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No. She bridled outside the room, hearing some very male laughter erupting behind the door. Quinn barked a command and there was silence, but Magenta got the distinct impression that the laughter had been directed at her.
She made the coffee and took it into the men, but held back from serving it. If they wanted a coffee, then one of them would have to pour it. She left the room and returned with her notebook as instructed. She didn’t know shorthand, but she could write fast.
And she had to. Quinn wasn’t short of ideas, most of which she agreed with, but it would have been nice if he consulted his team along the way, rather than issuing instructions. He ignored her completely. She might have been invisible. ‘Can I ask a question?’ she said at one point.
‘If you want to leave the room, you don’t have to be coy,’ he said while the men sniggered and Magenta’s cheeks flamed red.
‘I don’t want to leave the room,’ she said, conscious of the other men looking on with interest as the little drama unfolded.
‘Then please be quiet,’ Quinn rapped impatiently. ‘Can’t you see we’re having an important meeting here?’
And clearly it was a meeting she wasn’t up to taking part in, according to Quinn, who seemed stuck in a chauvinist mindset.
What to do? She could argue her point, but it would only be counterproductive in this company. She wanted Quinn to listen to her and to take her seriously. She would have to play this subtly for the sake of the team she had already decided she must build—at least until she got the hang of the workings of this strange new world.
But as she sat through the meeting, Magenta’s anger grew. As she’d thought, many of the men weren’t up to much, while she was increasingly certain that the women currently wasting their talents typing up dictation were being held back. Everything was upside down. She sighed, frustration beating at her brain. She was impotent to do anything about it until she’d worked things out.
‘Magenta?’
She jumped with surprise as Quinn rapped out her name.
‘If you find it so hard to pay attention, I can always get someone to replace you—’
Quinn wasn’t joking. She was in imminent danger of losing her job. And this might be a crazy dream-world, but right now it was all she had got.
CHAPTER SIX
WHEN the meeting ended, Quinn asked Magenta to remain behind, and her heart sank as the last man out of the room threw her a pitying look. But even if this was a dream she had to defend her corner. Was Quinn content with a weak team? Wouldn’t he at least evaluate the skills of his female workforce and give them a chance? The more she thought about it, the more fired up she became. ‘This is quite an experiment you’ve got going on,’ she commented lightly as she shut the door.
‘An experiment? This is no experiment, Magenta. This is my company, and you work by my rules or you walk out that door and you don’t come back.’
‘You can’t just fire me.’
‘Watch me.’
Was she au fait with sixties employment law? No. And what good would she be to the girls she hoped to recruit if Quinn threw her out?
‘For someone so recently promoted, you have a disappointing attitude, Magenta—which is why I want to speak to you.’
‘I’m just surprised by the quality of the team you’ve drawn around you.’
‘Firstly, it’s not in your remit to pass comment on my decisions. And secondly, that’s not my team. That’s a batch of individuals I am evaluating.’
Like battery hens. ‘Ruthless’ didn’t even begin to describe Quinn. She was almost sorry for the men.
‘I’m evaluating everyone’s performance—and I have to tell you that you are my biggest disappointment to date. Instead of being thrilled by your promotion, you seem discontented.’
‘That’s not the case at all.’ Above all she had to hold on to her job. How else would she fight for recognition, not just for herself but for her colleagues? ‘I’m overwhelmed by my new role, and your trust in me.’ She held back from batting her eyelashes. ‘You won’t have to wait until close of play today. I’m up to speed now and I promise I won’t let you down again.’
Suspicion flared in Quinn’s incredible eyes, which she quickly took care of. ‘I hope the notes I’ve taken down are what you require?’ She offered them for his approval.
He ignored them. ‘I’ll let you know when you’ve typed them up. And one more thing, Magenta.’
‘Yes?’
‘Your duties include running the office and managing the cleaners, the girls in the typing pool and those on the switchboard. They do not include interfering in my business meetings. Is that clear?’
