Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 86364 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86364 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
Stepping past Parker, I picked up the chair and grabbed the bag. “Do you have any other things for her?”
“N-no.” Parker stammered.
“Come with me.” I marched out of his office, leading him through our department to my office, stopping only for a second at Mrs. Eleanor Turner’s desk. I’d lucked into finding her as an assistant a few weeks ago, and she was proving to be an excellent fit. She didn’t appear to be put off by my brusque manner. In fact, she was an older woman who’d handled many executives in the past and had adopted the same no-nonsense manner. I hoped that she had children and could understand what I needed.
“Mr. Cain?” She rose to her feet and stared at Parker in shock for a heartbeat before snapping her wide gaze to me. “Mr. Foster!”
“I need your assistance, Mrs. Turner. Could you come into my office?” I gave Parker a nudge to his shoulder, getting him moving. Our little train of flustered and confused people ended in my office. At least the baby had stopped crying, possibly distracted by the walk through the building.
I placed the chair and bag on the floor in the center of the room and turned my attention to my assistant. “Mrs. Turner, I have a request that is outside your usual job description. I hope you can help me.”
The older woman with the short steel-gray hair and sharp brown eyes dragged her attention from the baby to me. “I would be happy to, sir.”
“Do…you have children?”
“Two grown sons and five grandchildren,” she answered readily.
Good. This was going to be easy.
“Mr. Cain will have…” I lost my momentum almost immediately, as I wasn’t sure how to refer to the child.
“My daughter. Joy. This is Joy.”
It was a handy thing that my stiff and gruff assistant melted for the child in that instant because all words left my brain for a moment. He had a daughter. Parker was young, and he always struck me as a very careful, gay man. But he had a child. How?
“Oh, and she is precious. How old is she?” Eleanor cooed.
“Six months.”
“She’s a little thing for six months. My boys were enormous by comparison.”
I cleared my throat, and Parker and Eleanor snapped to attention. Even Joy turned wide blue eyes to me. “Mr. Cain will work in my office for the rest of the day. I’ll take over his office. Right now, he has only a small chair for her to occupy for the duration of the day. Can you find something…more comfortable for her? They make something like that, right? And toys to keep her entertained.”
“Declan! You don’t need to do that,” Parker blurted out, seeming to forget about his efforts to be proper. Hearing my name explode off his tongue made the world settle into its right place again.
“Yes, I think I have an idea in mind,” Eleanor interjected, not allowing Parker to stop me.
“Could you also take Mr. Cain’s jacket to my dry cleaner? Put it under my name. I will pick it up when I get my suits.”
“What?” Parker squawked.
I motioned to him with one hand. “Allow Mrs. Turner to hold the baby while you take off the jacket. What you’ve done to clean the stain isn’t sufficient. If you don’t have it taken care of by a cleaner, the stain will permanently set.”
Parker glared at me, but he still handed Joy over to a thrilled Mrs. Turner, who cuddled the child close while Parker slipped out of his suit jacket. They swapped, and I escorted my assistant to the door. As I stepped into the hallway, I pulled out my wallet and handed her one of my credit cards.
“Put all the baby needs on this. Soft things. And toys, but not too noisy to distract Mr. Cain. Also, there’s an elephant on that bag. Maybe she likes elephants? And a blanket or two. Do you think the air conditioning is making it too cold in here for her?”
“I don’t think so, sir, but I will get a nice soft blanket just in case.” She paused, looking like there was something else she wanted to ask.
“Yes?”
She leaned slightly closer to me and lowered her voice to a whisper. “It’s my understanding that Mr. Cain was out last week because of a…death in the family. Do you think this is related?”
“I intend to find out. Either way, Mr. Cain and his daughter will be cared for properly, I promise that.”
Mrs. Turner straightened, and she seemed to have a subtle smile on her thin lips. “Very good, sir. I’ll get this taken care of immediately.”
“Get her the best, Mrs. Turner. The very best you can find. And when you return, call Kaylan and ask to borrow Mr. Courtland’s bodyguard to help you carry everything up.”
“Yes, sir!” Her steps were brisk as she snatched up her purse from her desk drawer and hurried out of the office.