His Absolute Insistence: A Scandalous Billionaire Love Story (Jessika, #2) by Cerys du Lys Read Free Book Online Page B

the party last night, as well, and I'm going to be honest with you, I have no idea where they are at the moment.  We had no immediate plans for any huge business meetings today, so it's a definite possibility that they've all decided to work from home, take a break, or any number of things.  I value each and every one of my employees, and I honestly believe that they have the best interests of Landseer Enterprises in mind in everything they do."
    Asher breathed in deep, then continued.  "The company may bear my name, but everyone who works there is a huge part of it.  I'm sorry that you couldn't get in touch with Lucent.  He's a valuable asset to the team, and all of the directors rely on his judgement, as he also relies on theirs.  I'm unable to say any more than that, because for the most part I just don't know.  I don't know where he is, for the same reason that I don't expect him to know where I am.  I trust all of my employees to get the job done, and if they're unable to do so, I trust them to either figure out a way to do better in the future or to ask for help.  Until someone asks, I'm going to assume they're doing fine.  Is that an acceptable answer?"
    She smiled, though it didn't look altogether friendly.  "Of course, Mr. Landseer."
    "Is it safe to say that I've answered everyone's questions for now?  Can we leave it at that for the time being?  I understand if there are follow-up questions you'd like to ask me, but I'd prefer if we could leave that until after I've had a chance to look into these sensationalist reports about me and my wife.  At the very least, I'm sure they'll provide some temporary amusement."
    The members of the media talked among their small crews for a moment.  Cameramen and reporters muttered this and that, and a few of the small teams spoke with other teams near them.  The woman who asked most of the questions kept staring at him with an odd glimmer of interest in her eyes, though.  She obviously wanted to ask him something else, or to bring up some other random angle of accusation, but she held back for whatever reason.
    Good, Asher thought.  He didn't want to deal with it.
    He stepped down from the bench before anyone could protest.  Walking off to the side of the hospital, away from the entrance and the crowd, Asher pulled his cell phone from his pocket and dialed his preferred taxi service.  After a brief conversation, the taxi dispatcher told him she'd have a taxi for him within five minutes.
    Fair enough.
    ***
    I sat in the back of the car reading one of Asher's books while Jeremy went into a local all day breakfast and pancake restaurant to get us some food.  I would have gone in with him—I wanted to, actually—but that might not have been the best idea right now.  This place wasn't the busiest restaurant ever, but seeing as a mass of news reporters was on the look out for me, it paid to be prudent.
    Unfortunately prudence and patience was boring.  Asher left a Kindle in the back seat of this car, for who knew what reason, and apparently it had a bunch of business non-fiction on it.  Which, I thought, was probably why he left it here, because it was boring.  He had one novel, and it was good, but not quite to my preferences.  Dune was science fiction of a sort, with maybe some fantasy speculation added in?  I wasn't really sure.  I read a couple of paragraphs, stopped and looked to see if Jeremy was coming back yet, read a few more, stopped, and continued that for who knew how long.
    Eventually Jeremy showed up carrying our take-out in a paper bag.  I stuffed the Kindle into the back seat pocket and followed his path with my eyes.  It was just food, but it was more exciting than sitting here being bored.
    He opened the driver's side door and handed me the bag, then sat and started up the car.  I took our food and tore through it, checking both the styrofoam containers to figure out which was which.  I found mine, practically ripped it out of the bag,