The Man's Outrageous Demands Page 0,19
blue eyes. She was the darling of the press and all the subjects of Cordova loved her, even wanting her autograph as if she were some sort of movie star.
“That obnoxious, horrible, irritating new Minister of Defense!” Marabeth snarled angrily. She couldn’t ever remembering being this angry in her life.
Stacy cringed for a moment, noting Marabeth’s fury, just as predicted. “I don’t understand why he makes you so angry,” Stacy said, getting a dreamy look on her face. She looked like she was melting as her body relaxed at he thought of the new minister. Stacy’s body leaned against Marabeth’s desk, her shoulders drooped and her head lolled to the side slightly as she looked at Marabeth curiously. “Have you really looked at the man? He’s amazingly gorgeous. And so charming! I can’t imagine him being obnoxious.”
Marabeth snorted in disbelief. Was every female under this man’s spell? Stacy was at least fifty years old, married and with a grandchild on the way. How could she be awestruck by a man who was as annoying as Sam?
Slapping a folder onto her desk from her filing cabinet, she shook her head in exasperation of her secretary’s fascination. “Well, all my appointments outside the palace were canceled by his direct order,” Marabeth explained, trying to maintain a degree of professionalism and courtesy when she really wanted to go pummel the man for doing this to her.
“I’m sure he had his reasons. My husband is already feeling the benefits of his changes in the military,” Stacy said.
Marabeth knew that Sam was making some great changes in the military and had done so more quickly than anyone had thought would be possible. Morale was up and that meant a safer defense which was all good and wonderful. But the man still irritated her personally. “Yes, well, your husband is a military man. I’m not. I don’t think he has the right to do this to me and my schedule.”
Stacy bit her lip, hesitating slightly before stating, “Isn’t palace security underneath the Ministry of Defense?”
“Yes, but they’ve never intervened in Manny’s domain before. There’s no reason he should be doing so now,” Marabeth said, picking up the phone, determined to force the issue with the great man himself if that was necessary.
“Who are you calling now?” Stacy asked, laying the letters on Marabeth’s desk.
“The Minster of Defense,” Marabeth replied as if the answer were obvious. “I have a full day planned and I don’t intend to change that simply because he’s arbitrarily demanding that I do so. I’m going to have a little chat with our new and reputedly improved Minister of Defense. He’s going to regret this day, I’m telling you!”
Stacy ignored Marabeth’s angry tone, instead continuing with her fantasy starring Sam as her hero. “Wow! I’d like to have a cozy conversation with him,” she whispered, a dreamy look in her eyes.
Marabeth wanted to rant and scream at the man, not converse rationally with him so she didn’t understand Stacy’s response. “Why on earth would you want to do that?”
Stacy laughed, shaking her head at Marabeth’s obvious confusion. “Because he’s hot! There’s no way even you can deny that fact,” she said and slipped out of Marabeth’s office to draft responses to some newly arrived letters.
The phone rang several times before someone answered it in the Defense offices. “This is Princess Marabeth. I’d like to make an appointment to see the minister this morning,” she said and waited.
“No, it needs to be almost immediate. Not this afternoon or tomorrow.”
Marabeth listened as the receptionist quickly shuffled some papers, then covered the mouthpiece to the phone and spoke to someone quickly. She came back on the line, “He’ll see you right now if you are available,” the woman said efficiently.
“Fine, I’ll be down there in a few moments,” she said and hung up the phone.
She passed by Stacy’s desk who had obviously been eavesdropping on Marabeth’s end of the telephone call. “I’ll be down in the minister’s office,” Marabeth said needlessly. “I’ll get this straightened out and we’ll leave as soon as I get back,” she called to Stacy who accompanied Marabeth on most excursions outside the palace.
Marabeth’s heels clicked softly on the white marble floors as she made her way to the opposite end of the palace. It was a long walk but she used the time to calm down. She was still angry when she walked into the minister’s office but at least she wasn’t as furious as she was a few minutes ago