His Illegitimate Heir Read Online Free PDF Page A

Beaumonts.
    â€œSo you’re going to be the one to light the path?”
    He stared her in the eyes, one eyebrow gently lifted. God, if she wasn’t careful, she could get lost in his gaze. “I have a plan, Ms. Johnson. You let me worry about the company and you worry about the beer.”
    â€œSounds good to me,” she muttered.
    She stood because it seemed like a final sort of statement. But Richards stopped her. “How many workers do you need to hire?”
    â€œAt least ten. What I need most right now is maintenance staff. I don’t know how much you know about beer, but most of what I do is automated. It’s making sure to push the right button at the right time and checking to make sure that things come together the right way. It doesn’t take a lot of know-how to brew beer, honestly, once you have the recipes.” At this statement, both of his eyebrows lifted. “But keeping equipment running is another matter. It’s hot, messy work and I need at least eight people who can take a tank apart and put it back together in less than an hour.”
    He thought about that for a moment. “I don’t mean to be rude, but is that what you were doing before you came in here?”
    She rolled her eyes again. “What gave it away?”
    He grinned. Casey took another step back from the desk—away from Zeb Richards smiling at her. She tried to take comfort in the fact that he probably knew exactly how lethal his grin could be. Men as gorgeous as he was didn’t get through life without knowing exactly what kind of effect they had on women—and it usually made them jerks. Which was fine. Gorgeous jerks never went for women like her and she didn’t bother with them, either.
    But there was something in the way he was looking at her that felt like a warning.
    â€œI’ll compromise with you, Ms. Johnson. You and your staff will be excused from submitting résumés.”
    That didn’t sound like a compromise. That sounded like she was getting everything she asked for. Which meant the other shoe was about to drop. “And?”
    â€œInstead...” He paused and shot her another grin. This one wasn’t warm and fuzzy—this one was the sharp smile of a man who’d somehow bought a company out from under the Beaumonts. Out from under his own family. “...you and your team will produce a selection of new beers for me to choose from.”
    That was one hell of a shoe—and it had landed right on her. “I’m sorry?”
    â€œYour point that the skills of some of your employees won’t readily translate into bullet points on a résumé is well taken. So I’d like to see their skills demonstrated in action.”
    She knew her mouth was open, but she didn’t think she could get it closed. She gave it a shot—nope, it was still open. “I can’t just...”
    â€œYou do know how to brew beer, don’t you?”
    He was needling her—and it was working, dammit. “Of course I know how to brew beer. I’ve been brewing Beaumont beer for twelve years.”
    â€œThen what’s the problem?”
    It was probably bad form to strangle your boss on his first day on the job. Tempting, though. “I can’t just produce beer by snapping my fingers. I have to test new recipes—and some of them are not going to work—and then there’s the brewing time, and I won’t be able to do any of that until I get more staff hired.”
    â€œHow long will it take?”
    She grasped at the first number that popped into her mind. “Two months. At least. Maybe three.”
    â€œFine. Three months to hire the workers and test some new recipes.” He sat forward in his chair and dropped his gaze to the desk, as if they were done.
    â€œIt isn’t that simple,” she told him. “We need to get Marketing to provide us with guidance on what’s currently popular and