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  Cougar Romance

  The Talisman

  Secret Shades of the Alpha Blood Series Book One

  Paula Knight

  Cougar Romance: The Talisman

  Chapter One

  Diana Grant sat in her car staring at the imposing building in front of her.

  ‘It’s just a job,’ she thought desperately to herself, ‘just another job. You’ll be in and out in six months. There’s nothing to worry about.’

  All the same, her heart thudded in her chest and she hesitated once, twice, three times before getting out of the car.

  Stepping out, she read the prominent yellow sign that hung over the three story, oddly lovely red building built to resemble the Zunni pueblo that sat one hundred and fifty miles from downtown Albuquerque where this building stood.

  “Yazzie Properties,” it said.

  No outsider could possibly have guessed that this relatively small building was headquarters for one of the largest real estate companies in the world.

  Yazzie Properties was worth over 6.2 Billion dollars and owned thousands of hotels, amusement parks and office buildings around the world.

  People expected a big name company like that to be housed in a huge skyscraper in New York or, possibly, LA. But, none the less, here it was. Housed in a little office in downtown Albuquerque at the insistence of Cathassa Yazzie, the company’s young CEO.

  Of course, the company also had a building in New York. That was the expected huge skyscraper on Wall Street. But, it was not the headquarters. Mr. Yazzie had insisted that the headquarters for his company remain in New Mexico; close as possible to his old home on the Zuni reservation.

  Catahassa Yazzie, as it happened, was the reason Diana had accepted this temporary position through her agency. It was also the reason why she was so hesitant to go inside.

  Finally, she took a deep breath, opened the door and entered.

  Once inside, she spotted a small office suite in the corner of the lobby. The lettering on the door told her that this was the office for Yazzie Properties she was looking for. She opened this door and stepped inside.

  She was surprised to find that this office looked like a small travel agency or art gallery. There were southwestern style paintings which filled the walls with bright red and teal colors. An equally colorful sofa and glass table sat in the lobby at the building’s entrance. Behind that was a modern glass office desk which was stylish and out of place in its quaint, colorful surroundings.

  Diana walked up to the desk where she saw a young woman with straightened blonde hair, stylish skinny black pants and a bright top. This ultra-modern girl looked at home behind the glass desk but certainly did not blend with the rest of the building.

  “Hello?” Diana asked walking up to the girl.

  “Can I help you?” the girl asked looking up from her computer with a cheery smile and a high pitched breathy voice. Diana hoped she would not have to replicate this fake demeanor in her position. She had never been good at false cheerfulness.

  “Yes,” Diana answered, “I was told to ask for Amanda Hawkins. I’m Diana Grant. The agency sent me.”

  “Oh!” she said excitedly sitting up straighter in her seat, “you’re the new receptionist!”

  “Temporary receptionist,” Diana amended, “I’m just here until…”

  “Until Olivia gets back from taking care of her Mother,” the girl answered quickly, “I know. I was here when Olivia got the call. Her Mom hadn’t been doing well for a while but, when she fell...well, it was clear ‘Liv wasn’t going to be able to stay around here. I’m Sandra, by the way, I’ll be working with you,” she said all this very fast and at the end, she held out a hand to shake Diana’s. Diana took it reluctantly.

  “Nice to meet you,” Diana answered, “Is Ms. Hawkins here or should I…”

  “Oh she’s in her office,” Sandra answered, “or, I should say, Mr. Yazzie’s office. They’re doing their morning debriefing...well...that’s what she calls it. I’ll tell her you’re here.”

  Sandra picked up the receiver on the phone and pressed a button.

  “Amanda,” she said.

  “What is it, Sandra? You know I’m in a meeting,” a woman’s voice answered. It was much deeper than Sandra’s and had a certain coldness to it.

  “I’m sorry, Ma’am,” Sandra said quickly. Her smile had faded and the brightness in her voice now had a trace of fear in it, “it’s just...I wanted to let you know that Diana Grant is here...the new receptionist.”

  The woman on the other end of the line heaved an audible sigh.

  “I told her not to be early,” she muttered so that Diana could clearly hear her. There was silence for a moment before the woman on the receiver said, “Sandra, have her wait in the lobby, I’ll be out in five minutes.”

  “OK,” Sandra said and hung up the phone as fast as she could, as though it was a poisonous snake ready to jump up and bite her at any moment. She stared at it with trepidation for a moment before turning back to Diana and giving her the bright, bubbly smile once again.

  “You can have a seat in the lobby,” Sandra said gesturing to the bright couch just in front of the receptionist desk, “she’ll be with you in about five minutes.”

  “Thanks,” Diana answered before moving to the bright red, blue and yellow colored couch. She sat down and looked at the magazines that were laid haphazardly on the table. That was when she saw it again.

  She nearly gasped as Catahassa Yazzie’s picture stared up at her from the front of an old Forbes magazine. She picked it up and flipped to the article on him, even though she had the magazine at home and had read it several times over.

  Diana was not the sort of girl to fawn over celebrities. She had never so much as bought a People magazine in her life. She simply wasn’t interested in the beautiful, wealthy men that other women seemed to fall all over themselves to read about.

  That is, until she saw Catahassa Yazzie. It was two months prior to her assignment at Yazzie Properties. She stood in the line at the grocery store when his face caught her eye. He was not on the cover of People, he was on the cover of Forbes business magazine. He was the number one profile on billionaires under forty.

  She remembered glancing absently at the cover before his glistening, dark eyes seemed to capture her gaze from the page. She drew her attention fully there and was immediately captivated by his olive toned skin and thick dark hair which hung loosely around his shoulders and contrasted with the crisp grey suit he wore.

  That was the first and only Forbes magazine she had ever bought. She still didn’t know why. Something in Catahassa Yazzie’s gaze called out to her. There was something in his fierce
mysterious expression that beckoned to her even now as she sat there in the lobby of his office staring at the image that was so familiar.

  She read the words on the page once more though she could nearly quote them from memory. Catahassa Yazzie, (Cat to the very few friends he had, Mr. Yazzie to everyone else), was a member of the Zuni tribe in New Mexico. He grew up on a reservation not far from Albuquerque and left to go to college at the age of eighteen. He received an MBA in business and started his property company when he was only twenty five.

  These were the facts and they were virtually all that was known about the reclusive billionaire. Diana couldn’t help but smile as she read the short interview with him. Though she had never heard him speak, she could almost hear his short, terse replies as the journalist desperately pried for any snippet of information about his personal life.

  She was smiling lightly at the article as she heard the click of heels walk towards her up the tiled hallway and stop directly behind the sofa where she was sitting.

  “You must be the new temp,” the cold voice from the receiver on the front desk said to her. Diana turned around to find a woman a good deal older than her, possibly in her late thirties or early forties with slick black hair, pulled back into a tight bun, dark hazel eyes, ruby lips, high cheek bones and olive skin roughly the same color as Catahassa Yazzie’s was.

  She would have been very attractive were it not for the sour expression on her face when she saw Diana.

  “I’m Diana Grant,” Diana said holding out her hand to the woman. The woman looked down at it as though it were something entirely unpleasant. Like a slug or a cockroach. She lifted her gaze back to Diana’s face and the sourness in her expression seemed to increase.

  “I am Amanda Hawkins,” she said without taking Diana’s hand, “how old are you, Diana?” Amanda asked suddenly. Diana’s eyes widened and she nearly reeled back at the question.

  “I’m twenty four,” Diana answered hesitantly with a questioning glance at Amanda.

  “The agency lead me to believe you were older,” she said as her gaze seemed to take Diana in entirely. Diana, suddenly self-conscious, began straightening her blouse over her very large breasts.

  Diana had never been a particularly thin girl, though, one could not call her fat either. Her body was decidedly average sized, save for her overlarge breasts and particularly wide hips.

  The light brown hair that blended in with most surroundings and small green eyes, helped to ensure that she was never the most attractive in the room, but was also never singled out as being particularly unattractive.

  This suited Diana fine. She was a solitary creature by nature and did not like to be singled out for any reason.

  But now, the way Amanda was looking at her, it was as though she was threatened by Diana’s very presence.

  Amanda heaved a heavy, long suffering sigh that Diana thought was more than a bit dramatic given the circumstances.

  “I suppose you’ll do,” Amanda finally said. “If you’ll come with me I’ll give you a brief tour of the office before you start work with Sandra.”

  Amanda turned her back and started off before Diana could say anything in reply. Diana hurried as quickly as she could in the black heels she had picked out for the day, as Amanda lead her to a glass door marked CEO: Catahassa Yazzie.

  “To your right is my office which leads to Mr. Yazzie’s office,” Amanda said with a nod indicating a glass door on the right. "You won’t need to go in there unless I call you in for something and that probably won’t happen. I usually get Sandra to run any errands I need. This door,” she said indicating another glass door to the left, “is Mr. Gomez’s office. He’s Mr. Yazzie’s associate.”

  Amanda stopped in front of this door and turned to face Diana.

  “Now, you’re technically his assistant,” she said, “but as he’s rarely in this office, we have you working with Sandra up front as a second receptionist.”

  Diana nodded in reply as this woman’s forbidding presence made her a tad bit nervous about speaking.

  “But, on the chance that he does come in,” she said, “he’ll probably call you into his office.”

  Diana nodded once more and gave a small smile for good measure. Perhaps appearing friendly would soften Amanda a bit. It didn’t.

  Amanda only gave Diana another appraising look before walking on.

  “Back here is the break room,” she said walking down a long hallway that lead to a door marked ‘Employees Only’. This time she opened the door to the room and walked in. Diana followed. It was much smaller than any of the other offices looked to be. It held two lockers on either side and one microwave that looked as though soup had spilled inside of it several times over.

  “You can put your things in the locker there,” Amanda said pointing towards the lockers on the left hand side. “If you’ve bought anything for lunch, you can eat it in here. Your lunch is at twelve thirty and you will have thirty minutes. You also get two fifteen minute breaks a day. One at ten fifteen and one at three fifteen. Do you have any questions?”

  She stood in front of Diana with her arms folded as though she was blocking the way to the door. As though she thought Diana was going to cower and try to run out. Diana had no intention of doing any such thing.

  She had never been particularly brave. At least not in the traditional ways people thought of. She was horrible at physical fighting and had been out of shape most of her life. She had no desire to shoot guns or bows and arrows or any other type of weapon.

  But, years of being bullied about her mousy looks and larger than average size when she was younger had given her a thick skin. One thing she was very good at was standing up to bullies.

  And, Diana could tell after their little tour that that’s exactly what Amanda Hawkins was. A school yard bully in a tight skirt and high heels.

  So, Diana stood up straight and squared her shoulders as she asked the one question that she was certain would throw Amanda off her guard.

  “When will I be able to see Mr. Yazzie?” she asked.

  Diana smiled inwardly as she watched Amanda’s face falter. She looked wrong footed for half a moment before returning to her sour expression.

  "And why would you need to see Mr. Yazzie?" She asked in the coldest voice Diana had yet heard from her.

  "Well, I was told I would be working for him," Diana answered with a similar coolness. She threw a confident closed lipped smile Amanda's way. Amanda raised one thin, painted eyebrow at her.

  "Everyone in this building works for Mr. Yazzie in one way or another," she said. "Very few of his employees have the pleasure of meeting him. You report to me. And I, in turn, will report anything of note to Mr. Yazzie. Is that clear?"

  Diana, recognizing that pushing the issue further was not wise, simply nodded but kept the closed lipped smile painted on her face.

  This seemed to unsettle Amanda for a moment. But the next second, she replied to Diana’s unspoken challenge with a closed lipped smile of her own.

  “Do you have any other questions, Diana?” she asked.

  “No,” Diana answered, “I think everything’s clear to me now.”

  “Good,” Amanda said. She opened the door to the small break room and walked back down the hall. Diana followed in her wake.

  “Sandra will fill you in on your duties,” she said, “it shouldn’t be too difficult. If you have any questions about the job, she can answer them for you.”

  They reached the clear desk where Sandra was once again typing away on the large desktop computer. Amanda ushered Diana behind the desk to a second, larger computer and swivel chair.

  “Sandra,” Amanda said causing the poor girl to jump. She turned to Amanda, her eyes wide.

  “Yes, Amanda?” she asked in a relatively meek voice. Very different from the bright, happy tone that she had greeted Diana with.

  “Once you’re done with...whatever it is you’re doing,” Amanda said throwing a glance over to Sandra’s computer with dis
taste, “you can catch Diana upon her duties.”

  “Yes ma’am,” Sandra said.

  Amanda nodded to both Sandra and Diana and turned to leave. Diana saw Sandra let out a small, relieved breath which she caught again when Amanda turned back to her.

  “Oh Sandra, I almost forgot,” Amanda said, “Mr. Yazzie and I will be working through lunch, we’ll need our usual takeout orders from China Grove.”

  “Sure,” Sandra said offering Amanda a shaky smile which was not returned. Amanda simply gave Sandra a sour look and nodded before turning on her heel and heading back down the hall to her office.

  “Bitch,” Sandra muttered as soon as Amanda had closed the door.

  “Is she always like that?” Diana inquired.

  “Ever since I’ve been here,” Sandra answered with an eye roll, “it’s why we’ve had such high turnover. I’ve only been here a year and I’m the longest standing employee besides Mr. Yazzie, Amanda and Mr. Gomez.”

  “It must be bad if people are leaving just because of one person,” Diana said.

  “It is,” Sandra answered, “she made the last two real estate executives cry. They both quit the next day.”

  “If it’s that bad,” Diana asked lowering her voice and moving her chair closer to Sandra’s computer, “why haven’t Mr. Yazzie and Mr. Gomez done something about it?”

  “No one knows,” Sandra says, “I guess the company’s doing well regardless. And Mr. Gomez is hardly ever here so…”

  “But, Mr. Yazzie must have noticed what’s going on,” Diana pressed. She didn’t know why, but she knew that she had to get at least a little bit of information on Catahassa Yazzie today. Otherwise, she would have agreed to spend six months reporting to a cold blooded bitch for nothing.

  “We hardly ever see Mr. Yazzie,” Sandra said, now leaning towards Diana eagerly as though revealing a cherished secret to a sister, “When he does come out he just walks through the hall and out the door. I don’t think I’ve even heard him speak.”