Price of Surrender Read Online Free PDF Page A

Jeff, but I meant every word of that resignation. I have no intention of working for a
    firm that expects me to ignore payoffs and kickbacks in my books.“
    Beside her chair Max lifted his head alertly as her voice tightened with tension. Good old Max. The one male Adena
    knew who would always be willing to leap to her defense!
    „Adena, calm down. It’s obvious you’re still upset Look, sweetheart, take a couple of days off. Hell, take a week
    off. You’ve got it coming, and I’ll handle things in Personnel for you. As far as the records will show, you’re on
    vacation. In a few days, when you’ve calmed down, you can come back to work and no one here will be the wiser.“
    „Good-bye, Jeff.“
    „And another thing, darling,“ he added just as if he hadn’t heard her crisp farewell, „I seem to have come into
    possession of a pair of tickets for that new show that opened last week.“ His voice deepened with affectionate humor.
    „Any idea what I should do with them? A shame to waste…“
    „Turn them into Lost and Found!“
    Adena hung up the phone with a clatter and then immediately started dialing the number of the Carrigan Labs
    Personnel Department. So Jeff had torn up her resignation, had he?
    Ten minutes later she had made her departure from the company very official. Her resignation would be explained
    as having been handed in for „personal reasons.“ Carol Walters, the assistant director of Personnel, didn’t seem to
    think Adena was acting irrationally. She accepted the resignation and said she’d cut the paperwork immediately.
    „We’re all going to miss you, Adena,“ the older woman had remarked. „Keep in touch, won’t you?“
    Not if I can help it, Adena thought unhappily and hung up the phone. She turned back to the want ads with great
    resolution. After she’d marked a few of the more interesting openings she would have to get her resume updated.
    It was two days later that the new resumes went into the mail, however, and during that time Adena did some
    serious thinking about Jeff Carrigan’s suggestion. Perhaps she should take some time off while she waited for
    responses to the resumes. When she returned, she could start following up with phone calls and personal visits. She
    had no intention of taking the remainder of his advice and returning to work at Carrigan Labs, of course, but the idea of
    a short vacation appealed to her.
    She thought about it while preparing dinner, which she carried out into the living room to eat in front of the
    evening news on the third night of her unemployment „What do you think, Max?“ she inquired during a commercial.
    „We could go someplace restful and quaint. A friend of mine in the accounting department at work was telling me
    about this lovely old inn in one of the old gold rush towns up in the mother lode region. Would you like that?“
    Max, basically a refined city dog at heart, considered her question carefully. He still hadn’t given a clear answer
    when the doorbell chimed, saving him from having to do so.
    With a sigh, Adena put down the needlework she had been doing half-heartedly while she ate and watched tv. and
    rose to answer the door. She really wasn’t in the mood for visitors, she decided irritably as she padded across the
    persimmon rug. The soft ballet-style slippers she was wearing made no sound as she crossed to the intercom box and
    depressed the talk button. The bateau neck of her slightly oversized emerald sweater slid off one shoulder in an
    alluring fashion of which she was unaware at the moment She had put on the overscale sweater and the spare white
    pants strictly for her own comfort that evening.
    „Yes?“
    „Adena? It’s Holt Sinclair.“
    Adena released the talk button as if it had become electrified. Holt Sinclair? What in the world was he doing on her
    doorstep? For some reason his deep voice came as more of a nerve-ruffling shock than it should have. Her reaction to
    it was far stronger than Adena