The Proviso

31: Crazy Faith

"Miss Logan," Sebastian said briskly as he strode into her office early Monday morning. Eilis turned from the window where she'd watched him walk into the building, tall, beautiful, powerful. There was no hint of the man who'd purred in her ear or the man who'd awkwardly requested a kiss. Just ... cold King Midas.

"Mr. Taight," she said calmly as he plopped a backpack on the table that sat in the middle of the massive office, then pulled out a pad of green engineer's paper and a fountain pen. He sat at the conference table and began to write on his tablet. Curious, she wandered over to him and saw that he was creating mathematical formulas and plugging in values, working them in ink and without benefit of a calculator.

"Do you always do that by hand?" she asked.

"Yes," he grunted. "Helps me think." He continued to scratch out numbers in a bold hand that was very ... him. He spoke again as he whipped over his formulas. "I need you to bring me your employee list sorted as to pay scale and management level. Please."

"Why?"

Sebastian stopped writing immediately and looked up at her from under his brows. "Why?" he growled. He was tense. Angry. Eilis wanted to look away from him, but she didn't dare.

"Miss Logan," he said as he threw his pen down and leaned back. "Last week, you were angry that Knox put you in receivership before you had a chance to get to your feet on your own. This week, you're asking me why I want your employee list. Either you're pulling one massive scam to hide your incompetence or you're stalling for time or you're firing the first shot. Which is it?"

"None of the above," she returned mildly. "'Why?' is almost always my first question when someone asks me for something. Very often, I get good ideas from the answers. In this case, it was simple habit. No more, no less."

He blinked, then looked away. He was confused. Good.

"Tell me something," he began again, his voice low but still thrumming with anger. "You're a brilliant woman, I'm assuming well educated and street smart. You have a good reputation for making all the right moves, David Webster aside. In fact, I hear that early in your career, you were quite the ruthless bitch." She almost rolled her eyes. "Tell me, if you can, what needs to happen here."

"If I'm right, will you let me tend my own business?"

His nostrils flared and his jaw ground. "Petty," he spat.

"No," she again corrected calmly. "You aren't interested in HRP and you don't want to be here. I don't want you here. If, as I believe, my plan matches yours, you need not be here. Win-win."

Stymied again. No matter how much Eilis wanted to be worthy of the title ruthless bitch again, her Inner Bitch would not be an effective weapon against King Midas. That was what he wanted. It was what he understood. He didn't know how to fight Miss Logan because he didn't understand Miss Logan.

"Okay," he drawled. "I'll bite."

She held her fist up and counted off three fingers. "One: Clean house. Two: Sell the art. Three: Mass market the personality screening tests instead of keeping it a proprietary tool for our clients. Create a small business version of the HRP Full Management System software and distribute it widely."

His eyes widened just a little bit and she thought she saw approval there. Then he slowly began to clap as he unfolded his lithe body and stood. Eilis was barely able to remain still when he slammed his hands on the table and got in her face.

"So why the hell didn't you do that before you got this far in the hole?" he barked.

She was startled, but she kept that hidden with ease. "I have my reasons," she said evenly, thoroughly bewildered by his anger. No one had ever told her anything about Sebastian Taight ever getting angry about anything. Ruthless, cold, heartless, yes. Passionately angry, no. Then again, nobody had told her he was drop-dead gorgeous, either.