The corners of Ed’s lips twitched, but he didn’t comment.

Nathan caught the movement. “You show great restraint,” he said in acknowledgment. “In fact, I owe you an apology.”

Now his butler looked worried.

“I never asked you if you’re going to the general’s wedding. I should have. And I should have offered you a ride on the jet,” Nathan said.

“I accepted after Ms. Russell told me you were going,” Ed said, “but I’ve booked myself a commercial ticket.”

As the implications hit Nathan, he felt even worse. Because of his loyalty to Nathan, Ed had been willing to forgo the wedding of the former commanding officer he respected and admired, a wedding many of his oldest friends would be attending.

“You’re a better man than I am,” Nathan finally said. “I hope you’ll accept my apology and join me on the jet.” He made a mental note to reimburse Ed for the plane ticket.

Ed let his butler mask slip with a grin. “Hell, yes. It beats being crammed into some prop plane like a sardine.”

Relief flooded through Nathan. He hadn’t totally screwed up. “Thanks for not giving me a page 11.”

Ed’s grin faded. “You didn’t deserve most of the ones you got.”

Nathan didn’t want anyone’s pity, not even Ed’s. “Yeah, I did, and I worked hard to get them.”

The older man caught Nathan’s tone and nodded. “I have to give you credit for your work ethic. You were a genius at getting under the general’s skin.”

“That particular genius was mutual.” Nathan shoved his hands into his trousers pockets. “I should get back to Ben.”

He pivoted on his heel and returned to the dining room to find Ben staring out the window as he sipped his coffee.

Nathan joined him. “Ed is coming, so you have no excuse for avoiding my company.”

Ben turned away from the blaze of lights. “You’re just recruiting reinforcements.”

“Damn right I am.”

CHAPTER 20

“A job at Trainor Electronics?” Chloe practically dropped her cell phone onto her turkey sandwich. She had just started her thirty-minute lunch break when Judith’s call came through. Suspicion sank its claws into her. “What kind of job?”

“It’s in marketing, an area you love.” Judith read off the description. “You’d start off in a junior capacity, but there’s a lot of upside. And listen to the salary.” When Judith mentioned the number, Chloe was too stunned to speak, so Judith continued. “I don’t want to put any undue pressure on you, but this would solve a lot of your financial problems and put a great signing bonus in my pocket. Not to mention it’s a tech company, which is a field you like to work in.”

“Who would I be reporting to?”

“The vice president of marketing . . . um . . . Phillippe Riviere. Roberta says he asked for you specifically, so you must know him.”

“I met him the day Nath—Mr. Trainor got sick. For about three minutes.”

“Well, you impressed the hell out of him in those three minutes.”

Chloe pleated a corner of the paper from her sandwich as she debated how much to share with Judith.

“Why are you not jumping for joy?” her friend asked. “It seems like a no-brainer to me. Especially since we don’t know yet if you got the position you interviewed for yesterday.”

Chloe sighed. “I didn’t want to tell you this because I didn’t think it mattered anymore, but I’m dating Nathan Trainor.”

Judith’s silence was deafening. Finally, she spoke. “Sweetie, I don’t know what to say. I think you’d be crazy to turn down this job. You’ll have to make the decision about whether it’s kosher to date your boss’s boss.”

“I’m afraid Nathan might have arranged the offer.”

“I’m not going to speculate on what his reasons might be. I don’t know the situation well enough.”

“I think he feels sorry for me and Grandmillie.”

“That’s a better spin than I would have put on it.” Chloe could hear Judith beating a tattoo on the desk with her fingernails. “I’m going to risk pissing you off, but you claim to value my cynicism. Once you accept the position, it’s going to be difficult for Trainor to fire you without cause. There’s no probation period; I checked because it changes my contract with them. You’re a full-fledged employee right off the bat.”

“Okay,” Chloe said when Judith stopped.

“So if you break up, you’ll still have a great job with a fantastic salary and benefits.”

Chloe felt the tension clutching at her shoulders ease. “So you think it’s all right for me to work there and date Nathan?”

Judith took a deep breath. “I think you won’t be dating Nathan as long as you’ll be working at his company.”

“Oh.” Considering Chloe kept telling herself her relationship with Nathan was short-term, she felt a surprising stab of pain at Judith’s prediction. “I see.”

“I’m being realistic, sweetie.”

Chloe tried for flippancy to prove she was a realist too. “That’s what I love about you.” However, she wanted to hear what Nathan had to say about the job offer. “Let me just sleep on it. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

Chloe disconnected and slumped back into her chair before swiveling around to stare out the window of the conference room.