His pale gaze flickered over her silk blouse, then rose to her eyes again as he moved closer to her desk. “I submit my final choice tomorrow morning, before the board meeting begins. It’s still not too late for me to put you at the top of the list.” His insinuation rang clear—as of this moment, she wasn’t his top candidate for the position. “How about dinner tonight?”
Feeling very uncomfortable being alone with Louden in her office, she stood and reached for her attaché, deciding it was time to pack up and leave. “I don’t think so. Austin is expecting me home shortly.”
“Cut the pretense, Teddy,” he said in a light, mocking tone that was at odds with the ominous glint in his eyes.
Her pulse leaped in apprehension. Trying to keep calm, she gathered important files and stacked them in her briefcase. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Bracing his hands on the desk across from her, he leaned in close. “He’s a stripper,” he said, his gaze sparkling with the trump card he’d just played.
A cold chill tingled along the surface of her skin, and her belly tightened with tension. She let none of her anxiety show. “Excuse me?” she asked, infusing her voice with a credible amount of bewilderment.
A slow, insidious smile curved his thin lips as he straightened. “Austin McBride is a stripper, a fantasy for hire, or in your case, an escort for hire who received a higher price than I’d ever demand for services rendered.”
He knew too much, and she had no idea how Louden had discovered the truth about Austin. She watched him circle her desk, like a predatory animal closing in for the final victory, and snapped the front lock closed on her attaché case.
“Aren’t you the least bit curious how I know about Austin?” he asked. “Janet mentioned to me that she thought your boyfriend looked familiar at the Christmas party, and then it dawned on her where she’d seen him before…dressed as a cop, one who stripped for a living. Needless to say, I found that extremely interesting, and while you were at lunch today I found a business card and a receipt for a thousand dollars for ‘services rendered’ in your desk drawer.”
White-hot fury filled her, and she turned to face Louden—who stood way too close for her comfort. “You went through my things?”
He shrugged, as if invading her privacy didn’t violate a serious code of ethics.
Months of enduring Louden’s tactics finally got the best of her. Fists clenching at her sides, she met his gaze challengingly, and let her temper boil over. “You had no right!”
He merely smiled, looking pleased with himself. “It proved what I already suspected. Austin is a fraud, so now that the truth is out in the open, there’s no longer a reason for you to play coy and pretend that you’re unavailable.” He slid his fingers down her bare arm. “Now, about your promotion…”
She jerked away from him, gaping incredulously at his nerve. She was tired of battling this man for something she knew she deserved, and she refused to compromise her morals to get it.
And in that moment, she came to a startling realization. This promotion was important to her, yes, but not as much as it once had been. She’d thought she needed to prove to her family that she was self-sufficient, determined and confident, and had put too much emphasis on the senior graphic design position being the direct link to her happiness. Her priorities shifted, and the one topping the list was ultimately pleasing herself—and that meant standing up to this man who believed he wielded so much control over her.
“You know what, Louden? You can take the promotion and shove it,” she said matter-of-factly, feeling more unencumbered than she had in years. “And I’m sure the board of directors will find it interesting tomorrow morning to find out exactly how you choose your candidates.”
An incensed shade of red traveled up his neck and suffused his face. “It’s your word against mine,” he said, his tone low and dark with menace.
Grabbing her purse and briefcase, she met his gaze evenly, telling him without words that she wasn’t intimidated by him. “I’m willing to take that chance. The last thing I knew, sexual harassment was against the law.”
With that parting remark, she started around the opposite side of the desk, her eye on the closed door and her thoughts on quickly escaping this man’s hostility. She’d only managed two steps when strong fingers manacled her wrist in a painful grip.
She glared back at Louden, refusing to cower. “Let me go.”
A malicious sneer curved his lips. “If you’re going to file a complaint, we might as well legitimize it.”
And with that, he jerked her around and shoved her against the wall, hard enough that she smacked her head, causing her to lose her grasp on her attaché and purse, and momentarily paralyzing her entire body. A picture crashed to the floor from the jarring impact, the sound of shattering glass sharp in Teddy’s mind.
Stunned and dazed, and trying desperately to gulp air into her lungs, she felt his hands grope at her blouse, then viciously rip it open. Her lips parted to scream, but he clamped a hand over her mouth, nearly smothering her. Refusing to be a victim, she struggled against him as his other hand tugged at the hem of her skirt, then his hand touched her thigh. Swallowing the bile rising in her throat, she shoved against his shoulders, adrenaline lending her a strength she never knew she possessed.
“Oh my God!”
Teddy heard her co-worker’s exclamation from somewhere in the office, and it was enough to alarm Louden. He didn’t let her go, but instead looked over his shoulder at the intruder. Taking advantage of the distraction, Teddy brought her knee up against his groin, hard. Louden’s hands fell away from her to grab himself, and he gaped at her in wide-eyed astonishment. His shock turned to outrage, and though he was in obvious pain, he growled low in his throat and made a last attempt to lunge at her. Her hand shot out to protect herself, and the base of her hand slammed into his nose.
She heard something crack, watched as Louden fell to his knees, clutching both his groin and now-bloody nose. An anguished moan ripped from his chest, and Teddy didn’t spare another second to put some distance between them.
On shaking, trembling legs, Teddy managed to round her desk and reach Anna, one of the secretaries in the firm. The woman appeared as shocked as Teddy felt.
“Are you all right?” Anna asked just as two other employees entered her office, obviously having heard the commotion.
“I’m…fine,” she assured them all, and with less than steady hands pulled the ends of her blouse back together over her chest. “Someone, call the police, please. I want this man arrested for sexual assault.”
Chapter Twelve
It was a cold, cloudy, overcast Saturday afternoon, and neither McBride brother was home, much to Teddy’s disappointment. She hadn’t called beforehand, afraid that Austin might refuse to see her, and she didn’t want to discuss this private matter over the phone.
Sitting on the porch steps leading to the charming old Victorian house that Austin shared with his brother, she waited for over an hour for him to come home, knowing she’d sit there forever if that’s how long it took to convince Austin that he was the single-most important thing in her life.