Bachelor CEO (McDaniels #1)

Chapter Thirteen

Chase resisted the urge to loosen his tie. He’d been in the hot seat for the past ten minutes.

“Chase, you have no real experience,”

Walter said. As soon as the meeting began, he’d made his proposal to remove him.

“Neither does Miranda,”

Chase replied as he glanced around the conference room. About half the board members were nodding in agreement. “She’s been here a little over seven weeks. I’ve been here nineteen years counting my part-time employment during high school.”

“That’s true,”

Kathleen Kennedy pointed out. The president of the board, she’d been the one solidly in Chase’s corner from the very start of the meeting. “Walter, we know you’ve trained Miranda well, and you favor her because she’s your protégée, but this is McDaniel Manufacturing and Chase is heir apparent. What type of message would it send if we went over his head and replaced him with an outsider, and an inexperienced one at that? It’s not as if he’s incompetent.”

“True,”

Nick Cissna agreed.

As much as he wanted, Chase didn’t squirm. Being dissected and discussed wasn’t very pleasant, but it was a necessary part of the process.

Kathleen continued. “Chase met with Mike Storm and the governor Friday afternoon regarding Rhodes Printing perhaps choosing Chenille for their expansion. He’s already leading this company. I spoke with Mike on Saturday and he said Chase played an instrumental role. Everyone was very impressed.”

“Did anyone ask Miranda to be at that meeting? Where is she, anyway?”

Logan Bennett asked.

“She was hired to be vice president, not CEO. I’m ahead of her in my grandfather’s chain of command,”

Chase replied. As for the second question, he’d expected Miranda to be in attendance. “I haven’t seen her in the office since Thursday.”

“She should be here,”

Nick stated.

Everyone looked at Walter, who shrugged. “I have no idea where she is. I spoke with her last night at length and expected her to be present. Maybe she had car trouble.”

“Considering the importance of this meeting, she should have called.”

Kathleen folded her hands on the table in front of her. “We’ve been here a half hour with no word. Unless there’s anything else, shall we vote? It’s basically Miranda or Chase. My vote goes to Chase.”

“Miranda,”

Walter said.

Chase watched as two more people voted for him. There were twelve board members total. Two were absent—Jake Palenske and Leroy McDaniel. The vote was five-two in Chase’s favor when the door to the boardroom opened.

Chase frowned. No one ever disturbed a board meeting. No one would be allowed inside except for…

“Sorry I’m late,”

Leroy said as his nurse wheeled him in. “Over there,”

he told her, and she helped him into an empty conference table chair before leaving. He glanced around the table. “What’d I miss?”

Chase gripped his seat to keep himself from standing. His grandfather was not supposed to be leaving the house except to go to the doctor. He wasn’t well enough yet. He’d been forbidden to stress himself with work, yet here he was.

“We were voting. Chase has five. Miranda has two,”

Kathleen said.

Leroy nodded. “Ah. So if I vote for Miranda and everyone left follows what I choose…”

“Then she’d be our new CEO until you return,”

Kathleen replied, not looking too pleased with his interruption.

Leroy drew himself up. “Oh, I have to return. Not that I’ll stay past next May. I promised Chase that he’d be CEO after his one-year leave of absence, if that is what he really wants. I’m not retracting that promise.”

“Then what is going on?”

Kathleen asked. “You told us Chase wanted this vacation. Are you saying you forced him to go on sabbatical?”

Leroy had the decency to look sheepish. “I did. Call it the eccentricity of an old man. I wanted Chase to have a year to find out if he really wanted to fill my shoes. He’s been here since it’s been legal for him to work.”

The old man glanced down the table at his grandson. “Have you ever worked for anyone else?”

“No,”

Chase said. Once again Leroy had thrown a wrench into the cogs. This also couldn’t be good.

“I wanted to give him a choice. Taking over McDaniel shouldn’t be an obligation, but a well thought out decision.”

The board members began nodding, agreeing with Leroy. Chase managed not to wince.

“I would say we know where you stand, Chase,”

Logan said, and everyone swiveled to look in Chase’s direction. “You want to be CEO.”

He tried to project a calm and self-assured demeanor. “I do. I definitely want to take over when my grandfather retires. I will admit that I didn’t want this vacation, but I agreed to it since it was so important to Leroy.”

Chase turned his attention to his grandfather. “My brother and sisters are not going to be happy you’re here. You’re supposed to be resting.”

Leroy shrugged. “Which I’ll do later. Obviously, I’d like to have Miranda continue on in the interim, and send Chase back on his vacation.”

Chase’s cheek twitched, but he managed to remain still and not interrupt.

“However, I can see how impossible that is,”

Leroy continued. “Chase clearly wants to be here, and that’s what I wanted him to figure out for himself. Besides, naming Miranda CEO is a moot point.”

Leroy had dressed for the board meeting. He’d donned one of his best suits, and now he reached into his jacket pocket and removed an envelope.

“Miranda came by the house this morning and gave me her notice. In turn, I offered her a year’s pay as severance and released her from her duties effective today. Since she was hired to do Chase’s job, and he’s here, there’s no reason for her to remain at McDaniel Manufacturing.”

There were gasps, but Chase hardly heard them. His entire focus was on his grandfather, and vice versa. It was as if the two of them were the only ones in the room. Miranda had resigned. She’d quit. The announcement hit Chase like a punch to the gut.

“Chase is here and he wants this job. I’d be remiss if I turned him down. He’s family and he’s earned it,”

Leroy stated, finally breaking eye contact.

He glanced around the table. “Let’s vote and make it official that Chase is the new CEO of McDaniel Manufacturing. I’ll stay on in an advisory capacity until December 31. Congrats, Chase. You got what you wanted.”

So why did it feel so awful?

“Okay,”

Kathleen said, ready to regain control over the vote. She seemed rattled, but determined to get this over with. “All those in favor of Chase McDaniel being named CEO?”

Everyone but Walter and Leroy raised their hands. Kathleen pinned her attention on the two men. “All opposed?”

There was no opposition, as both men chose to abstain. “Motion carries. Congratulations, Chase.”

She sighed. “If there’s nothing else?”

After a quick motion to adjourn, the boardroom emptied. Everyone appeared to be relieved that the nightmare was over, and each member shook Chase’s hand and congratulated him before leaving.

“So she resigned?”

Walter asked when only he and the McDaniels remained.

Leroy grimaced. “I warned you not to push her. She came to see me this morning, and I couldn’t talk her out of it. Her mind was made up. Said she talked to you last night, did some soul searching and knew what she really wanted and needed to do.”

Walter whirled on Chase, his tone accusatory. “What did you do to her? What did you say?”

“Nothing,”

he said defensively. “The last time I saw her she planned on being here and giving me a run for my money. I haven’t seen her since Thursday, like I said. I don’t know why she changed her mind.”

“She told me her reasons were personal. I left it at that and suggest we all do,”

Leroy said. “So, Walter, since I’ve sprung the coop, how about we go get some lunch before my nurse calls time?”

“Okay,”

he agreed. “But only if we go to Maxine’s. I’m dying for a piece of her cherry pie.”

Leroy turned to his grandson. “Chase, I guess you ought to let Carla know the news. She’ll need to contact PR and have an announcement sent to the press. If you have questions for me, you can stop by the house later tonight.”

Leroy’s nurse entered and Chase knew he’d been dismissed. “Just take it easy,”

he told his grandfather.

“Lucinda will make sure of that.”

“I will,”

his nurse confirmed.

Carla had already heard the news by the time Chase arrived, and she beamed with excitement. “So it’s final.”

“Yep.”

But for some reason he didn’t feel like celebrating. Still, he had to act the part for his staff. “I guess later this week we need to discuss your title and your raise.”

She kept smiling. “That would be wonderful. Thank you.”

Chase gave her a cheeky grin. “I’m no dummy. A man’s only as good as his secretary.”

“You’d better believe it.”

Carla laughed.

Chase entered his office and took a seat at his desk. He reached for a piece of paper and a pen. At the top he wrote “To do.”

Underneath he wrote “VP.”

Someone had to fill his spot. He’d have Carla ask personnel to send him company files of good internal candidates. He had some ideas already, as he’d been working with these people for years, but he didn’t want to miss considering anyone.

Thinking of missing people, Chase rose and went down to Miranda’s office. Her secretary, Lauren, jumped to her feet when she saw him. “I hear congratulations are in order.”

He nodded. “They are.”

She stood there awkwardly. “You’ll do a great job.”

“Thanks. Has Miranda collected her belongings?”

Lauren frowned. “What do you mean? Her door’s been shut all morning and she left me a voice mail saying she wouldn’t be in.”

“She resigned.”

“Oh.”

Lauren sat back down, stunned.

“Don’t worry, your job’s safe and you’ll be working with whomever we hire to take her place. But her quitting was unexpected. She told my grandfather just this morning.”

Chase opened the door to Miranda’s office. The place had been stripped bare. All of her personal touches had been removed. She must have acted quickly, before anyone arrived that morning.

Lauren came up behind him. “I had no idea she’d moved out.”

“Neither did I,”

Chase admitted. He closed the door. “For now, anything you can’t handle, send to Carla. She’ll run point.”

“Okay. But I can’t believe Miranda would just leave like that.”

Chase could, and as he headed for the parking lot, he called Carla and told her he’d return in a few hours. He had some questions he wanted answered.

MIRANDA COVERED HER HEAD with a pillow, but the banging on her front door wouldn’t stop. Whoever it was wasn’t going away.

She crawled out of bed and checked the clock. It was almost noon, meaning she’d had about a three-hour nap.

Who knew resigning could be so draining? She certainly hadn’t imagined this scenario. But as Sunday had come and gone, Miranda knew she couldn’t handle the glee on Chase’s face when he defeated her. She also knew she couldn’t live with the results if she won. He’d hate her.

Around ten last night she’d come to her decision. She’d gone to her office, packed her belongings and had the weekend security guard carry them to her car. Like a thief in the night, she’d stolen away, revealing her crime only to Leroy this morning.

He’d read her letter, looked up with those blue eyes so like Chase’s and said, “The answer to my question is yes, isn’t it?”

She’d nodded and burst into tears.

“My grandson’s a hard one, isn’t he? So lovable, but so clueless and so stubborn. He has all my worst flaws. You sure I can’t convince you to stay?”

“No. I need to leave.”

Miranda had replied. Since Chase obviously was unable to share his playground, she knew he’d never be able to give her his heart. She couldn’t work with him, feeling the way she did. You weren’t supposed to fall in love with a man who’d never love you back.

Leroy had reached over and patted her hand. “I feel like I’m buying you out of my grandson’s life. Let me tell you, I never wanted this when I hired you.”

“I know. It’s my own fault.”

It was. She’d asked Chase to go boating that fateful night. She’d assumed it would just be sex and chemistry. When it wasn’t, she’d figured she’d have a year to get over him. She’d gambled with her heart and lost.

She could have said no, right? But she hadn’t.

Miranda wiped away her tears and took a steadying breath. The banging on her door had ceased for a few seconds, only to resume. She probably looked like hell, but who cared? By tomorrow she planned on being as far from Chenille as possible. Miranda felt a bit like Sabrina having “won”

a ticket to Paris. Only Linus Larrabee wasn’t going to come tell her he’d made a mistake.

Miranda made it to the front door and glanced through the peephole, then turned around and pressed her back against it.

“I can hear you moving around in there,”

Chase called.

He was the last person she wanted to see. Did he have to come and gloat? Couldn’t he just leave her alone? “Go away.”

He knocked again. “No. I want to talk to you.”

“Well, I don’t want to talk to you.”

“I’ll knock all day,”

he threatened.

She knew he would. “I’ll call the cops and have them arrest you.”

“Go ahead. It won’t do you any good. I went to high school with half of them and McDaniel is a key donor to their police officers’ fund. I’m not leaving until you talk to me.”

She drew a hand through her tousled hair. Damn the man. She could picture a scene with Chase and the cops laughing at her expense. Everyone in this town sided with him.

She held her hand up to her mouth and breathed into it as Chase started pounding on the door again. Her breath wasn’t too bad, and it wasn’t as if she was going to kiss him. That’s how she’d gotten into this mess in the first place. She turned around and unlocked the door.

“Finally,”

Chase said as she let him in. His gaze raked over her.

“Don’t say I look like hell,”

she warned. “I’m not in any mood to deal with you.”

His brow creased. “I thought you saw my grandfather this morning.”

“I did. I came home and crawled back under the covers.”

She closed the door to keep the heat from invading her air-conditioned apartment. “If you came to gloat, do me a favor, consider it done and go.”

“I’m not here for that.”

He reached up and loosened his tie. “I came by to see why you resigned. The last time we talked I thought you were all fired up to be CEO. You sure gave me that impression.”

“Is that why you’re here? To figure out why I gave in? Do you have to know everything?”

He nodded. “In this case, yes.”

“You said it was business. Your being here is personal.”

“Damn it! Stop twisting my words. Yes, I’m McDaniel’s new CEO. But I didn’t expect you to quit. In fact, Leroy showed up and planned to vote for you. You would have won.”

A little more of her heart broke. “Chase, don’t you realize that you’re a force of nature? No one wins against you. Sometimes it’s better to forfeit. It’s better to fold than play a losing hand until you’re broke.”

He scowled. “You aren’t a quitter.”

He had her there. “No, I’m not. But I got a better offer. Your grandfather gave me a year off with full pay. You were right. I was jealous of you and your forced vacation. Well, I took the offer your grandfather made you. This is my chance to see the world.”

“Then why do you look like you’ve been crying for the past two days?”

She glared at him. “Because I just woke up, that’s why. I stayed up late, packing my office things, and I’m tired. I have belongings to store. Don’t think you’re worth shedding tears over, because you’re not.”

He held up his hands in protest. “Okay. I can see you’re still a little testy about all this.”

“And you’re still a jerk of the first order. Do you practice it? From the moment we met you’ve been condescending and crass.”

“I have not. You had a flat tire. I tried to help. You were the one who snapped at me. I never assumed you were incompetent.”

Her shoulders sagged. “Arguing gets us nowhere. That’s why I can’t work for you. It’s what we always do.”

“Not always.”

His gaze held hers. “I remember things we did that were much better than fighting.”

She remembered, too, which was the problem. He’d stolen her heart, and he didn’t even know it.

Chase reached for her hand. “I never meant for it to go down this way. All I wanted was to be CEO. I’d be happy to have you work for McDaniel. Come back.”

She pulled away. “Chase, how can I look at you on a daily basis? If I’d known I was going to have to do that I wouldn’t have made love to you.”

“So you admit you have feelings for me.”

“Oh, I have feelings all right, just not the kind you’re hoping for.”

Chase sighed. “You have so many walls raised. You wear your goals and dreams like a shield. You don’t let anyone inside. You know what I think? You’re going to be exactly like me. You’ll be going stir-crazy after two weeks. You’ll pinch pennies instead of going five stars. You’ll worry that you’re losing time to find another job. You may go to Paris, but you won’t enjoy it. You’ll be too busy stressing.”

“I don’t think so, Chase. Unlike you, I know how to relax. I really think you should leave. It’s best we don’t talk any more. You got what you wanted.”

She reached behind her and opened the door. The hot air rushed in.

Chase shook his head. “To you it might seem like I got what I wanted. But I didn’t, not really. I sacrificed something very important.”

“Yeah, right.”

He stepped closer and put a hand under her chin. “I had to choose between my company and you.”

“As if you really spent any time thinking about that.”

Chase truly knew how to rub salt into a wound. “Please, just leave.”

“Not until you tell me where you’re going.”

“Somewhere far away from here. Somewhere I can start fresh. Now, leave.”

He ran a fingertip over her lower lip. “I never wanted to hurt you.”

Didn’t he know his very presence hurt her? She stepped out of his reach. “Go.”

He didn’t move. “If that’s what you really want.”

What she wanted was for the pain to stop. She needed to pick up the pieces of her heart and heal. He’d never love her. His job came first.

“It’s what I want. Go, Chase. I’m sure you have work to do.”

He hesitated before saying, “Yeah, I probably do. Goodbye, Miranda.”

She held on to the door, not trusting her voice to get the words out without cracking. She had to move on. He went down a few steps, and as he turned around for one final look, she let her dreams die, and closed the door.