Free His Name Is Sir (The Power to Please #3) by Deena Ward

She’d acted quickly and decisively and saved the company from ruin.
    And this was the thanks she got from the spoiled Linton family.
    I said, “Maybe we’ll be better off with new owners.”
    “Maybe.”
    However, heads will roll. She didn’t say that, but everyone knew a new owner meant new management.
    I said, “They sent me in here to find out what was going on, if the rumors are true. What do you want me to tell them?”
    “I wish I knew how the sale got leaked to everybody. Guess it doesn’t matter now. I’ve been working on a memo to send out company-wide. It’s finished. I only need to send it.”
    We both looked at her monitor.
    She said, “Guess now is as good a time as any.”
    She moused around on her desk, sighed and clicked. There it went.
    Isabel pulled herself up, slapped her hands down on her desk. “That’s that.”
    She paused and gave me a firm look, then said, “Fate, Nonnie, is the ultimate seductress; she will always have her way with you.”
    “Who said that?”
    “I just did.”
    “Good one.”
    “Eh,” she said. “So, the memo. I’ve told everyone that the Lintons are considering selling the company and that a group of employees from the interested party will be arriving this morning to check us out. I told them there’s no reason to be alarmed about future changes, that nothing’s been settled, so on and so forth.”
    “Sounds like you covered everything.”
    “I’ll be meeting with department heads shortly, let them know they’ll likely be meeting with the inspection team. Someone will probably want to meet with you, too. I’ll let you know when.”
    I nodded.
    She continued, “For now, I need you to go out there and mingle. Squelch the rumors about firings, and whatever else might make the herd stampede. Got it?”
    “I’m on it.” I stood and made my way to the door.
    “Oh, and Nonnie,” she said, “Thanks for the coffee.”
    I smiled. “Any time, boss.”
    I managed to hold that smile for nearly an hour while I went around the office, to all the different departments and tried to soothe frayed nerves, tried to pretend like I didn’t have any tattered nerves of my own. It was a relief when I could return to my desk and drop into my seat.
    I clicked on my e-mail and read Isabel’s memo. It was basically exactly what she said, except it noted that the inspection team would arrive at eleven o’clock. That was less than half an hour from now.
    Damn those Lintons, I thought. They could have given us more warning, more time to prepare. I’d never met a Linton I liked. Not one. They were self-absorbed jerks who had inherited their wealth but acted like they had earned it, deserved it, and were superior to everyone else for having it. Puke.
    Well, no point in dwelling on it. I had my work to do, for now anyway. I settled into reviewing the office budget for the next quarter.
    At a few minutes past eleven, my phone rang. It was Stephanie, the main company receptionist.
    She hissed in a half whisper, “They’re here! Oh my God! They’re going to the conference room with Isabel.”
    “Okay,” I said. “Don’t stare or anything.”
    “I’m not,” she said, sounding put out with me for giving her such an obvious warning. “Gotta go.”
    Click. She was gone. Probably calling someone else to let them in on the latest.
    It was tempting to take a peek at the new arrivals, but I restrained myself. The last thing Isabel would want is everyone standing around the conference room peering in the windows.
    Speaking of which, I thought, maybe I’d better go make sure that wasn’t happening.
    I waited a few minutes, then craned my neck out my doorway. I could see the conference room from there, was pleased to discover no gawkers milling around. The blinds on the windows of the conference room were shuttered, so there was nothing to see. Isabel’s doing, undoubtedly.
    I went back to my desk and tried to get into the budget again. No luck. I knew it was no good. I