Cowboy Casanova (Rough Riders #12)(165)

too.”


Turton’s face immediately went bright red. He seemed too angry to speak.


But Leslie wasn’t finished. “I strongly advise you allow me to handle this phone

conference. That way we can all keep our jobs and continue to work together as one big,

happy family here at National West Bank.”


For the first time in two days, Ainsley felt like the world wasn’t crumbling beneath

her feet. On a professional level anyway.


Leslie looked at them each in turn. “So. What’s it going to be?”


Turton wouldn’t meet Ainsley’s gaze. “Make the call.”


The district manager was notoriously cranky. After listening to Leslie’s question, he

let fly. Chewing out both Ainsley and Turton for overstepping their bounds and

reminding them National West assigned a loan officer at that location for a reason.

Then he reminded them of their responsibilities and if they were too busy doing someone

else’s job, they were neglecting their own. In a totally surprising move, he insisted

Ainsley and Turton attend an interpersonal management skills workshop in Denver. Over

the weekend. He commended Leslie for her attention to detail. All in all, the phone

call was short and to the point.


Ainsley sat in stunned silence when the dial tone echoed in the conference room. Turton

didn’t say a word. He just left but he’d seemed to have lost some of the cock-of-

the-walk attitude.


Leslie gathered up her papers.


“Thank you,” Ainsley said. “I expected I’d be packing up my office and turning in

my pass key today.”


“You’re welcome. I didn’t do this for you, Ainsley. You and Turton were both in the

wrong, professionally, and I didn’t want to get caught in the middle. I need this job

and I’ve seen it happen before, where the lower level employee gets fired for a

mistake the boss made.”


She knew Leslie had worked for Steve Talbot at Settler’s First for a few years before

getting laid off.


“On a personal level, I hated Turton’s double standard. He expected you to get fired

for a personal relationship crossing the line, when he was doing the same thing.” She

shook her head. “The bizarre part of it was Turton wasn’t drawing those parallels.”


Ainsley knew trying to find common ground with Turton would be nearly impossible now.


Leslie paused at the door and looked over her shoulder. “Just so you know. Ben McKay

came by yesterday to see me and formally dropped his loan request.”


Her heart jumped into her throat. “He did?”


“Yes.”


The door shut behind her.


She didn’t move for the longest time. Mostly because she wasn’t sure what her next

move should be.


Chapter Twenty-Eight


As soon as Ben finished chores on Friday he drove to the Rawhide Club. After Ainsley’s

stinging dismissal, he’d needed to be in a place where people looked at him with

respect. Where he was liked for being exactly who he was.


But his haven didn’t offer him the usual validation. And that confused the hell out of

him. So he’d found a spot in the back corner and brooded. About Ainsley. About her