the men to demonstrate how they would handle the situation if he’d been a real threat, Caleb almost laughed out loud when they clumsily grabbed his arms and attempted to pull them behind his back. He immediately decided that they not only needed to work on their response time to a situation, but could both benefit from a refresher course in methods of restraint. If he’d been of a mind to, he could have broken their hold without doing much more than flexing his biceps.
“I’m not here to apply for a job.” He smiled. “I al-ready work here.”
“Oh, really?” Ms. Merrick tilted her head curiously. “Since I do the final interviews for all new employees, would you care to refresh my memory and tell me what your name is, when we hired you and just which area of Skerritt and Crowe you think you work in?”
“I got the job a week ago and I intend to work in the office next to yours.” Chuckling, he decided he was going to enjoy sparring with A. J. Merrick. “The name is Walker. Caleb Walker.”
He could tell from the widening of her baby blues behind those ridiculous glasses that his answers were not what she’d expected. But she quickly recovered her composure and motioned toward the two guards. “Mr. Norton, Mr. Clay, please release Mr. Walker immediately.”
“But Ms. Merrick—”
“I said, let him go,” she repeated. She lifted her stubborn little chin a notch. “Mr. Walker is the new president of Skerritt and Crowe.”
From somewhere behind him, he heard Geneva gasp at the same time as the two guards dropped their hold on him.
“Sorry about that, Mr. Walker,” one of the men said, clumsily trying to straighten Caleb’s shirtsleeve.
Silence reigned for several tense seconds as Caleb and the woman in front of him stared at each other. In a lot of ways she reminded him of another woman and another time.
He took a deep breath. That had been a while back and he’d learned a lot in the few years since. He was no longer a naive farm boy with lofty dreams and a trusting heart. He was a grown man who’d learned his lessons well.
“If you’d give Ms. Merrick and me a few minutes, I’d surely appreciate it,” he finally said as he continued to meet her intense gaze. When he heard the quiet click of the door being pulled shut behind the three, Caleb smiled. “What do you say we start over?” He stuck out his hand. “I’m Caleb Walker. It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Merrick.”
When she hesitantly placed her hand in his, the feel of her soft palm against his sent a shock wave all the way to his toes. She apparently felt the same jolt of electric current because she dropped his hand faster than the high-school football captain’s pants hit the floor on prom night. He barely managed to keep from laughing out loud.
“I know I’m earlier than you all expected, but don’t you think it would have been a good idea to inform the employees about me? After all, Emerald Larson called you several days ago to tell you I’d be here at the end of this week.”
“Mrs. Larson indicated that you’d be here on Friday.”
“I’m only a day early,” he said, breathing a bit easier when A.J. didn’t refer to Emerald as his grandmother.
He’d purposely asked Emerald not to mention their relationship when she called Skerritt and Crowe, and it appeared that she’d respected his wishes. He didn’t want or need the added prejudices of being the owner’s grandson when he took over.
“It was my intention to introduce you to everyone tomorrow at the directors’ meeting,” she said, sounding extremely efficient.
“Well, I can guarantee you the cat’s out of the bag now,” he said, grinning. “I’ll bet Geneva and her two sidekicks are spreading the word like fire through a hay field.”
To his amazement, she didn’t even crack a smile. “I’m sure they are.”
Her calm demeanor had Caleb wondering if A. J. Merrick ever let herself lose control. Something told him that it didn’t happen often. But he also sensed that when she did let go, it would be a hell of a sight. What he couldn’t figure out was why he’d like to be there to see it when she did.
She waved her hand at one of the burgundy leather armchairs in front of her desk. “Please have a seat, Mr. Walker.”
Sitting down, he watched her walk around the desk to lower herself into the high-backed executive chair. “Since we’re going to be working together, why don’t we ditch the formalities?” he asked, wondering what made A. J. Merrick tick. “Call me Caleb.”
“I’d rather not, Mr. Walker,” she said, straightening some papers on her desk.
“Why not?” He wasn’t at all surprised by her insistence on formalities. However, he was dismayed by his own persistence in getting her to let down her guard.
She stopped fussing with the documents to give him a pointed look. “It will only complicate things when the time comes for you to let me go.”
Now where had that come from? To his knowledge, he hadn’t given her any reason to feel threatened or to believe he’d be firing her, or anyone else for that mat-ter. But she was acting like it was a done deal.
He sat forward. “Where did you get the harebrained idea that I’d be letting you go?”
“Any time there’s a change in upper management, the result is always the same. The new president or CEO brings in his or her own people for the top positions and the old regime is history.” She shrugged one slender shoulder as she met his gaze head-on. “Since I’m the operations manager over all the departments here at Skerritt and Crowe, mine will be one of the first heads to roll.”
He wasn’t sure, but he thought he detected a slight tremor in her voice. But as she continued to stare at him like he was lower than the stuff he scraped off his boots after a trip through the barnyard, he decided he’d imagined the sound. A. J. Merrick was way too professional to show the slightest bit of emotion. What shocked him more than her steely control was his sudden desire to see what lay beneath that cool facade, to discover what she was so obviously trying to hide.
“Let me put your fears to rest right here and now. I’m not getting rid of you or anyone else,” he said, forcing his mind back to the matter at hand. She had no way of knowing, and he wasn’t about to tell her that he didn’t have a clue about running a firm of financial consultants or that he’d have to rely heavily on her and others’ experience in order to keep from falling on his face. “Your job is just as safe today as it was before Emerald, Inc. bought this firm.”
She pushed her glasses back up her nose with a brush of her hand. “You say that now, but it’s a well-known fact that within six months of any takeover there’s always a shake-up.”
“That might happen with a hostile buyout, but Emer-ald Larson bought this company with Frank Skerritt and Martin Crowe’s blessings. They both wanted to retire, but neither of them had family members who wanted to take the reins of the firm.”
As he watched her nibble on her lower lip while she considered his words, he found himself wondering if her perfectly shaped lips were as soft and sweet as they looked. Swallowing hard, he decided that he’d better keep his mind on business and off the fact that Ms. Merrick had the most kissable mouth he’d seen
