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Read Chapter One:

The Vice President of Operations, Arthur Pendragon, leaned back in his office chair, promising himself he would just close his eyes for a minute. A knock on his open office door made him groan, straightening and blinking sand from his eyes to appear alert, hoping his father, the Chief Executive Officer, had not caught him in a weak moment.

Instead, in the doorway stood his Compliance and Ethics Officer with an annoying look of sympathy in his blue eyes.

“Hi, Arthur.” Galahad took a seat in front of Arthur’s desk.

They were opposites in many ways: Galahad was dark-haired, nearly frail-looking with his thin form and oversized ears. He never played or watched sports. He was intelligent, but without a diploma or string of letters in his email signature or on his business cards.

Utterly unlike the guys Arthur had called friends in school and University, other sons of wealthy families who got new cars on their birthdays and played raquetball or football or rugby.

As different from his old friends as Guinevere was from the girls he had casually dated.

A pang clenched his heart. Arthur rubbed his chest and pushed aside thoughts of his girlfriend.

“Arthur, how familiar are you with the efforts to sell to the new government buying group in Argentina?” Galahad asked with a directness that always made Arthur uncomfortable.

His Ethics Officer seemed incapable of political niceties or artifice.

Arthur ran a hand through his blond hair. It was longer than he usually wore it. Damn. He should schedule a trim before the board presentation on Latin American operations. “I only know what’s needed for our logistics plan. Why? Is there a compliance issue?” Please, no, I don’t need more headaches right now.

“We found a few invoices for consulting services but no contracts to support the payments,” Galahad said.

“Did you ask the marketing directors?”

“No, not yet.”

“Do that.” Arthur leaned back again, attempting to will away twinges at the base of his skull by pressing his fingers to his temples.

“Hard day?” Galahad asked.

Arthur’s old friends would never ask that. Poke fun at his uncut, messy hair. Make a jab about him not being able to cut it. That, Arthur could handle. He knew how to respond in kind.

This concerned sympathy made him self-conscious. Like he was supposed to be open and honest in return.

He did not have the energy for that right now.

“My father’s pet project.” Arthur made a vague motion with his hand and then massaged his temples.

It was partially true. The new market was his father’s initiative and the entire senior staff, Arthur included, had put in late nights and weekends for a month refining the proposal.

But it was the disappointment in Gwen’s brown eyes last night that squeezed his heart in his chest. Please, don’t let that be a breakup.

“Want to go for a drink?” Galahad asked.

Arthur glanced up without taking his fingers from his aching head. “Don’t you have fellow nerds to hang out with and debate weird, geeky trivia no one cares about?”

Galahad raised one dark brow. “And that’s different from sitting around debating sports plays, how?”

Arthur sniffed. “At least men who are interested in sports meet actual, live women instead of holing up in their parents’ basement.”

“I have several geeky women friends who would be insulted by that sexist comment, not to mention your binary view of gender.”

Arthur groaned. How did he become friends with someone so entirely different from himself?  “Then why don’t you ever date if there are people of a female gender who think a romantic response to ‘I love you’ is ‘Who wouldn’t’?”

“The proper quote is, ‘I love you’ followed by ‘I know’.”

Rolling his eyes, Arthur saw his sister stride down the corridor beyond his office door.

Galahad’s gaze also fastened on the Vice President of Finance. Morgan wore a dark green suit with a knee-length pencil skirt that outlined her hips and drew attention to her long legs, high heels drumming against the flooring as she marched away.

Arthur’s sister had their mother’s refined beauty, but the scowl she wore resembled Uther’s uncompromising face more than Ygraine’s pleasant smile.

Morgan had also inherited Uther’s intelligence and ambition. When he first joined the company, Morgan, more than their father, had been his mentor. Uther’s expectations were especially high for his son, and Arthur never seemed to meet them.

Morgan did. Or she would, if their father acknowledged a woman capable of succeeding him. If she had had the foresight to be born male, Arthur would not have the responsibility of being their father’s designated successor.

“Is green her favourite colour?” Galahad had not taken his eyes from the corridor.

“Ah, yes, that’s why you’re not dating any of those other women,” Arthur said softly.

Galahad’s cheeks reddened. It was so easy to make him blush. Maybe that was why they were friends.

A tall man with a too-charming smile on his tanned face followed Morgan. The Head of Internal Audit wore a daring purple tie to set off  his standard black suit and white shirt. His stubble and perfectly styled hair disguised a chin that was too narrow and a forehead that was too broad. He was competent, as far as Arthur knew, but he wished his sister had better taste in lovers. She was going to get her heart broken again, assuming she still had a heart under her bitterness.

Galahad frowned as the two of them disappeared into her office.

Arthur sighed. “I know it’s technically against company policy for employees to be involved with each other.” No question his Compliance Officer had the company’s best interests at heart, but a twinge of jealousy shadowed his expression.

“Accolon reports directly to Morgan, and a personal relationship between the two of them leaves us open to complaints about favouritism,” Galahad recited. “Not to mention the wrongful dismissal suit we’re in for if she fires him like she did her last paramour.”

“I know, I know, but Morgan doesn’t report to me and our father isn’t going to discipline her. If there’s any fallout, he’ll deal with it when it happens.” Arthur intended to be as far away from any of it as he could possibly manage.

“Is this where I give the speech about how our Code of Business Ethics applies equally to all employees, even the Chief Executive Officer’s daughter?” True, but Galahad’s eye twitch gave away a personal interest in this particular case.

Arthur sympathized with his friend but interference on his part would make her lash out at Arthur and snub Galahad from spite. “It’s out of my hands. Besides, I know what a tough time Morgan and Urien are going through right now.”

It was a rare family dinner without a fight between his sister and her husband. The times when they pointedly ignored each other in icy silence were even worse.

“Don’t you think the fact she’s married makes her affair even more of an ethical issue?” Galahad said.

“You can’t make morality a policy, and anyway it’s your fault she’s married to that jerk.” Maybe his sister would smile sometimes if she had married someone generous and kind instead of the self-absorbed bastard she had chosen.

Galahad looked at Arthur in astonishment. “How is that my fault?”

“You’ve been staring at her with googly eyes since the day you joined this company five years ago. You should have asked her out before Urien did, like I told you.”

His friend raised both brows. “What you told me was that I should stick to girls who were more on my level.”

Arthur grinned. “Did I say that?” Yup, he said that.

“Yes.”

The smile faded from Arthur’s face as he stared down the corridor where his sister and Accolon had disappeared. Though she joined the company three years before Arthur, they were promoted to Vice President at the same time. Arthur enjoyed overseeing operations and had no interest in the extra hours and pressure of the top seat while Morgan had worked toward that position every day of her time with the company.

Yet it was Arthur that received invitations to golf with the board chair and Arthur that went to lunch with the head of the Governance Committee. Early on, he had tried to pass the opportunities to her or at least include Morgan, but their father had dismissed his attempts and even stated in clear terms that he expected his son to take over as Chief Executive Officer when Uther retired.

Which he would. Of course he would.

Maybe Morgan would be happier if she devoted her energy to success in love instead of career. Maybe he would be happier if he accepted… No. Not going there.

He shook his head and turned back to his friend. “Seriously, though.” He leaned forward to rest an elbow on the glossy surface of his desk. “It’s been two years since Dindrane died and you should be dating.” Geeky game rituals did not replace actual social interaction.

A flash of pain in Galahad’s eyes was quickly gone. He crossed his arms and returned his boss’s arch look. “Brave words from an Executive Vice President who is too stuck up to ask the Controller to marry him. You two have been dating for years to the exclusion of all the other beautiful women mooning over you.”

“I’m not stuck up.” Arthur sat back and loosened the tie suddenly squeezing his neck.

Galahad rolled his eyes. “Gwen is going to give up on you and go out with Lance again if you don’t tell her you’re serious about her. You know he’s never gotten over their breakup.”

Arthur hoped the stab of jealousy was not visible in his expression. He massaged his chest. “You think she still likes him?”

“Who wouldn’t? Tall, dark, handsome, swarthy skin, that Latin accent.”

Arthur’s eye twitched. His Director of Logistics was a friend as well as a colleague, but it would be difficult to endure seeing him with Guinevere again.

He tamped down fear along with a twinge of guilt at his last conversation with her. “You should tell Guinevere she can’t date Lance because it’s against company policy.” That would buy him some time.

“She’s in Morgan’s department, not yours.” Galahad smirked. “Technically there’s no policy against her seeing Lance. Although, being that you’re Uther’s choice for the next CEO, a case could be made that Gwen shouldn’t have a personal relationship with you.”

Arthur ground his teeth together. “Don’t you have work to do?”

Then he could finally close his eyes for two minutes.

*

It had grown quiet outside Galahad’s office, so it must be after 5:00. Quitting time for him, too, but no one was home waiting in his flat and besides, after hours was a good time to work without interruption.

He sighed and picked up the next document from the pile on his desk.

There was a knock on his open door.

“Gwen!” he said with pleased surprise. “You should be gone by now.”

“You should, too.” She leaned against the doorframe, crossed her arms, and pinned him with a look.

Her tight black curls framed her heart-shaped face and a knee-length skirt showed off high-heeled red shoes that contrasted the dark blazer and skirt. Her three-inch heels drew attention to a lovely pair of legs. When he met Gwen, shortly after he took this job, he had briefly thought about asking her out. But she had been dating Lance, and then he met Dindrane.

Now, she was one of his best friends and he would never trade her friendship for romance.

Especially since his other best friend was in love with her.

“Actually, shouldn’t you be on a date with one of your many hopeful admirers to make Arthur jealous?” Galahad was only partially joking. If their boss was too slow to appreciate a woman like Gwen who was smart, competent, and forthright as well as attractive, she deserved someone who would.

“I thought you could take me for a drink,” she said.

He raised his eyebrows. “Arthur isn’t likely to be jealous of you going for a drink with me.” They were friends, but Arthur considered his interest in gaming and movies to be un-masculine. Hardly competition for someone with a rugby player build, sports car, and movie star smile.

“Then you’re not trying hard enough. Now get up.” Gwen crooked a finger at him. “We finally released quarter end results and I’m in need of a refreshing beverage.”

Now that he looked closer, her black curls were a bit frizzy and her cheeks a bit hollow.

Perhaps a mirror of whatever his hair looked like after running both hands through it and skipping lunch.

Downstairs in the restaurant lounge they both relaxed in a booth and waited for their drinks. Gwen shrugged out of her blazer with a heavy sigh.

“Tough day?” Galahad asked.

“Tough week,” she said. “Morgan’s been driving everyone harder than usual. Accolon must be giving her the cold shoulder again.” Gwen frowned. “She’s always been a tough boss. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I’ve heard her compliment anyone, but I’ve never worked in an accounting department with higher standards.” Gwen tapped one red polka-dotted nail against the tabletop. “It’s just that when her current boy toy gives her trouble it gets tougher for everyone than it needs to be.”

“You admire her.” Small wonder. Morgan was competent and worked harder than any other employee.

Although, Gwen probably did not fully appreciate how Morgan’s thick black curls brushed the tops of her breasts when her hair was down. He shifted in his seat.

Gwen sniffed. “I have great respect for her skill and dedication and frankly for anyone who can put up with Uther as a direct boss, but I wouldn’t want to be her. She seems…lonely.”

Galahad started in surprise. “She’s never lacked for company. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her alone at a social event.” There was always at least one good-looking man at her elbow at any company function.

“Well, I know, but…” Gwen scratched at a spot on the tabletop with one long nail. “It’s not like we’ve ever been social or anything and I could be way off base. It’s only that for a little while when she got married she actually seemed pleasant and happy. Then she went back to being herself, except worse. Since the CEO is her father no one’s going to say anything to her about being rude to the staff.” Gwen rolled her eyes. “Just like there are no repercussions for the way she carries on affairs even with her employees.”

It was careless of Morgan, and risky for the company, but Galahad felt bad for her. Her husband drank too much at work socials and talked too loudly and eyed the waitresses with patronizing disrespect. If she gave him the time of day, Galahad would never look away from her.

He mentally smacked himself. Like that would ever happen.

“Human Resources should deal with her like they’d deal with anyone else bringing down morale in a department,” Gwen said. “But Morgause would never reprimand her sister.” Her tone made clear how little she respected the Vice President of HR.

“Half-sister. Same father, different mothers.” Hard to believe either Arthur or Morgan with their fiery tempers were related to the blonde ice-queen who was their older sister. Half sister.

Gwen huffed. “Family should be banned from working together.”

“If that were true, Arthur wouldn’t be here, either,” Galahad said.

Gwen looked down at her hands and idly picked up her phone. Her home screen was a picture of her and Arthur from their beach vacation. “Arthur’s different.”

“Mmhmm.” Galahad rested his chin on his hands. It was so sweet to see Gwen flustered.

She set down the phone and smiled self-consciously. “Well, he is and you know it.”

“Yes, I do.”

At their first meeting, he had written off his new boss as another entitled suit with an inflated idea of his own worth. Not many months passed before he corrected that impression. Arthur suffered from influences of privilege and sexism, but he was as hard-working and competent as he expected his employees to be.

And he was honest. As much as possible for a corporate executive with global dealings. Which said more about corporate ethics in general than Arthur in particular.

Inwardly, Galahad grimaced. Reading about compliance issues daily was making him jaded.

“What about you, tough day?” Gwen asked.

“No.”

“What is it, then?”

Galahad gave her a wide-eyed look. “Nothing, why?”

Gwen rested her elbow on the table, braced her chin in one delicate brown palm, and stared him down.

He sighed. “Just a conversation I had with George earlier.” His assistant had uncovered something troubling. Maybe troubling. Maybe nothing. Galahad had tried to talk to Arthur about it but his boss had seemed even more haggard than usual and Galahad had put off adding to whatever caused him to nod off at his desk.

“The compliance analyst who transitioned?” Gwen said. “He seems efficient.”

“George is that. Anyway, he came across some payments to a consultant in Argentina that may not have followed our purchasing policies.” It was a violation, but not a serious one. Not unless the due diligence checks were deliberately skipped.

“Is that all you’re going to tell me?”

Galahad smiled at her perceptiveness. “That’s all there is to tell, right now, honestly. We can go back to gossiping about Arthur and Morgan and the whole Pendragon family tree.”

“Okay, why did you never tell Morgan how you felt about her?”

Galahad’s cheeks grew hot. “I didn’t…I don’t…there was nothing to tell.” He picked up his drink and swallowed. He would have taken another gulp but that would have emptied the small glass and it was beyond his alcohol tolerance to drink so quickly.

“If you say so.” Gwen sipped her drink. “Then you should save Irene her efforts to get your attention and finally ask her out.”

He shook his head, beginning to smile at his friend’s artless matchmaking attempt.

“Dindrane was a sweet girl but you shouldn’t be alone after all this time.”

His smile slipped away. In spite of the lingering pain, he agreed with Gwen. He hoped to love again. But he knew what love was and he was unwilling to settle for less.

Dindrane’s name pressed an old heartache in his chest, muted by the passing days, weeks, months. She had been kind and open and friendly, happy to work at a community service organization for half the pay she would have earned in industry. She took in stray animals and fed wild birds and avoided stepping on spiders. She was short and freckled and never bothered to straighten her wiry red curls. She loved dragons and gaming and classic science fiction. He had loved her with tenderness and admired her for her compassion.

Different in every way from the one other woman capable of dominating his thoughts and firing his fantasies with a glance. Morgan was driven and impeccably groomed and paid someone else to water her plants. She had no patience for animals or people who doted on their pets. She had probably never read the Hobbit or watched Space 1999. But he admired her for her ambition and passion.

And no one could fault him for finding her attractive. She was nearly as tall as he was, with full breasts. She had the greenest eyes he had seen and full red lips. She was also, as Arthur had correctly put it, out of his league.

Besides, she was married.

Galahad rubbed a thumb across the condensation on his glass, resisting the temptation to draw a heart. “Easy for you to talk about finding love; you have Arthur and Lance fighting each other for your attention.”

“No one is fighting. You dramatize things too much.” Gwen flipped her hair back with an exaggerated toss of her head.

Galahad laughed and then said seriously, “Arthur loves you and he will get around to asking you to marry him.”

She stared down at her glass. “He’s had plenty of opportunities.”

The sadness etched on her sweet face tore at his heart. “Do you love him?”

Gwen gave him a tiny smile. “If he asked me to marry him, I’d say yes. And trust me, I’ve thought about it a lot.”

“Maybe you should ask him.”

“I did.”

For a moment, Galahad thought she was joking, but her brown eyes held a sad sincerity. Was Arthur really foolish enough to refuse Gwen’s proposal? Was he too indoctrinated by his family’s expectations to consider marrying a career woman?

“What did he say?”

“That he needed time to consider.”

That explained the guilt lurking behind Arthur’s expression when Galahad brought up Gwen. True, marriage was a lifelong commitment that deserved proper consideration, but surely Arthur could see that he and Gwen were meant for each other?

“Are you willing to wait for him to make up his mind?”

She fiddled with her phone. The picture of her and Arthur smiled up at her. “I understand he needs time and I don’t want to push him. I know his family objects to our relationship and he has his career to think of.”

Galahad’s heart hurt for the pain in her voice.

“Maybe he doesn’t want a wife right now. Or maybe he doesn’t want me for a wife.” She pressed the button that made her screen go dark. “But I feel like our relationship has reached the point where we either decide, together, to make it work long-term or we end it now. I’d rather know it’s not ever going to be serious than keep waiting and hoping and be disappointed.”

Galahad put his hand overtop hers where it rested on the phone, a promise to be there for her.

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