Topaz Heat (Christian Romance) (The Jewel Series) Read Free Page B

its softness. Derrick knew that personal time was over and it was time for business. “We have a problem.”
    “Which ‘we’?”
    “The ‘we’ that is Hotel Viscolli – Boston.”
    “And what might our problem be?”
    “It might be any number of things.” He sighed. “What it actually is, however, is that our manager and assistant manager have run off together.”
    Derrick raised an eyebrow. “Bill Matheson and Adrienne Christopher?”
    Tony nodded. “It has been terrible. Apparently, they have been involved for some time. Bill’s wife called me about it last night. It was already too late. They left work together yesterday afternoon and are currently on some tropical island somewhere.”
    “Wow,” Derrick said. “I find that astonishing.” He really did. Derrick could not imagine a more unlikely pair of employees in a more unlikely place under more unlikely circumstances.
    They were interrupted when Margaret brought in Derrick’s drink. Derrick thanked her then took a long pull of the ginger ale and waited. Tony finally spoke again. “So what do you say?”
    “What do I say about what?”
    “Do you want it?”
    “Do I want what?”
    “Viscolli – Boston.”
    The ginger ale he’d just swallowed caught in the back of his throat and choked him. He coughed and fought to get a breath, finally sitting back up and wiping the tears from his eyes. “You aren’t serious.”
    “Always.”
    Years ago, Tony had told Derrick that he reminded him of a nineteen year old version of himself. Derrick didn’t know why, because by the time Tony was nineteen, he was well on his way to becoming the tycoon everyone knew today.
    Like Tony, Derrick had wanted out. Out of the poverty, off the streets, away from the fast money he could make if only he could sell his soul. So, over his mother’s very vocal objections, he took the job Tony offered all those years ago, accepted the education Tony paid for, and replaced the faceless father in his dreams with Tony Viscolli. If his mother thought that made him wrong, then he could do nothing to change that – because nothing would ever make him go back to the life he’d fled.
    While he had attended college, he worked as Tony’s assistant doing whatever needed doing -- from carrying his luggage to caddying for him on the golf course, from touring potential companies to offering his ground floor opinion on their merit should Tony wish to purchase them. In the process, Tony opened his home and his family, giving Derrick a place of welcome where he had never felt welcome before.
    The first time he’d walked into the Viscolli hotel in downtown Boston and seen the grand luxury, seen the faces of the elite as they moved through the lobby, watched the competence of the staff as they served the clients, he knew what he wanted to do for a living. He chose to study hotel management in school, and graduated within three years.
    He had worked in this very hotel, first as a bellboy, then as kitchen help, and finally on the front desk and concierge station. He agreed with Tony, believing that as a future manager, he should experience as many of the positions within the hotel as he could. In the process, he had watched Bill Matheson run the place, creating a well-oiled machine that gave the clientele what they had come to expect from a Viscolli company – sleek luxury without a bump in the ride.
    “Tony, I’m still just an assistant manager. I’m not qualified to manage yet. And this is your flagship.”
    “Nonsense. You’re fully qualified.”
    “I don’t have the experience –”
    “Enough.” He sat forward and put his elbows on his knees. “You learned the technical stuff in college. You learned all the jobs here. You learned management in New York. You’re a natural with people, and you’re ready. None of those are questions.”
    Derrick tried to cut him off, but Tony held up a finger to forestall the protest. “You also love this hotel. I could hire hundreds of people