Cowboy Casanova (Rough Riders #12)(141)

Leslie looked awful. Pasty skin, vacant eyes, red nose. She started to say something

and ended up having a coughing fit. But she waved aside Ainsley’s concern and croaked,

“Just a cold. Nothing to worry about.”


“Why are you here today? You should be home in bed.”


Leslie sneezed. Coughed. Then blew her nose. Twice. “Sorry. I’m behind. I can’t

afford to miss a day.”


“How much are you accomplishing today anyway?”


“Probably not much.” She let her head fall back into the headrest. “I feel like

death.”


“You should’ve called in sick.”


“I tried to, but Jenny transferred me to Turton instead of you. Turton said sick pay

didn’t kick in for thirty days. So if I didn’t show up, my check would get docked.

You know Roger and I are still trying to get on our feet after both of us being laid

off for six months. I need this job. I’ll be fine. I’ve gone to work far sicker than

this.”


“I don’t care. You’re going home. And I don’t want to see you back here until you’

re really better. I will handle the sick pay issue with human resources, understand?”


Leslie sneezed and reached for a tissue. “Thanks, A.”


“Anything pressing I need to handle for you today?”


“No. Just cancel the loan appointments for this afternoon.”


She’d pass that job to Jenny. “Consider it done. Are you okay to drive?”


“I’m fine. It’s not that far. I might squeeze in a few hours sleep before the kids

get home from school.” She handed Ainsley her appointment book. “The names and

numbers are in here.”


Ainsley passed Turton’s office. His door was shut, as were his shades. She checked the

time. He should be back from lunch by now. She wandered to Jenny’s desk. “Where’s

Turton?”


Jenny stopped flipping through a magazine. “He’s taking the afternoon off as a

personal day. Why?”


So it was fine for him to screw off? But he expected Leslie to stick around when she

was hacking up a lung? “I hadn’t seen him since this morning.” She dropped the

appointment book on Jenny’s magazine. “You’ll need to politely cancel Leslie’s

appointments for today as soon as possible and tell the clients she’ll call them to

reschedule.”


“But—”


“No excuses. And from now on, you will transfer all employee calls dealing with

sicknesses and absences to me, not Turton. Understand?”


She lowered her gaze to the planner. For once, Jenny didn’t have a smart remark.


Ainsley finished verifying Ben’s financials. She should probably wait to send it off

to the main office, but since Leslie was already behind, she didn’t want to add to the

burden with a straightforward loan request. After she made copies, she stuffed the

originals in a next day envelope.


Sealing that envelope gave her a strange feeling of finality she wasn’t ready for. She

’d liked how things were growing and changing between them. Not only when he slipped

into Dom mode, but when he was just Ben.