Satin Pleasures by Karen Docter Page A

don’t tell me my one o’clock is early.”
    Emily shook her head. “Laura Beckett’s seldom on time, and never early. Besides, Dragon Lady is on patrol. We can’t have any more knights sneaking past the castle gates without the magic password.”
    She smiled at the thought of Dan’s surprise visit. “ I don’t know the magic password.”
    “That’s why you can never fire me. I’m your sole link to the outside world and all the fun stuff.” Emily called over her shoulder. “Come on in. It’s safe.”
    An undulating sea of silver, red, and gold, attached to two legs, squeezed into the room. A head popped out of the cloud of helium balloons. “A big, happy 3-0, Tess!”
    The deliveryman plunked his bundle down on her desk and handed her his clipboard. After he’d gone, Tess was left staring at her secretary who was eyeing the bobbing mass overhead with awe. “There are thirty balloons up there.”
    She accepted Emily’s count without question. It was the gaily decorated box sitting on her desk, attached to the end of the balloon ribbons, which drew her attention. Unable to stand the suspense, she cut the ribbons and let the brightly-colored balloons dance across the room in a dozen different directions.
    Ripping paper and box alike, Tess exposed the largest Hershey’s Kiss she’d ever seen. “I’ve died and gone to Chocolate Heaven,” she exclaimed falling back in her office chair.
    “Who’s it from? Is there a card?”
    Her parents couldn’t afford presents any more. This was the kind of extravagant gift her lover, Anthony, might send. But, Anthony didn’t exist. That left....
    Searching for the card, her heart thumped irregularly against her ribcage when she found it and read the bold script. Couldn’t resist. Reminded me of you. A special day demands balloons and chocolates. Your friend—Dan.
    Glancing down at her clothes, Tess grinned. Her dress was the color of milk chocolate. Her smile broadened when she reached up to touch the silver ribbon she’d tied around her loose hair before racing out the door this morning. She was a five-foot-ten confection.
    Her head pressed against the back of her chair, she laughed with delight. Even when he wasn’t there, Dan had the power to make her laugh. What did one do with such a special man?
    “You thank him,” Emily replied.
    Tess smiled crookedly at the realization she’d spoken aloud. She would thank Dan, but she’d have to wait until the new fantasies he’d inadvertently conjured stopped bouncing around in her head like so many wayward balloons.
    There were simply too many ways to thank a man.
    ***
    Thanking Dan McDonald was the last thing on Tess’s mind four days later. In fact, some of the things she was thinking of doing to the man would most likely land her in the nearest jail cell for a very long stay.
    The first time his name came up in a discussion of her marketing program, she’d discounted it. That was days, and one too many conversations, ago. Dan was getting to her merchants before she was and swaying their opinions. Why he was doing it was a mystery.
    It didn’t matter he’d turned the tide for her, that most of the disgruntled retailers had become compliant putty in her hands. If she heard one more person sing the man’s praises, she’d scream. Whatever happened to her idea? Did no one remember who designed the program in the first place?
    “Sour grapes,” Tess said aloud, her pen tapping a nervous beat on her desk. It didn’t make a difference how her program got pushed through, as long as it worked. Too much rode on this summer’s sales figures.
    It didn’t, however, make Dan’s interference any easier to swallow. Who knew how her bosses would react if they discovered she’d been bailed out of trouble by one of her own merchants? With the continuing rumors of another investment firm in the wings, the last thing she wanted was to give her directors the impression their investment wasn’t worth the trouble.
    Tess rubbed