Page 32 of The Billionaire's Temptation

Martha nearly dropped the plate she was carrying towards the spot that Clarissa had adopted as her ‘Meal Place’. “Nothing!” she lied.

“Obviously, the jerk saidsomethingto hurt your feelings,” Clarissa replied. She reached out and touched Martha’s hand. “Please, tell me what he said.”

Martha smiled, squeezed Clarissa’s hand briefly, then turned away. “He just said that he was going to be living here very soon, and I would be fired without a reference.”

Clarissa laughed, causing Martha to turn around. “Sorry,” she replied. “I don’t mean to belittle your concerns. But Chad is an idiot. And as long as I have anything to say about it, you will have employment with me.”

Instantly, Martha’s worry cleared from her face. “Thank you!” she whispered.

Chapter 10

Clarissa stepped off the elevator, too stunned by the elegance to react anymore. She walked over to the receptionist who smiled politely. “May I help you?” the pretty woman asked.

Clarissa’s fingers tightened around the clutch purse she’d “borrowed” from her closet. “Yes,” she replied, trying to appear more confident than she felt. “I’m Clarissa Donata,” she started off. “I’m here to meet with–”

Before Clarissa could finish, the receptionist was already nodding her head and typing on the computer. “Good morning Ms. Donata,” she replied professionally. “Mr. Montrose asked me to let him know as soon as you arrived.”

Clarissa was startled by the quick service and stepped back slightly. She tucked her clutch purse between her arm and her body and looked around, wishing that Levi was with her. As soon as that thought registered, she banished it. She couldn’t rely on Levi. This morning had proven that to her. After one of the most explosive, amazing nights of her life, he’d rushed out of the house like his tail was on fire.

Today’s meeting with the accountants was her next challenge. She would be fine alone. Accounting was just a bunch of numbers, right? Clarissa had been good at math in school, so this should be an easy morning.

On the drive over, she’d done some hard thinking. She knew that she didn’t want to keep working at the factory. She’d hated the job and it was a miserable group of co-workers and management anyway. What shereallywanted to do was make the world a better place. She still wasn’t sure how much money she’d inherited from her father, but hopefully, this meeting would give her a better idea. Two things were a priority. She wanted to fix up the old apartments and ensure that Martha and Joseph always had a job.

“Good morning, Ms. Donata,” a male voice called out, distracting her from her plans.

Clarissa turned to watch a distinguished looking man in his late fifties walking towards her with his hand extended.

“I’m Ian Montrose,” he explained, covering their clasped hands with his other. “I’m a partner here at the firm and I’m delighted to be in charge of your account.”

Clarissa smiled, not sure how to respond. If she’d been back at the warehouse, she would have smacked the guy on the shoulder, given him instructions on the day’s tasks, and gone off to do her own tasks. Instead, she stood in the lobby, feeling awkward and slightly ridiculous.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Montrose,” she replied, then waited.

“I have your team assembled in the main conference room. If you’d like to come with me, I can introduce you to everyone and we can get started.”

Clarissa was startled by the use of the word “team”. She had a “team” of accountants? Was that really necessary? She had no idea what the hourly rate for an accountant might be, but she was pretty sure that it was a whole lot more than what she’d earned working at the factory!

Ian Montrose led her down the long hallway to a conference room that had glass walls and heavy, glass doors. He pulled the door open and waited as she walked through, a patronizing smile on his features. The man was attractive, in a bland sort of way. She immediately compared him to Levi and, other than the fact that they were both male, there was no other comparison. Ian Montrose was only a couple of inches taller than she was, but with her heels, they were about equal in height. Plus, Ian was…well, bland. He had dark hair with silver touches at his temples, a clean shaven jaw that was a tad pudgy, and he wore a three piece suit. She suspected that he added the vest to hide the slightly protruding stomach, but it wasn’t working.

However, as she stepped into the conference room, Clarissa found every chair around the table was filled. There were even several more staff members sitting in extra chairs along the wall. There were perhaps forty members of the accounting firm here.

All of them were her accounting “team”? Good grief!

“I won’t bother to introduce you to everyone, or explain their role on your team,” Ian explained, putting a comforting hand to her shoulder. “All of the accountants here specialize in various areas of accounting and we worked hard to provide excellent service to your father.” He tilted his head slightly, a spark of what Clarissa suspected was the man’s efforts to be humorous, then added, “We hope to continue providing you with excellent accounting advice in the future.”

She looked around at everyone, trying to keep her features blank. Clarissa didn’t want any of these intimidating, and most likely, well-educated people to learn that she used to work in a factory and was working toward her business degree through night and weekend classes at the local community college.

“It’s a pleasure to meet all of you,” she announced, feeling lame and superfluous.

“Why don’t you sit here, next to me?” Ian offered, leading her towards the far end of the conference room. “We’ve put together a presentation that will help you better understand all of the assets that you’ve inherited.”

She sat down, tucking her purse onto her lap. In front of her was a thick binder filled with information. Clarissa swallowed, sending up a silent prayer that she would be able to understand even a small amount of the information that this group was going to explain to her.

For the next two hours, she listened as four members of the meeting explained the various factories located in Thailand, Brazil, and Poland. Clarissa also owned office buildings and residential apartment complexes in about twenty different countries. She was a part owner in several farming industries, and then the “team” started explaining the stock portfolios. Clarissa didn’t have any questions, but she absorbed all that she could. Still, she wondered why there were forty people sitting in the conference room when only four were talking.

She glanced around at the others, and that’s when one woman in particular caught her attention. It was just a brief glance, but Clarissa had to smother a smile when she saw the pretty woman roll her eyes. Clarissa couldn’t say what the other accountant disagreed with, because she’d stopped listening to the man sitting across from her. In fact, she’d stopped listening after the first hour. It was just too much to take in all at once. Bottom line, her father was disgustingly wealthy!

She supposed that meant that she was wealthy as well, but people had been telling her that for several days now and it hadn’t truly sunk in yet.

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