of my last job against me. For what it’s worth, I was very good with the customers. I just wasn’t very good at telling my boss that I wasn’t interested in him as a man.”
Beth finished this long speech, two bright spots of color in her cheeks. It was obvious that the subject of her last employer was more than a little uncomfortable.
She didn’t realize it but she had just said exactly the right things. She had been a bit wild in her younger days. So had he, so he knew about trying to move past that. More importantly, she wasn’t interested in romance. That simplified things. In a working relationship this close he couldn’t afford even the possibility of an inappropriate entanglement, especially given the fact that he’d finally accepted that he needed to marry and produce an heir to keep the Banick line going. Still…
“Ms. Krayton,” he began, knowing that his tone was enough to ready her for bad news.
“Don’t say no yet. I realize my background isn’t ideal, but…why don’t you hire me on a trial basis?” she offered suddenly. “If I don’t prove useful in two weeks I’ll help you find a replacement. I’d even be willing to work those two weeks for free.”
Carson raised a brow. She didn’t look like someone who could go without a paycheck for two weeks. “That’s very accommodating of you, Ms. Krayton.”
Carson looked at the clock and then at the calendar. When Patrick began this project, he had planned to complete it by the end of the year. Since his accident three months ago, little had been done and the shareholders were getting restless. Disaster threatened, and the future of the business, Patrick’s pride and joy, was at stake. Carson had waited too long to step in. Now he had to move mountains.
The truth was that he didn’t know if Beth Krayton was the best candidate, but she appeared to be totally committed to acquiring the position and proving herself. That was more than he could say for any of the other people he’d interviewed, most of whom had been more interested in the salary and benefits than in the job itself. And she had offered him an easy out if things didn’t work.
It was tempting to hedge his bets. He was almost as new at this as she was. But there would be no tiptoeing around for him or for anyone who worked for him. Once they began, life would become a whirlwind. The schedule for the hotel was being stepped up.
“No trial period,” he said. “I’ll hire you until you do something that justifies firing you. Banicks treat their employees fairly.” Carson held back a groan. He sounded just like his father. Beth grinned.
“What?” he said.
“You said you would hire me.”
Carson allowed himself a hint of a smile. “Yes, I did, didn’t I?”
He looked across the desk and saw that his new, petite assistant was practically bouncing. “Thank you, Mr. Banick. And thank you for not making me go through a trial period. I would have gone through with it, but being able to eat for the next two weeks will be nice, too.”
He shook his head and smiled again. “I wouldn’t want my assistant missing meals. You’ll let me know if that’s ever a problem, won’t you?”
Bright pink suffused her face. “I shouldn’t have said that. I was kidding.”
She hadn’t been. He was sure of that. “Of course. Still, you’ll let me know if you need anything.”
A curt nod from her was the best he would get. Carson nearly sighed. So the woman was proud and he would have to waltz around that pride. That didn’t exactly bode well for their working relationship, but it was too late for regrets. Beth Krayton was officially his new assistant.
He held out his hand and she placed hers in it. Her fingers were unusually long and graceful.
He frowned.
She looked alarmed, and he shook his head.
“Welcome to Banick Enterprises,” he told her, trying to smile the way Patrick or his father might have.
She smiled back. “I’m happy to be here.”
“You’ll start at nine tomorrow morning.”
Beth nodded. “I’ll let you know where I’m staying as soon as I have an address.” She started to withdraw her hand, but Carson was still holding on.
“You don’t even have a place to live?”
She shrugged and blushed. “I left home suddenly.”
“Suddenly?”
“This morning.”
Carson nodded, wondering what exactly he had gotten himself into. He was, of course, going to do a background check on Beth Krayton. He wondered what it would turn up.
Not that it really mattered. He wasn’t interested in anything about her except for her ability to help him get this job done.
He was on a mission and nothing, especially not a pint-size woman, was going to stop him.
CHAPTER TWO
BREATHE DEEPLY.
The next morning, standing in the doorway of her creepy little rental room on the far edge of town, Beth coached herself to breathe, trying not to think of how much had changed in one day. This temporary home had been all she could afford, and it wasn’t exactly pleasant. It was a far cry from the clean, bustling beauty of most of the lakeside town, but that was all right. For the first time in her twenty-five years she was living on her own, a fact that brought a sense of triumph to her soul. Moreover, she had survived her interview with Carson Banick and she’d landed a decent job. Now all she had to do was keep it, get settled and stop thinking about her new employer’s dangerous silver eyes.
Beth took another deep, ragged breath. “Well, that solved one problem,” she finally said to herself. She was definitely breathing deeply now.
Too bad it was the thought of her boss’s eyes that was causing her to hyperventilate, because that just wouldn’t do. This would not be like her last job. No one was matchmaking. Carson Banick wasn’t interested in her. It was good that she could think logically about the situation, because she had been stupid about men before.
Beth tried not to think about how idiotic she had been about Harrison, the man she’d fallen so hard for two years ago, thinking he loved her when he’d only wanted a physical relationship. She came from a poor family so they weren’t from the same class at all, he had explained, as if she should have known that his words of love had been lies. But what she had realized after she finally stopped hurting was that her foolish mistake had given her brothers even more reason to protect her.