At least she thought she’d been able to convince Jake to hang around at least one more day. Not her finest moment, but even so, she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about that kiss.
&n
bsp; Which she needed to do pronto. She had to be sharp and focused in order to complete the job she’d come here to do. Unfortunately, the single kiss had only made her want more. So much more. She couldn’t help but wonder if Jake felt the same way.
Just as she’d decided she might as well get ready to go to bed, her walkie-talkie chimed. Leigh was summoning her to her suite. Somehow, Fiona managed to keep from groaning out loud. She kept her voice cheery as she agreed to head that way.
Exhaustion warred with tension as Fiona trudged down the long, carpeted hallway toward Leigh’s suite. Leigh had been given a deluxe suite, which included an anteroom she used as her office.
After a soft tap on the elaborate iron and wood door, Fiona waited. A moment later, Leigh bade her to enter. When Fiona stepped inside, feet sinking in the plush carpet, Leigh remained seated behind a massive oak desk that had been polished to a high sheen.
“Micheline is very pleased with you.” Beaming, Leigh wasted no time on pleasantries. “You saving Theodore Royce III has worked very much in our favor.”
“Who?” Fiona blinked. Whatever she’d expected Leigh to say, it hadn’t been this.
“The new recruit you kept from getting beat up.” Leigh drummed her long, perfectly manicured, hot-pink nails on the desk in front of her. “And now I’ve been informed Ron Underhill tried to attack you. Rest assured, Micheline has made sure he has been dealt with.”
Cell, Fiona remembered. Underhill had been worried about being taken to the cell.
“How?” Fiona asked. “What did she do to him?”
Leigh waved her question away. “That’s not any of your concern. What matters is that Theodore is overwhelmingly grateful. He now trusts you completely.” She smiled. “This process usually takes much longer. You’ve saved us quite a bit of time.”
To do what? Uneasy now, Fiona waited to hear the rest of it.
Still smiling, Leigh continued. “Theo was visiting here today because he’s that struggling freshman at Mustang Valley College I mentioned you helping earlier. He, like many of our members, is searching for something more. For the first time in his young life, his wealth hasn’t bought him happiness. AAG has offered him assistance. We can help change all that.”
“We can?” Fiona knew where this was going. The thought made her queasy, but she managed to appear eager.
“Yes. It’s what we do, as you know. Help him become his best him.” She sighed, still smiling prettily, and brushed her hair away from her face. “Micheline is offering him entry into her new, specialized, individual courses. He will get a discounted rate of one thousand dollars for each of his first classes—how to judge worthy friends, how to choose a significant other, how to know if your parents are really not in your corner, and so on. Micheline will help him attain honest selfhood.”
“Wow.” This was all Fiona could manage to say. She wasn’t sure exactly how many classes they’d get poor Theodore to take, but it sounded as if they planned to help relieve him of somewhere in the vicinity of ten thousand dollars.
Her comment made Leigh laugh. “Wow is right. What an opportunity for him.” She winked. “Of course, those are only the first tier of courses. Once he’s ready to move up a level, the price will also increase to five thousand dollars each.”
Though Fiona nodded as if she was on board with the entire thing, inside she seethed. This kind of thing—AAG taking advantage of the young and uncertain or elderly and infirm—made her furious. Which of course, she couldn’t let show.
“We’d like you to be the one to discuss this with him,” Leigh continued, her voice smooth. “It should be a breeze, a shoo-in for your first networking task, since he already views you as his savior.” Her smile faded, her gaze sharpening. “What exactly did you do to get Underhill off him?”
“Underhill? Was he that big bald guy?”
“Yes.” Leigh shook her head. “He outweighs you by like a hundred pounds.”
Praying there hadn’t been security cameras, Fiona grimaced. “I’m not sure. It all happened so fast. He came at me and I twisted away. He got off balance.” She shrugged, hoping she sounded modest and frightened. “It was awful. I was so lucky. Maybe he’s seen me with you and knew Micheline was going to find out about what he’d done. Either way, he ran off.” She took a deep, shaky breath.
No frown creased Leigh’s perfect forehead to indicate she might suspect Fiona might be lying. Of course, around here, falsehoods were the flavor of the day.
“Anyway,” Leigh finally continued. “We’re going to set you up with a visit to Theo tomorrow. He’s still in the infirmary, so you can stop by to visit and check on him. That’s when you’ll bring up the custom plan Micheline has developed for him.” She rummaged through a small stack of papers, extracted one and passed it over to Fiona. “This is a list of all the classes we think would benefit him.”
“Okay.” Swallowing back nausea, Fiona accepted the paper. While this sort of thing was not in any way illegal, because Micheline gave people exactly what they paid for, it was unethical.
“Sit.” Gesturing at the antique French chair across from the desk, Leigh gestured at an open wine bottle and two stemless glasses. “Would you like a glass of wine?”
Though she took a seat, Fiona politely declined. The last thing she needed would be to dull her wits around Leigh.
Leigh pouted at Fiona’s refusal but poured herself a large glass. She took a deep sip and sighed. “Well, then, tell me how you and Jake are getting along. The last time I saw the two of you, you seemed very chummy.”
“Chummy.” Fiona pretended to consider the words, finally allowing herself a slow, sultry smile. “I guess you could say that.”