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“Then why was she under the table?” Mrs. Gale lifted her head and somehow managed to stare down her nose at her son, despite their height differences. “Let me guess. You were playing hide and seek. She seems to be of the age and intelligence level that she’d enjoy such trivialities.”
Maggie gasped. “Excuse me. I graduated top of my class at—”
He interrupted with, “She dropped a fork and was picking it up.”
“Ah, but no one will believe that.” His mother shook her head. “Not once I tell the board the disgraceful behavior I witnessed. Interoffice relations are forbidden.”
“Not always,” he said, still looking completely bored.
If she had known she was going to get fired anyway, maybe she would have had a little bit of fun under that table first. Mr. Gale was an attractive man, and the way he’d been looking at her right before the interruption…
It had been scalding hot, to say the least.
Panty-dropping, to be more accurate.
Mrs. Gale snorted. “Well, unless the two of you were secretly dating before she came here, you don’t have a leg to stand on. And you are well aware of it, too.”
Maggie’s boss looked at her, but remained silent.
It was almost as if he was asking her…no. No.
Surely he didn’t mean…no.
“As I thought. She’s fired, and that’s that,” his mother said, shooting Maggie a disdainful look. “It’s time you stopped messing around with loose women, and did your duty as heir and primary share holder of Gale Incorporated. I set you up on a date with a lovely woman last night, and you didn’t even show up, which is why I’m here in the first place. Do you know how long it took for me to smooth the waters with Sheldon?”
Maggie crept toward the door. Time to slink away.
He grabbed her hand, holding her in place.
“No, and I don’t give a damn, either. I told you not to set me up with his daughter,” Mr. Gale said, his voice clipped. “That’s on you. You’re the one who refuses to give up on the idea of me marrying some snob you handpicked for me.”
“With good reason.” His mother’s nostrils flared. “I don’t give up once I’ve decided on a course of action. It’s a pity you didn’t inherit my determination to win and stubbornness to be the best.”
Maggie tried to discreetly wriggle free, not wanting to draw attention to herself, but failed. Her boss wasn’t letting go. She glanced up at the ceiling. If ever a meteorite was going to swoop down on the city and kill her, now would be the perfect time.
“Funny that you think that. You tried to kick me out of this position,” he pointed out, brow raised. “And yet here I stand. Holding steady.”
“This is not a conversation for outsiders.” She gestured to Maggie, her nose again scrunching up at the sight of their joined hands, as if she smelled the peasant on her. “Let her go. She’s fired.”
Mr. Gale shook his head. “No, she’s not. And she’s not going anywhere.”
“Very well then. You want to dig yourself a deeper hole? Go ahead.” She threw her hands up dramatically. “I’m through trying to protect you.”
“Protecting me? When the hell have you ever—?”
“Language,” his mother snapped, her face flushing. “You listen, and you listen well, young man. You will go on the dates I set up for you, and you will do it with a smile on your face, and you will pick one of them to become your wife. It’s what your father did before you, and your father’s father, and your father’s father’s father. It is what’s expected of you.”
His jaw flexed, but he remained silent.
Apparently, Mrs. Gale wasn’t finished yet. “You will be charming and every inch the gentleman I raised you to be. You will find a suitable woman to settle down with, and you will propose. Enough of these dalliances with low-class women—it’s time to do your duty as heir and the head of this company. You wanted the position badly enough to fight me for it? You have it. Now it’s time to take full responsibility for that position. It’s been almost six years. It’s time to be the man you’re supposed to be. A man your father might possibly be proud of. If not, I swear, I’ll—”
She cut herself off, finally.
Maggie, for one, was grateful for the silence.
Mr. Gale tightened his hold on her, but otherwise he showed no outward reaction to his mother’s horrible words. Maggie tugged again, but to no avail. “Go on,” he said. “Finish your threat. You’ve never held back before.”
Mrs. Gale lifted her chin and pointed her haughty nose to the ceiling. “If not, I’ll take this unfortunate situation to the board and use it to get you kicked out of your tenuous position as CEO of this company. Your brother is three years younger than you, and he’s married a woman of suitable upbringing—”
