Impossible To Resist (BWWM Romance Book 1)(90)

Dean Hargrove frowned slightly. “What year is your daughter in?”

Harold lifted his chin proudly. Whatever mistakes she might have made along the way, she was very close to completing her time there, and that was an accomplishment that he felt deserved some recognition.

“She will be graduating in the spring, sir,” he answered, and then he added, “Actually, she’s on the Dean’s List.”

Dean Hargrove looked slightly horrified for a moment and then recovered, coughing subtly and rubbing his hand over his mouth and chin again. “Well, we will have to see what comes out at the end after we’ve talked to them both. Separately, of course.”

Harold nodded. The dean looked at him intently. “I’ll speak to them and then let you know what course of action we will be taking. Will that work for you, Mr. Marshall?” he asked solemnly.

Harold nodded and the dean stood up and extended his hand. “Thank you for coming in and letting us know about this. I’m sorry we couldn’t meet under better terms,” he said apologetically.

Harold stood up and shook his hand. “Thank you for taking the time to see me, sir, and for taking care of this. I want the best for my little girl.”



Dean Hargrove nodded and sighed. “We all want that, Mr. Marshall. You have a good day.”

Harold nodded and left and then thanked the secretary on the way out of the building. He felt a little better after having spoken to the dean, and he was intrigued to have discovered that Connor had never been reported for an affair in all the time he had been there, which at such a young age, couldn’t have been very long, but it still made him wonder and think about what his daughter had told him.

***

Connor was sitting in his office when his desk phone rang. He picked it up and heard Jeanie’s voice from the Dean’s office on the other end of the line. He told her that he would be in right away and he wondered what in the world he was being called to the dean’s office for.

When Connor was shown into Dean Hargrove’s office, he found the old man with an utterly humorless expression on his old and wizened face.

“Sit down, please, Mr. James.”

Connor sat across the desk from him.

“Connor,” the dean began more informally, “I had a visitor this morning who came to report a rather sensitive complaint against you. I want to know what you have to say for yourself.”

Connor’s stomach tightened. He had a sneaking suspicion that he knew very well what the reason was that he had been called into the dean’s office, and it sent a wave of panic through him, though he was careful not to register the panic on his face or in his eyes. Years of playing poker with the wiliest poker players in his college had made him adept at hiding his emotion when he wanted to.

“What complaint is that, sir?” he asked simply.

The dean leaned forward and placed his elbows on the desk in front of him. “The complaint is that you are having an affair with a young woman by the name of Catalina Marshall. Is that true?”

The dean’s eyes were locked on him. Connor never hesitated.

“Yes, Sir, it is true. We did spend a brief time together, but since that time we have mutually and amicably ended the affair.” Connor held his head up, though he felt like crawling beneath the dean’s desk.

Dean Hargrove sighed and leaned back in his chair, folding his hands together and looking over the top of them at Connor. “Thank you for your honesty. That saves me a good deal of time and work.”

Connor remained silent as he watched the dean and listened to him.

Dean Hargrove sat forward again and placed his hands on the desk in front of him. “Connor, I like you, you’re a great educator and a good man, but you really screwed up this time. Our college cannot develop a bad reputation in this town, and your actions are inexcusable. If this was not your first offense, you’d have been relieved of your position. However, in consideration of the fact that this is your first offense during your time at this institution, rather than losing your job, you will instead be placed on suspension pending a hearing.

“Your classes will be taught by a stand in until we determine what the final action is to be taken in regards to this complaint. Your suspension is immediate. We have a zero tolerance policy for this sort of behavior, Connor, and I am disappointed to have to see you involved in this in any way. I thought very highly of you until today.”

Connor felt his stomach turn to lead and begin to sink through the floor beneath him.

“Do you have anything further to add to this?” Dean Hargrove asked sternly.

Connor shook his head. “I do not, sir.”

The Dean stood up and extended his hand to Connor. “Thank you for coming in, Connor. I hope I don’t ever see you back in here for any disciplinary action. The office will be in contact with you about the outcome of the investigation into this.”

Connor nodded and stood up. He shook the dean’s hand, and then he turned and left the office, going straight back to his office. He had not felt so nauseated since his final exams in his last year of college. He felt like a complete failure.

He closed up his office and went home for the day. The next morning when he returned to his office to try to prepare for his standin replacement and the work that he wanted his students to do, he had gone from nauseated to miserable.

He wasn’t seeing Catalina any longer for the sole purpose of protecting his job, which had not been protected, and from which he had been suspended because he was seeing Catalina. The timing was all off and it had caused him so much heartache. He still missed her terribly, and seeing her in his classes had proven to be far more difficult than he had anticipated.