Fiance by Fate Read Free Page A

of yourself.”
    “Ahead of myself? The position just became available. Plus, I’m your son.”
    “True. But I could easily give the job to Laurie,” his father countered.
    Jack snorted. He knew that wasn’t going to happen. As much as he loved his sister, she wasn’t the type to run a company. Besides having no financial education whatsoever, she loved being a stay-at-home mom and having her house to run. “Come on, Dad, you have to start training me to take over.”
    “There’s nothing I would like better than for you to take over for me someday,” his father stated in a somewhat reassuring tone, “but I think you still need a little maturing.”
    Jack stared at him blankly. “Maturing? I’m thirty-four years old.”
    “Now, that’s just a number,” his father said with a chuckle. “Nothing else.”
    “What are you talking about then?”
    His dad’s expression quickly sobered. “Well, the stockholders seem to have some… issues with your reputation and how it could affect the company in the long run.”
    “My reputation? There are no problems with my reputation. I’m your number one wholesaler on the east coast.”
    “Yes, but the stockholders have more of an issue with your, ah, personal reputation. In short, you change women like you change underwear. I happen to agree.”
    “ What? ” Jack shot out of his seat and began pacing the room. He reached up and roughly worked loose his tie, which now felt like a hangman’s noose around his neck. “That’s ridiculous. But even if it were true, it’s my personal life. That has no effect on my business life.”
    “Well, when your personal life becomes front page news, it does have an effect,” Leonard said, sweeping his arm in the direction of the coffee table where the recent issue of Boston magazine lay.
    Jack winced. “You, uh, saw that article, huh?”
    “Yes, and I’m sure the Board saw it too. The single life may be all fun and games to you, but to them, instability in your personal life translates to instability at work. Managing a company is like managing one giant relationship. And you , my dear boy, according to that article, have never been in a relationship longer than a month.”
    “That’s not…” Is it true? He gave it some thought. He had just broken up with Brianna before he was asked to do the interview. Then before that there was Rachel. Then Mila. Giselle. Hmm…perhaps there was a grain of truth in there somewhere.
    His father sighed tiredly. “That’s what I thought.”
    Jack rubbed a hand over his face. “I don’t understand any of this. If you have no plans to promote me, then I’m not sure what I’m doing here.”
    “Being closer to your family was something I thought would be nice for you, Jack. I even entertained the idea you’d like to be home again.”
    Jack looked away. A part of him had only agreed to come back because he thought he was going to get that promotion. And now, he’d turned his life upside-down for nothing. “I do like being home again. It’s not that, but—”
    “Maybe you could even find a nice girl and settle down here now. Sabrina Cassidy—”
    “Sabrina Cassidy?” He didn’t mean to snap at his dad, but just the sound of that woman’s name had his blood pressure skyrocketing. “What does she have to do with anything?”
    Sabrina was one of the internal wholesalers at Brenner Capital, which meant she worked as an assistant to one of the senior wholesalers who, like himself, did the actual traveling to brokerage firms. She was an excellent worker but the kind of woman who thought she was always right. Jack had even secretly dubbed her “Little Miss Perfect.” Unfortunately, most times she was right—which was one of the reasons why his father adored her. Jack, however, did not share that feeling.
    His father raised his eyebrows. “I wasn’t going to suggest you settle down with her—although you could do worse.”
    “Well, forget it. She’s engaged already