Heart in the Field (6 page)

           
Someone knocked at her office door
and Serena rose to her feet. It was Juliette Marshall, her news-hour
replacement, all five foot ten of her in white shorts and a gray Steel T-shirt,
her flowing brunette hair in a perky tail. Behind her a young man with shaggy
blond hair carried a heavy box.

           
Juliette said, “You can put the box
beside the desk, Rick. Thanks. Then go get another one.” She grinned at Serena.
“Don did tell you I’m moving in today, didn’t he?”

           
Juliette looked so freshly washed
and all together without a problem in her life that Serena felt like a slob at
this moment. She was also stunned by Juliette’s announcement. She stared at the
box. “No. Don didn’t tell me. Are you taking over my office?”

           
“’
Fraid
so.
You’re getting the suite of offices on
seven, so you’ll have more room for
Neon
Nights
meetings.” Juliette placed her
carefully manicured fingers on her hips. “Are you sure Don didn’t tell you?”

           
“No. He didn’t.” Serena was getting
more and more peeved at Don by the day. But she knew he was going behind her
back so she wouldn’t cause any aggravation.

           
“Well, I don’t think he intended on
moving you in the first place, but since Nick Fraser is taking over from John,
he figured things should be bigger and better.”

           
Serena frowned. “You mean John
didn’t deserve the suite, but Nick does?”

           
“Something
like
that.” Juliette flicked her ponytail. “Nick Fraser is a bit of a star, you
know.”

           
“I suppose.” Serena wasn’t sure if
she’d actually thought of him as a star. She’d been more worried about the
matching personality likeness to her father, and the way he affected her
physically and emotionally.

           
Juliette gave Serena a probing look.
“What did you think of him when you met him?”

           
“Nick?”

           
Juliette bared her white teeth.
“Naturally, Nick.”

           
“He’s okay.”

           
“That’s not what I’ve heard. I’ve
heard he’s darn sexy in person and deserves his reputation with women. Broken
hearts strewn all over Europe and beyond.”

           
For some reason Serena wasn’t
surprised to hear this.
“Maybe so.
But he didn’t
affect me.”

           
“Then he’s not so great in person?”

           
“Not so great.” She didn’t want
Juliette starting any gossip. Avoiding gossip was all the more reason to be
very circumspect in her relationship with Nick.

           
“Then going by your take on things,
he sounds quite unimpressive. By the way, Rick will move your stuff for you if
you pack it into boxes. We can empty mine and fill them with your things.”
Juliette glanced around. “This is a nice office. I’ll like it here.”

           
Serena was suddenly aware of what
she had to do. Moving all her belongings could take hours, well into the night.
She had to get started. What she really felt like doing was going to Don and
arguing about the change, but she knew that type of action didn’t work on Don.
He usually let you rant and rave, and then he laughed, like he had this
morning. Besides, Nick was a given now, and it made sense to have the co-hosts
of
Neon Nights
together in one place. “I’ll go and take a look at the
suite,” she said.

           
“Only another three floors until
you’re up with Don,” Juliette told her.

           
Serena made a face this time. “
Neon Nights
has to
really take off for that.”

           
“Do you have reservations about it?”

           
Realizing she was giving Juliette
the impression she was dissatisfied, Serena shook her head. “No.
None at all.”

           
Serena walked the two flights of
stairs to the seventh floor, thinking that Juliette might secretly hope
Neon Nights
would
flop. The woman was ambitious. If Serena’s show didn’t make it, an opening
would be made for The Juliette Marshall News Show, or whatever.

           
Don was in the suite, talking to
Paul
Kryker
. Paul was fair-haired and tall, and
muscular enough in his old jeans and shirt not to be dwarfed by Don. His blue
eyes twinkled at Serena. “Hi. How’re you doing, Serena?”

           
“Fine, Paul. How are you?” His
handshake certainly didn’t unnerve her, the way Nick’s did.

           
“I’m great. Are you looking forward
to the show?”

           
“Yes. I am.” Then she glanced at
Don, unable to resist a poke at his manipulative strategy. “Thanks for the
warning about the office change.”

           
Don’s expression was a little
sheepish. “I knew you’d understand.”

           
“I understand when I’m being
railroaded”

           
“But you won’t take it personally?”

           
“No. I’m not taking it personally
when I believe it’s all to do with accommodating Nick Fraser.”

           
Don sighed. “Not necessarily,
Serena. We might have moved up here with John.”

           
“Might.”

           
“Nick has to be accommodated. He
won’t work for us if things don’t go his way. He believes he wouldn’t have
landed a job when he came back on the off-chance, but that’s not true. I know
three places that would have welcomed him with open arms.
Which
is why we want to keep him.
So where is he?”

           
“He’s home, but he’ll be here for
the commercial tomorrow.”

           
“Did you have a meeting yet?”

           
Serena nodded. “Yes. We met this
morning and discussed the direction of the show.” She let out a short breath.
“He didn’t particularly jump up and down in delight over the planned
programming.”

           
Don shook his head. “Naturally he
wouldn’t. It’s garbage.”

           
“I thought you were agreeable.”

           
“For John Duncan,
but not for Nick.
It’s not for you either. Did you come up with
anything?”

           
“We will by Monday.”

           
“Good. We’ll schedule a meeting in
this board room for everyone at ten-thirty Monday morning.” He waved his arm.
“So, what do you think of this set-up?”

           
Surrounding a comfortable coffee
meeting area were three offices and a boardroom with an oblong oak table.
Serena was pleased to see all the offices had their own connecting clothes
closets and washrooms. She wasn’t giving up those privileges. “It looks good.”

           
“She says cautiously,” Don said.
“Realizing she has to give in to Don’s bright idea that they needed more office
space.”

           
She grinned at him. He was one of the
most maddening yet easy to get along with men she’d ever met.

           
Still, it was annoying she had to
move. It was as if she were giving up everything to Juliette, including her
afternoon news stardom. The new show was a gamble. It could be dead at the end
of this season. And it might have been with John. But with Nick there was a
chance for a second run, and John could ride on Nick’s coat-tails for that
season.
After that?
Well, that was two years down the
road. She couldn’t worry about the future when the present was looming in on
her.

           
Serena returned to the fifth floor.
By now Juliette had boxes covering the carpet.

           
Juliette straightened for a moment,
hands rubbing her silken thighs. “Some are empty for you to use. Maybe you
could unload your desk first, so I can get sorted out. Pat
McHaney
is doing the news today to allow me time to do this.”

           
Serena agreed to clean out her desk,
even if she did feel as if she’d been tossed into a life of mayhem. When she
was ready, she commandeered Rick to carry a couple of boxes. Paul was alone in
the suite when she got there.

           
He jumped up from a sofa, agile for
such a big man. “Do you need help?”

           
“It’s not one of your duties.”

           
He grinned. “I’m not sure it should
be one of yours either. But, hey, I can’t stand all this sitting around. Tell
me where you want everything and I’ll oblige.”

           
Even with Paul’s help, for which she
was grateful, when it came to reassembling some shelves, it took all afternoon
to move upstairs. She had the front desk call out for pizza at six. As they ate
she chatted to Paul about the direction of the new show. On the surface he
seemed full of enthusiasm and raring to go, but she sensed a little hesitancy
when it came to Nick.

           
“You’ve known Nick a while, haven’t
you?” she said as they packed the pizza box into the wastepaper basket.

           
“We met once. Are you getting along
with him?”

           
Serena smiled at him. “Shouldn’t I?”

           
“Sure you should. But beware of
him.” Paul’s expression turned grim for the first time today. “My sister,
Lise
is a journalist. She fell for him like a ton of bricks
a few years back. When he dumped her she took it hard.”

           
This seemed to confirm Juliette’s
comment about Nick’s reputation with women. “Well, if that’s a warning,
consider me asbestos hide. I’m not in the market for any man like Nick.”

           
“Neither was
Lise
.
But Nick got to her.”

           
“That’s unfortunate.” Serena saw
that Paul was still looking agitated. “It won’t make any difference to you
working with Nick, will it?” The last thing she felt she needed was added
tension in her life.

           
“Other than I’d like to smash his
face in for hurting my sister.”

           
“Paul, I didn’t think you were the
violent type.”

           
“I’m not usually, but
Lise
is my little sister, and I feel protective.”

           
“I understand, but these things
happen between men and women. Especially in the line of work your sister and
Nick are in.”

           
Paul’s big shoulders relaxed
slightly. “Yeah, I guess. I’ve probably left a trail of broken hearts as well,
when I’ve had to move on.
Which is why I’ve been staying put.
I’m getting married.”

           
“Congratulations.” Serena was
pleased to change the subject. “Who’s the lucky woman?”

           
“Her name’s Elaine and I’ll be
bringing her to the soirée on Saturday evening. So I’ll introduce you to her.”

           
“That’s great, Paul. I’ll look
forward to meeting her.”

           
After Paul left, Serena fished the
card Nick had given her out of her front pocket. She remembered his eyes
watching her put the card there in the first place. Wondering how it would feel
to have Nick’s hand slide to that secret place on her body, she felt the now
familiar warm sensations flood her veins.

           
Oh,
dear, will I survive this?
Serena thought as
she punched out the scrawled number on the back of the card on to the phone key
pad. Nick’s phone rang four times before it was picked up. She thought she
heard a stifled yawn as she said, “Hi. It’s Serena.”

           
“Hey.” He sounded sleepy.

           
“Did I get you up?”

           
He chuckled. “I was just dozing away
my jet lag.”

           
“Are you feeling better?”

           
“Now that you’ve
phoned, yes.
So what’s up?”

           
“I just wanted to say that my office
has been moved to the seventh floor. And you’re next door to me.”

           
“I have my own office?”