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I stilled. “I’m listening.”
“What?” Theodore gripped the arms of his chair. “You can’t do that!”
“Can’t I?” the duke asked. “This is still my company. I’ll just transfer her to the President’s office and order your father to accept it. Problem solved.”
“That’s an abuse of your authority, Gramps.” Theodore pinched the bridge of his nose. “I would have accepted one of those subpar assistants if I knew this was going to happen.”
“You should have been gracious enough to accept her resignation instead of pretending you didn’t know.” The duke’s tone held a hint of coldness. “The only reason I’ve agreed to do this instead of stepping in to handle your childishness right now is because I know that having her by your side while you take the reins on this project is the best thing for the company and you. I know better than anyone how talented Chloe is. Doing this would mean there’s two and a half months for you to find and train a new assistant, and I’m sure even you can find someone satisfactory during that time, Theodore.”
Two and a half months?
Oh, right. Six weeks for the trip and one month to serve the notice.
“Have you considered that this project is why I haven’t accepted it? If I had, she’d already be serving her notice.” Theo clenched his jaw.
“Nonsense. If that were the case, you should have communicated it.” The duke sniffed.
I held up a hand. “What’s the catch?”
They all looked at me. “The catch?” Alastair asked. “What do you mean?”
“Well, I’ve been trying to give him my resignation letter daily for almost a month.” I pointed at Theodore. “Now you’re telling me that you’re sending me to one of the prettiest parts of the country to do my job, my rent will be subsidised, my working hours will be the same, I’ll get a bonus,andyou’ll force through a transfer that means my resignation will finally be accepted?” I raised my eyebrows. “Surely, you all know I’m smarter than to accept that without one: signing a written contract and two: finding out what the catch is.”
The duke scratched under his ear. “No catch.”
“Your Grace, I worked under you for five years. You scratch under your ear when you’re lying.” I narrowed my eyes at him.
“We’ll be living together,” Theodore said flatly.
“We what?” I squeaked, jerking around to look at him.
He turned his head and stared out of the window. “That’s why you have no living expenses. We’ll be living in the same house on land we already own nearby to the lake.”
“Hey! I thought you said no extra working hours!” I glared at Alastair. “He contacts me enough on my downtime as it is, now you’re telling me I have tolivewith him? What kind of sneak overtime is that?”
He held up his hands. “Strict rules will be put in place that from seven-to-seven he won’t be able to ask you to assist with work unless there’s an emergency or you have forty-eight hours’ notice. And yes, there will be a written contract to sign to make sure this is adhered to.”
“And the part about my resignation being accepted will be written into it?”
“Yes. If you return and still wish to resign, it will be accepted, no questions asked. If he refuses to sign off on it, we will go through with transferring to you my office so I can do it for you.”
I glanced at Theodore. He was still glaring out of the window with his jaw clenched. Why was he so bothered about me leaving? He’d been a brat for the last month, and he was being a brat right now.
I was only a secretary.
I was hardly the only person in this entire world who could do this job for him.
That said, I did want him to succeed, and I despised how the stuffy directors looked down on him merely because of his age. He was more competent than that useless bunch all put together.
If I did this, it would mean helping him set up something that would prove them all wrong, while also resulting in me getting what I want.
Was it really a dreadful thing to say yes?
“If you’re concerned about living together,” the duke said. “Don’t be. This isn’t one of those ‘only one bed’ situations my wife likes to read about in her romance novels.”
“Grandfather,” Theodore said tightly.
“It’s a four-bedroom house we rent out to tourists. It’s on its own plot of land next to the Ruxleigh estate. You’d be staying at the main house if we weren’t doing some necessary renovations before the summer,” he continued. “There’s more than enough room for you to both live peacefully. Given the rural area, it also makes more sense for you stay in the same place. You won’t have an office right away like you do here.”
