HardWind by Charlotte Boyett-Compo Read Free Book Online

reprimand.
    Dáire stopped moving. His hands were curled around the padded arms of the chair,
    his eyes leveled on Gentry.
    “Have you any notion how angry I am with you, Cronin?” Gentry asked, eyes
    narrowed, lips tight.
    “I have some idea,” he answered.
    “I was going to give you an assignment this morning, but obviously you are in no
    condition to even shave, much less hold a gun in your hand.”
    Dáire opened his mouth to disagree then thought better of it.
    Dark gray eyes the color of an approaching storm narrowed even more as Gentry
    swung that reproachful glare to Jackson. “I realize you are not his babysitter, Jackson,
    but it would have been prudent of you to dissuade him from his sojourn at that filthy
    strip bar last evening.”
    “Had I known he was—” Jackson began.
    “You knew perfectly well he was going to act like the child he sometimes is,”
    Gentry cut him off. “You might not have known where he’d end up, but you knew it
    would be somewhere of which I would not approve.”
    “Are you going to dictate where I can and can’t go now?” Dáire heard the words
    tumbling from his lips and had to steel himself not to wither beneath the frigid glower
    that shifted his way.
    “I would have thought nearly a year in that cell in Borneo would have taught you a
    bit of humility, Cronin,” Gentry snapped. “Obviously you learned nothing from your
    stay there.”
    Fury flashed through Dáire’s brown gaze but he kept his mouth shut. He alone
    knew what he’d endured in that hellish prison and the things he’d learned about
    himself had nearly broken his spirit.
    Gentry drew in a long breath, held it then let it out slowly, forcing the irritation and
    anger away. “You have a problem and until you can deal with it, I will not be giving
    you any more assignments.”
    Blinking against the unfairness of his boss’ decision, Dáire sat up straighter in his
    chair. “I don’t have a drinking problem,” he denied. “Yes, I got drunk last night but—”
    “I was speaking of your problem with Star Kiernan,” Gentry cut him off. “She has
    always been a liability to you, has always been your problem, and now that problem
    has escalated. You will handle it now and then we’ll move on.”
    Jackson cleared his throat. “Ma’am, Star has taken that decision out of his hands.
    She—”
    Gentry slammed her fist down on the desktop. “I know all about Boyd. He is of no
    consequence. The matter is between Cronin and his whore.”
    28
    HardWind
    Dáire stared at the most powerful woman in The Cumberland Group and wished—
    not for the first time—that she were a man. There had been occasions when he would
    have taken great delight in plowing a fist through the haughty face that glared back at
    him. At that moment he hated her with every fiber of his being, and the thought of
    wrapping his hands around her neck and squeezing until the life had drained from her
    overweight body beckoned to him.
    “Jackson, will you excuse us?” Gentry asked, not bothering to look the older man’s
    way.
    Without a comment, Jackson was up and out of the room. He knew Gentry’s
    scolding tone all too well and didn’t care to be there while she castigated Dáire.
    Once the door closed behind Jackson, Gentry leaned forward and put her folded
    arms on the desktop. “While I do not profess to understand the torments you were
    forced to endure in Borneo, I am keenly aware of how it affected you.”
    “Do you really?” he asked, a muscle working in his lean jaw.
    “And while I sympathize with the horrendous experiences you suffered, I am not
    about to coddle you.”
    “I never asked you to.”
    “No, you didn’t, but you seem to think you can do whatever the hell you want to,
    when you want to, without there being consequences. The Group’s dispensation for
    your travail extends only so far, Cronin.” Gentry’s stare turned colder than the waters
    flowing beneath an iceberg. “If you want out, just say so.