page40 (1/2)

As each haenta wished one of theh to wake her up How could anyone share what she’d shared with Quinn last night and feel nothing? How could he switch off froht she are of was flashing in her brain, telling her she’d made a fool of herself And their ‘off-dutysound like a useful alternative to counting sheep

She’d let her teanation And, even if she waited for this nightmare to pass, what if it didn’t pass? What if this was her life now?

She had to stay and fight It didn’t matter whether this was a dream or her reality now, her internal dial would re it was always on, which was survival and the determination to defend those she cared about

She couldn’t have felt worse when she called the girls together ‘You’re fardreadful when she noticed the sed in a vase on her desk ‘I’ve let you down, h for what happened at theI had no idea Quinn would take that line I really thought he was going to involve all of you in the steering group for the can But this isn’t the end,’ she promised ‘I won’t allow your ideas to be squandered or diluted by anyone—and we’re not going to sulk or cause a proble to win this battle by being the very best we can and by selling direct to the customer’

‘Quinn,’ Nancy supplied

‘Yes, that’s right, Nancy—Quinn,’ Magenta agreed ‘Quinn is the only person we have to convince’ She exclaimed with shock as a familiar hand took hold of her arm and firmly moved her aside

‘I was trying to warn you,’ Nancy explained discreetly as Quinn went into his office and shut the door

Could the girls hear her heart haenta hoped not It was crucial that they still believed in her or those typing-pool partitions would soon be up again ‘I’ in to see him now, to convince him he’s made a mistake and needs us on board I had a ith hiht, and so of course Quinn took advantage’

‘That’s not such a bad thing, is it?’ Nancy said, injecting some much-needed humour into the tense lanced around the other girls for confirmation

‘Please stop’ This was absolutely the last thing Magenta wanted to hear ‘I can assure you there is nothing going on between Quinn and er there wasn’t—nor was there ever likely to be again ‘We’re as different as two people could be’

‘We all saw the way he touched you just now,’ Nancy argued ‘And you never knohen a hand on your arht on your back,’ she added, which h