Stranded in Paradise Read Free

screech.
    â€œPayroll.” He smiled, but there was a hint of condescension in that twinkle in his eyes.
    Her lashes narrowed. “You’re offering me a job in payroll?”
    He lifted his shoulders. “It’s a good position. Decent pay. Punch out at five o’clock.”
    She stopped him cold. “I am a manager, Len, not a payroll clerk. I have five years of experience hiring and managing departments full of payroll clerks and a dozen other employees. Len, this is a huge professional insult!”
    His tone firmed. “I’m only doing what’s best for Connor.com . You know that we’ve tightened our belts, that we’ve frozen new hires—”
    Anger welled inside her.
    â€œBut you can bring in your fraternity brother and his people? Do I look that stupid, Len?”
    He shifted closer to the desk. Beneath the polished wood, his foot tapped erratically. “Your years of service have been duly noted, Tess. It’s a tough break, but you’re resilient. In a few years, who knows, maybe you’ll prove me wrong.”
    She swallowed back an acid retort. “I’m thinking you’re right. I can do better than Connor.com . Chuck does sound like the man to head the helm.”
    Len shrugged. “Of course the choice is yours. Perhaps you need a few days to think about it . . . ”
    â€œI don’t need a vacation .” Right now she needed a two-by-four. A good solid plank to wipe the smirk off his silver-spoon-fed Harvard face.
    He calmly met her wintry stare. “I’ll hold the payroll position until I hear from you.” The phone rang and he picked it up, dismissing her with a nod.
    She pivoted on her heels and walked out.
    Fired.
    Sacked.
    She had just been squeezed out—regardless of the “options” Len thought he was giving her. Payroll indeed!
    Vaguely aware that Len’s secretary was bent conspicuously over a file cabinet, she mustered a pleasant smile and made her way out.
    Ducking into the executive washroom, Tess locked herself in a stall, refusing to cry—crying would leave her eyes red and puffy—but she breathed deeply for several minutes as she tried to harness her emotions. She would keep her dignity if it killed her.
    Minutes later, she wet a paper towel and pressed it to her eyes, checked to ensure that her makeup was still flawless, then she returned to her office. There, laying on the top of her desk, sat the airline ticket for her business trip. A lot of good that was. The airline wouldn’t allow her to transfer it into another name.
    She stood staring at it. It would serve Len right to lose the cost of the ticket. She wondered why he hadn’t mentioned her upcoming trip. Maybe he’d forgotten. She lifted the envelope and turned it over in her hands. Then in one swift move she tucked it into her briefcase. She wasn’t sure why.
    She had to get out of the office before she started blubbering, or worse yet before she went back and gave Len Connor a piece of her mind. She reached for her purse and briefcase, then, lifting her chin, walked quickly to the elevator. Len Connor would soon discover that Tess Nelson couldn’t be replaced by a fraternity brother or anyone else.
    The perky temp went on point. “Are you leaving for the day, Miss Nelson?”
    â€œI’ll be out of the office a couple of weeks,” she said weakly. Maybe by then Len will have called begging her to come back. She pushed the lighted button, aware of the curious eyes following her. She straightened, her chin lifting a notch. She knew that news of her firing would spread faster than small-town gossip once she left the building. Would anyone care that she’d been dumped? She doubted it; she’d made few friends among her coworkers but who had time for a social life with her workload? Anyway, she wasn’t there to socialize. She was there to work. As they should be. That was how she’d gotten where