Free Ulterior Motives by Laura Leone Page B

the pattern for Ross’ career with Elite. Montpazier had given him a huge bonus and immediately sent him to Munich. It had taken Ross just over ten months to set things straight there. His next assignment, in Hong Kong, had lasted barely nine months. He was learning fast and getting better each time.
    His travels read like a whirlwind tour of thrilling cities. Over the next four years he’d worked in New York, Los Angeles, Bangkok, Berlin, Milan, Sydney, Rio de Janeiro, Riyadh, Tokyo, and Zurich. It was no wonder that now Ross, at thirty-four, had no wife or family. Shelley doubted he’d ever been in one place long enough to acquire even a goldfish.
    Eighteen months ago he’d disappeared again. He’d quit and left Elite with no word about where he was going or what he intended to do. Wayne’s source said that Henri Montpazier practically thought of Ross as his own son and was hurt by this behavior. For whatever reason, Ross had returned to work less than six months later and was promptly sent to Madrid, followed by Washington. And now Cincinnati.
    He had never failed, Shelley realized as she read through his accomplishments with Elite. Whatever the situation—incompetent or dishonest management, economic crisis, fierce competition, natural disaster, or sheer apathy—Ross created vibrant success out of failure. In big cities like New York and Tokyo, his success usually had little effect on his competitors, but in smaller cities he efficiently eliminated all competition. He occasionally hired staff from competing schools, thus bankrupting his competitors of employees as well as clients.
    Shelley put down the report and tried to calm the panic rising inside her. Ross Tanner could very well destroy her budding career. She knew she was good at her job and believed she could hold her own against stronger competition than Chuck; but it seemed like no one could hold their own against Ross. If she lost everything to Ross, Babel wouldn’t simply shrug and offer her another challenging post. Even if they didn’t fire her, she would be lucky to find herself cleaning out storage rooms at the distribution center in New Jersey.
    She was full of questions. Why had Ross quit, and why had he come back to work? What had he done in the interim? What made him so successful at every aspect of the business? What was his weak spot? He must have one; no one was perfect.
    She thought back to the scene in her office earlier that day. Of course he wasn’t perfect! He’d been taken in by Chuck, hadn’t he? Shelley thought Chuck was patently one of the sleaziest men she’d ever met, which was one of the reasons she refused to comply with his pompous request to be called Charles or Mr. Winston-Clarke. If Ross was so clever, why hadn’t he figured out immediately that Chuck was a dishonest schmuck dipping his hand into the cookie jar?
    Her chief strength in this business was in knowing people. She relied on her intuition, and it had always served her well. If that was the only advantage she had over Ross, she would have to use it cunningly. What’s more, she would have to study him. If there was anything about him she could emulate in order to strengthen her position, she would.
    Time for bed, she decided. She would need a full night’s sleep. In addition to being the director of a business under siege, starting tomorrow she would also be a full-time student. Ross would be her mentor, whether he knew it or not.
     

     
    He’d acted like a fool. He could see that now, and it bothered him. He was not accustomed to making stupid mistakes. He was disgusted with himself for acting without proper forethought.
    Shelley was right, of course. The Elite school was losing money hand over fist, and the financial records were so conveniently messy that no one could trace the loss. The very first thing he should have done was look into Chuck’s lifestyle and expenses. Chuck’s insistence that he never touched the financial logbooks and his repeated