Page 4 of Married to My Master

“Be hard as diamonds, dear,” Geraldine would tell her, “But never forget to sparkle like them, too.”

Accordingly to Geraldine, a woman had to be everything to have it all. Not only did you have to be twice as tough as the competition, you had to hold up every ideal society shoved on a woman. To the point where people pointed at you as the ideal.

Of course, her mother had exemplified her own advice, especially when it came to raising her daughter. There was no affection in their home, no love, or care. Just cool distance. Cool as the diamonds she aspired to.

Now, as Emily closed her corner office door behind her and rested her head back against it, she took a deep, centering breath. She had to be strong, because she was just as alone at the top as Geraldine had been. No man beside her, no friends, no family left, and no women to hold her up.

When she'd looked around the meeting today, she'd realized, not for the first time, that she was one of the only women in the room. Statistically speaking, it should have been a fifty-fifty split. Of course, life didn't always match up with statistics. Unless you were in the lab.

Emily went over to her big mahogany desk and dropped the files and paperwork on it. She settled down in front of her computer and tried to get the last of her emails read and answered before she left before the day.

Still, though, her thoughts returned to Dane Bishop, and his brother, Benton. Her heart went out to them both. One brother in prison, desperate to pin the blame on someone—anyone. The other brother grasping at straws, desperate to get him out.

Quickly, though, she squashed that sentiment. Her mother hadn't had empathy, something that many people would point to as weakness. Emily, on the other hand, saw the value in it. But the less you felt, the fewer chinks in your armor for an enemy to exploit.

Yes, it was lonely at the top.

But, still, Emily West meant to stay there, one way or another. And if that meant closing herself off from emotion and feelings when dealing with other people, so be it. She could live without a heart. Her mother had, hadn't she?

# # #

Dane

He realized a long time ago that the easiest way to get where you were going was to just look like you belonged there already. With that in mind, he'd shaven, brushed his teeth, and pulled on his best suit—the same suit he'd worn to Marianne's funeral, and to all of Benton's court dates.

He strode through the front area of the building, hit the elevator, and rode it all the way to the top floor. Because where else would the CEO be, but at the top of the steel and glass spire? It was only natural that someone vaulted to the figurative top of a corporation would also sit at the literal one.

“Excuse me,” he said to the first office drone he saw as he stepped off the elevator, “I'm looking for Emily Winter's office. I have a one o'clock meeting with her.”

“Really?” the young woman asked, cocking her head to the side. “At one o'clock?”

“Yes,” he said, nodding emphatically. “One o'clock.”

“Well, I'm her assistant, Jasmine. Jasmine Robertson. I don't recall making an appointment for today. Are you sure? Did we speak on the phone already?”

“Well,” Dane said, smiling the broadest and most genuine smile he could muster with a pistol tucked against his shoulder, “I remember making the appointment. Do you not?”

Emily's assistant laughed, the sound a little uneasy and confused. “Well, maybe I didn't remember exactly. There's just been so much going on with this conference coming up and my own vacation time. Come on over to her office, and let's see if we can't figure out what the problem is.”

Dane raised his eyes to the heavens and silently thanked whatever was out there as he fell in line behind Jasmine and headed down the office corridor. A minute later she was circling around her desk and taking a seat as she pulled out her day planner.

“What was the name on the appointment, again?” she asked, as she flipped through the book.

“Dane. Dane Bishop.”

She twisted her lips to the side and bit them, concerned and confused that the appointment wasn't in the book. “Well,” she said, flipping back and forth between the pages, apparently trying to see if she'd written the time in on the wrong date, “I'm not finding you at all in here, Mr. Bishop.”

“Dane, please,” he said, smiling again. “You said she had a conference to leave for?”

She nodded. “Yep, she has a flight to catch in just a few hours, and will be out of pocket for most of next week. Would you like to reschedule your appointment?”

“Would it be possible for me to just pop in?” Dane asked, trying that smile of his again. It had worked to get him this far, hadn't it? “Our matter should just take a few minutes to discuss.”

Jasmine looked up at him from the daily planner, and the look in her eyes was uncertain. “Well, let me see if she's available, since you came all the way up here. Worse she can do is say no, right?”

Dane laughed. “Right.”

Emily Winter's assistant grabbed the phone and dialed her extension. “Ms. West? I have a gentlemen named Dane Bishop here to see to you. He says he had an appoint-” She paused like Emily had cut her off mid-word. “Oh? Yes, ma'am. Should I just send him in, then?” She placed the phone back in its cradle and shrugged. “She said to go right in.”

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