“With good reason.” His mother’s nostrils flared. “I don’t give up once I’ve decided on a course of action. It’s a pity you didn’t inherit my determination to win and stubbornness to be the best.”
Maggie tried to discreetly wriggle free, not wanting to draw attention to herself, but failed. Her boss wasn’t letting go. She glanced up at the ceiling. If ever a meteorite was going to swoop down on the city and kill her, now would be the perfect time.
“Funny that you think that. You tried to kick me out of this position,” he pointed out, brow raised. “And yet here I stand. Holding steady.”
“This is not a conversation for outsiders.” She gestured to Maggie, her nose again scrunching up at the sight of their joined hands, as if she smelled the peasant on her. “Let her go. She’s fired.”
Mr. Gale shook his head. “No, she’s not. And she’s not going anywhere.”
“Very well then. You want to dig yourself a deeper hole? Go ahead.” She threw her hands up dramatically. “I’m through trying to protect you.”
“Protecting me? When the hell have you ever—?”
“Language,” his mother snapped, her face flushing. “You listen, and you listen well, young man. You will go on the dates I set up for you, and you will do it with a smile on your face, and you will pick one of them to become your wife. It’s what your father did before you, and your father’s father, and your father’s father’s father. It is what’s expected of you.”
His jaw flexed, but he remained silent.
Apparently, Mrs. Gale wasn’t finished yet. “You will be charming and every inch the gentleman I raised you to be. You will find a suitable woman to settle down with, and you will propose. Enough of these dalliances with low-class women—it’s time to do your duty as heir and the head of this company. You wanted the position badly enough to fight me for it? You have it. Now it’s time to take full responsibility for that position. It’s been almost six years. It’s time to be the man you’re supposed to be. A man your father might possibly be proud of. If not, I swear, I’ll—”
She cut herself off, finally.
Maggie, for one, was grateful for the silence.
Mr. Gale tightened his hold on her, but otherwise he showed no outward reaction to his mother’s horrible words. Maggie tugged again, but to no avail. “Go on,” he said. “Finish your threat. You’ve never held back before.”
Mrs. Gale lifted her chin and pointed her haughty nose to the ceiling. “If not, I’ll take this unfortunate situation to the board and use it to get you kicked out of your tenuous position as CEO of this company. Your brother is three years younger than you, and he’s married a woman of suitable upbringing—”
“That you picked for him.”
“Yes, that I picked for him,” she said, stepping forward and pointing a manicured finger at his chest. “And they’re married, with two little boys to carry on the good Gale name, as they should. They attend charity balls. He’s every bit the CEO this company needs. If it were left up to you, you’d bring a lady of the night to the mayor’s dinner next month.”
Lady of the night? My God, what was this woman? Did she walk straight out of a Charles Dickens novel? Maggie lifted her chin. “If you’re insinuating I’m—”
Mrs. Gale swung a glower on her that would scare the devil out of a hellhound. “I wasn’t speaking to you.”
She swallowed her words, staring back at the woman.
Where was that freaking meteorite?
Mr. Gale rocked back on his heels, finally showing some emotion. But it was amusement, not anger. “I wouldn’t be the first to do so, and if you think otherwise, you’re more naive than I ever imagined. Last week, Mr. Thorn brought a woman that I know for a fact is a—”
“Don’t.” She dropped her hand and shook her head sadly, as if she’d caught him banging a woman in front of her late husband’s shrine, instead of walking in on an awkward dinner between boss and employee. “You will announce an engagement before the next board meeting, or I will put forth a motion to remove you as CEO under a No Confidence vote, and do everything in my power to instate Andrew into the position in your stead. Don’t make the mistake of thinking I won’t get the votes needed. I will. I’ve ensured as much. As I said, I abhor losing.”
He glanced at Maggie again, and the idea he’d planted with his silent gaze earlier took an insane, reckless turn. She’d been trying her best to ignore the plan forming silently in her head, but something inside of her snapped.
But she couldn’t do it. Could she?
She didn’t do things on impulse. Ever.
And yet, she was about to. Like a boss.
Ignoring her actual boss, she tossed her hair over her shoulder. “That’s ridiculous, and this is the twenty-first century. You can’t force someone to get married because you want them to.”