Free It Takes a Rebel by Stephanie Bond Page A

Stripling."
    The man scowled in his direction. "Is it? I hadn't noticed, having been assaulted once again by your office manager and left to
    sit here all afternoon wracked with unbearable pain."
    Jack swallowed a smile at the image of Tuesday pinning the slight man down long enough to crack his neck—again. Hadn't
    the man seen it coming this time? "I apologize, Mr. Stripling, but that unstable woman does not work for us."
    "So you've said, and I find the entire situation quite suspect."
    Jack flung his arm toward the files the man was delving into. "You'll see—there's no record of having a Tuesday Humphrey
    on our payroll."
    "Which means you've been paying her under the table," Stripling chirped. "A crime in and of itself."
    "No—" Jack held up his hand, then stopped. "Forget it," he mumbled, crossing to his own desk where he tossed the stack of
    bills. "I've got more important things to worry about."
    If possible, the man stiffened even more, and his bow tie practically twitched. "More important than the IRS?"
    "Yeah," Jack said, falling into his seat. "An irate woman."
    "Your office manager?"
    "No," he said, picking up the phone to dial Derek. "A different irate woman. I seem to be collecting them."
    As the phone rang on the other end, his spirits lifted in anticipation of telling his brother the news about the account, but he
    debated telling Derek that he had also been asked to be the Tremont's spokesman. He didn't want to give Derek the impression
    that he might sacrifice the work of the agency to satisfy this spokesman gig. Besides, Tuesday had pricked a concern he'd been
    harboring since leaving Tremont's—perhaps Al Tremont was more intrigued by the thought of Jack the Attack doing
    commercials for the department store than the thought of Jack Stillman doing advertising work for the department store.
    "Hello, this is Derek."
    "Hi, bro. Did I catch you at a bad time?"
    "Jack, thank goodness! I've been going crazy waiting to hear from you. How'd the meeting go with Tremont?"
    "We got the account."
    "That's great!" Derek whooped and lowered the mouth-piece to yell the news to someone else—presumably his wife Janine
    —then returned. "How long is the contract for?"
    "Two weeks."
    "Two weeks?" Disappointment filtered his brother's voice. "Is that all?"
    Rankled, Jack said, "It was the best I could do under the circumstances."
    "What circumstances?"
    "The decision to go with our agency wasn't unanimous."
    "Did Mr. Tremont like the presentation?"
    "Yeah, he liked it fine. It was his daughter who had a problem with it, and she's the director of sales and marketing."
    "Daughter? What's she like?"
    Jack's pulse spiked. "Young and hostile."
    Derek emitted a thoughtful sound. "Pretty?"
    His shrug was for himself, he supposed. "If you like the white-and-uptight type. I have two weeks to impress her, and if I do,
    we go back to the negotiating table."
    "I'm coming home right away."
    Panic gripped him—the last thing he wanted was for Derek to come home and find him making commercials. Two weeks
    would give him time to get a handle on the details. "Derek, man, don't do that," he said, laughing and forcing a casual tone.
    "Trust me, I'll have this thing well on its way by the time you get home. Enjoy the rest of your honeymoon."
    "Are you sure?"
    "Absolutely." He spent the next few minutes describing the concept of the ad campaign, then assured him—ignoring the
    unfriendly look that Stripling shot his way—that the audit was going smoothly and that the crazy lady who had made herself
    their office manager was gone. He didn't add "for the day."
    "Jack," Derek said, his voice dipping. "I'm proud of you."
    Touched and a little shaken, Jack scoffed. "Don't go getting all mushy on me. The business isn't in the bag yet."
    "You just have to impress this Tremont lady, huh?"
    "Yeah, but she's an uppity princess."
    "Single?"
    "I didn't ask," Jack hedged, knowing she was single—ergo Reddinger.
    "Just be on your best behavior,