Page 22 of Some Like It Scandalous
“Of course, Miss Anna. Have you reached a decision?” Peterson didn’t miss a beat, the man accepted the invitation and took them right back to business. It was why Armand put him in charge of his U.S. security forces. He was damn good at his job after nearly two decades in law enforcement and a stint with the FBI.
“Yes. The fourteenth floor would be lovely—if it will be less trouble for all of you.” She smiled and it lit her whole face up. Armand squashed the first lick of jealousy that his security chief earned that expression before he did.
“Absolutely. We’ll take care of it. It will only take a couple of days. We’ll start with background checks on the staff so we can get them in immediately?—”
“Would you mind if we went down to see the space?” Anna didn’t look at him, but when Peterson did, her jaw tightened.
Nodding his assent, Armand followed all of them into the hall and to the elevator.
Peterson touched a finger to his ear. “Lock down the fourteenth.”
Anna folded her arms but made no attempt to remove his jacket. Sliding his hands into his pockets, Armand watched her silent, stiff frame for the duration of the elevator ride. The doors opened to the freshly refurbished floor. He had to touch her arm to keep her from exiting before Johnson and Peterson. Her lipsthinned and he dropped the contact with a sweeping motion to allow her to precede him.
Carefully decorated in creams and earth tones, the floor resembled the one he maintained an office on. The space was vast and open. “It’s huge,” Anna murmured, turning in a slow circle as though to absorb it all.
“Yes, ma’am.” Peterson paced her with Johnson remaining at the elevator. “We can have temporary walls erected and modified to your specifications. It won’t take more than a day or so.”
“I have meetings this afternoon and tomorrow morning.”
Armand kept his own counsel until she spoke. “You can cancel those.”
“Actually—” she pivoted and faced him, “—I can’t. One is with Derrick Milton, he’s one of the prime candidates for the scholarship and flagged as a high risk to stay in school. He needs the meeting as much as I do.”
“What kind of a risk?” Peterson inserted his question before Armand could ask the same.
Anna scowled. “Not a physical threat. Academic risk. He’s in his fourth foster home of the year, he’s been acting out and he turns eighteen in three weeks. We classify that as a high risk to even stay in school. At eighteen, he’ll be legally free to walk away from his foster home, drop school and vanish and no one can do anything about it. He’s got great grades, though, and loads of potential. I willnotrisk him further by canceling a meeting I had to tie myself into a knot to get him to agree to in the first place.”
Flush with color, she lit up from the inside out with her passion and temper kindled in her eyes. “Give Peterson the address and details.”
She blinked rapidly. “Really?”
Did his agreement surprise her so much? Burying the fresh slice her lack of faith cut in him, he nodded. “Of course. You have your life and it’s for the foundation.”
Anna pulled out her phone and forwarded an email with the details to Peterson. His security chief glanced down at his phone. “If you’ll excuse me, Your Highness, Miss Novak. I’ll make arrangements. Johnson will remain.”
“I’ll need to pick up someone from my office, though. To take notes?—”
“We have a woman on staff we can loan you for the time being—Kate Braddock. Her checks are already completed so she can fill in the gaps.” Peterson named one of her female security guards, a detail he’d discussed with Armand the night before. Anna might resist close-quarters monitoring, but they could put someone on her immediate staff and Miss Braddock’s credentials were impeccable.
“Oh, this is very sensitive work—” Anna hedged, her teeth pulling at her lower lip.
“Why don’t you meet Miss Braddock?” Armand tired of her looking to Peterson. He wanted her attention on him. She didn’t respond well to orders, but perhaps he could coax her. “It couldn’t hurt to meet her, yes? And if she’s suitable, it will help to keep your schedule from being disrupted any more than necessary.”
She wavered, pressing a hand to her mouth and glancing around the empty space again. Dwarfed by his jacket, she looked indescribably vulnerable. “You’re right.” Two words he never thought he’d hear her say. “It can’t hurt to meet her. Is it possible to do it now?”
“Of course.” Peterson paced away from them and pressed a button on his earpiece, his voice fading as he walked toward the elevator. “Please send Miss Braddock to the fourteenth floor…”
Alone, Armand prowled after Anna as she began to walk through the space to the window. “Thank you.”
“Shouldn’t that be my line?” The snap in her response didn’t diminish the fact that she spoke to him again.
“You’re accepting a lot of very abrupt changes with grace.” Would she allow him to pay her compliment or not? “I appreciate it.”
“Well, it’s not about me, is it?” She put two fingers on the glass and looked down at the street. “It’s about the people the scholarship can help.”
He disagreed but kept it to himself. “Why is it so important to you?”
Impatience creased her expression and she gave him a reproachful look. “I’m a scholarship kid, Cha—Your Highness.”
