Even the run-ins. You seem to be one of the few courageous enough to speak your mind.” Skinner leaned back. “Sit down, Eugenie.” He paused, his expression reflective. “I simply can’t bring myself to call you Jewel like the rest of the office. It’s an over-decoration and you don’t need it.”
“That’s okay. Eugenie is fine. And I get a kick out of your French pronunciation. Besides, I haven’t heard it in a long, long time.”
“So who started calling you Jewel?” Skinner actually looked interested.
“My father,” Jewel announced casually, although any mention of her father made her feel lonely and sick inside.
“I understand he was killed?” Skinner stared at her.
Slammed his car into a power pole. “You’ve already read my file, Blair,” Jewel pointed out too sharply.
“My dear, please don’t take offense.” Unexpectedly he backed off. “I have indeed studied your file. Smart and ambitious as you are, with an ability to write excellent briefs, you’re still extremely lucky to be here. I have to hand it to you, Eugenie. For a little girl from the bush with absolutely no connections, you’ve turned yourself into a real achiever. A young lawyer with a future. Not easy.”
“But I have you on my side, Blair, rooting for me, showing me the way to professionalism, self-improvement, correct dress and behavior. As only someone born to life among the gentry can.”
He laughed. “Watch it!” His smooth cosmopolitan voice was mellow. “Snob, aren’t I?”
“Sincerely, yes.”
“For which you must be grateful.” Skinner began to hunt through the files on his splendid partner’s desk. “Don’t imagine for one minute that my influence hasn’t helped you impress the clients. No one who works here can afford to look like a loser—” He broke off. “Ah, here it is.” He withdrew a thick file from the pack. “Remember the Quinn Corp. thing? We handled their takeover of Omega Enterprises?”
“The Copeland Connellan subsidiary?” Jewel asked. “I should. I put a lot of research into that. Around two-hundred pages.”
“I wouldn’t have let you do it if I didn’t have confidence in you,” Skinner said a little testily. “However…things don’t appear to be working out. In fact, they’re going bad.”
“Really?” Jewel was surprised. “I would’ve thought it was airtight.”
“Except some of Omega’s top people didn’t fully appreciate that their jobs were on the line. They’re suing.”
“You mean Copeland Connellan canned them after the buyout?” Jewel sat back, frowning.
Skinner nodded. “Exactly. Their argument was that Omega’s top guns turned out to be duds.”
“With their salaries, the Omega people can’t have been pleased.”
“Don’t worry about them,” Skinner, never a man to dwell on the misfortunes of others, said equably. “They’re all millionaires. Copeland Connellan has a way of clearing out duds. Anyway, it looks like litigation—which, as we represent Copeland Connellan, we will win. Not saying it won’t be tricky. So let’s get started. Can’t have our biggest client saying they’re not getting our immediate attention. Then we’ve got Kussler Consolidated versus the ATA Group. Pull your chair up here. I’ll be shoveling a lot of work onto your desk, so don’t go making too many outside plans.” He glanced up at her. “By the way, Keefe Connellan will be coming in this afternoon on an unrelated matter. He’s accompanying Lady Copeland, which is somewhat surprising given the situation with Travis. I’d like to be able to tell him we’re already onto the Omega thing at the same time— Haven’t met Keefe, have you?” Skinner asked out of the blue.
“I haven’t had that great honor,” Jewel said, wondering if Skinner was doing his usual job of trying to confuse her.
“Of course you haven’t.” Skinner stared at her thoughtfully.
“Then, why ask?”
Skinner suddenly turned on a charming smile. “A clever young lady like you might find a way to contrive it.”
Jewel had no idea what he was getting at, and merely shook her head.
“I thought every woman wanted to marry a millionaire,” he murmured.
“Finding a millionaire would be the easy part. Marrying him and living happily ever after would be a lot harder,” Jewel answered dryly.
“You could do it, I’m sure.” Skinner narrowed his eyes as though thinking deeply. “Anyway, Keefe rarely comes in. He’s a very busy man. Quite brilliant. Extraordinarily responsible.”
“So they say.” Jewel nodded her head with mock solemnity. According to everyone in the know, Keefe Connellan was guaranteed to become the future executive chairman of Copeland Connellan.
“It’s in the genes, of course,” Skinner said, as though no one in his family had ever been accused of being an idiot. “My family’s always mixed with theirs, socially and in business. There was no finer man than Keefe’s grandfather, Sir Stafford Connellan. Compared to him, Julius Copeland was a very dodgy character.”
“Who knew how to forge an empire,” Jewel pointed out. Everyone had heard the saga of Julius Copeland and his great achievements, despite the dodgy bits.
Skinner widened his gray-blue eyes. “You don’t hold any brief for the Copelands, do you.”
“Blair, I don’t know any of them. As you’ve frequently pointed out, I was a girl from the Deep North, and before that the bush. I don’t mix in your…distinguished circles.”
“Nooo…but you could,” he said thoughtfully. “You’ve got what it takes. I’m absolutely sure there’s an interesting story in your background. Something very unusual.”
He made it sound as though she’d been switched at birth. “Sorry, Blair. Nothing to discover. I had a very ordinary childhood. My father was an overseer on one of the Copeland cattle stations, if you want to make something of that.”
Skinner looked like a man who’d missed out on important information. “Really? This is news.”
“Considering that Sir Julius left a legacy of nearly five-hundred thousand hectares in Outback Queensland, it’s not so unusual. My father died when I was six, going on seven. My mother and I went to live with my aunt almost immediately after. My father’s early death left my mother a very sad woman. There wasn’t much money and she wasn’t always able to work. My aunt half-supported me until I could support myself. As you know, I won a scholarship to a very good girls’ school. And I worked my way through university.”
“From whence you graduated with top honors.” He inclined his head in a gesture of exaggerated respect. “I have to say I’m surprised to hear there was any connection to the Copelands. You kept that from me.”
“I didn’t know you well enough then. You’re not onto something here, Blair. Don’t get excited. My father was an employee. A fairly lowly one at that. No real connection at all.”
“So where did
