Read Online Emily: Sex and Sensibility by Sandra Marton - Free Book Online

piano—no problem, I’m certain.”
    “In which case, all we lack is the piano player.”
    “They call them pianists, sir.”
    “They call them piano players,” Marco said, fighting back the little rush of anticipatory excitement that went through him.
     
    ******
     
    Stein left to deal with the piano, the flowers and the candles.
    “I’ll handle the rest,” Marco told him.
    “The rest,” of course, was Emily.
    He’d come away last night without her phone number, even without her last name but then, he’d never anticipated seeing her again. Getting in touch with her now was only logical. Nothing about it was personal. He needed a piano player. She needed a job. Now that he thought about it, he hadn’t really bought into her breezy Oh, my agent will find me something else. If it were that easy, she wouldn’t have been working in the kind of dive she’d described.
    This was business, plain and simple.
    He considered going to see her but decided against it. Too personal. A would-be employer would not turn up at a would-be employee’s door. Not that he would actually be her employer. This was a temporary job…
    “Hell,” he muttered, and reached for the phone.
    His attorney listened, asked for Emily’s address, said he knew just who to contact and would get back to him with the information within the hour.
    “Unless you want a full background check.”
    “I want an address and a phone number,” Marco said brusquely. “Nothing more.”
    Twenty minutes later, he had her last name—Madison—her cell number and her landline number
    All he had to do now was contact her.
    Why was he hesitating? What he was about to do was logical. Eminently logical.
    Nothing about this was personal.
    She needed a job. He needed a piano player. It was a win-win situation, a problem solved for him, a problem solved for her. It might even be more than that for her. This was only a one-day event but it would provide her with excellent media coverage.
    That kind of exposure was surely good for an entertainer. Not that he’d gotten the impression she saw herself as an entertainer. He hadn’t even gotten the sense that she saw piano as a career. It hadn’t been in anything she’d said but in her attitude. Maybe she was still looking for a career.
    Whatever. That didn’t matter.
    Her future was not his concern. Solving Wednesday’s problem was.
    Still, calling Emily himself struck him as almost as unwise as going to see her.
    Marco frowned.
    Normally, he’d have told his PA to handle things, but…
    But he did have an HR manager.
    He dialed her extension, quickly explained that there’d been a change of plans for the Wednesday opening of Twenty-two Pascal.
    “Of what, sir?”
    Hell, he was an idiot! What would Human Resources know about it?
    Marco filled her in on the situation and on how the company was dealing with it.
    “Well,” the head of HR said cautiously, “that’s great news—but what does it have to do with Human Resources?”
    Marco cleared his throat.
    “Obviously, we need someone to play the piano.”
    “Ah. Well, sir, unfortunately, I’m afraid I wouldn’t know how to go about locating a pianist—”
    “A piano player,” Marco said, “and I already know of someone. I’ll give you her name and number. Call her, explain that we have a one-day job for her and ask her to come in this morning.”
    “You want me to call this person, sir?”
    “Of course,” Marco said briskly. “We will be employing her, will we not?”
    “Well, yes, but—”
    “All hiring at MS Enterprises is done through your office, Mrs. Barnett.”
    “I really don’t know what to ask her, Mr. Santini. I mean, what should I look for in her résumé?”
    “Never mind a résumé,” Marco said briskly. “Just call her, tell her what we want and have her come in to sign the necessary documents.”
    “And if she asks how we know about her, sir?”
    Marco put his hand to his forehead. It was an excellent question.
    “Never