looked at his watch. Two thirty. They were going forward with the planned announcement of the merger—it was, after all, the only thing that would explain why Kirk had taken temporary leadership—and the video link announcement was scheduled to commence at three sharp. Did Sally still plan to be there? He knew her father had wanted her by his side, but in light of recent events, he wouldn’t blame her for skipping out. Coming into the office at all couldn’t have been an easy decision to make with her father so desperately ill.
“Could you get a message to her and ask her to come to my office as soon as possible? I want to brief her before the video link.”
“Certainly, sir.”
Again there was that brief hesitation and slight distaste to her tone as she said the word sir. He’d already asked her to call him by his first name, but it seemed his request had been ignored. That, however, wasn’t important to him right now. He had a far greater concern on his hands. Like, how the hell did he tell Sally about the condom?
It was only a few minutes before he heard women’s voices outside the office door. The double doors began to swing open, and he heard Marilyn’s voice call out in caution.
“Oh, but there’s someone—”
And there she was. Sally Harrison appeared in the doorway, her head still turned to Marilyn, a reassuring smile on her face. A smile that froze then faded into an expression of shock when she saw him rise from behind her father’s desk.
“K-Kirk?” she stammered.
Her face paled, highlighting the dark shadows of exhaustion and worry beneath her eyes that even makeup couldn’t disguise. Kirk moved swiftly to her side, aware of Orson’s PA coming up behind Sally. He gently guided Sally into a chair.
“A glass of water for Ms. Harrison, please, Marilyn,” Kirk instructed the PA, who raced to do his bidding.
She was back in a moment, and Kirk took the glass from her before pressing it into Sally’s shaking hand.
“Mr. Tanner, it’s really too much to expect her to attend the video link,” Marilyn began defensively. “She shouldn’t have to—”
“It’s entirely up to Ms. Harrison. Marilyn, perhaps you could get something for her to eat. I bet you haven’t had anything today, have you?” he asked, looking at Sally directly.
Sally shook her head. “No. I couldn’t bear to think about food.”
She tried to take a sip of the water. Her hand was shaking so much Kirk wrapped his fingers around hers to steady her and keep her from spilling. She flinched at his touch, a reaction he was sure Marilyn hadn’t missed.
“You need to eat something,” he said. He turned to the PA. “Could you get a bowl of fruit from the executive kitchen for Ms. Harrison and perhaps some yogurt, as well?”
“Is that what you want, Sally?” Marilyn asked, moving to Sally’s other side. “Perhaps you’d rather I stayed here with you while Mr. Tanner got you something to eat.”
Kirk bit back a retort. He wasn’t about to enter into a battle of wills with Marilyn here and now. And given the time constraints that now faced them, he wouldn’t be able to have the discussion with Sally that they really needed to have. He studied her from the top of her golden head to her sensibly clad feet. Even in a demure pale blue suit and with her hair scraped back into a ponytail that gave him a headache just looking at how tightly it was bound, she still affected him.
Could she already be pregnant with his child? The thought came like a sucker punch straight to his gut.
“Good idea,” he said, making a decision to leave their discussion until they could be guaranteed more privacy and uninterrupted time.
Of greater importance was letting Sally come to terms with his presence here—and the fact that he’d kept it from her last night. Once the shock wore off, he had no doubt matters between them would be less than cordial, especially once she discovered that he’d known exactly who she was all along.
Sally looked from him to Marilyn. “It-it’s okay, Marilyn. You know what I like. Perhaps you could get it for me? I really am feeling quite weak.”
“Of course you are,” Marilyn said in a more placatory tone and patted Sally on the shoulder. “You’ve always had a delicate constitution. I’ll be back in a moment.”
Marilyn closed the door behind her with a sharp click, leaving Kirk in no doubt that even though Orson’s PA had left the room to do his bidding, she certainly wasn’t happy about it.
“Have another sip of water,” he urged Sally.
He was relieved to see a little color coming back into her face.
“How is your dad doing?” he asked, determined to distract her until Marilyn’s return.
She drew in another deep breath. “He’s in an induced coma and they say he’s stable—whatever that means. It’s hard to see it as anything positive when he looks so awful and is totally nonresponsive.” Her voice shook, but she kept going. “They’re hoping to operate tomorrow. A quadruple bypass, apparently.”
Kirk pressed a hand on her shoulder. “I know your dad. He’s strong, he’ll come through.”
She looked up at him and he saw a flash of anger in her blue eyes.
“Just how well do you know my dad?”
Kirk felt a swell of discomfort, with just a tinge of rueful amusement. Trust Orson’s daughter to cut straight to the chase. “I’ve known him most of my life, to be honest.”
“And how is it I’ve never met you before last night?”
There was still a slight tremor to her voice, but he could see her getting stronger by the minute.
“Our parents were friends until my father died. After that my mom and I moved away. I was a kid at the time. There was no reason for you to know me before last night.”
He kept it deliberately brief. There wasn’t time for detail now.
“And now you’re back.” She fell silent a moment before flicking him another heated look. “You knew all along who I was, didn’t you?”
Kirk clenched his jaw and nodded. He’d never been the kind of person who lived on regret, but right now, if he could have turned back the clock and done last night over again, he absolutely would have. Or would he? He doubted she’d have come home with him if she’d known he’d soon be her boss. Would he have missed the chance to lose himself in her arms the way he had? Never have known the perfect passion they’d experienced together? Never had the broken condom, the snarky voice in the back of his mind sharply reminded him. Okay, so he’d have skipped that part.
“I see.” Sally swallowed another sip of water before speaking again. “She called you Mr. Tanner. That would be the Tanner in Harrison Tanner Tech? The new vice president?”
He nodded.
She pressed her lips together before speaking. “It seems you had me at a disadvantage right from the start. Which asks the question why you’d do something like that. Did it give you a kick to sleep with the chairman’s oblivious daughter? Never mind—don’t bother answering that.”
Sally waved her hand as if to negate the words she’d just uttered.
“Look, can we talk about that later, over dinner?”
“I do not want to go out to dinner with you. In fact, I don’t even want to be in the same room as you.”
Her cheeks had flushed pink with fury. At least that was better than the waxen image she’d presented to him only a few moments ago.
Marilyn returned to the office and set a small tray on Sally’s lap.
“There you are, my dear. Goodness knows, with your father so ill, the last thing we need is you collapsing,