And that brought up a whole other concern over the presence of young Tessa Lockwood in his office – how to keep not only the lascivious Jason but every other male in this office from panting after her. She was certain to have already caused quite a stir among them, and Ian could only wonder what in bloody hell Andrew had been thinking of to hire her for a position like this. There was no way that the girl was old enough to have much work experience, and no denying that her face and figure were going to prove a mighty distraction for any red-blooded male who came into contact with her. Including, thought Ian with a grimace, himself. The self-control that he prided himself on maintaining no matter what the circumstances was most assuredly going to come under fire if the girl remained here permanently.

Ian was pacing distractedly back and forth in front of his desk when Andrew returned, and the PA could only blink and stare in disbelief at his boss. Mr. Gregson was always cool and controlled, was never agitated or even the least bit anxious. The only person Andrew had ever known to be in better control of their emotions was his own self. So it was with some amazement that he observed his normally formal, restrained employer so clearly displaying distress.

Ian glanced up, his mouth tightening as he brusquely motioned Andrew inside. “Close the door. And then you can explain how a teenager came to be working on the executive floor. And on my support team to boot.”

Andrew suppressed the rather undignified urge to roll his eyes at his boss’s uncharacteristic sarcasm. “Of course, sir. And if you’re speaking of Tessa – which I assume you are – she is certainly young but not that young. She’s twenty-two, Mr. Gregson. More importantly, she’s been working for the company for three years already.”

Ian frowned. “Straight out of high school?”

“Not quite.” Andrew pulled some papers out of a dark blue folder, the sort used for employee files. “Apparently she was hired as a part-time employee after completing a year at community college. She transitioned to full-time a year later after earning an office administration certificate from said college.”

Ian was only mildly appeased to learn the girl wasn’t quite a teenager, and had already been employed by the Gregson Group for a few years. “She still seems a trifle young – and inexperienced – to work at this level, Andrew. I realize I left the matter of Sarah’s replacement in your capable hands, but I have to question your decision on this issue.”

Andrew adjusted his glasses and cleared his throat. “I can understand your concern, Mr. Gregson. But I assure you there were several very good reasons for placing Tessa in this position. If I may?”

Ian gave a terse nod before sitting down in his imposing leather desk chair. “By all means. Convince me why that child is qualified to work on the team.”

“Of course. First, the timing with Sarah’s very abrupt transfer happened to coincide almost exactly with Tessa’s arrival in San Francisco. Placing her in Sarah’s position was quick and seamless. We avoided the need to interview and do security clearance for a new employee, or worry about having to replace an in-house transfer.”

Ian waved a hand somewhat irritably. “Convenient, yes, but hardly a valid reason for giving her such a high profile job.”

“She’s got advanced training in Excel, sir. Certificates from continuing education classes, things like that. She’s an expert at the program, able to perform functions that none of the others on the team could even begin to guess at. Even I’m not proficient at some of the more advanced functions that she can do,” admitted Andrew somewhat reluctantly. “And in less than two weeks she’s managed to update every single hotel report with the details you wanted added – the parameterizations, nesting the pivot charts, all of it. And before you ask, sir, yes – I double checked her work and everything is flawless.”

Ian was rarely if ever shocked, but this was one time he didn’t even bother to hide his reaction. “Impossible,” he declared. “That’s an ungodly amount of work for a person to get done in less than two weeks. Show me.”

Andrew quickly and efficiently opened up the file sharing system that he, Ian, and the support team all had access to. He located the files in question, and then stepped back as Ian began to carefully inspect them one at a time.

After looking over the first dozen or so, he gave a brusque nod and closed out the program. He would certainly look each file over in great detail when he had more time, but for the moment he was content that the job had been done to his satisfaction.

“Obviously she’s quite accomplished with this one function, but what about the rest of her skills?” he asked. Ian realized he was searching for a reason – any reason – not to keep this girl on his team and therefore not in his proximity. She would most definitely be a constant distraction that he simply couldn’t afford to worry about.

“She passed all of her tests with flying colors,” assured Andrew. “Proficient in word processing, Power Point, databases, even desktop publishing. And she’s an extremely hard worker, Mr. Gregson. Since she’s been working here, Tessa has been the first one of the team to arrive each day, and the last one to leave, plus I know she’s skipped lunch almost every day. I’m sure some of that is because she wanted to get all of your reports updated before you returned, but there’s no denying her dedication. Oh, and one last thing, sir.”

Andrew drew a neatly typed letter from Tessa’s personnel file. “Also, Tessa comes very highly recommended by her previous manager – a Mrs. Francine Carrington.”

That name got Ian’s attention and he stared at Andrew in mild shock. Andrew realized he’d seen his normally unflappable boss show more emotion in the past ten minutes than in the entire three years they had worked together.

A slow smile crossed Ian’s features. “It’s hard to imagine Mrs. C. recommending anyone, much less highly so. Let me see that letter, please.”

After scanning the sheet of paper, his smile broadened. “Well, I suppose that settles it, then. If Tessa made this sort of impression on Mrs. C. – the toughest boss I ever had – then she must be qualified. There’s just one more thing, then.”

Andrew raised a brow expectantly, wondering what else his boss could possibly object to. “What’s that, sir?”

Ian grimaced. “Keeping her as far away from that bastard Jason Baldwin as possible. He must have thought Christmas and his birthday arrived wrapped up in one big shiny package when he met Tessa for the first time. We are not going to have a repeat of the Sarah incident with Tessa. Not to mention the previous two sexual harassment incidences my uncle swept under the rug.”