The Man's Outrageous Demands Page 0,29

a lot of time into coordinating a fundraiser. She was supposed to attend a luncheon tomorrow to finalize all the details. Marabeth sighed in frustration. She’d wager that tomorrow’s activities would be canceled as well.

She was looking out the window and wondering what she was going to do with her day when something Sam said yesterday came back to her. Why shouldn’t she have her luncheon tomorrow? She could bring everyone here instead of having it at the hospital. That would put a strain on the security team here, but she didn’t really care about that. If they weren’t going to allow her to leave, then they’d better be ready to have everyone come here.

She called Stacy back and thankfully, she was still there, not taking Marabeth’s advice to take the day off. them to come here instead. don’t bother. I’ll call them myself to let them know they should be expecting approximately fifty or more people who will need to be cleared through the gates tomorrow.”

“Stacy, call the organizers of tomorrow’s luncheon and tell

We’ll have it in the main dining hall. Call security…no,

Marabeth put down the phone and felt much better. She wondered if she was just being petty but she didn’t think so. This was an important meeting and the committee was going to finish up the details and move on to fundraising tomorrow. It had been one of her agendas for the past three years and it was finally coming to an end. She walked to her office and smiled at Stacy. “I feel better, how about you?”

Stacy looked slightly frazzled but energized. “I just talked to the kitchens and they are in full battle mode. What did security say?” she asked.

“I haven’t called them yet. I’ll get on it now. We’ll need to either e-mail or phone everyone on the list to make sure they can come and let them know to arrive early so they can get cleared through security.”

The rest of the day was spent phoning and coordinating names and background checks with security who snapped into active mode at her request.

By six o’clock that evening, everything was arranged. The whole list of fifty people were tentatively cleared and the chef was busy preparing the luncheon. Marabeth felt much better, knowing that she had accomplished something today and will again tomorrow.

Stacy walked in to Marabeth’s office and smiled tentatively, “Shouldn’t you be getting ready for your dinner?”

“No,” she said distractedly, pulling papers together to file into a manilla folder for tomorrow. “Why?” Marabeth asked, glancing at her watch.

“Well, I looked at your calendar and apparently you have a private dinner with our illustrious Minister of Defense.” Stacy giggled. “Weren’t you just saying yesterday that you weren’t interested in him in any personal way?”

Marabeth groaned inwardly. She’d purposely forgotten that Sam had dictated a dinner with her tonight. “I didn’t say that I wasn’t interested in him in a personal way. I said that I didn’t like him. But I guess the assumption could be that I am not interested in him in any way other than as a bump under my car, but since that’s a wish I’m not going to get any time soon, I suppose I should just accept that he’s employed by my father and ignore him as much as possible.”

Stacy’s eyes widened at Marabeth’s tone. “How are you going to avoid him tonight? According to your calendar, it is only going to be the two of you.”

Marabeth’s lips firmed in concentration. Shaking her head she looked around her desk for her notepad. “No. I’m not having dinner with that man,” she said and closed down her computer. “Is there anything else that needs to be attended to before tomorrow?” Marabeth asked, glancing through her notes to make sure they had checked everything for the next day’s meeting.

Stacy looked down her notes and made sure everything was covered. “No, I think everything is all set. How long are we going to do this?” Stacy asked.

Marabeth smiled triumphantly. “As long as I’m restricted.”

“Okay. Well, I guess I’m going to head on home tonight,” she said and picked up her purse. “Why would Sam Montrose set up a dinner appointment with you?”

Marabeth sighed. “It’s a long story,” she said, rubbing her forehead.

“Well, maybe you’ll fill me in tomorrow,” Stacy said and pulled her purse over her shoulder. “See you later. Good luck avoiding him tonight.”

“No luck needed,” Marabeth said and closed her office door as well.

Marabeth walked down the hallway to her suite