Turn Back the Dawn (8 page)

how nad she felt with Kurt, and with the others? Had she felt exhilaration, this heady whirl of emotions that threw reason to the winds?

"Trust me," he whispered. "And I promise you something, Kate Churchill. Tonight it's all up to you. I want to be with you where we don't have phones ringing every two
minutes and people ready to come in at any moment. "If I could"—he smiled—"I'd take you out to the countryside, t
o
a mountain cabin where you wouldn't be able to think
of
anything
but
romance. But even then, Kate, I'd follow your lead. It will be a night just to talk, perhaps—
no
advertising or retailing or office talk. That's the only rule. And we'll take it from there." He tilted his head. "If
you're willing."

S
h
e
looked away from him; she couldn't think straight when she was caught in the silken strands of his gaze.

"And if not," he said—she looked up, and he smiled— "If not, I'll just tote you up as hopelessly indecisive, and forget the whole thing."

"You
think you can goad me into it, don't you," she said
, smiling.

His eyes sparkled. "Can I?"

She raised her brows and smiled in challenge. "Definitely not. And anyway, I forgot—it's Thursday night. The store is open late, and even though my staff goes home at five,
I have to stay on."

"Oh, it's my own doing, actually. I was having an argument one day—when I was assistant director of advertising—with the head cosmetics buyers. And I said I thought the heads of departments should be more in touch with the buying
public. It was a good idea, but half made up of

spite. Anyway, it became store policy a few weeks ago. And now we circulate through the store and talk to customers on a one-to-one basis." Kate shrugged. "Now I wish I had never suggested it; I was just trying to aggravate this woman. And there's no good reason the depan- ment heads can't do the same thing during the day."

Ben looked thoughtful. "I don't really know that that's true, Kate—you have an entirely different market at nigh:. And I like the idea of getting out and meeting with the public. I like it a lot. I think we could do more with it."

"Great. I was just thinking of trying to abolish the damn thing."

Ben shook his head. "Uh-uh. Don't do a thing yet. Bu: I'll tell you what. I'll call you later after I talk to Coates about the other auditions. And if it can't be tonight, I'll have to goad you into some other night."

She smiled as she gathered up her things and walked to the door. "Maybe," she said.

He shook his head, his eyes dark and serious. "No maybes, Kate. Not anymore."

And, as she looked at him one last time before she opened the door, she saw that he was dead serious.

CHAPTER FOUR

When Kate got back to her office that afternoon, there was a note on her telephone: call me the second you get in! from Alison.

Alarmed, Kate picked up the phone and dialed Alison's extension before looking at the other messages Linda had left.

Alison was talking nonstop before Kate had finished saying hello: "What the hell happened at that audition?" she said. "This girl came flying past my office today in tears, and I found out afterward that it was Dick Dayton's niece crying her eyes out over the audition at Ben Austin's agency."

"What?" Kate said. "Why?"

"You tell me. I don't know. I got this from Joan Samuels who got it from her secretary, who got it from Day- ton's secretary, so what we're dealing with here might not be a hundred percent reliable. But from what I understand she had thought she'd be chosen for the part—who the hell knows what that crazy Dick Dayton told her?— and then you and Austin and the rest of the agency people didn't say a word when she was finished. I don't know, Kate—she might even still be in Dayton's office. I saw

them leave together for lunch, and I saw them come back a while ago."

Kate swore under her breath. "I knew this would happen," she said. "The fact is, Ally, that that girl was far and away the best of anyone we saw. We didn't tell her she was coming back because that's not the way it's done—we're calling people afterward. But I argued with Ben about hiring her—I knew there would be problems because of her connection with the store."

"Well, you've got them, Kate."

And then Kate saw the phone message at the top of the pile: "11:00: Dick Dayton. Urgent." Underneath, it said, "Dick Dayton—11:30 a.m.—Urgent."

"Listen," Kate said. "I'd better get off and call him before he has my head. There are two messages marked 'urgent' already."

"Okay. But wait one second," Alison said. "What about Ben? What's happening with the two of you?"

"I don't know, Alison," she answered, sighing. "I think I really messed it up. I'm so paranoid after Kurt and so indecisive that I just keep switching gears. I'm definitely driving him crazy."

"Oh, come on. From the way you've described him, Kate, he sounds very unrufflable. I'm sure you're not driving him crazy except in a good way."

"Well, everyone has his or her limits. Anyway, I'm driving myself crazy even if he's not bothered. Because, Ally, I really like him. That scares me, but it feels good, too."

She heard Alison sigh. "Then, go for it, Kate. Go for him."

Kate smiled. Suddenly, her only thought was Why not?

Why not, when she had made so many mistakes before? Why not, when he seemed so right? He did seem different from the others. Why couldn't she allow herself to try, at least? "I think I just might do that," she said quietly. "I really think I might."

A few moments later she said good-bye and dialed Dayton's extension.

"Dayton," he barked.

Had sign, Kate thought. He hadn't even let his secretary pick up.

'Kate Churchill," she said.

Silence. Then: "Would you come in here for a moment,

please?"

She bristled. True, had he been talking to a man at her corporate level he might have used the same words; but he definitely wouldn't have used such a commanding tone.

I'm free in half an hour," she said. "But I can talk for a moment. What can I help you with?"

We'll discuss it when you come in," he said, and hung up.

Adrenaline raced through her. Damn him! And the part was that if she were angry with him when she went into his office, she would be called "emotional," a woman who "tends to fly off the handle." Whereas a man in the same situation would be called no-nonsense, or straighforward. She worked her way down through the rest of the phone messages, and exactly forty minutes after she had spoken to Dayton, left her office. True, she could have left ten minutes earlier and been on time, but she could play the power game as well as the best of them, and damn well would. Dayton was one of the most devoted practitioners

of office politics and power plays at the store. His desk faced the door of his office, and his back was to the large picture window behind his desk. With the window facing south, visitors were often forced to look at Dayton and squint into the sunlight. And even without the sunlight the picture was of a large man framed by the sky and Manhattan's magnificent skyline—a man of power in a city of power. But Kate found him among the easiest of the corporate higher-ups to deal with. For he was predictable where he thought he was savvy, dull and plodding where he thought he was quick.

Dayton kept her waiting—naturally. But she was finally shown in to his office, where she greeted Alexandra—I sitting on the couch with her portfolio at her side—cheerfully, as if nothing in the world were wrong. Then she looked expectantly at Dayton. "You wanted to see me about the audition, I assume," she said, taking a seat and training her clear brown eyes on him with a steadiness that belied her true feelings.

He nodded, "Yes, Kate. And naturally, I would have rather met with you alone. But Alexandra wanted to hear! what you had to say."

Kate knew she'd have to speak carefully. "About the audition—?"

Dayton nodded.

"I don't understand. Was there a problem?"

Dayton looked at her carefully. "You tell me."

"Not as far as I was concerned. Alexandra, you did m lovely job. You have an excellent future ahead of you.'

Alexandra looked surprised. "You didn't say that at Ihl agency," she said, her voice high and uncertain. Kate was amazed at how differently Alexandra acted when being

herself rather than playing
a
part. She was shy, diffident,
very
uncertain of herself.

"No, I didn't," Kate said. "Any encouragement or call
ing
back comes later, after we've had a chance to discuss
each
person's performance."

Alexandra's eyes widened. "Oh. You mean—you liked
me?"

She
sounded so sincerely innocent that Kate forgot her
annoyance
with Dayton and smiled. "Yes, of course. I'm
sure
we'll want to see you again." The girl's face lit up.
"
B
ut
that doesn't mean you'll be chosen," Kate hastily
added.
"I want to be sure you understand that."

Alexandra
nodded quickly. "Yes, yes, I understand.
O
nly,
I hope
—
oh, well. I'm so glad," she said, smiling. "I
thought
you hated me. I'm sorry."

Kate
glanced at Dayton. "Well,
I
'
m
sorry your uncle
didn
't explain
the situation more clearly. But perhaps he
didn
't
know, either." Dayton's lips tightened. "Which is
understandable,"
Kate continued, "since advertising
rea
lly isn
't
his field. But Alexandra, if you have any ques
tions
in
the
future, just ask me, all right?"

Th
e young
woman nodded. "I will. I will."

Da
yton
glared at Kate and then turned to his niece.

Money, leave
us alone for a few minutes, all right?"

"Sure,"
Alexandra said, and jumped up from the couch
and
left. And
Kate realized once again that whatever
proble
ms existed
with Dayton, one couldn't deny that his
niece
was as
graceful as a dancer.

But
the
moment Kate looked back at Dayton and saw
the bel
ligerent
glint of his eyes, she was ready for battle.

You surprise me,"
he said, picking up a pen and twir
ling it,
looking more
at it than at Kate.

"Why is that?" she asked.

He took a deep breath. "You're raising that poor girl's hopes only to disappoint her in the future."

"Why do you assume she won't be chosen?" Kate asked.

"It's obvious, isn't it? If you had any intentions of hiring her you would have done so already. It would have been kinder to tell her the truth right out."

"I did tell her the truth," Kate said. "Whether you

think so or not."

He leaned back and steepled his fingers over the desk. "My niece is very important to me, Miss Churchill. As you may or may not know, my wife and I have no children of our own. I wouldn't like to see Alexandra's feelings hurt."

"And I don't think she'd like to know you were making not-very-veiled threats on her behalf, Mr. Dayton. And I think I should tell you that whatever chances she does have for being selected are rapidly diminishing with every word you say. If I feel you're going to interfere with the campaign as you have with the auditions, that will be a very good reason not to hire your niece."

"Don't be unwise about this, Miss Churchill," he warned.

She stood up and smiled. "I don't intend to be," she said. "And if you have nothing else on your mind, Mr. Dayton, I do have other business to attend to." J

She turned and left, knowing that he had his usual look of tight-lipped anger on as he sat at his desk. But she did have other things to do. And though she knew it wasn't wise to antagonize a board member, she felt she had acted fairly reasonably under the circumstances. She had been

provoked, and she had responded as calmly as she had been able to.

Later that afternoon, not having heard from Ben about t he rest of the auditions, Kate called his office. But he was out, so she left a message and got back to work. Despite I he fact that the new campaign was beginning to shape up, she still had the daily routine of getting print ads out on time, and she was swamped with work.

By the time it was five o'clock, she still hadn't heard from Ben, and she was a bit annoyed. She had wanted to talk to him about the Alexandra Dayton matter, and though it could wait, it was something she wanted to settle quickly. She tried his office again, but this time was told that he had left for the day.

And, unfortunately, it was time to go down to the selling floors of the store and circulate. At the beginning, a few weeks before, Kate had enjoyed talking to the buying public. Finding out what they liked and hated was interfiling and often fun; customers were generally pleased that someone was actually interested in what they thought, and they responded fully and enthusiastically. But tonight Kate was definitely not in the mood. The picture was on as it had never been before for more customers; and for each person she would see in cosmetics or lingerie or Fifth Avenue fashions, she would be wishing sleep down for ten more.

Before going downstairs, Kate checked herself in the mirror of the ladies' room. She had definitely looked better at nine that morning; but she did the best she could, brushing her hair, reapplying her lipstick and eyeliner, and adding a bit more perfume.

For a moment her heart fluttered as she remembered