The Playboy's Protegee. Michele Dunaway

      Chapter One

      Even though it was a Monday, it had all the makings of a wonderful day. As the only person in the executive elevator, Harry Sanders whistled the entire journey to his office on the twenty-second floor of the Jacobsen Enterprises world headquarters.

      “You’re chipper this morning,” Peggy, his secretary for the past five years, commented as he strode over the plush carpet. Ten minutes before 9:00 a.m., she had already sorted his memos and mail.

      “Absolutely,” Harry said taking the stack of papers without stopping to look through them as he usually did.

      He registered Peggy’s words as he entered his office, “There’s one from your grandfather.”

      There had better be. Harry smiled as he entered his corner office, and he took a minute to look out the window. Even though it was a beautiful May day, his office faced west and south, giving him a boring view of Highway 40 as it wound toward Jefferson Avenue.

      The eastern-facing offices of the Jacobsen Building looked down Market Street, the view encompassing Memorial Plaza, Union Station, the Mississippi riverfront, the Old Courthouse and the Gateway Arch.

      No, his office view was not quite the best, or even on the top floor, that was the twenty-fifth floor, but all that was about to change.

      And it was about time.

      He pushed a strand of blond hair off his face. He’d been waiting for the past two years, and with Darci happily out of the way, it was finally Harry’s time to shine.

      He took a minute to think about that. Don’t get him wrong, he loved his academically brilliant sister with the Harvard MBA. However, three years his junior, Darci had held a higher title and position in Jacobsen Enterprises before her resignation and subsequent move to New York City to be with Cameron O’Brien, her now-husband of one year.

      Darci’s fast rise through the company still rankled Harry, that and the fact that after she’d resigned, he hadn’t been promoted into her spot. But given his grandfather’s eccentricities and obvious favoritism toward his granddaughters, no one had been too surprised to see Darci’s job left unfilled. The vice president of development position she’d held had just sort of faded away.

      “Good, you’re here early.” Speaking of the devil. The voice that startled Harry from his reverie belonged to none other than Joe Jacobsen, and Harry turned to see his grandfather standing in the office doorway.

      “I’m always on time,” Harry replied. It was the truth. One thing Harry managed was timeliness.

      Standing there looking like a thin version of Santa Claus, Grandpa Joe didn’t even blink at Harry’s answer. Even though the blue-eyed gene was recessive, every Jacobsen grandchild, including Harry, had the same blue eyes with a rim of dark blue that their grandfather had.

      “Didn’t say you were late. I know your schedule,” Grandpa Joe said in the tone that meant no excuses, boy. “Did you read my memo yet?”

      “No,” Harry said.

      So much for it looking to be a good day with a promotion on the horizon. A sense of foreboding filled Harry. He knew his eccentric if not business-brilliant grandfather too well. And although at six foot two Harry often towered over other men, the dynamic Grandpa Joe still made Harry occasionally feel like a small wayward child.

      Harry began to sort through the papers Peggy had given him. As he found the memo, he said, “Here it is.”

      Grandpa Joe nodded, his thin white beard bobbing slightly. “Why don’t you take a minute to read it.”

      As Harry scanned the memo he read the words aloud. “I just wanted to give you a heads up on the newest Jacobsen Enterprises program to recruit and retain upper-level management.”

      He looked up at Grandpa Joe, who was staring out the window. Harry’s gaze flew over the rest of the memo outlining the new Jacobsen Stars program. A worried thought started in the pit of his stomach as he looked over at the spiral-bound presentation folder that was with the other mail on his desk. The sinking feeling quickly spread through the rest of his body.

      “You want me to be a mentor?”

      Grandpa Joe slowly turned around, his face a neutral mask. He gave a curt nod. “Absolutely.”

      Harry stared as his grandfather continued. “I quite like my idea, and given your position in the company, it will be a good way to expand your horizons and help out the Jacobsen team. I think it will be a good experience for you.”

      “A good experience for me?” Incredulity filled Harry’s voice. “From the way you were talking two days ago, I thought you were going to fill the vice president of development position.”

      Grandpa Joe rolled his shoulders. “I’m still not sure about that yet.”

      At that moment, business relationship be darned. This was personal, this was family. Whatever his grandfather had up his sleeve a few days ago, it hadn’t been this. “You’re going to promote someone else over my head, aren’t you? How is that a good experience for me?”

      The neutral expression on his grandfather’s face never changed. “No one said anything about promoting people. Stop putting words into my mouth. This program is all about keeping top talent in the company. We don’t want them lured away by any of our competitors, especially after we’ve put so much investment into training them.”

      “What about me? Where do I fit into all this?”

      Grandpa Joe blinked. “That’s obvious, Harry, my boy, you’re going to be a mentor. In fact, that’s why I’m here. I’ve got the perfect person picked out just for you. She’s a recent hire. Well, I guess a year ago isn’t too recent. We hired her after Darci left. You know Megan MacGregor. She’s in Mergers and Acquisitions. An absolute gem that girl is, and I want to make sure she stays with us. She has raw talent, and I think you can help develop it.”

      Megan MacGregor. Harry bit back the bile that immediately came to his throat upon hearing her name. He certainly did not want to mentor her. “I develop business opportunities and future growth,” he said. “I do not develop talent in females.”

      “Your playboy reputation tells me that you at least try to develop something with females,” Grandpa Joe said. There was hard steel underlining his voice. “And let me remind you that Working Mother named this company one of the best places to work in America. At Jacobsen Enterprises we take pride in knocking down the glass ceiling. But don’t worry. You don’t have to participate, Harry. After all, you are family, and you will always have a place in the company. I made that promise to your mother when you graduated high school and went off to Vanderbilt.”

      Wonderful, Harry thought. Grandpa Joe had wanted Harry, his oldest grandson, to go to Princeton. Accepted at both colleges, Harry had wanted to stay closer to Saint Louis. So he’d chosen Vanderbilt in Tennessee instead of the Ivy League Princeton