A Matter of Trust Read Online Free Page A

communicated. And the bottom line was, companies were willing to pay for that advantage.
    She and her central core of designers worked with corporate executives to put their businesses not on the crest of innovation, but ahead of the curve. Everything she had accomplished, and everything she hoped to accomplish, lay stored in the far-from-unassailable memory banks of her company’s computer system.
    However, Michael was not envisioning the future now, at least not the future she had formerly imagined. Until recently, she’d had no reason to contemplate her own life. Work occupied her mind almost constantly—that and what she and Nicholas needed to do to accomplish their shared dream.
    She had met Nicholas Burke almost fifteen years ago when she’d been a precocious freshman at the Cambridge Institute of Design and he had been a worldly graduate student at MIT. Barely seventeen, she had been socially inexperienced, despite her privileged upbringing, and intellectually too intimidating for most boys her age. But when she’d met Nicholas in a theoretical design class, he had appreciated her ideas and had been supportive and encouraging. Together they had spent hours talking, dreaming, and finally forging their common vision into the formidable enterprise it had become. Along the way, it seemed only natural that they should wed.
    It had never occurred to her that their relationship lacked passion or romance. It was not something she was aware of needing. There were moments when she felt a loneliness so acute it was physically painful, but she probably would have ignored those had she not finally become aware of Nicholas’s affair with a young female graphic artist in their firm. She was less hurt than baffled. Although she didn’t consider herself particularly inventive or adventurous in the physical department, she wasn’t aware of ever refusing Nicholas’s advances either. It was a part of their relationship that left her strangely unmoved, but she had assumed her performance had been adequate. Clearly, Nicholas required something additional.
    She supposed that she could have simply ignored his affair, but, once she became aware of it, she rebelled at the idea of continuing a relationship so false. Some day soon, she would confront him with her desire to divorce, and she felt quite certain that he would react by seeking greater control of the company. She intended to preempt that event, and one way she could be prepared was to ensure that her unique contribution to the company was safe.
    Leaning back in the contoured black leather chair, she was alone in the polished, elegant office that was so perfectly appointed it deserved a center spread in Architectural Digest. After so many years, however, she was immune to the physical manifestations of her success. She didn’t see the room; she didn’t even see the spectacular sunset. What slowly came into focus just behind her nearly closed eyelids was J. T. Sloan’s face. Strong, certain, a hint of aggression—the head of Sloan Security certainly inspired confidence.
    Michael hoped that her assessment of the woman she had hired the day before was correct. She indeed was going to need help.
    “I’m leaving,” a soft voice behind her announced, mercifully interrupting her introspection. “The agenda for Monday’s meeting just went to Development.”
    “Yes, fine.” Michael swiveled away from the window to face the door. She smiled tiredly at the brunette in the doorway. “Thank you.”
    Michael’s executive assistant studied her. “You look beat. Why don’t you go home?”
    “I will, soon,” Michael lied, appreciating the concern in the other woman’s voice.
    Why should I? Nicholas probably won’t be there, and if he were, I wouldn’t want to see him. It’s easier to relax here.
    Michael was suddenly more conscious of being alone than ever before. It wasn’t because of the imminent loss of her marriage, but the absence of the intimacy that she and Nicholas