Chapter 4

"I don't know for sure. I was rootless; then when I saw all that about the bombing of the federal Building, I was reminded all over gain how special the people of this state are."

" I think so ," he said. " Your father's dead?"

Angie nodded. "Trying to keep up with his young trophy

" Trophy wife ?"

His dark eyebrows arched upward.

"You know ; less than half his age."

"And pretty?" He asked.

" certainly! No one would ever write NFD on her Jon application." Angie said it with more bitterness than she meant Evie .

The thought discouraged and annoyed her. She started to get up , but he waved her back down , regarding her for a long moment . The. He stood up, and came around the desk. He was tall and broad- shouldered. That looked like an expensive custom-made suit he wore, but it had a western cut. He sat down the edge of the desk, o my inches from her. His dark eyes bite in to hers, making her shift uneasily in her chair. The tiny mole by his mouth jerked as he frowned. " Tell me what 'NFD' means?"

Everyone in the Bussines world knows that." Angie raised her chin defiantly and bit her lip. She want going to give him the satisfaction of making her cry, but she was reduced to blinking rapidly.

" I reckon my staff has kept me ignorant of such things he said and looked at her curiously.

Of course he was too important to deal with the minor details of employment, even at his own company.

" it— it means ' Not Front Desk," Angie explained , reliving the humiliation. " when you see the interviewer write that across your papers, you know you won't get the job; you're not pretty or flirty enough to put out front, dealing with male execs and salesman as they come through. They hide you in a back office ; that is, if you get an offer at all."

She thought she saw a smile tug at the corner of his grim mouth. " that's against the law, isn't it?"

" it's suppose to be ," Angie shrugged, " but they get away with it; most people never learn the code ,"

"Hmm. And knowing that, the agency still sent you over to interview for an executive assistant position?"

" they tried to discourage me," Angie blurted out. " they said they'd sent dozen applicants and you'd hired two in the past three weeks a and then fired them. But it felt compelled to come, for some reason—"

"Desperate enough to consider working for the outlaw of Wall Street?" He learned closer , surveying her again, his face grim. Now he pulled a large, ornate gold pocket watch from his ear and looked at it.

" what a beautiful antique watch !" She said without thinking.

"It is, isn't it ?" He sturdier it as if he had not noticed it in a very long time. " The first John Logan bought it form the proceeds of one of his early, ah — railroad ventures," He slipped it back in his vest , and it dawned on Angie that the watch had been not- too subtle hint at how much time he had already spent with her. He was a busy man and he was telling her so.

She hesitated. " I dint mean to take so much of your time. I'll be going —"

She got up, but he reached out and caught her arm in a strong grip. " You disappoint me, Mrs. Newland; I reckoned you were a little sassier than that."

Sassy she hadn't heard anyone use that word since her dear grandmother died. She pulled out the grasp. " stop tormenting me. Just lie and tell me the position is already filled, and maybe offer me a file clerk's job."

" I don't need a file clerk; I need someone to handle all these damned appointments and meetings I'm suppose to show up at , and all that blizzard of paperwork. I'll admit I'm a hard man to work for,"

" Difficult," Angelica thought aloud. " The agency said difficult."

He laughed, and ur had the sound of a man who dint laugh much. " I haven't had anyone been honest with me in a so long , I've forgotten what it like. I was just about to have some coffee. Would you like some?"

Angie hesitated. This was the strangest job interview she'd ever been on. He was toying with her for his own bored amusement, not realizing or caring that she'd used up her unemployment benefit and the rent on her furnished room to start selling off her father antique coin collection ,the only thing the pretty trophy wife hadn't gotten in the will. Thank you. I—I didn't have time for a cup this morning." She wouldn't tell him she didn't have an extra dollar for coffee in her purse.

"Good. I'll see if I can figure out how this damned contraption works." He left his desk and went over to a sideboard, then began to fiddle with an automatic coffee pot . He obviously didn't have any idea what to do with the thing.

" Here, let me," Angie said without thinking. Putting her purse down, she went over, took the coffee pot from his hand,and filled it at the bar sink , then set it up.

"I keep a chef on payroll, but I fired him, too, " Logan grumbled, stepping back and letting her do it . " He kept making some damned slip called cappuccino, and I like the regular stuff. They tell me I don't dare ask a secretary to make coffee anymore ."

I don't have any problem with making coffee for a boss ," Angie said as she reached for cups. " what do you like in yours m?"

" I like it strong and with three spoon of sugar," he said and returned to sit down in the expensive leather chair behind the big desk .

" Didn't your mother ever tell you that sugar world rot your teeth?" Angie asked.

" leave my mother out of this ,"he snapped In a bitter tone.

" That was presumptuous of me ; I'm sorry ."

Don't be. She — never mind. " His expression was closed and hostile. The silence seemed to hang heavy at the coffee began to brew and the scent drifted through the room . He seemed bored, and she fidgeted and tried to think of some bright . Interesting but of conversation, but flirty small talk wasn't Angie style.

She out there spoonful of sugar in his coffee and brought it to him. Then she got herself a cup, put some cream in it , and took it back to her chair . " I know I'm not sleek and sophisticated," Angie began apologetically, " but I'm a hard worker."

" You look fine to me ," he said. " I dint know what is is with you damned women , wanting to look scrawny . "He watched her and sipped his coffee. " most of the women I know pick at their food like sparrows. Now, Lillian Russell could not put away a slab of steak better than any man—"

"Who?"

" she was a broadway star of the turn of the century ," Logan said and paused , " or so I've heard."