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Between The Sheets
By Jeanie London Harlequin Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright © 2003 Harlequin Enterprises Ltd.
All right reserved. ISBN: 0373790945
Chapter One
To: Wilhemina Knox (mailto:president@luxuriousbedding.com) Date: 3 Mar 2003 07:59:54-0500 Subject: Effective Stress Management
Install glory holes in the employees' bathroom stalls for a low-cost method of stress management!
Studies prove that the regular release of sexual tension contributes to the effective management of work-related stress, improving overall mental and physical performance. Condom dispensers located beside tissue holders will adequately meet all OSHA standards and state health requirements.
* * *
"Glory holes, hmm?" April Stevens frowned down at the hard copy of an email post. She'd never heard of a glory hole, much less seen one, but she had no trouble grasping the concept. Or imagining the protruding body parts and variety of sex acts that might be performed through one.
As an investigative researcher for J.P. Mooney Investigators, Ltd., the premier agency in the Dallas area, April had witnessed a variety of oddball human behaviors during her eight-year tenure. The recommendation of glory holes in bathroom walls as a way to relieve work-related stress was a definite first.
Scanning the email header, she noted the address and glanced back at her boss. He sat behind his desk, primed and ready for her reaction, as though he'd sensed sex was the very last thing in the world she wanted to think about right now.
But her boss wasn't a mind reader, so she cocked a hip against the edge of his desk and gave nonchalance a stab. "Did someone send this post to Wilhemina as some sort of joke? I can't imagine she found it funny. It's ... well, raunchy."
John Patrick Mooney steepled his fingers before him and grinned a grin that April imagined had stopped quite a few hearts some thirty-odd years earlier. An undeniably attractive man in his sixties with knife-creased features, steely gray hair and piercing black eyes, he had this whole I've-seen-it-all-and-lived-to-tell attitude that people often found intimidating. The grin softened his appearance considerably.
Not that he needed softening for April. Not at all. Years ago John and Paula, his wife, had opened their home to April. And she'd worked for John in some capacity since her junior year in high school - the year her search for her birth parents had introduced her to the world of private investigation. A world that had fascinated her enough to go into the field herself.
She'd convinced him she'd be an asset to his team despite her youth. He'd been insightful enough to give her a chance to prove herself. During her years with the company, she'd worked her way up from an administrative assistant to her current position as investigative researcher. While John Patrick Mooney might intimidate some people with his hard stare and deadpan expression, he didn't intimidate April. She'd seen up close what a fair and even kindhearted man he could be.
"It is raunchy," he said. "And you're right. My sister-in-law didn't find it remotely funny."
April could well imagine. Professionalism was the end all and be-all of Wilhemina's world. She was a woman who'd forged a corporate career for herself during a time when executive management positions were filled by men through the good-old-boys' network.
Wilhemina had chosen career over marriage and made no apologies, which meant that at holidays she showed up at John's house to commune with family. This also meant that she and April were kindred spirits because April had attached herself to the Mooney family, too.
"Why did Wilhemina send this?" she asked. "What's up?"
"This post isn't the only one to come across the Luxurious Bedding Company's computer network." Reaching across his desk for the copy of the email post, John held it up between them. "It's one of over six dozen."
"Oh my." An image of the proposed glory hole sprang to mind and April shook her head to clear it. "All to Wilhemina?"
"No, she's only one of the recipients. Someone is stalking employees at corporate headquarters with similar posts on a variety of, er, diverse topics. They're showing up in the different departments - executive management, operations, sales, human resources, even the warehouse."
"Suggestive emails popping up during business hours." She gave a short laugh. "I'll bet that makes for an interesting day on the job."
"No joke. Wilhemina said the place has been bedlam. And the timing couldn't be worse. She's preparing to launch the Sensuous Collection. It's a high-profile launch and a risky time for the company. These posts are distracting the employees from their work. 'Sex on the brain' is the way she described it."
April would just bet. Whether a person was offended or titillated by the idea of what two employees might do with a stall wall and a cleverly positioned hole between them, one thing was clear - that person would be thinking about sex.
And thinking about sex was exactly what April didn't want to do. She couldn't afford a case of sex on the brain right now. No way. No how.
"The Sensuous Collection?" She urged John to get on with his point so she could figure out why he was telling all this to her. "Didn't Wilhemina tell me at Christmas that the reason she accepted this presidency was to get the company back on its feet after they crashed with the Cuddly, Cozy Winter Collection?"
Let your nights be about more than sleep, she'd recited the jingle to April over eggnog. Get cuddly and cozy with our Cuddly, Cozy Winter Collection.
A seemingly clever marketing campaign for a collection of sheet sets that should have translated into public recognition, huge sales and a solid bottom line. However this particular marketing campaign had proven so cuddly and cozy that consumers complained the advertisements had gone too far to promote the sensuality of their product. Morality groups had protested and the backlash against the Luxurious Bedding Company had resulted in the company's reorganization. Not to mention earning a defining nickname for the mattresses, bedding and sheet sets.
The Lusturious Bedding Company.
April remembered John telling Wilhemina she was crazy to take on a company in the throes of consumer condemnation. The board had thrown out the former president for getting them into such a mess. But Wilhemina had waxed poetic about the challenges and argued that she had a blowout strategy to turn the disapproval rating around by capitalizing on their new image.
"Is the Sensuous Collection Wilhemina's blowout strategy?"
John nodded. "It's a line of luxury bedding that will compete with the European manufacturers, who apparently dominate the market. She's hooked up with a high-ticket marketing consultant to help capitalize on their lusturious image."
"Is someone unhappy with the plan? Is that why they're stalking the employees with these sorts of posts?"
"The posts are being generated in-house at corporate headquarters."
"Oh." A disgruntled employee then. "Where do you fit in? Can't security track down the stalker with the network administrator's help? Shouldn't be that difficult."
"Apparently that's not the case." He set the email post back on the desk and lifted his black gaze. "The posts are originating from computers all over headquarters, forwarding files to everyone in the address book."
She whistled. "That must generate a ton of traffic. I don't imagine it's feasible for the administrator to monitor all the posts."
"It's not. Wilhemina tried curtailing network activity in various departments to give the administrator a chance to track the problem posts, but every time activity slows down, the stalker stops sending the raunchy posts completely."
"So our suspect is operating on the same premise as a computer worm or a virus. Very clever, really." Good, bad or otherwise, April appreciated resourcefulness when she saw it. "What files get forwarded?"
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Between The Sheets by Jeanie London Copyright © 2003 by Harlequin Enterprises Ltd.
Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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