Who's on Top?. Karen Kendall

tossed his keys in the air, palmed them again and hit the Jaguar’s lock button by feel. Then, with a tuneless whistle, he sauntered across the parking lot and inside.

      ARIANNA DUBOSE WAVED AT JANE as she walked by her open door. She held up a finger, as she was on the phone, but motioned Jane to come in and sit down opposite her desk.

      As she waited for the female vice president to finish the call, Jane took stock of her one more time. She’d met Arianna a few times at business functions. She’d spoken at the local Kiwanis Club, and they’d sat next to each other at the last Executive Women in Business luncheon. She vaguely remembered that Arianna ate nothing, absolutely nothing, but meat.

      Arianna was exceptionally well groomed and studded with diamonds at her ears, fingers and neck. Each rock was at least a carat of success and brilliance. She sported a platinum wristwatch, blood-red nails and lips and black helmet hair.

      Jane caught a glimpse of black lace under the woman’s business blouse—interesting—and told herself not to be bitchy when she noticed that the VP’s bustline seemed unnaturally firm and unforgiving. If Arianna had been surgically enhanced, it was none of her business.

      Jane didn’t deliberately listen to Arianna’s conversation, but she couldn’t help picking up a few tidbits.

      “No, Harold, that’s not acceptable. Absolutely not. I don’t care what the excuses are—you’re meeting that November deadline, whether IT comes through or not. If you have to go door-to-door and fill out the surveys by hand, then so be it.”

      “Harold. Harold, don’t even think about threatening me. You quit now, I’ll make sure you never work in pharmaceuticals again. Got it? Good.” Arianna hung up the phone with a snarl but immediately downshifted it into a warm purr for Jane’s benefit.

      “Jane!” She surged from behind her desk and grasped both of Jane’s hands in her cold, dry ones. “How are you?”

      “Fine, thanks. How are you?”

      Arianna waved in irritation at the phone. “Oh, just working out a few kinks with marketing on a new product. These guys are like a bunch of slow toddlers, for God’s sake! I can’t keep wiping their noses for them. They know what the market demands and they know what it takes to keep our competitive edge. I don’t want to hear their pathetic whining about how they can’t make deadlines.”

      Jane nodded in sympathy.

      “Men fall into two categories,” Arianna expounded, “toddlers or teenagers. The toddlers whine and cry and are generally incompetent, and the teenagers just give you lip and attitude. Dominic Sayers, for example, is a teenager.”

      “Oh?”

      “My God, yes. And I simply won’t put up with his insubordination.” She cast a glance into the hallway and shut her door. “So what have your impressions been so far?”

      “Well,” said Jane carefully, “he definitely seems to be a strong personality.”

      Arianna laughed. “Honey, you don’t have to be tactful around me. He’s an asshole. And he believes he’s a lot smarter than he really is. And he thinks with his pecker. He just can’t handle having a woman in charge.”

      “Mmm,” said Jane, trying not to think about Dominic’s pecker. “Well, in order to do a full evaluation, I need to observe quite a bit more and do some experimentation with role-playing. Have him take some tests. That sort of thing.”

      Arianna blinked impatiently and pulled a nail file from her top desk drawer. Using precise slicing movements in one direction only, she smoothed the edge of each nail on her left hand. “How long—” slice, slice “—is all of this going to take?”

      Jane knit her brows as she gazed at the woman. “Well, at least a few weeks. Why? Are you on a timeline of some kind?”

      Arianna transferred the nail file to the other hand and went to work. “Not at all,” she said just a shade too casually. “I just like to know about these things up front.”

      Jane nodded.

      “By the way,” Arianna began, changing the subject. “Have I mentioned that I’d like to see you work with HR at Zantyne on a national level? To orchestrate some company-wide seminars like Breaking New Ground and Morale Boosting?”

      “No, you didn’t mention that,” said Jane, her pulse quickening. “But I’d love to!” What a coup for a new company like Finesse! They would definitely break even, maybe even make a profit in their first year, with just one such client. Jane tried not to salivate openly.

      “Let’s talk about a presentation, then,” Arianna nodded. “Of course you’ll have my full backing…assuming that I’m pleased with the way you handle this current issue.” She laughed a too-melodious laugh. “And I’m sure I will be.”

      Jane nodded and smiled. “Of course. Finesse may be a fledgling company, but we’re aptly named and very professional.”

      “I can see that, Jane. I’m sure this is the beginning of a long and profitable relationship for us both.” Arianna smiled broadly.

      My goodness, her teeth are white. Almost blinding. Jane followed Arianna to her office door and shook her hand as the vice president showed her out. Did the woman gargle with Clorox?

      HER DAD AND GILBEY WEREN’T too talkative at this Sunday dinner, either, even though Jane brought Lilia. Lil brought a beautifully wrapped bouquet of mixed flowers and wore a sapphire-blue silk blouse for the occasion.