Tessa assured the older woman that yes, she would never dream of wearing a skirt or dress that was too short or tight, or a blouse that could be considered sheer or low-cut, and that she did not even own a pair of shoes with high heels. She promised to be on her best ladylike behavior when she met Mr. Gregson for the first time, and to work as hard as she possibly could every single day.

“I’m proud of you, Tessa,” admitted Mrs. Carrington quietly. “As if you were my own daughter. You’ve had a tough time of it, my dear, but I have a very good feeling that your life is about to change for the better. And no one deserves it more. Now, don’t you dare let me down or embarrass me, young miss. The very last thing I’ll tolerate is a call from Ian asking if I’d temporarily lost my mind when I wrote that letter of recommendation for you.”

Tears had begun to well in Tessa’s eyes at her former boss’s words, especially the part when Mrs. C. had referred to Tessa as her daughter. Despite Mrs. Carrington’s gruffness, she’d always had something of a soft spot for her young protégée, and in many ways had been more of a mother to Tessa than Gillian had ever been.

“I won’t let you down,” she murmured softly. “You’ve taught me well, Mrs. C., and if it’s the last thing I do I’m going to prove that to everyone.”

Tessa only hoped that her brave words were enough to quell the nervous butterflies that had taken up residence in her tummy, and that the fluttering little intruders would have moved on by the time she started her new job on Monday.

Andrew Doherty rarely if ever second-guessed himself. He had been raised by parents who were both well-regarded professors, and they had from an early age instilled confidence, common sense, and an overall no-nonsense approach to life in their three children. It had been all of those traits, along with his degree in Business Administration, ability to speak three different languages, and refusal to be intimidated, that had led Ian Gregson to hire him as his personal assistant several years ago. During the time he’d worked here, Andrew could not honestly recall even one time when he’d had second thoughts about a decision he had made, or an action he’d taken. Until this afternoon, that is. And he just hoped that he didn’t live to regret hiring the very proficient but very young – and very, very pretty – Tessa Lockwood.

Admittedly, he’d had his back up against the wall to some degree with having to hire a new team member as quickly as possible. Sarah, who’d never been a particular favorite of Andrew’s, had been foolish enough to begin a flirtation with the odious Jason Baldwin, knowing full well that the man was both married and a notorious womanizer. But when the flirtation had progressed to a stage where Sarah had felt uncomfortable and uncertain, she’d begun to make noises about sexual harassment.

Mr. Gregson had put a halt to that sort of possibility immediately, taking swift action to transfer Sarah to a position at the local Gregson Hotel. It was a modest promotion for her – one that Andrew knew she certainly didn’t deserve – but the bump up in both prestige and salary had been more than enough to keep Sarah happy and forget all about any potential complaints. But while they had avoided a nasty sexual harassment case, Sarah’s abrupt transfer had also left them a body short on the support team – and at a time when there was a great deal of work that needed to be done.

To make matters worse, Mr. Gregson had left the office day before yesterday on a two week business trip to visit hotels in Montreal, Toronto, and Quebec City. It had been left entirely in Andrew’s hands to interview, hire, and train a replacement for Sarah – and with utmost haste. He had in fact been reading over the stack of resumes that had been sent up earlier in the day from Human Resources when Sheila Horner had called him.

“I think I’ve got someone for you, Andrew,” she’d begun, her normally professional tone sounding more than a little excited. “And if you like her, this could really be an ideal situation all around.”

Andrew had balked when he’d heard how young the girl was, and that she didn’t have a four-year degree. He’d reluctantly acknowledged that yes, it would make things easier to hire someone who was already an employee of the company, who’d already passed all of the various background checks, and who was familiar with company policies and the internal computer system. And he’d nodded to himself when Sheila had pointed out that placing this Tessa into Sarah’s old spot would be the least disruptive move they could make, rather than transferring someone from another department – an option that was also being considered.

But it was only when Sheila rather slyly let it drop that the girl had extensive training in Excel that Andrew’s ears perked up. It had been a source of constant aggravation to him that none of the team members seemed capable of handling even some of the simpler spreadsheets that Mr. Gregson practically lived and died for when it came to keeping track of the many and varied hotel statistics. Just last week he’d looked around at five blank faces when he had asked if any of them knew how to nest one pivot table within another. Andrew was quite proficient in the program – he’d had to self-teach himself out of necessity these past three years – but he was usually far too busy with the dozens of other tasks Mr. Gregson assigned to him to carve out enough time in the day to also work on the spreadsheets. If he could find someone who actually knew all of these things – a few that even he wasn’t quite accomplished at – then it would certainly make his life a lot easier. It would also please Mr. Gregson, something that wasn’t always so simple to do. The boss man – a nickname most everyone in the office besides Andrew called him in private – was one tough customer, with the most exacting standards Andrew had ever known.

So he had stuck his neck out a short while ago by giving Tessa Lockwood the job, knowing full well that Mr. Gregson would think her too young, naïve, and inexperienced to work at this level. But Andrew had excellent instincts, and they were rarely if ever wrong. And those instincts told him that hiring Tessa had been the right decision – for more reasons than one. She was young, probably too young, but there had been a quiet dignity about her, a seriousness and maturity that made her seem far older than her twenty-two years. Andrew liked that she was reserved and even shy, and that she seemed all too eager to do whatever she was told. She’d been taught well, conducted herself like a lady, and showed the proper respect. Unlike, he thought grimly, some of the other team members who he had to constantly stay on top of.