Page 1 of Her Prince in Disguise
Chapter 1
“Sweet Jesus!” Andi whispered, staring down at the contents of the unexpected delivery on her desk this morning. She tilted it from side to side, not sure she understood what was going on, other than that the carefully-created and extraordinarily detailed diorama depicted a very…very…sexually explicit scene.
Getting a freaky, creepy box with a miniature scene inside was strange enough. However, the issue that increased the terror in Andi’s heart was the fact that the female – which was tied to some sort of enormous “X” – looked oddly like herself! The doll was nude, with her wrists and ankles tied to the upper and lower parts of the “X” while a second doll, supposedly a male character, due to the lack of breasts, wielded a whip that whirled overhead. Repulsed by the images, Andi assumed the whip was about to strike the female doll.
The scene was horrific, and yet, she couldn’t seem to tear her eyes away from it as she tried to understand exactly what was going on and, more importantly, why anyone would want that level of pain to be inflicted upon them.
Yes, she knew some people were excited by pain. She’d heard stories about sadists and masochists, people who loved providing pain and those who found pleasure in receiving pain. However, she definitely wasn’t one of those people. The thought of pain didn’t turn her on. In fact, pain terrified her!
“Ms. McCormick?” a male voice interrupted her thoughts.
Andi quickly slapped the cover back on the box, looking up to find Harold Devin stepping into her office. For a moment, she didn’t know what to say, too embarrassed to have her boss’s boss trying to peer into the shoebox sized package that she was unsuccessfully trying to hide with both hands.
In a strained voice, she asked, “How can I help you, Mr. Devin?”
Andi straightened her shoulders and slid the weird box off to one side, hoping that her movements didn’t appear as jerky as they felt.
Harold Devin, the chief financial officer for Sunstar…uh…Raife Industries, now that Sunstar Corp had been bought… looked flustered as he paused beside her desk. There was an unflattering red tinge to his fleshy cheeks and sweat was forming on his upper lip.
The man waved at her to follow him out the door. “No time to discuss anything,” Harold snapped, smoothing his tie nervously. “Marty was in a car accident. He was supposed to present this quarter’s financial information to our company’s new owner today.” Harold ran a hand over his upper lip, wiping the sweat away, but more appeared almost immediately. “You’re going to need to sit in on the monthly review meeting and answer any questions on variances and…what not.”
The man wantedherto answer the quarterly financial questions? Stunned, Andi stared at the CFO for a long moment, astonished that he would ask this of her. The quarterly financial meeting was a huge deal. All of the executives had been working frantically for the past several days to prepare for this meeting. Rumors were flying all over the company about the new ownerswho had bought up Sunstar several months before. The rumors spanned the range from insane, such as that the new owner was seen dining with some movie star, to the more mundane “He’s a badass!” comments.
Trying to avoid the gossip, Andi had been researching the financial variances for the past week, writing up a detailed summary of every possible change in sales, costs, revenue, profit, and any market changes so that her supervisor, Marty, could adequately answer questions for this meeting.
Now Harold—Marty’s supervisor—wanted her to fill in for her boss. Andi’s heart soared. She was finally stepping out of the shadows. This was her moment to show the executives that she knew her stuff, that she was ready. After months of hard work, it was her chance to prove she deserved the promotion she’d been chasing.
So, when Harold frowned at her, Andi didn’t hesitate. This was her moment! She loved numbers and, in point of fact, Andi had sent the talking points to Marty last night for this meeting.
“Of course, Mr. Devin. I’d be happy to answer any questions,” she replied, as she grabbed her notes as well as the spreadsheet with the details of her research. “Where’s the meeting?”
“This way,” Harold grumbled, then turned, bustling off down the hallway. Andi paused only long enough to glance down at her notes, then followed him, mentally reviewing the questions her boss had asked her over the past few days. Andi wasn’t nervous. Well, not much. She flipped through her notes,hoping that she looked cool and confident so that she would be taken seriously.
They arrived in the executive conference room. The other attendees were selecting donuts or pastries, getting coffee and chatting quietly. Andi looked around, noting that the attendees all knew each other and were…not friendly, exactly…but courteous. After they’d selected a breakfast treat and coffee, each moved to sit at the table. Andi noticed that there was a surge towards the head of the table, almost as if each wanted to be closer to the head of the table. Andi knew this was psychological posturing, and she wanted nothing to do with it.
She looked over the breakfast offerings, then turned away, carefully watching the others. She had to hide a smile as they maneuvered for the best seat at the table. Andi headed for a seat near the wall, assuming that she wouldn’t need to be at the table. But Harold made an odd grunting sound while he balanced a cheese Danish on top of his coffee mug, then gestured for her to sit next to him.
Moments later, the air inside the large conference room suddenly started to tingle. The comments from the others sank from muttering to whispers, and then absolute silence.
Confused, Andi settled into the leather chair and set her notes down. When the hush broke through her concentration, Andi looked up, wondering about the sudden shift in the air. As a financial analyst to the company’s financial director, she only did the research. She’d never been invited to one of these high-level meetings.
A moment later, Andi was glad she’d already sat down when the most terrifying man she’d ever seen stepped into the conference room and sat down at the head of the table.
Not only was he terrifying, he was possibly the most shockingly handsome man she’d ever seen! The hard cheekbones and thin nose gave him a mysterious air, and his intensely dark eyes and square jawline gave the tall, terrifying man a look that screamed “movie star”! The harsh, overhead lights made the man’s nearly black hair shimmer. For a moment, she just stared at the man, her thoughts a jumble of conflicting emotions.
Everyone around the table had barely settled when the man nodded a sharp greeting to the group, then started snapping questions at the Warehouse Director without bothering to introduce himself. He wasn’t rude, just incredibly direct, giving the impression that he didn’t have the patience for insipid responses. If the director couldn’t answer a question immediately, the man moved on, snapping that the director should get back to him with the information by the end of the day.
The rapid-fire interrogation shifted to the marketing director. A collective breath of relief swept through the room as she presented several fresh ideas—ones Andi found genuinely fascinating. The suggestions were sharp, even brilliant, and the man at the head of the table gave an approving nod. But Andi's excitement dimmed. She recognized those ideas. Carys, her best friend in the marketing department, had talked about them just weeks ago. Had this woman stolen her friend’s work?
Andi shelved that thought for later as the man moved on to the production director. The director quickly answeredthe questions about the supply issues that some of the factories had been dealing with and offered several ideas on how to address the problem as well as how long it would take to get the fix implemented. Another nod of approval, but the man’s lips thinned. Andi suspected that he didn’t like that there were unsolved supply issues.
Next up was the Human Resources director. There were several personnel problems that the director briefly explained, then answered several more questions regarding other personnel issues. After several minutes, the man at the head of the table nodded and the HR director leaned back in his chair, subtly releasing a breath of relief.
The terrifying man went through the legal team, maintenance manager, security division and new products manager before he turned to Harold for the financial questions.
“Explain why there is a fifteen percent variance in the gross contribution amount, Harold.”
Instead of answering immediately as the other directors had, Harold paused to clear his throat, which obviously irritated the stranger. Harold lifted a finger, silently asking for a moment to find the answer amid his notes. “I’m sorry, Mr. Al-Sintra. Marty usually handles these meetings, but he was in a car accident this morning.”
