Page 10 of Bride By Committee

He leaned his head against the wall and swore beneath his breath. “What if the person managing this small group feels the way you do? What if he thinks he’s doing fine without my input?”

“With your credentials you’ll have no trouble convincing him.” Her absolute confidence amazed him. “He’ll have no choice but to acquiesce to your superior knowledge and abilities.”

“I’d rather not throw my weight around.”

“Oh, right. You did mention that you were intimidating when it came to business.”

“Very intimidating,” he remindedher.

“You weren’t supposed to make me nervous, remember?”

“And now I am?” Her complaint made him smile. “Should we change the subject again?”

“No. Iguess I can handle a small amount of nervousness. Besides, I’d like you to explain something.” She shifted in the darkness, the faint scent of her perfume slipping across the car to wrap him in soft feminine sweetness. “When you want to throw your weight around, how do you go about it?”

Amusement vied with an intense flash of desire. “You sure this discussion won’t make your claustrophobia worse?” he asked.

“Oh, no. Our discussion will help my claustrophobia.” She hesitated, as though scrambling for an excuse. “It’ll take my mind off it.”

She was interested in him as a man and doing her best to hide the fact. Not that her best was all that impressive. Apparently possessing a practical nature didn’t include subtlety or deception. He wished he could see if her face was as easy to read as her voice. He was willing to bet he’d find her expression as open and candid as everything else abouther.

“If telling you about my work situation will prove beneficial, Iguess it’s my duty to keep the conversation going,” he murmured.

“Yes, please. Come on, spill. How do you intimidate people? Iassume you don’t always have to?”

“No.” He opened the first few buttons of his shirt and changed his position. Not that it helped. The floor of an elevator wasn’t the most comfortable place to lounge for hours on end. Fortunately, the company more than compensated for the lack of a chair or couch. “Most businesses want my opinion and pay well for it. But occasionally there’s a job where the principal owners are squabbling or there’s a high-level management struggle going on. So they call me in to settle the financial end of matters and offer an opinion. In those cases my presence is a source of conflict.”

“Not very pleasant. How do you handle a situation like that?”

“First, Isend an announcement.”

She chuckled. “Something along the lines of, ‘Prepare yourself. I’m coming’?”

“You got it. Isend very specific instructions detailing what I’ll require when I arrive. Anice long, nasty list. Hotel arrangements. Office space. Meeting times. Staff. Everything’s terse and to the point.”

“In other words, you rattle their cages.”

“I prefer to think of it as getting their attention.”

“And then?”

“And then I show up. Early. Most places that are in turmoil have been so busy arguing about how to accomplish my instructions that they’re caught off guard.”

“Let me guess. They spend the next couple of days bending over backward to make up for a bad first impression.”

“By which time, I’ve been able to fully assess the situation and personnel and come up with a financial strategy. Ican tell them what will happen if they don’t make any changes and what will happen if they implement some of my changes and how they’d benefit best by doing precisely as I recommend.”

“I assume most of them choose your final option?”

“Most. But not all.” He shrugged. “And in a few cases, it’s too late. Some things aren’t fixable. It’s as simple and unfortunate as that.”

Silence reigned for several minutes while she absorbed his comment. “Speaking of the unfixable. How much longer do you think it’ll be before they repair the elevators?”

“A while.” He frowned. “Are you nervous again?” Maybe he shouldn’t have told her about his intimidation methods.

“Just a tiny bit.” She rubbed her arms with swift, abrupt movements. “I thought it would get stuffy in here. But I’m cold. Isn’t that crazy?”

“Would it make you feel better or worse if I sat with you?”

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