CHAPTER FIVE: CHLOE

He… what?

He wanted me to go with Theodore? To the Lake District?

Of course. How silly of me to think this was my opportunity to finally resign.

I should have realised by now that it wouldn’t be that easy.

“You want me to… what?” I asked after a moment of blinking incoherently at the duke. “Go to the Lake District?”

“It’ll only be for six weeks,” Alastair said quickly, sitting forwards. “You won’t have any living expenses except for extras you occur, and your working hours will be the same as usual. We’ll also cover the living costs on your apartment here during that time, and you’ll get a bonus when you return.”

“Why me?”

“We considered hiring someone else,” Theodore said after a moment. “But after we conducted some local interviews for an executive assistant, it became abundantly clear that nobody else is anywhere near as competent as you.”

I looked at him. “I highly doubt that.”

“He rejected them all,” the duke said, almost grumbling. “I was against this from the start—it’s too long for a business trip for a young woman, but you really are the best option. That and this swine wouldn’t accept any of the interviewees, so I have no other choice than to agree.”

I really wasn’t surprised at that.

After all, wasn’t that the whole reason he was refusing my resignation?

“I don’t know,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck. “Although if it’s part of my job, it’s part of my job, so I’ll have to figure something out.”

“I have something to sweeten the deal for you.”

“If you keep adding extras, people are going to think I’m getting preferential treatment, Your Grace.”

“I hardly care about that.” He chuckled. “If you do this, I personally guarantee that your resignation will be processed the day you return.”

I stilled. “I’m listening.”

“What?” Theodore gripped the arms of his chair. “You can’t do that!”

“Can’t I?” the duke asked. “This is still my company. I’ll just transfer her to the President’s office and order your father to accept it. Problem solved.”

“That’s an abuse of your authority, Gramps.” Theodore pinched the bridge of his nose. “I would have accepted one of those subpar assistants if I knew this was going to happen.”

“You should have been gracious enough to accept her resignation instead of pretending you didn’t know.” The duke’s tone held a hint of coldness. “The only reason I’ve agreed to do this instead of stepping in to handle your childishness right now is because I know that having her by your side while you take the reins on this project is the best thing for the company and you. I know better than anyone how talented Chloe is. Doing this would mean there’s two and a half months for you to find and train a new assistant, and I’m sure even you can find someone satisfactory during that time, Theodore.”

Two and a half months?

Oh, right. Six weeks for the trip and one month to serve the notice.

“Have you considered that this project is why I haven’t accepted it? If I had, she’d already be serving her notice.” Theo clenched his jaw.

“Nonsense. If that were the case, you should have communicated it.” The duke sniffed.

I held up a hand. “What’s the catch?”

They all looked at me. “The catch?” Alastair asked. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I’ve been trying to give him my resignation letter daily for almost a month.” I pointed at Theodore. “Now you’re telling me that you’re sending me to one of the prettiest parts of the country to do my job, my rent will be subsidised, my working hours will be the same, I’ll get a bonus, and you’ll force through a transfer that means my resignation will finally be accepted?” I raised my eyebrows. “Surely, you all know I’m smarter than to accept that without one: signing a written contract and two: finding out what the catch is.”

The duke scratched under his ear. “No catch.”

“Your Grace, I worked under you for five years. You scratch under your ear when you’re lying.” I narrowed my eyes at him.

“We’ll be living together,” Theodore said flatly.

“We what?” I squeaked, jerking around to look at him.

He turned his head and stared out of the window. “That’s why you have no living expenses. We’ll be living in the same house on land we already own nearby to the lake.”

“Hey! I thought you said no extra working hours!” I glared at Alastair. “He contacts me enough on my downtime as it is, now you’re telling me I have to live with him? What kind of sneak overtime is that?”

He held up his hands. “Strict rules will be put in place that from seven-to-seven he won’t be able to ask you to assist with work unless there’s an emergency or you have forty-eight hours’ notice. And yes, there will be a written contract to sign to make sure this is adhered to.”

“And the part about my resignation being accepted will be written into it?”

“Yes. If you return and still wish to resign, it will be accepted, no questions asked. If he refuses to sign off on it, we will go through with transferring to you my office so I can do it for you.”

I glanced at Theodore. He was still glaring out of the window with his jaw clenched. Why was he so bothered about me leaving? He’d been a brat for the last month, and he was being a brat right now.

I was only a secretary.

I was hardly the only person in this entire world who could do this job for him.

That said, I did want him to succeed, and I despised how the stuffy directors looked down on him merely because of his age. He was more competent than that useless bunch all put together.

If I did this, it would mean helping him set up something that would prove them all wrong, while also resulting in me getting what I want.

Was it really a dreadful thing to say yes?

“If you’re concerned about living together,” the duke said. “Don’t be. This isn’t one of those ‘only one bed’ situations my wife likes to read about in her romance novels.”

“Grandfather,” Theodore said tightly.

“It’s a four-bedroom house we rent out to tourists. It’s on its own plot of land next to the Ruxleigh estate. You’d be staying at the main house if we weren’t doing some necessary renovations before the summer,” he continued. “There’s more than enough room for you to both live peacefully. Given the rural area, it also makes more sense for you stay in the same place. You won’t have an office right away like you do here.”

That made sense. If neither the letting office nor the real estate offices were currently open, we’d need a home base, and it didn’t make much sense to rent one when they had an ancestral seat to use for free.

“Well?” Alastair asked. “What do you think?”

I drew in a deep breath and looked down at my hands. I fidgeted with the edge of the plaster on my middle finger as I let the breath back out again.

This really felt like it was my best chance to get my resignation accepted.

“All right,” I said. “I’ll go.”

***

“Bahahahaha!” Heidi collapsed back onto the sofa, laughing. “You have to live with him? What kind of movie script are you living right now?”

I threw back the remaining wine in my glass and slammed the stemless glass back down on the table. “Don’t!”

“Are you sure this isn’t going to end up in some situation where there’s only one bed?” Harriet asked, unscrewing the bottle to refill both our glasses. “Like, they’re not trying to set you up, are they?”

“Are you trying to give me nightmares?” I slid my glass back over to me. “No, it’s a four-bedroom house on the Ruxleigh estate. I’ve already seen the holiday rental listing they use, so I know it’s legit.”

“You know what the real problem here is?” Heidi sat back up and held out her phone. “This face.”

On her screen was a close-up picture of Theodore Black’s very handsome face.

“How does any sane, single, sexually active woman live in a house with this face for six weeks and not want to sit on it?”

“Quite easily. At one point, that face starts talking and loses all its charm,” I replied. “And you lose all your sanity.”

“It’s also awfully bold of you to assume Chloe is sexually active,” Harriet added.

“Exactly.” I paused. “Wait. You bitch.”

She swung her gaze towards me. “Are you sexually active?”

“Not with anyone else,” I muttered. “Like I have the time! Can you even imagine me going on a date and having to answer the phone to that man halfway through?” I pointed at Heidi’s phone. “It’d give any man a complex dating a woman at that bastard’s beck and call!”

They both stilled for a second before slowly nodding.

“That’s very true.” Heidi put her phone down. “Your ex wasn’t happy when he found out The Bastard was going to be your new boss.”

“He was also an insecure prick, so I’m not sure we can use Matt as a measuring stick,” I pointed out. “Either way, it can’t be as bad as I’m imagining, right? Work hours are clearly defined, we have our own bathrooms, and the place is pretty big for a four-bedroom house.”

“What about meals?”

“Ooh, good point,” Harriet said. “You’ll have to figure out a system for using the kitchen, the washing machine… Stuff like that.”

“You’re essentially roommates,” Heidi continued. “So, you’ll have to work out chores, too.”

“And decide what to do on days off. Do you hang out? Avoid each other?” Harriet tapped her finger against the table. “And the most important—”

“The TV schedule.” Heidi pointed at her.

Harriet tipped her glass towards her. “I was going to say dating, but you’re right.”

“Are you done?” I asked, picking up my glass. “You know, sometimes I forget you’re twins until you do that weird telepathy thing and start finishing each other’s sentences.”

They looked at each other. “But we’re identical,” Heidi said.

“How can you forget we’re twins?” Harriet finished.

“Probably because I can tell you apart by your moles. Also, Heidi, your eyes are slightly bluer than Harriet who has a bit of brown right by her left pupil.” I glanced between them.

“Huh.”

“I never knew that.” Heidi leant right forwards and peered into her sister’s eyes. “Hey, you do have a little bit of a brown splotch there!”

“How did you not know that?”

“I never cared enough to look into your eyes, I suppose. I’m your sister, not your lover.”

“Whatever.” Harriet turned to me. “You really will have to think about all those things if you’re going to live together harmoniously, you know.”

“I suppose so,” I said, touching my glass to my lips. “Also, I have no intention of dating. I’m there to work, not mess around. It’s also a heck of a distance from London, and I’m not into the whole long-distance thing.”

“That’s fair, but what about him?” She tilted her head to the side. “What if he brings someone back? Or if he’s even seeing someone?”

“Oh, he’s single.”

“How do you know that?”

“I run his entire life,” I answered blithely. “If he was dating, I would know.”

Heidi nodded. “She’d be dealing with an irate girlfriend who’s always being dumped for work if he was seeing someone.”

“That, too,” I pointed out.

“Okay, he’s single,” Harri said. “But what if he brings someone back? Then what do you do?”

I paused, tilting my head to the side for a brief moment. “Maybe I should make no hook-ups part of the deal.”

She grinned. “Why? In case you get jealous?”

“No, because I’m the one who’ll be fielding the phone calls. We’ve already covered that.”

Heidi swung her legs up onto the sofa and tried to rest her feet on my lap until I prodded them. “How does it feel to know the end is in sight? Think about it, you’ve spent practically the last month trying to get him to accept your resignation, and now his grandfather has swept in and abused his authority to make it happen. I bet The Bastard was fucking furious.”

“I don’t think he knew it was part of the deal,” I said.

“What do you mean?” they said simultaneously.

“I don’t think he knew,” I repeated with a shrug. “He actually yelled at the duke when he said it, then he spent the rest of the afternoon in a foul mood. Like, nobody could talk to him, and he sent us home at six on the dot. The babies still had some work to do, but he didn’t even tell them off for not getting it done. It was weird.”

Harriet frowned. “Is he really that upset about the duke going over his head? Or about you leaving?”

“I don’t know. He did say he was rejecting the resignation because he knew this was coming and wanted me for the trip, which makes sense, but…” I sighed. “He was really bent out of shape, and he’s normally a human pretzel, so that’s really saying something.”

“Now, I might be a bit drunk, and this might be the wine talking,” Heidi said, waving her hand at me. “But are we absolutely sure The Bastard is only upset about losing you as his secretary and nothing else?”

I froze. “What nonsense are you blabbering about?”

“That would make sense.” Harriet raised her glass in her twin’s direction. “No normal person would be this against their secretary resigning unless they felt something a little bit unprofessional for them.”

“That’s what I’m saying!” Heidi said. “How do we know this isn’t a ploy to make Chloe fall in love with him while they’re living together?”

“Because there’s absolutely no way on Earth that man feels anything like that for me.” I shook my head. “You two are really something when you’ve had a few drinks.”

“Yeah, we have to be wrong.” Heidi shrugged. “With how hot he is, he could get any woman on the planet. Why would he settle for Chloe?”

I grabbed a cushion and whacked her over the head with it. “Get out.”