Ryland Read Free

hand on his gun. Bronwyn wasn’t afraid of guns, but she didn’t want
to be arrested again either. She looked at the door and took a step toward it
when he pulled out his weapon. She felt her hackles rise as she raised her
hands in the air. “Please don’t do this. Let me just go and I’ll never come
back.” He pointed to the elevator and she went in it. He never put his gun away
and she never lowered her hands. What a great fucking way to lose a job she’d
never even gotten trained at.

Chapter 2
     
    Alistair was at the elevator when it
opened. He was smiling, but dropped it when he saw her. She was pissed off and
looking at the gun pointed at her as if she was expecting to be shot at any
moment.
    “What the fuck are you doing? Put that
away.” He pulled her out of the elevator and pushed the button for the doors to
close. “Come on, Bronwyn. I’ll take you to my office and apologize a thousand
times for this screw up.”
    “I can just go home and I’ll find
another way to pay you. I swear I’ll pay you every cent.” She still hand her
hands up and he pushed them down and sat her in the first chair he came to. It
just happened to be the one in front of Ryland’s office.
    “You didn’t do anything wrong. And I
know you’ll pay me back.” Her eyes rolled in the back of her head and he caught
her just as she was going to fall forward. Alistair shouted for some help and
his mom and Ryland came running. “She’s fainted. That fucking moron Flores had
a gun on her. What the hell kind of place are we running here when women we
hire are accosted like that?”
    A wet washcloth was handed to him and he
slapped it none too gently on the back of her neck. She tried to lift her head
and he pushed her back down and glared at his brother. He had to take his anger
out on someone and he was the perfect target for it. “You had to scare her off
on the first day, didn’t you? You just couldn’t stand the fact that you didn’t
know that Colette wouldn’t work for you and that I’d found you suitable help in
the meantime.” His brother started to speak, but Bronwyn lifted her head again
and he shoved her back down. “You should be horse whipped.”
    The shrill whistle made him leap from Bronwyn.
He’d heard men whistle like that, but never a woman. He smiled at her when she
stood. Damn, but this girl had spirit.
    “You will not shove me around like an
old, unwanted piece of furniture.”
    Ryland told her to sit down and shut up
and she stepped close enough to him to touch.
    “And I am not a dog to be ordered about
like one either.” She stomped to the elevator again and before she could touch
the button, his mom stepped behind her.
    “You’ve been treated poorly by my
family. I’d like for us to start over. Could you please come and have a seat?
I’ll make sure that the two idiots are well away from us before we talk.”
    Alistair started to speak, but Bronwyn
spoke to him first. “I will pay you back, but I won’t be brought up on false
charges again. All I did was answer the phone.”
    “I know, and if you’ll come to my office
we’ll get this straightened out.” He glanced at Ryland. “He’s my brother. You
were answering his phone and, from what Mom says, doing a great job of it.”
    “You said I was to be in some sort of
work pool. That guy downstairs brought me here.” Alistair nodded. “Is this
where I was supposed to be?”
    “Yes. I’d like for you to work here for
the week. I know that—”
    “Do I get any kind of say in this?”
    Alistair looked at Ryland and wanted to
brain him.
    “I should have some say over who works
for me. I do own this company.”
    “She’ll work for you or I won’t.” Alistair
turned to his brother. “You say one word, one single word, and I will quit now.
There are nineteen of your projects sitting on my desk right now. If you want
them taken care of I would suggest that you go to your office right now and
shut the fuck up. I’m tired of trying to