The Playboy's Protegee

“I’m going to write your presentation.” Megan reached into her purse and pulled out a Palm Pilot. Within a moment she’d set up a little keyboard attachment to the unit and had the whole thing sitting on her fold-out tray. “It shouldn’t be too hard. It’s not like we have to redo any of our visual aids or acquisition folders.”

“Breakfast,” the attendant interrupted. She handed over a plate of what looked like bagels, bacon, and scrambled eggs.

“No, thanks,” Megan said. “I ate already. But I’ll take more orange juice when you have a moment.”

“Certainly,” the attendant said as she moved down the aisle.

Harry munched on a piece of bacon. Not too bad. Like Megan, he’d eaten earlier as well, but some snack food never hurt. They’d be starting the negotiation meeting at one, right after lunch. He spread some cream cheese and strawberry jam on the bagel, took a bite, and watched as Megan’s fingers flew over the small keyboard. She’d just amazed him.

Maybe there was a little substance to her after all.

It wasn’t as if he couldn’t do the presentation, he just never had been the front man before. But with Megan writing the proposal, suddenly he felt confident. They could make a good team.

Strictly business, of course.

But she challenged him. She rubbed him raw. His grandfather’s favorite phrase—as iron sharpens iron—came into his head.

He finished off the bagel and listened to her outline her proposal. And then he grilled her within an inch of her life over it. She managed to hit each one of his concerns, diffuse them. “It’s good,” he finally said.

She smiled, and suddenly Harry needed to clench his right armrest. How easy it would have been to simply shift to his left, put his left hand on the back of her neck, bring her face to his and kiss her.

She’s a siren. A siren who’s engaged to a man twenty years her senior. That thought threw a bucket of cold water over him. Twenty years her senior. There was no way her engagement could be true love. Distaste filled Harry’s mouth. But at least he and Megan had proven that they could work together. They could be a team. But that was probably all. He doubted they could even be friends.

“You know,” Megan said, “I used to think you didn’t know very much about business, but in reality you really do.”

“I have an MBA that I did work for,” Harry snapped. “I did graduate magna cum laude from Vanderbilt.”

“I know. I’m sorry. Don’t be so touchy. You’re the grandson, though. Everyone knows you’ll always have a job.”

Maybe a job, and a trust fund, but Harry knew that because he was family the need to prove himself was even greater. Grandpa Joe was an eccentric where his family was concerned. He’d wanted both Harry and his sister Darci to be indoctrinated into the company by serving two weeks in every “aspect” of the company. Harry had drawn the line at being a cook at Grandpa Joe’s Good Eats. Darci, however, had survived her waitressing gig. Megan didn’t know about Grandpa Joe’s crazy indoctrination schemes into the family business, or that Grandpa Joe favored his granddaughters. Even Harry’s cousin, Nick Jacobsen, who at twenty-seven headed the East Coast Jacobsen restaurant-supply business out of the Chicago office, only seemed to please Grandpa Joe about half of the time.

“Here’s your juice.” The flight attendant was back, pouring each of them refills from a clear plastic carafe.

Time to take a break. “I think we’ve covered enough business,” Harry said to Megan as he passed the attendant his plate. He hadn’t eaten the eggs. “We’ve got about another hour before we land. Why don’t you read your book.” He pulled the airline company magazine out of the seat pocket and opened it.

“Sure,” Megan said. She folded up her keyboard and put her Palm Pilot away. Disappointment etched her features but Harry didn’t notice.

For once Megan was glad that Harry’s nose was buried deep in the magazine. She didn’t need him reading her current thoughts. Her opinion of him had definitely gone up.

Well, not much, but definitely a change for the better. She’d always viewed Harry as an alpha male, but never as a skilled alpha male businessman. While Harry certainly looked the part of a businessman, in her opinion he had never before acted the part. In her presence he’d always been cutting, perhaps even bordering on cruel. His actions and business lore had never inspired her to greatness, nor had any of his ideas. His ideas, at best, had been lame and textbook.