“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Giselle cleared her throat, and Emma shifted her gaze as she saw Cole do the same.
“Giselle, perhaps you could give us a moment to sort this out? I’ll let you know once we’ve made a decision.”
“Of course.” Giselle acquiesced and made her exit, clearly eager to avoid being caught in the middle. She closed the door behind her, and Emma faced Cole again.
“Delacroix is brilliant. If we place him, it’s a huge feather in our cap.”
“Maybe so, but I’m not going to begin my time here by promoting that sort of action.”
Emma ground her teeth together in frustration. “Listen, I don’t know exactly how different recruiting is on the other side of the ocean, but over here, counteroffers are simply a fact of life. If the client is determined, you make a counteroffer of your own.”
Cole waved a hand in dismissal. “Of course I know how it works, but that’s not how Aquitaine is going to do business, now that it’s part of Reid Recruiting.”
She felt every protective instinct she possessed rise up within her. “You may be the CEO, but don’t you think that kind of business model is something that Julien should approve?”
Cole shook his head. “I’m not saying we’d never advise our clients to counteroffer, but what I am saying is that if this Delacroix is as cagey as Giselle indicated, then throwing more incentives at him isn’t going to do any good. The man clearly prefers the company he currently works for and was probably using us just to get an increase in salary.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Oh, I’m being ridiculous?” He raised his eyebrows. “Aquitaine, we’re not going after this guy like we’re single and desperate for a date. We’re better than that.”
“We?” She scoffed. “You just got here, remember?”
He scowled, and she realized how petty she sounded.
“I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I just don’t understand why you’re so adamant on this. What’s the harm in counteroffering? The worst that can happen is that Delacroix rejects it, and we’re back to square one. If we don’t even offer, we’re already there.”
Cole fell silent as the seconds ticked by. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk, as though about to share something confidential. Emma scooted her chair closer.
“Emma, have you ever heard the term ‘the heart wants what the heart wants’?”
Her breath caught at the way he spoke these words and their close proximity as they each leaned over the desk.
“Yes, I have. It’s attributed to Emily Dickinson.”
“Then she knew what you don’t seem to grasp. If Delacroix wants to stay where he’s at, no amount of additional incentives or salary will sway him. I witnessed the same thing recently, when we tried to negotiate Dane Montgomery out of retirement.”
Emma remembered the name from her background research on Reid Recruiting, when Julien had first mentioned the merger. Montgomery had been a star in the advertising universe before he left the corporate world to run a coffee plantation in Hawaii. Reid Recruiting had negotiated him out of retirement and back to New York to work for Bianca Towers, international hotel-chain heiress, but Montgomery had soon renegotiated the terms of his contract and returned to Hawaii to work for Towers from the islands. She briefly recalled Cole’s name being attached to the situation, but the more prominent figure had been Lillian Reid’s daughter, Ophelia, the lead recruiter on the assignment.
“So what?” Emma countered. “As I recall, that situation was a success in the end. Montgomery still works for Towers. He just does it on location at his coffee plantation.”
Her summation didn’t seem to impress Cole in the least.
“Obviously. But my point is that Montgomery wanted to stay where he was at, and upping our offer didn’t really change that. Sometimes, you have to let the heart take charge. If Delacroix really wants to switch companies, offering more money isn’t going to make a difference either way. If he’s unhappy with his existing employer then our current offer should be satisfactory. And if he’s just using this as a means to increase his salary, we’re not going to give him any more leverage.”
She found his reasoning flawed, but she knew it was pointless to say so.
“You have a daughter,” Cole went on. “Hasn’t she ever tried to play you against your husband?”
“Ex-husband,” she automatically corrected. “And how did you know I have a daughter?”
“Julien told me. Anyway, hasn’t your daughter ever asked you for something and then gone to her father to see if she could negotiate a better deal?”
“Avery is not that sort of child, and I resent the implication that she could be that devious.”
He sighed. “I’m sorry, Aquitaine. I didn’t mean any offense. I’m sure your daughter is a lovely girl. I’m only pointing out that candidates know how to play these games as well as we do.”
Still rankled by his theory, she shrugged. “You’re the boss,” she offered by way of submission, though she knew her tone said far more than her words.
He frowned but didn’t comment.
“I’ll inform Giselle.” She stood to go.
Her hand was on the door handle when he finally spoke. “And I trust you’ll present things to Giselle in such a way that she recognizes this was a mutual decision.”
She replayed Julien’s warning in her head, about supporting Cole and the merger, and injected a sweetness into her words that she didn’t feel.
“Of course. I would never even think of implying otherwise.”
Cole narrowed his eyes as she plastered on a blatantly false smile and left the room.
CHAPTER THREE
EMMA ENTERED THE Aquitaine offices on Monday morning with a new outlook. Spending a weekend with Avery had done much to restore her attitude. She had played games with her daughter, caught up on some errands and taken Melanie with them to the market. She’d even found time to read a couple of chapters in a new novel she’d purchased. She walked into Aquitaine with a lighter step and smiled pleasantly as she approached her office and found Henri, one of the janitorial staff, watering the plants nearby.
“Bonjour, Henri.”
The man’s eyes lit up at the sight of her. He had once told her that she was the only Aquitaine recruiter who bothered to speak to him. The rest worked around him as if he wasn’t even there.
“Bonjour, Emma.”
“Did you enjoy your weekend?”
He sighed. “I went to see my daughter’s ballet recital. I had hoped to take her and my son to dinner afterward, but my wife refused, saying they had other plans.”
Emma felt herself frowning with sympathy. “Oh, Henri. I’m so sorry. If it’s any consolation, things should get better. Those beginning stages of divorce are when both parties feel wounded and betrayed. Hopefully, she’ll ease up in time.”
Henri appeared skeptical, despite her reassurances, but she couldn’t blame him. She remembered how much hurt she’d experienced when she and Brice had been in the first phase of their divorce. Her situation was different from Henri’s, though, in that Brice had wanted nothing to do with Avery and had accepted whatever custody terms Emma chose to lay out. She’d been hopeful he’d eventually exhibit more enthusiasm, so she’d allowed for him to take Avery every other weekend and some holidays, but he rarely took advantage of the offer. Henri, on the other hand, seemed to be struggling in the opposite direction. It pained