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was the office manager.” And that was when Etienne’s resolve flew out the window. He looked down at her application and saw that she had been hired not long before Meg left the company and that she had worked almost up until the time that Alan left. This was the woman Alan had hired instead of promoting Meg.

      Anger as hot as a flame rolled over him, but he fought it. Meg had been a total hit with the reporters from the local newspapers and television and radio shows, and she was developing a bit of a fan club. Owning a Fieldman’s piece of furniture was becoming trendy. Everyone wanted to be like Meg. It was good for her to finally have some true adulation. She deserved so much more, and he didn’t want her associated with anything negative. Following through on his inclination to yell at this woman would only harm Meg. Etienne fought for calm, for a sense of quiet purpose. Years of training kicked in, thank goodness, and he was able to modulate his voice. “I’m sorry, but I’m afraid we don’t have anything here for you, Ms. Avery,” he said.

      “Are you sure? Please. I don’t expect anything like the position I held before. But after Alan fired me, I couldn’t find work. I…I have children,” she said, just as Meg poked her head around the door.

      Amazingly the look on Meg’s face wasn’t as shocked as Etienne would have expected. She was staring at Paula Avery intently and moving closer. He realized that the woman’s voice would have carried out into the hallway and that Meg might have recognized it.

      “You’re applying for a job,” she said to the woman.

      The woman turned as white as schoolroom paste. “I—I guess I didn’t think. That is, I just thought…with Alan gone…I’m sorry. I’ll go. Right now.”

      Her hands shook, her shoulders slumped and she rose to leave.

      “Paula, stop. I heard you before,” Meg said gently. “You need work.”

      The woman looked at Meg with suspicion and fear, and her eyes were dark and haunted. “I’ve tried other places, but my record isn’t too great. Alan wouldn’t give me a reference. He blamed me for the fact that the company wasn’t doing well.”

      “Why here?” Etienne said suddenly. “Why would you return to a company where you got fired?”

      As if he’d just realized what he’d said, as if he’d forgotten that he had begged Meg to do the very same thing, he looked up and his gaze locked with Meg’s. Was she all right? She looked tired and sad, but there was a softness about her, a sense of resignation and…acceptance. She didn’t look as tense as he might have expected.

      “I know it sounds crazy, but…you were hiring. I heard that and…I need to make a living somehow. I’m willing to take whatever you can offer me. Whatever you’re willing to give me to do.”

      Etienne knew as well as he knew anything that Meg’s soft heart was going to lead her to offer this woman a job. What he wasn’t prepared for what Meg suggested next. “We’re acting as a distributor right now for a couple of companies who design for us, but we’d also like to start an experimental in-house line. If I remember correctly you had a background in design. There might be room for an entry level position on the design team if you’re interested,” Meg said.

      The woman murmured a quiet yes. She looked as if she wanted to drop to the ground and hug Meg’s legs. “You should hate me,” the woman said, clearly confused.

      Meg sighed. “You weren’t the one who fired me. Part of my job is to hire good people. If you’re competent and you do your job, that’s all I care about. Come back tomorrow, ready to work.”

      The woman nodded and gathered her things. After she had gone, Meg looked at Etienne. “She needed a job,” was all that Meg said.

      He studied her for long, silent moments. She looked at him, then looked away to the side. He noticed that she was fidgeting with the red leather band of her watch. Meg clearly wasn’t as calm as she appeared to be.

      “You needed to prove you were better than him, didn’t you?” Etienne asked.

      Now, she turned back to him in a rush. Her eyes flashed fire. “I am better than him,” she said.

      Etienne laughed. “Meg. Amazing, surprising Meg. You’re not going to get a single argument from me. There’s no question in my mind that you’re miles better than Alan is, was or ever could be. The question is…are you really going to be able to take working with the woman who was given your job the last time around? Without attempting to bring her down, I mean?” he asked gently. “Not that you’d do it consciously. I’m sure you’d be appalled by that, but…subconsciously, her presence has to sting a little.”

      “A little,” Meg admitted. “But not as much as I might have once thought. After all, she and I have something in common. By rights we should actually bond over our dislike of Alan.”

      “Is that going to happen?”

      “Probably not. I won’t hold what happened against her, but the truth is that it was a dark day for me. She’s a reminder of that. Bonding isn’t going to take place.”

      “Still, you’ve just established yourself as a woman who knows how to be magnanimous and walks the walk. I’m betting that the people in the outer office are going to have an awful lot of questions.”

      “Yes, I know. I can hear the buzz already and…why not? I’d certainly be buzzing if I were in their shoes.” She walked out the door and prepared to meet the barrage of questions.

      And as she moved, Etienne realized one thing. By giving Meg this job, he had sentenced her to a somewhat lonely existence. Before, she had been a part of the masses. Now she was the one who handled all the decisions. At least she would handle all of them, alone, once he had gone. But being alone had been her curse all her life, and now he had sealed her fate. He knew what that place at the top could be like. It could make good people do bad things. It could doom a person to a loveless life.

      Etienne swore softly in French. But that didn’t change things. Meg was and might always be alone.

      Except for her pets.

      Except for her child.

      Except for any man who might—finally—win her over, a man who would stay and be there for her, night and day. She said she didn’t want a man. Would she ever change her mind? And what man would ever be good enough for her?

      No man, Etienne thought. Not one. Lightning might turn out to be the perfect companion for Meg, after all. But no man as a husband didn’t mean that there would never be a man in Meg’s bed.

      Etienne frowned. Where had that thought come from?

      He didn’t know. He didn’t want to know. And he darn well wasn’t going to pursue that line of thought, because the only thing he did know was that he wouldn’t be the man in Meg’s life.

      A woman had loved him once. Her whole life she had loved him, but in the end, he had failed her.

      He wouldn’t do that to Meg, too.

      So, what would he do?

      Keep working for her, keep trying to save this place and these people she loved. Keep trying to make a difference in her life so that when he left she and her child and her world would be better off.

      What was the next step?

      Touch her, taste her. The thought leaped right in there. Meg Leighton was doing serious damage to his sanity. He wanted what Alan had thrown away. If he had needed any more proof that Alan had been a fool, that was it. Alan had walked away from the woman who made Etienne break out in night sweats.

      What had she done, Meg wondered a few hours later. Paula Avery was young, blond, curvy and petite. A total cutie pie. The woman Alan Fieldman had chosen when he had gone looking for a hot, attractive, intelligent woman. The woman he had thrown Meg over for.

      And Paula would be right there in front of Etienne every day of the week. He said he didn’t want a woman, couldn’t

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