Bennett—had put him wide awake. After a few moments, Taylor realized he was speaking to Robin about something related to Mary Rutherford.
“What do you mean, she said ‘no’?” he growled into the phone, and then listened. “Yes, but was it a firm no or a soft no and what was her reason for not wanting to meet? I’m flying all the way to Paris just to talk about this deal—the Bali project is nothing without her.”
What was the Bali project? Probably some deal to take his harem lifestyle to the next level—probably wants to make it into a themed resort. Bennett Booty Land. And he needed Lady Mary to keep all his women supplied with expensive perfume.
Taylor listened carefully, thinking this was the perfect time to give him a little “helpful” advice, such as: “Tell her she’s not thinking things through” or “Tell her I know what I’m talking about.”
The idea of being a fly on the wall when Mary received such a condescending message thrilled her. On the other hand, the more strategic move would be to build Bennett’s confidence in me, making it easier to slide the bogus training right in a little later.
Taylor tapped Bennett on the shoulder and then held up her index finger.
He gave her an annoyed look. “One moment, Robin.” He pulled the phone from his ear. “Yes, Ms. Reed?”
“Have you ever dined with Mary?” she asked.
“No. Why?”
Perfect. “Tell Mary you’re not just coming for a meeting—that you want to have dinner afterwards, too, and Chip is invited—you’re eager to see him.”
“Why would I do that?” he asked.
Because while Mary was ruthless and shrewd when it came to doing business, she was also very old school and believed it was “bad manners” to only talk business. To her it demonstrated a lack of refinement. This is why she also preferred to meet candidates over dinner. She had once said to Taylor, “You can tell a lot about a person by the way they use a fork.” So she probably wouldn’t be able to resist assessing Bennett’s table manners. As for Chip, despite his man-whoring ways, he was her pride and joy, which is why she allowed the incompetent fool to help her run her company. However, he barely spent any time with her. Chip’s favorite thing to do was complain about how Mary was always guilt-tripping him. And finally, Taylor suspected that Chip had a big love-hate man-crush on Bennett. He used to drop Bennett’s name all the time. It was clearly some weird, competitive hang-up.
Anyway, if Bennett was inviting, Chip would want to go. And if Chip went, Mary would want to go, and dinner fit right in with her way of doing things.
Taylor glanced at Bennett. “Just do it. I promise it will work,” she lied, because she only hoped it would work.
He looked skeptical, but told Robin to relay the message to Mary’s assistant and ended the call. “All right, Ms. Reed. Let’s see if you’re correct.”
Taylor smiled smugly, trying to hide her doubt. “You’ll see.” I hope, I hope, I hope. “In the meantime, since you’re now wide awake, why don’t we do a little work? I thought we could start out with this questionnaire. From that, I can tailor your training modules.”
“As you like, Ms. Reed,” he said coolly, his eyes still hidden underneath his shades.
“Okay. Before we begin, I’m going to warn you that some of the questions might seem a little strange, but I assure you they’re targeted to ferret out particular characteristics—strengths and weaknesses.”
“Proceed,” he said, seemingly uninterested.
“Great. First question. You are a farmer and need to supplement your income. You can either raise animals for meat or for their byproducts—milk, eggs, cheese, and such. Raising animals for food is more profitable, but then you have to slaughter them and hire the appropriately experienced staff whose skills are specialized. Raising animals for by-products is less profitable, but you have access to a larger labor pool, and it doesn’t involve killing. Which do you choose?”
It didn’t matter how Bennett answered; later in the evaluation phase, she’d turn it around to highlight how he should follow her new and “very effective” people management techniques that would have Mary Rutherford seriously questioning the idea of partnering with someone who annoyed the hell out of her.
He lowered his head. “I would choose neither and focus on diversifying my crops. There’s less risk and raising livestock requires much higher overhead—feed, veterinary care, and sterile processing conditions.”
“But that wasn’t a choice,” Taylor