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“I refused to be annoyed.”
He might say that, she thought. But he was annoyed.
She smirked, just so he could see, but he didn’t return the expression with one of his own. Instead, he returned to the morning paper, and she didn’t hear a word from him until they arrived at their destination.
***
“Ah, who is this charming beauty?” Jocelyn was greeted by Reggie’s German counterpart with a most attentive grasp of the hand and look in the eye. She refused to act like the bimbo on his arm, and she started to speak up, only to have Reggie interrupt her.
“She’s assisting me in my meetings,” he explained.
“Your secretary?” he asked.
“Not exactly,” Reggie replied.
The two men spun off speaking German which Jocelyn didn’t understand. An occasional glance at her made her think that they were talking about her, though she couldn’t be certain. When Reggie left her by herself in a room of German speaking strangers, she was becoming more irked as the long minutes ticked on.
The affair was some kind of reception, partially given in honor of Reggie’s arrival. There were gracious German toasts, Jocelyn could tell by the way everyone responded. All she could do was smile. For a while she had the feeling that everyone was speaking German just to keep her from knowing what they were saying. She knew it was an absurd thought, since they were in the middle of Germany, what did she expect?
“How are you doing?” Reggie asked her at one point.
“Bored stiff.”
“Why?” He looked surprised.
“It should be perfectly obvious to you. I don’t speak German. I can’t see what good I’m going to be, if your negotiations are in a language I can’t understand.”
“Don’t worry, they’ll be in English. Just look pretty for a while longer and we’ll be moving on.”
“Look pretty? Is that my function? You’ve got to be kidding.” Jocelyn picked up her purse from the couch and walked toward the door of the reception hall.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“Shopping. I’ll see you at the conference room, let’s see—” She glanced at her watch. “How about an hour?” She stormed out, and with another businessman at his shoulder, Reggie let her escape go unchallenged.
***
At lunch they were shooting darts toward each other. The promised conferences Jocelyn was suppose to attend didn’t happen. She was put off again, listening to more German, with a few English translations just for her benefit. She was beginning to think that she was nothing more than an attractive accessory for Reggie, which only made her furious.
Slipping out of the luncheon with a gracious smile, she left him assuming she’d just gone to the ladies room. She returned to their room instead, and she was just
drawing her bath water, hoping a long soak would soothe her nerves, when Reggie entered.
“Jocelyn,” he snapped.
She went about her business in the bath, ignoring him, though when he burst through the door she wasn’t surprised.
“This is a childish snit,” he accused.
“No, this is womanly revolt,” she retorted.
“You’re expected in a meeting in a half hour, get dressed.”
“So, I can listen to these pompous asses bark at each other in German?”
“This is all English. You remember this is a working trip.”
“It hadn’t seemed that way to me,” she said dryly. “So far my function has been strictly sexual and decorative. I could be home tending to my own million dollar company, being a hell of a lot more useful then I am here.”
