Consequences

Part 15

 "So?" Jared D'Olivera took his usual seat, perching on Doug's desk and focused on his friend, "What did she have to say?" He was intrigued by the whole situation.

Given Doug's reaction the other day, and the fact that he did not even know the woman, Jared and Caitlin had been discussing it most of the last evening. And were none the wiser.

"It wasn't her." Doug stated flatly. On the drive back he'd replayed the conversation, and was fairly convinced that she had been telling the truth. She had not placed the advertisement.

"Yeah right." Snorted Jared with clear disregard for Doug's view. "Ryan showed you the print out." He reminded. "She's reeled you in." And everyone knew that Ryan was a whiz when it came to electronic paper trails. So it was highly unlikely that he had made a mistake. "The question is why." Jared scowled, "Why would someone from her background try to trap you like this?" He mulled aloud.

"Apparently her grandmother placed the announcement in the paper." And that was just plain strange. Why would someone he's never met announce his engagement to her grand daughter?

"Her grandmother?" Jared looked astonished. "And you bought that?" Skeptical Jared jammed his hands in his pockets and turned to smirk at his friend. "She told you that and you believed her?" He shook his head at the first sign of his friend's gullibility.

"Hey, you weren't there. She was the most unflustered female I have ever met. She was so, so..." Doug threw his hands up, having run out of a suitable way to describe her, "So, calm, unfazed, I don't know. She just kept everything cool." Doug sounded as perplexed as he felt. "I mean I went there ready to tear a strip off her for hitching me to her." It wasn't just her calmness that had ensnared Doug, he knew that he'd had difficulty getting her image out of his head.

"Like that's a hardship!" Jared said drolly.

"And," Doug ignored Jared's interruption, "she just listens, apologises, offers to sort things out, tells me she will get in touch with me today and that as they say was that!" He grinned at Jared, "We need her in customer services! I'm telling you, she would handle Obnoxious Oliver without any fuss."

"That I'd like to see." So Jared now wanted to meet this woman. It wasn't so much what Doug had said, more how he'd said it. The woman had, in a very short period of time got beneath Doug's skin, and for Jared that was momentous. Jared really needed to meet this woman.

"Must be a culture thing. Don't raise your voice. Just keep calm. Impressive as hell." Doug was once again lost in reverie as his recollection caused her to materialize in his brain. She had the kind of elegance one associated with money and breeding. She had a cool composure that oozed poise and elegance. He'd never met anyone like her.

"And pretty easy on the eye too. You sure it wasn't her looks that got you?" He could see from the spark in Doug's eyes, that simply talking about her was enough to pique Doug's interest again.

"I've never been short of beautiful dates." Doug reminded Jared without any measure of modesty. But he'd never met this type of beauty before.

It seemed that many women liked ugly men. And Doug knew that he was ugly. His scars saw to that. And he'd had them for years. Surviving on the wrong side of town was tough. He'd never pretended to be anything other than who he was.

"Yeah, you're telling me. But most of them couldn't find their way out of a brown paper bag." He grinned and added, " But then, that seems to be the way you like them, dumb and docile."

"Well Ms Soujour D'Sa may not have finished her degree, but she is far from dumb." Doug wasn't sure why he held the woman in such high esteem. But she had grown on him. Quickly.

"Not docile either." Jared announced, as he studied the spark of interest that was growing by the second.

"Nope, so she'd be hassle." Doug laughed at his own thoughts, "Speaking of hassle, where's Ryan?"

"Sorting out the re-launch programme. I think..."

Jared was interrupted by the ringing of the phone. Automatically Doug reached for it. By the end of the call he shook his head and looked directly at Jared, "That's the second call this morning." He frowned, "It would appear that my engagement is opening doors."

"Which one's?"

"You know we tried to get the Rymington contract? And the Smith-Huston?"

"You're joking!"

"Both want to set up meetings to look at our projections."

"But last week, they said..."

"No. Not interested." Doug ran both hands through his hair, "Just goes to show, it's not what you know, but who you know."

"Don't knock it, milk it." Jared frowned and wondered what would happen when the engagement came to an end. "What are you going to do about the engagement?"

"Wait for her to contact me this afternoon. Then go from there. I suggested we go with it, then break it off a few months down the line. Keep the fuss down to a minimum."