Barbara Dunlop - Christmas Secrets

“You mean change company policy?” asked Amber.

“Absolutely,” said Cole. “You two get changed, I’ll pay the bill.”

Amber renewed her protest. “Cole, you can’t buy everything.”

He slipped an arm around her shoulder. “I know this is hard for you. But we’re doing it. And honestly, I’m through having this argument with you.”

A spurt of anger jumped to life inside her. She opened her mouth to retort, but something in his eyes stopped her cold.

Fine. He wanted to blow his money? That was up to him. She was through trying to save him from himself.

In her new clothes, and at the head of the boardroom table, Amber looked fantastic. Cole had to struggle to keep from chuckling at how the vice presidents kept shooting surreptitious looks her way. She was wearing a steel-gray blazer and skirt set, with a white blouse underneath. Lace along the scooped neckline kept the outfit from being too severe.

She’d changed her hairstyle, too. Strands were braided at her temples and partially pulled back to a knot at the nap of her neck. She looked sophisticated and professional. She also looked sexy, and it made him want to kiss her.

Then again, pretty much everything made him want to kiss her these days. Last night, watching her bite into a slice of double-cheese pizza had turned him on.

He dragged his gaze away from her, focusing on business. He and Amber both looked the part now, and they were going to act it, too, starting with some small but definitive strategic directions for the company.

“Thank you all for joining us,” Cole opened politely, although everyone in the room was fully aware their attendance at the senior management meeting had not been optional.

“Ms. Welsley and I realize this is a temporary situation,” he continued. “However, our expectation is that the status quo will continue into the future.”

“Excuse me?” Roth piped up.

Cole sent him a glare and kept speaking. “My interest in Coast Eagle is not in dispute, and I’ll be relying on Ms. Welsley for continuity.”

Roth opened his mouth, but Cole spoke right over him. “For the moment, Ms. Welsley has made a few decisions about passenger compensation.”

“Thank you, Cole,” said Amber, her tone crisp, her posture straight. “As most of you know, new guidelines on passenger compensation were developed by the U.S. Consumer Association in October of this year.”

“Voluntary guidelines,” said Roth.

“Roth,” said Cole. “If you could please hold your comments.”

Roth’s eyes blazed at the rebuke while Max obviously fought a smirk. Sidney also looked like he was enjoying himself.

“Accounting has done a comparison between overbooked flights, passenger compensation and lost passenger revenue due to last minute cancellations. Bartholomew, can you put up the slides?”

Bartholomew, who also looked a bit smug, brought up the graphic slides on the side screen.

“As you can see,” said Amber, “with a change in our policy on flight overbooking, actual monetary loss will be manageable, while the marketing and social media attention, not to mention the customer confidence and goodwill could be significant. Therefore, we’ll immediately adopt the new guidelines on passenger compensation and suspend the policy that allows overbooking. That way, our customers can be completely confident in their travel plans.”

She stopped speaking and looked levelly down the table.

Cole felt an immediate surge of pride. She was damn good at this.

“May we speak now?” asked Roth, sarcasm dripping from his tone.

“Yes,” Amber answered, even though the question was directed at Cole.

Cole’s pride in her increased.

“The monetary losses will be significant,” said Roth.

“Loses will be compensated for in the long run,” said Amber.

“Maybe in a best-case scenario. But passengers don’t want certainty. They want low prices. If you drive our prices up by even ten dollars a ticket, they leave for the competition in droves.”

“I’m not suggesting we change our prices,” said Amber.

“You’re living in fantasyland,” Roth all but shouted. “Do you have any idea what kind of a mess you’ll leave for me to clean up?”

Though he was trying to let Amber take the lead, Cole couldn’t help himself. “You?”

Roth seemed to catch himself. “Us.”

“Well, us, ” said Cole, “is Ms. Welsley and me. And I agree with her assessment.”

“I agree with it, too,” said Max. He looked to Sidney. “Can you work up a marketing plan? We’ll need to hit the ground running as soon as the announcement is made.”

“I want to announce right away,” said Amber with both clarity and confidence. “I want passengers to know their remaining holiday travel plans will not be disrupted by overbooking.”

“The Friends and Family campaign is nearly finished,” said Sidney. “We can easily incorporate this as a marquee element.”

“Done,” said Max.

“Hold on,” said Roth. “We haven’t heard from Julius.”

Julius’s chin came up. He looked a bit like a deer in the headlights. It was clear he didn’t know where to jump.

“Julius reports to Max,” said Cole. “Max has made his decision.”

“That’s not how it works,” Roth shouted.

“That’s how it works now,” said Cole. “This meeting is adjourned.” He turned his attention to the president, clearly dismissing everyone else. “Max, do you have a second?”

“I do,” said Max.

Fury in his eyes, Roth rocked back from the table and stomped from the room.

With an admirably contained smirk, Bartholomew closed the door behind them all, leaving Cole, Amber and Max alone.

“At the risk of speaking out of turn,” said Max, “that was fun.”

Amber blew out a breath and slouched down in her chair. “That’s not the word I would use.”

Cole gave in to the urge to place a hand on her shoulder. “You did great.”

“He is out for blood.”

“He was always out for blood,” said Max.

“You don’t think he’d ever take it out on Zachary, do you?”

The slight tremor in her voice told Cole just how brilliantly she’d been acting while the vice presidents were in the room.

“He won’t have the chance. Because we’re going to win.” Cole refused to contemplate anything else.

He turned his attention to Max. “They’re resuming the custody hearing on the twenty-eighth.”

“Next week?”

Cole nodded.

“Who’s representing you?”

“Since Amber is supporting my petition for custody, Destiny has agreed to represent me. She knows the background and circumstances better than anyone else I could hire.”

Max’s brow furrowed. “She’s not the most experienced choice.”

“Her firm has assigned a senior partner for support. And they’ve earmarked their top research team. I’m guessing they want my future business.”

“Then that’s the best of both worlds,” said Max, his expression relaxing.

“That’s what we thought.” Cole covered Amber’s hand with his.

Hers was cold.

Max spoke up. “You know Roth’s out there soliciting the support of the minor shareholders.”

“He’s got the advantage in that,” said Amber, sliding her hand from beneath Cole’s.

“He does,” Max agreed. “They all know him. And Samuel’s vote of confidence goes a long way. And, I’m sorry to be so blunt, Amber, but they all knew Coco. That doesn’t work in our favor.”

“We’ve got genetics on our side,” said Cole.

Cole felt no admiration whatsoever for his father. But he’d quickly come to care about his half brother. And he cared more about Amber than he could have imagined. She was desperately trying to do the right thing, and the jackals were circling her now.