Page 129 of The Work Wife

“I’m giving you my assistant.” The smile Ben gave along with this statement alerted Wes to trouble.

“Why? What’s wrong with her?” Wes readjusted his bag and stared at his brother.

“Nothing. I just thought you’d be better off with someone who’s been here a while instead of hiring someone brand-new. I hope it won’t be a—” He stopped talking when the woman walked in. Wes smiled in greeting.

“Good evening, Mr. Archer,” she said to him, ignoring Ben altogether. Ah. So this was the issue. Perfect.

“Please, call me Weston.” Wes recognized her from his time with the company before.

“I’m Anna, your new assistant. I wanted to know if you needed to send anything out by courier. Someone is dropping something off. I thought I’d make one trip.”

“No. I don’t have anything to go out, except myself.” He pointed toward the door so everyone in his office understood he was trying to leave.

“I’m sure there would be additional charges for that,” she joked pleasantly, and walked out of the office.

“Is this going to be a problem?” Ben asked as soon as she was gone.

Wes watched his brother watching the woman leave. “Is what a problem?”

“Working with her. I just can’t. I was hoping it wouldn’t bother you as much.”

“What are you talking about? What is wrong with her?” She seemed normal enough.

“Don’t you recognize her?”

“Yeah. But that doesn’t answer my question.”

“She’s the woman who slept with our father.” Ben waved his hand as if revealing her in a magic trick.

“No, she isn’t.” Wes looked at the empty doorway, knowing without a doubt it wasn’t the same woman.

“You said she was blond.”

Wes let out a breath. “Surely you realize there are many blond women in this city.”

“You said her name started with an A.”

“Again, statistically speaking, I’m guessing there’s more than just the one.”

“Blondes who have names starting with A and work here? What are the statistics on that one?”

“At least two. Because that is not the woman who I caught messing around with Dad.” Wes waved his hand with his own revelation.

“Shit.”

Anna walked in carrying an envelope and held it out.

“Thank you, Anna.” He hoped to ease the tension between the two of them. Something was definitely up.

“No problem. Have a safe trip.” She gave an efficient nod and left the office.

“You’re positive?” Ben asked, looking a little sickly as the woman closed the door.

“One hundred percent sure.”

“Oh, no.” Ben slumped in the sofa by the door as Wes pulled the tab to open the envelope. “I like her,” Ben went on, rubbing his temples. “Really like her. Like maybe we could have had something great, but I accused her of . . .”

Wes was putting the pieces together pretty well with Ben’s situation. But not so much with the contents of the envelope he’d just received via courier.