Free Project: Runaway Heiress by Heidi Betts

should take her time, she didn’t trust him not to come looking for her. He was a big, corporate bigwig who didn’t even make his own coffee or tea. What were the chances he could get through an hour or two without needing her for something?
    And he was quite obviously a man who expected his assistant to come running the minute he called...even if she was three floors away. So the less time she spent away from her desk the better, at least until she’d been at the company a little longer and had a better handle on his routine.
    Strolling down the hall, she took in the activities of each room peripherally as she passed, heading straight for the office at the end, where Nigel had told her she would most likely find Mr. Franklin. Or at least it was a place to start.
    “Office” was a bit of a misnomer. It was actually a glass-fronted version of the other design areas, but in addition to equipment and a cutting table that doubled as a sketching and design surface, there was a cluttered desk and file cabinets.
    Mr. Franklin’s name was etched on the closed door, but no one was inside. Chewing the inside of her lip for a second, she tapped her foot and tried to decide what to do next. Her only option, she supposed, was to go back the way she’d come and pop her head into each room after all. Surely someone would have an idea of where she could find Mr. Franklin.
    She was spinning on her heel to do just that when she nearly ran into another woman coming toward her.
    “Oh, I’m so sorry.”
    Their simultaneous apologies were followed by amused chuckles.
    “Sorry about that,” the woman said again. “I saw you standing outside Mr. Franklin’s office and was just coming to ask if I could help you with anything.”
    “I’m looking for Mr. Franklin, actually,” Lily said. And then she stopped, tipping her head and narrowing her eyes as she concentrated more intently on the other woman.
    “Wait a minute. Don’t I know you?” She wracked her brain, positive the young woman looked familiar.
    “Oh, my gosh,” she exclaimed as it finally came to her. “You’re Bella, aren’t you? I’m sorry, I can’t think of your last name off the top of my head, but you’re Zoe’s friend, aren’t you? Her roommate from college.”
    “It’s Landry,” the other woman, who was a petite brunette, supplied. And then she widened her cornflower-blue eyes. “Do you mean Zoe Zaccaro?”
    Lily nodded.
    “I haven’t seen Zoe in ages, but we definitely spent our college years together. How do you know her?”
    “I’m Lily, Zoe’s sister. We met briefly the last time you visited Zoe in New York.”
    She wasn’t surprised at Bella’s lack of recognition. Normally, she and her sisters looked enough alike—with their long, blond hair and similar facial features—that they were often mistaken for one another. But with her hair both darkened and pulled up in an out-of-character twist, and unfamiliar glasses perched on the bridge of her nose, she’d done a pretty good job of muting all of the things that made her stand out as a Zaccaro by looks alone.
    Not to mention that she hadn’t seen Bella in years—and had only met her a couple of times before that, when they had visited Zoe on campus or Zoe had brought Bella home with her for the odd holiday break.
    “Oh, yes. Wow, small world. It’s great to see you again. And how is Zoe?” Bella asked.
    “Great,” Lily told her. “Same as usual.”
    They both laughed at that, aware of exactly what Zoe’s “usual” was.
    “So what are you doing here?” Bella wanted to know.
    The question stopped Lily cold, slapping the smile right off her face. Uh-oh. Until then, she’d forgotten she was supposed to be keeping a low profile and definitely remaining anonymous to everyone who worked at Ashdown Abbey. She had forgotten while exchanging pleasantries with a friend of her sister’s whom she’d run into out of the blue.
    Mind racing, she tried to figure out how to cover her mistake