let me keep talking when you already knew all about the campaign?” she asked. “Or why, in fact, did we need this meeting at all?”
“I wanted to hear what you had to say.”
“Thank you for listening. Perhaps it’s time to hear what you have to say.”
Rachel smiled to cover the anger smouldering inside her. She knew the score. Jake had already decided whether or not the agency would take on the campaign but he was letting her go through the motions in the meantime.
She waited quietly for his answer.
* * *
Rachel’s reaction to Marcus’ suggestion ripped through Jake like an earth tremor. He hadn’t suggested an Australia wide campaign promoting infidelity, merely the use of a scantily clad attractive female, hardly uncommon in advertising. Yet her bitter response left no doubt as to her feelings on the subject.
Had she noticed his own shocked reaction to her comments? A hundred thoughts rocketed through his mind as he shifted in his chair. He knew instinctively that she wouldn’t have a bar of a married man under any circumstances. What would she think of him if she knew the truth?
And now she was waiting for an answer on the campaign.
He locked eyes with her, desperately hoping an answer would come to him.
He’d only allowed this meeting as a business courtesy. The agency had many requests for pro bono projects and he’d never planned to take this one on. As a small research company, Omega wasn’t a large corporation or profitable venture like the agency’s other clients. There was no money in it and the campaign certainly wouldn’t be a prestigious one. There was no good reason to take on the project.
Yet he knew instinctively that if he turned down the campaign, Rachel would never wish to see him again. She hadn’t come here for him. She was here for the campaign.
He couldn’t accept the campaign on a whim, because of an infatuation, because of a woman. That was no way to make professional decisions. He ran a business, not a charity, for goodness’ sake. He didn’t make decisions based on the flutter of eyelashes.
“I take it you’ve formed an opinion,” Rachel said.
He had to turn down the project.
Would he never see her again?
“Well,” she said, “are you going to take on the campaign?”
Chapter two
Rachel detected a glint of playfulness in Jake’s eyes, and that only increased her agitation. What was he playing at? How could he take this so lightly when she’d put so much work into the campaign?
He held her gaze. “The agency has done lots of pro bono work over the last couple of years and we can’t possibly take them all on. We’ve done our bit for the community. That’s for sure.”
“Please go on,” she said.
“But your project is different. Tell your boss we’ll take it on. Pro bono of course.”
She heaved a sigh of relief and Samantha’s face lit up visibly. They hadn’t expected an advertising firm the calibre of Agency 66 to manage the campaign gratis but that’s exactly what he was saying. Rachel pushed aside her questions about what differentiated their project from the others and took a moment to enjoy the result.
“Thank you for your kind offer,” she said. “We were hoping you’d say that.”
How on earth was she going to manage a stable business relationship with these two men? Marcus was clearly an ideas man and seemed good at his job but had little discretion. Meanwhile Jake was strong-willed and arrogant.
One thing was for certain, she was going to have to stick with business when it came to Jake. She couldn’t let him sweep her into a storm as he had when they’d first met downstairs. She didn’t want him rattling her organised world.
Rachel retrieved her burgundy suede handbag from the foot of her chair. “We’ve got to get going.”
“Please have another coffee,” Jake said. “Or do you have to get back to work?”
“There are other things in life than work.”
She had to leave work early that afternoon to baby sit her two nieces but didn’t think two savvy advertising men like Jake and Marcus needed to know about her child care duties. She’d found when working with men it was simpler to stick to the business at hand.
“I’ll leave Jake to show you ladies to the door,” Marcus said. “I’ve got another appointment.”
Interesting. He was the last to arrive and the first to leave.
Rachel strode ahead of Jake and Samantha through the reception area to the agency’s front door. She pulled the brushed aluminium