had never seen quite that glint before in the steady gray eyes of the man who was Redstone. But he couldn’t give in to this. He liked his life as it was. He knew his own mental processes well enough to know that the kind of disruption Josh was talking about would rattle his thinking, and he’d likely never achieve a breakthrough on this project. He didn’t like change, anyway, he needed things in his personal life stable so he could free his mind to think about his work.
“I appreciate your concern, but it’s out of the question.”
“Ian—”
“No,” he repeated.
It was not, he supposed, wise to interrupt and argue with your boss, but if Josh had been the kind of man who took offense at such things, Ian knew he would have been fired long ago.
“I mean it, Josh. Somebody around all the time, at my home and wherever I go? I can’t work or think that way.”
Josh studied him for a moment. “And if I made it an order?”
Ian let out a compressed breath. “Then, with great difficulty because of my tremendous respect and liking for you, I would disobey.”
Josh’s mouth quirked upward. “I was afraid of that.”
“Josh, I’m sorry, but—”
Josh waved a hand at him. “Never mind. I had to ask.”
“And I had to refuse.”
“I understand.”
Relieved, Ian stood up. Then he asked, “Was there anything else?”
Josh shook his head. “Just tell your assistant to lighten up.”
Ian chuckled. “I have. She’s a little hyper, so it hasn’t gotten through yet.”
Josh looked concerned. “Is she turning out to be a problem?”
Josh himself had talked Ian into taking the girl on, saying she was bright enough to learn from the best. Ian had a sneaking suspicion Josh also thought having the young woman around might loosen him up a bit. In any case, he didn’t want Josh to think he’d made a bad decision when in fact it was mostly Ian’s own problem.
“No, not at all. I’m just not used to her yet, and she’s anxious to do it all now.”
“Keep trying with her,” Josh said.
Keep Trying. One of the Redstone mantras, Ian thought as he headed back to the lab. Along with Hire the Best and Let Them Do Their Best, and Redstone Likes Happy People. To the outside world, he was sure they all sounded like idealistic dreamers, but everybody on the inside knew it was for real. Because of one man, Ian thought as he keyed in his pass code for entry to the lab. One man with a vision, and the determination to make it happen. Josh had—
Ian stopped dead in the doorway to his office. Rebecca was in his chair, at his computer.
“Looking for something?” he asked.
“Oh!” She jumped, spun in the chair, her hand pressed dramatically over her heart. “You scared me.”
Normally it would have been time for an apology, a statement saying he hadn’t meant to scare her. But Josh’s warnings were still echoing in his mind, and he stayed silent, simply watching her. He’d learned it was a rare person who could allow such silence, and Rebecca definitely wasn’t one of them.
“I was just leaving you a note.”
Her voice still sounded tight. Again he waited, and something odd flickered in her eyes.
“I need to leave early,” she said hastily. “I have a doc—er, a dentist’s appointment.”
If she’d only been leaving him a note about that, why was she so flustered? Had she been doing something else? Trying to access his files on the computer? The screen was as he’d left it, blacked out, but if she’d been here long enough…
As Rebecca scuttled out of the room, Ian told himself he was being paranoid. Yet he had enough respect for Josh to take his worries seriously. The man was no fool, and those who had mistaken him for such, perhaps judging him by that lazy drawl or the way he had of strolling along with his hands in his pockets, were the sadder for it.
He turned to his computer and did a quick check. He could find no trace that anyone had accessed any of his files in the past half hour. That decided him. In this case Josh was being overly protective. Wasn’t that part of the Redstone legend, taking care of his people? Wasn’t that why they were consistently at the top of the national list of the best places to work?
I want you to have protection, Ian….
No. No way. He couldn’t tolerate it. He hadn’t even been able to tolerate his wife around all the time. His need for space, while Colleen had needed people and socializing, had driven her away after a mere ten months of trying to put up with him.
No, he was a loner, a borderline recluse, as Josh’s personal pilot, Tess Machado, had called him more than once. And he would stay that way, happily. He didn’t need a wife, or any woman to complete him. He had his work. That was enough.
“Thanks for getting here so quickly, Sam.”
“No problem,” Samantha Beckett told her boss.
Actually it had been a problem—when he’d called she had just stepped out of the shower, her hair dripping wet. But she’d have dealt with a lot more than wet hair to come running at his call, and she hoped he knew it. Joshua Redstone had done more for her and Billy than anyone ever had, and she owed him more than she could ever repay.
“How’s Billy?” Josh asked, as if he’d read her thought.
“He’s doing great. That new residential skills center is working well for him. He likes the people and he’s really happy.”
“That’s good to hear.”
Sam knew he wouldn’t take it in words, so she tried her best to put her thanks into her smile. If not for Josh, Billy would probably be locked in an institution somewhere, taken away by some bureaucrat who thought they knew better than she did how to take care of her little brother. Instead they’d stayed together, and she was able to afford to have him well looked after when she had to leave on assignment.
Speaking of assignments, she thought, why was the usually direct Josh taking so long to get around to the point?
She studied him, thinking as she often had that you’d never guess by looking at him that this former pilot had built a small airplane design company into an international corporation the scope of which she could hardly comprehend. But she also knew that was one of his strengths. Josh didn’t come across as a shark, not with that tall, lanky frame, sometimes tousled hair and that lazy smile. He was very unassuming and laid-back, but people who assumed he was as slow as his drawl didn’t discover the sharpness of his teeth until it was too late.
“This is an unusual one,” Josh finally said, sounding a bit uncomfortable. That in itself was odd enough for Sam to sit up and pay close attention.
“In-house,
