The Boss's Mistletoe Manoeuvres. Linda Thomas-Sundstrom

time. That was the priority. All of his money was riding on this company making it. He’d spent every cent he had to buy this advertising firm.

      Whistling, Chaz strolled past Alice Brody, his newly inherited pert, big-eyed, middle-aged, fluffy-haired executive secretary. He entered his office through a set of glass doors still bearing the name of the vice president he’d already had to let go for allowing the company to slowly slide from the top of the heap to the mediocre middle. Lackluster management was unacceptable in a company where nothing seemed to be wrong with the work of the rest of the staff.

      “There is one more person to see today,” Alice called after him.

      “Need a few minutes to go over some things first,” Chaz said over his shoulder. “Can you bring in the file I asked for?”

      “I’ll get on it right away.”

      Something in Alice’s tone made him wonder what she might be thinking. He could feel her eyes on him. When he glanced back at her, she smiled.

      Chaz shrugged off the thought, used to women liking his looks. But his older brother Rory was the real catch. As the first self-made millionaire in the family, his brother made headlines and left trails of women in his wake.

      Chaz had a lot of catching up to do to match his brother’s magic with a floundering company. So there were, at the moment, bigger fish to fry.

      First up, he had to finish dealing with old contract issues and get everyone up to speed with the new company plan. He had to decide how to speak to one person in particular. Kim McKinley, the woman highly recommended by everyone here for an immediate promotion. The woman in line for the VP job before he had temporarily taken over that office, going undercover in this new business as an employee.

      More to the point, he had to find out why Kim McKinley had a clause in her contract that excluded her from working on the biggest advertising campaign of the year. Christmas.

      He couldn’t see how an employee headed for upper management could be exempt from dealing with Christmas campaigns, when it was obvious she was a player, otherwise.

      He’d done his homework and had made it a priority to find out about Kim, who spearheaded four of the company’s largest accounts. Her clients seemed to love her. They threw money at her, and this was a good thing.

      He could use someone like this by his side, and was confident that he could make her see reason about the Christmas campaigns. Intelligent people had to be flexible. It would be a shame to issue an ultimatum, if it came to that, for Kim to lose what she had worked so hard for because of his new rules on management and contracts.

      Chaz picked up a pencil and tucked it behind his ear, knowing by the way it stuck there easily that he needed a haircut, and that haircuts were a luxury when business came first.

      He was sure that his upcoming appointment with Kim McKinley would turn out well. Handling people was what he usually did best when he took over a new company in his family’s name. Juggling this agency’s problems and getting more revenue moving in the right direction was the reason he had bought this particular firm for himself. That, and the greedy little need to show his big brother what he could do on his own.

      The agency’s bottom line wasn’t bad; it just needed some TLC. Which was why he had gone undercover as the new VP. He figured it would be easier for other employees to deal with a fellow employee, rather than an owner. Even an employee in management. Pretending to be one of them for a while would give him a leg up on the internal workings of the business.

      He would be good to Kim McKinley and all of the others who wanted to work and liked it here, if they played ball.

      Did they have to love him? No.

      But he’d hopefully earn their respect.

      Chaz turned when the door opened, and Alice breezed in without knocking. She handed over a manila file folder held together with a thick rubber band. Thanking her, he waited until she left before sitting down. Centering the file on his desk, he read the name on it.

       Kimberly McKinley.

      He removed the rubber band, opened the folder and read the top page. She was twenty-four years old, had graduated from NYU with honors.

      He already knew most of that.

      He skimmed through the accolades. She was described as a hard worker. An honest, inventive, intelligent, creative self-starter with a good client base. An excellent earner recommended for advancement to a position in upper management.

      A handwritten scribble in the margins added, Lots of bang for the buck.

      There was one more thing he wished he could check in the file, for no other reason than a passing interest. Her marital status. Single people were known for their work ethics and the extra hours they could put in. McKinley’s quick rise in the company was probably due not only to her ability to reel in business and keep it, but also to her availability.

      What could be better than that?

      He stole a glance at the empty seat across from him then looked again at the overstuffed folder. He tapped his fingers on the desk. “How badly do you want a promotion, Kim?” he might ask her. The truth was that if she were to get that promotion, she’d be one of the youngest female vice presidents in the history of advertising.

      And that was fine with him. Young minds were good minds, and McKinley truly sounded like the embodiment of the name her coworkers had given her. Wonder Woman.

      Although he was already familiar with her tally of clients, he checked over the list.

      Those four clients that he’d classify as the Big Four, refused to work with anyone else, and it was a sure bet McKinley knew this, too, and would possibly use it as leverage if push came to shove about her taking on holiday-themed campaigns that didn’t suit her. Would those clients turn away if he accidentally pushed McKinley too hard, and she walked? Rumor had it that three of them had been hoping she’d add Christmas to her list and stop farming those holiday accounts out.

      He looked up to find Alice again in the doorway, as if the woman had psychically picked up on his need to ask questions.

      “What will Kim have to say about believing she has been passed over in favor of me in this office?” was his first one.

      Alice, through highly glossed ruby lips, said, “Kim had been promised the job by the last guy behind that desk. She’ll be disappointed.”

      “How disappointed?”

      “Very. She’s an asset to this company. It would be a shame to lose her.”

      Chaz nodded thoughtfully. “You think she might leave?”

      Alice shrugged. “It’s a possibility. I can name a few other agencies in the city that would like to have her onboard.”

      Chaz glanced at the file, supposing he was going to have to wear kid gloves when he met McKinley. If everyone else in town wanted her, how would pressure tactics work in getting her to stay put and take on more work?

      He nodded to Alice, the only staff member who knew what his real agenda was for playing at being the new VP, and that he now owned everything from the twelfth to the fourteenth floor.

      “Why doesn’t she do Christmas campaigns?” he asked.

      “I have no idea. It must be something personal,” Alice replied. “She’ll attend meetings when necessary, but doesn’t handle the actual work.”

      “Why do you think it might be personal?” Chaz pressed.

      “Take a look at her cubicle.”

      “Is something wrong with it?”

      “There’s nothing Christmasy about it. It’s fifteen days until the big holiday, and she doesn’t possess so much as a red and green pen,” Alice said.

      An image of the blonde in the hallway crowded his mind as if tattooed there. He wondered