Tender Triumph Read online

  "And so," he interrupted in an insulting drawl, "you brought me in here to give me a much better time?"

  "No!" Katie fumbled, "I—" Her voice choked as his black eyes raked her from head to toe. Just when Katie thought he was going to turn on his heel and leave, he turned in the other direction and strode over to the coffee table. He picked up the pencil she kept near the telephone and wrote some­thing on the small pad beside it.

  Striding back to the door, he turned with one hand on the knob. "I have written down a phone number where I can be reached until Thursday. If you want to talk, call me." His gaze lingered on her face and then he was gone, closing the door behind him.

  Katie stood where he had left her, stunned and fragmented into jagged splinters of misery. That last glance before he left.. .it was as if he had been memorizing her face. He hated her, was furious with her, yet he had wanted to remember how she looked. Katie could not believe how shattered she was. Tears burned her eyes, and she had an aching lump in her throat.

  She turned and slowly walked into her bedroom. What was the matter with her—this was the way she had wanted it, wasn't it? Well, not exactly. She wanted Ramon, she was ready to admit that to her­self, but she wanted him her way: here in St. Louis, working at some decent job.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  A determinedly cheerful Katie presented herself at her office the following morning, but the effects of her sleepless night were evident in the blue smudges under her eyes and the tightness of her nor­mally spontaneous smile.

  "Hi, Katie," her secretary greeted. "Did you en­joy your four-day weekend?"

  "Very much," Katie said. She took the handful of messages her secretary handed her. "Thanks, Donna."

  "Want some coffee?" Donna volunteered. "You look as though you haven't been to bed since Fri­day. Or," she finished with an irrepressible grin, "should I say you look as though you haven't been to sleep since then?"

  Katie managed a wan smile in reply to Donna's banter. "I'd love some coffee." Glancing through the messages, she walked into her small office. She sat down in the chair behind her desk and looked around. Having a private office, no matter the size, was an important status symbol at Technical Dynamics, and Katie had always been proud of this external sign of her success. This morning it seemed trivial and meaningless.

  How could it be that when she'd locked her desk on Friday she'd never heard of Ramon, and now the idea of never seeing him again was gnawing at her heart. Gnawing at her body not her heart, Katie corrected herself firmly. She looked up as Donna placed a white Styrofoam cup of steaming coffee on the desk.

  "Miss Johnson would like to see you in her office at nine-fifteen," Donna said.

  Virginia Johnson, Katie's immediate supervisor, was a brilliant, capable, attractive woman of forty, who had never married and who held the title of director of personnel. Of all the career women she knew, Katie admired Virginia more than anyone.

  In contrast to Katie's small, functionally equipped office, Virginia's was spacious with lovely French-provincial furnishings and thick grass-green carpeting. Katie knew that Virginia was grooming her to take her place, that she intended Katie to be the next director of personnel—the next occupant of this office.

  "Did you have a nice four-day holi­day?" Virginia asked, smiling as Katie entered the room.

  "Very nice," Katie said, sitting down in the chair across from Virginia's desk.

  "I'm not having such a good 'today' though; I can't seem to get back into the swing of things."

  "Then I have some news that may fire your en­thusiasm." Virginia paused meaningfully and slid a familiar-looking form across the desk toward Katie. "Your raise has been approved," she beamed.

  "Oh, that's very nice. Thank you, Virginia," Katie said scarcely glancing at the form which grant­ed her a monumental 18-percent increase in salary. "Was there anything else you wanted to see me about?"

  "Katie!" Virginia said with an impatient laugh. "I had to fight tooth and nail to get you that large an increase."

  "I know," Katie said, trying to sound properly grateful. "You've always been terrific to me and I love the idea of the extra money."

  "You're entitled to it and if you were a man you would have been making it before now, which is what I told our esteemed vice-president of opera­tions."

  Katie shifted in her chair. "Was there anything else you wanted to see me about? I have an interview scheduled now. The applicant is waiting."

  "No, that's all."

  Katie got up and started for the door, then stopped at the sound of Virginia's concerned voice. "Katie, what's wrong? Is it anything you could talk to me about?"

  Katie hesitated. She needed to talk to someone, and Virginia Johnson was a sensible woman—in fact, the woman Katie most wanted to emulate. Walking over to the broad windows Katie gazed down seven stories below, watching the endless string of traffic. "Virginia, have you ever con­sidered giving up your career to get married?" Turn­ing abruptly, Katie found Virginia studying her with penetrating interest, her forehead creased into a frown.

  "Katie, shall we be frank with each other? Are you considering marrying someone in particular or just looking toward the obscure future?"

  "My future would definitely be obscure with him," Katie laughed, but she felt tense and de­pressed. Nervously smoothing her hand over her perfectly neat chignon Katie explained, "I met this man—very recently—and he wants me to marry him and leave Missouri. He isn't from here."

  "How recently did you meet him?" Virginia asked perceptively.

  Katie actually blushed. "Friday evening."

  Virginia had a rich throaty laugh that was at vari­ance with her diminutive size. "For a few minutes there you had me worried, but now I think I under­stand. Four days ago you met a splendid man, a man unlike any man you've ever known. You can't bear the idea of losing him. Am I getting the picture right? He's extremely handsome, of course. And charming. And he turns you on like no one else ever has. That's it, isn't it?"

  "Just about," Katie admitted, mentally squirm­ing.

  "In that case, I happen to have the perfect cure: I recommend that you don't let him out of your sight unless you absolutely must. Eat with this marvelous man, sleep with him, live with him. Do everything together."

  "Do you mean," Katie said in amazement, "that you think things could work out—that I ought to marry him?"

  "Absolutely not! I'm suggesting a cure, not that you marry the ailment! What I'm prescribing is huge doses of the man taken around the clock—just like antibiotics. The cure is very effective and the only side effect will be a mild case of disillusionment. Believe me, I know. Live with him if you want to, Katie, but give up the idea of falling in love in four days, marrying him and living happily ever after. Which brings me to the question of why we always 'fall' in love. One falls down steps, off lad­ders, into rivers and down mountains. If love is so wonderful, why don't we soar in love, or climb in love, or… “ She broke off at the sound of Katie's infectious laughter.

  "Good, I'm glad to see you cheerful again." Taking an interoffice memo from the stack of correspondence on her desk, Virginia smiled widely and waved Katie to the door. "Now go interview your applicant and earn that raise of yours."

  Watching the disgruntled young man leave her of­fice twenty minutes later, Katie thought disgustedly that her secretary could have done a better job of interviewing him than herself. She had asked vague, general questions, not concise, pertinent ones, and then listened to his answers with total lack of inter­est. But her crowning achievement had come at the conclusion of the unfortunate interview. Standing up, she had shaken hands with him across her desk and regretfully advised him she couldn't be very encouraging about his chances for a position as an engineer with Technical Dynamics.

  Rather huffily, the young man had replied, "I was applying for a job as an auditor.''

  "Well, not as an auditor, either," Katie had mumbled tactlessly.

  Still hot with embarrassment over her blunder, Kat