Hot Night by Shannon McKenna

Author:Shannon McKenna [McKenna, Shannon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Fiction, Suspense, General
ISBN: 9780758205650
Publisher: Brava
Published: 2008-10-01T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter

15

Abby practically ripped all the tendons in her ankles in her mad dash for the bus. Those Pollini pumps were great, but not for sprinting.

Her alarm clock hadn’t gone off because she’d forgotten to push the button down. After last night’s final torrid episode, she’d drifted off without a thought for the following morning. She could have slept till nine. Till noon. She terrified herself. It was unthinkably irresponsible.

Her workday began as inauspiciously as she had feared. Trish looked up from the reception desk, her eyes huge and dramatic. “Boy, are you ever in the doghouse, Abby!” she said with unseemly relish.

Abby smiled with forced calm. “Good morning to you, too, Trish.”

“Bridget wants you in her office right away,” Trish called after her.

Bridget was in a white rage. “Ah, Abby. How kind of you to grace us with your presence. Don’t bother to sit down. You don’t have time.”

Abby froze in the act of sitting, and awkwardly straightened up.

“I see you opted to take it easy last night,” Bridget went on. “Cathy saw you leave shortly after I did. With that alarming fellow with all the hair. I do hope you had a pleasant, relaxing evening?”

Abby clamped down on a surge of disproportionate anger. “Yes, Zan was kind enough to offer me a ride home.”

“A ride home,” Bridget murmured. “Hmph. Really.”

Abby sealed her lips and stared the older woman straight in the face. Bridget sniffed when it became evident that Abby was not going to babble an apology. “In any case, I was in at six-thirty. I expected to find you here. I also expected to see a great deal more progress uncrating the exhibit. I tried your phone, no answer. I tried your cell, it was off. And then, only days before the biggest fund-raising event of the year, you have the gall to waltz in to work at”—she glanced at her watch—“eight nineteen AM. I simply cannot tell you how disappointed I am.”

“I’m sorry, Bridget. I—”

“Up until now, I assumed that you were dedicated to your job,” Bridget said. “Today, I was forced to question my own judgment.”

“It won’t happen again,” Abby said tightly.

“Oh, it most certainly will not. In fact, it must not. You cannot afford any more lapses, Abby. Have I made myself quite clear?”

“Very,” Abby said, through clenched teeth.

“Good. Please go and confer with Dovey. We have a very important emergency meeting with the head of the Haverton White Foundation. Dovey can brief you.” Bridget looked at her watch. “You arrived just in time.” She shot Abby a chilly glance. “They awarded us a very nice grant, you might be interested to know.”

“Oh. Ah, that’s…that’s good,” she faltered.

“Yes, isn’t it? How nice of you to care. You may go.” Bridget swung the chair around to face her computer. Abby was dismissed.

She made her way toward Dovey’s cubicle. No point in feeling sorry for herself. This situation was the result of a long series of stupid choices, starting with the night Zan let her into her apartment in exchange for a kiss.

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