Reaction was beginning to set in, but she could not back down now. She had taken her stand and must prove to Jago Marsh once and for all that while she might be a woman as far as her work went she expected to be treated in the same manner as he would treat a male colleague, and not be subjected to the covert sexual warfare he had been indulging in before.
‘Firstly,’ she told him, striving to keep her voice even and calm, ‘Wyechester isn’t London and people—life moves at a much slower pace. It takes time to convince local businessmen to make use of our services and…’
‘I’ll say it does!’ Jago cut in contemptuously, without letting her finish. ‘But how much time do you need? Time is something you’re running out of here,’ he reminded them curtly. ‘That’s why I’m here, to try and put things right before the I.B.A. are left with no option but to blow the whistle on the entire venture.’
‘How vey generous of you!’ Storm interrupted sarcastically, before she could stop herself.
Jago inclined his head, and the look he gave her held an implicit promise of retribution to come. Storm couldn’t help herself, her eyes dropped, her cheeks flushing with mortification. In the silence that followed it would have been possible to hear the proverbial pin drop.
‘I was warned that you were something of a firebrand, Storm,’ Jago said smoothly. ‘Well, let me tell you here and now if there are going to be any fireworks in this outfit, they’re going to originate from me, and they’re more likely to take the form of a rocket under your backside unless I see a drastic improvement.’
‘Doesn’t mince matters, does he?’ Pete murmured with an appreciative chuckle, but Storm did not bother to reply. All her attention was focused on the man facing her across David’s desk.
‘Is that understood?’ Jago asked. ‘Good.’ The cool grey eyes summed up their reaction, resting momentarily on Storm’s openly rebellious face. ‘A word of warning, Storm, before you get any idiotic ideas into your head—I have ways of turning firecrackers into damp squibs.’
‘I’ll just bet you have!’ Pete grinned appreciatively, while to Storm’s fury all the men with the exception of David laughed out loud. Closing ranks against the female in their midst, she thought resentfully, only her clenched hands betraying her feelings as she tried to appear both cool and unmoved.
‘I thought you’d come here to show us how to run the station at a profit, not reform my character,’ she riposted lightly, when the laughter had died down. Let him see how it felt to be the object of everyone’s amusement!
He was watching her with a thoughtful narrowed gaze that made her heart thump uncomfortably and warned her that she had gone too far, then his expression lightened, amusement glinting in his eyes.
‘I’m perfectly capable of doing both,’ he assured her smoothly, an inflection in the words that sent a frisson of awareness shivering over her skin.
The others laughed again, but in Storm’s mind there was no doubt that the gage had been most definitely thrown down. But did she dare to pick it up? Some instinct more deep-rooted than any ordinary emotion warned her that to do so would be dangerous. And yet what had she to lose? Her job and her pride were surely more important to her than that.
‘In fact,’ Jago mused, his eyes on her slender curves, ‘I’m not sure if I won’t anyway. Taming shrews can sometimes have the most unexpected fringe benefits.’
This time there was no laughter. She caught David’s eye in a mute plea for help, willing him to tell Jago Marsh that if there was any taming to be done he was the one who would be doing it. But of course David would do no such thing, she acknowledged, and wasn’t it precisely because he would not that she loved him?
‘Perhaps if you could tear yourself away from your daydream, Storm?’
Engrossed in her thoughts, she had missed part of the conversation. The others were all looking expectantly at her, and she ran her tongue nervously round her dry lips.
‘Well?’ Jago prompted softly. ‘We’re all waiting. Perhaps you could enlighten us as to exactly why Radio Wyechester is such a resounding failure?’
How could David endure to stand there and listen to him? Storm wondered resentfully.
‘I agree that we have a long way to go,’ she began, intending to mention the decrepit state of some of their equipment, but Jago stopped her, saying dryly.
‘I’m glad we agree on something, but you certainly believe in the understatement, don’t you? For “a long way”, I would substitute “all the way”. You haven’t even taken the first step in the right direction.’
‘But no doubt we will, under your capable tutelage!’ Storm shot back resentfully.
Jago inclined his head briefly as though in assent. His eyes bored into her.
‘It’s to be hoped so,’ he agreed. ‘Now, if I can have your attention for a moment, all of you. The first thing we need to know before you can become a success is why you’re at present a failure.’ He looked round the room, ignoring Storm’s rebellious disdain.
He certainly had a way of delivering a snub that was all his own, she had to acknowledge seconds later when his eyes returned to her flushed face, and lingered, looking straight through her, while the others shuffled uncomfortably and looked at one another for support. Why didn’t David say something? Storm wondered helplessly. Surely he had formulated some defence for the attack which he must have known would be coming? Surely he wasn’t going to let Jago Marsh sweep in here and simply take over? But it certainly looked that way.
‘I’m going to take five days to look round and see what’s to be done and then I shall hold a round-the-table meeting to get your views,’ Jago told them crisply when no one spoke.
‘Five days—is that all?’ Storm muttered under her breath, willing David to defend their venture and himself. ‘Even God took six!’
‘You can go now,’ Jago told them coolly, gathering up his papers. ‘All except you, Storm. I have something to say to you—in private,’ he added, as David showed signs of lingering.
Storm held her breath waiting for David to tell Jago that anything he had to say to her in private could be said to him, but to her dismay he merely gave her a sympathetic smile before following the others out of the office.
‘Well now,’ said Jago when they were alone, ‘that’s quite an act you’ve got together there. Want to tell me why?’
‘What did you expect?’ Storm asked dangerously. ‘I know your views on women in the media, and I hate the way you’re pushing David about. Well, as far as I’m concerned, he’s still Controller here and I take my orders from him.’
‘I’ll bet,’ Jago drawled cynically. ‘The day David Winters can bring himself to give an order—that I’ve got to see!’
‘Don’t you criticise David! He’s worth ten of you.’
‘Not so far as the I.B.A. are concerned.’
Impossible to deny the truth of that statement, much as she would have wanted to. Angry tears weren’t far away, and Storm blinked them back.
‘All this concern, and for old David! I’m impressed.’
