Chapter 25

25

Knox

"The fuck do you mean? Where's July?'

"July?" She frowns.

"June Donnelly, my assistant, where is she?"

"I believe she quit." The woman wrings her hands.

I reel back as if struck by a missile. "Quit?" My voice sounds hoarse to my ears. "What do you mean, quit?"

"I… I…"

"She sent in her resignation." A new voice interrupts.

I turn to find Mary looking at me with a sympathetic expression on her face. Awesome! Now the assistants in this office feel sorry for me. I shove that thought aside and train my gaze on Mary. "What do you mean?"

Mary sighs. "I have your coffee." She holds a cup in her hand.

I scowl at it. "That's not my coffee cup."

"Excuse me?" She blinks.

"June knows which cup to get my coffee in." I sound churlish, but what-fucking- ever.

She half smiles, then wipes it off her features. "I understand, but June's not here."

"Why the hell not?" I glare at her, but Mary doesn't seem to notice.

She sails past me and pushes open the door to my office. "Come on, I'll fill you in."

"I don't want to be filled in. I want June back at her desk."

She waits patiently, holding the door open. The seconds stretch. When she doesn't give any indication of budging an inch, I blow out a breath. Besides, I need to find out why June isn't in today. And if she's been in touch with Mary, I need to find out what she said. I stomp past her and into my office. Mary closes the door and follows me.

Halfway to my desk, I turn around and glower at her. "Well? Why isn't she here?" I haven't seen her all morning, and I already miss her so much.

Mary holds out the cup that's not my cup. "Have your coffee first."

"I don't want?—"

She arches an eyebrow, and because I respect her, and because she's been damn good at calming down the tempers of the Davenport men on this floor, and she's been there for us more than our own mother was, I accept it.

I take the cup from her and take a sip. The coffee is how I like it, yet it tastes different. Is it because it wasn't prepared by her? Nah, must be my imagination. I take another sip, then walk over to my desk and place the cup down on it.

"Why isn't she here?" I ask again. "She should be at her desk right now." How can I feel her absence so much in such little time?

"She's not coming in, Knox." Mary's forehead furrows. "As I told you, she gave in her notice this morning."

I heard her. I pretend not to understand the meaning of her words. "What does that mean?"

"In plain English, she dumped you, and your job."

Is there a note of satisfaction running through her words? I scowl at Mary, but her features don't betray her emotions.

"She can't do that"—I fold my arms across my chest—"she's not allowed to leave." I know I sound petulant, but I don't care.

"You can scarcely be surprised that she did. "

"What do you mean?" I know what she's hinting at, but I pretend I don't.

Mary scoffs, "I mean, after the way you made that poor girl dance to your needs?—"

Something which she loved to do; and how I loved it, too.

"—and took advantage of her goodwill. After you acted like a prized idiot, you can scarcely blame her for deciding the job wasn't worth it."

"No one can pay her as much as I do," I growl.

"Sometimes, it's not about the money," she murmurs.

"It's always about the money."

Mary continues to stare at me. Frustration filters into her eyes. "Think about it, Knox. You're not as unaware as you're pretending to be. She's the first assistant who's lasted this long with you. But instead of making her feel valued and appreciating her, you treated her like she was dispensable."

My heart begins to pump harder. Her words hit home. I spent most of the night regretting my decisions, and after her morning wake up call, I was both amused and even more turned on at the fact that she could go toe-to-toe with me like that. It made me want her even more. I've been looking forward to seeing her in the office, and when I discovered she's not here, my entire world came crashing down.

"After how you took advantage of her good nature, did you really expect her to stay on?"

A dull pain stabs at my temples. "My announcing my forthcoming nuptials had nothing to do with my professional life."

When Mary arches an eyebrow, I realize, I've revealed my feelings for her by bringing up my upcoming engagement. It's too late to take back my words, so I fall silent. Mary, on the other hand, has no such compunctions.

"She had everything to do with your professional, and your personal life," she says firmly.

"She had nothing to do with my personal life." I set my jaw. "And I intend to keep it that way, which is why I announced my forthcoming marriage."

Mary's expression turns disbelieving. "A marriage you don't believe in."

Busted. Fuck. Am I that transparent? I clear my throat and pretend a calmness I don't feel. "What do you mean? "

"Why are you getting so upset that your assistant quit, hmm? She's not the first to do so."

But she'll be the last, for I can't bear to have anyone else in her place. I don't say that aloud, but Mary must glean some of my thoughts, for a canny look comes into her eyes, and I brace myself. Mary's never backed down from putting us Davenports in our place.

"Why aren't you focused on the woman you say you're going to marry?" She tilts her head. "Why are you, instead, fretting about the fact that a member of your workforce has submitted her resignation?"

"Clearly, she hasn't read the fine print," I growl.

She levels a skeptical look in my direction. "Oh?"

I nod. "If she had, she'd know that she isn't allowed to quit for her first six months on the job."

Mary seems taken aback. "You had that put in her agreement?"

"She's the best assistant I've ever had. Of course, I was going to ensure she couldn't quit that easily and leave me in the lurch. In fact, I depend on her for my wake-up calls, how am I supposed to function without them?

"You had her giving you wake-up calls?!" Mary's lips twitch, then she straightens them out.

"I prefer being woken up by a human voice." And yes, hearing her call me Sir first thing in the morning ensures my day is off to a good start, but I'll never tell that to anyone else. Though based on the gleam in Mary's eyes, she seems to have drawn her own conclusions.

"It's not what you think it is," I snap.

"You have no idea what I'm thinking." She allows herself a small smile.

When she doesn't say anything else, I widen my stance. "You may as well as say what's on your mind."

"You won't like it," she warns.

"When has that stopped you?"

She chuckles. "That's true," she says slowly, then walks over to one of the glass walls of my office and looks out. For a few seconds, there's silence, then she turns to me. "I've always been grateful to Arthur for hiring me, and to Quentin for keeping me on."

I begin to speak, but she holds up her hand. "Let me finish."

Only Mary could order me, or any one of the other Davenport men, and not lose her job .

"I know the rest of you think Arthur is greedy and only focused on power." She sees the disbelief on my face and nods. "And I concede he is, but there's something you may not know about him. There was no reason for him to give me a job, especially when I didn't have the qualifications for the role, and I was a single mother. I was the only one who wasn't cowed by his attitude. I never hesitated to speak my mind and tell him the truth, which is probably why he gave me the role. When he retired, Quentin kept me on as his assistant. Quentin has since started his own security firm. But as you know, at Arthur's request he continues as a board member of the Davenport Group. So, he comes into the office maybe once a week."

Her features soften further.

"He doesn't need a full-time assistant. But he didn't let go of me. He kept me on and added the role of Office Administrator to my job description, so I'd use my time productively. There was no reason for him to have done that."

"Maybe it's because you're a damned good assistant?" I point out.

"Which I am. But there was nothing stopping them from making me redundant, which they didn't."

I tilt my head. I acknowledge what she's saying, but what does that have to do with the resignation of my assistant?

She reads the impatience on my features and nods. "My point is, you Davenport men each have a heart of gold, but you'll go to great lengths to keep it hidden from your employees, and definitely, from the ones you love."

"Love?" I cough. "What's my assistant's resignation got to do with love?"

"You have feelings for her," Mary points out.

"I don't."

She merely stares at me.

"What is it?"

"Do I have to spell everything out for you, Knox Davenport?"

Why do I feel like I'm five and am being reprimanded for something I've done? Only Mary could make me feel like a truant child, for God knows, my own mother never did care enough to scold me when I acted out.

When I stay silent, her features soften. "You're a good man, Knox. You just need to not hide that from yourself… Or from her. "

I scoff.

"You know what you have to do, don't you?"

She holds my gaze until I look away. Then squeeze the bridge of my nose. "I suppose, I don't have much choice but to call off this sham of an engagement with Priscilla?"

As I say it aloud, I know I'm right. I knew I couldn't go through with this marriage when Arthur first raised it with me. It took me losing July to realize how much I cannot see her with anyone else. Ergo, I need to find a way to keep her close to me.

Mary nods. "After which, will you have the balls to apologize to June and ask her to come back?"