Yes, I wanted to see how our customers felt when they were flying on my airline, but there was no possible way I was going to stuff my six-foot-three frame into a seat with almost no leg room for twelve long, painful hours.
I was a concerned CEO, not a masochist.
My mother got to her feet. “Be safe. Try to take some time off while you’re there. I’ll miss you.”
I nodded sharply as I kissed her cheek, and pulled her into a hug. “I’ll come see you as soon as I get back, and I’ll call you. Don’t worry about the article. I’ll figure something out.”
I spent the majority of my time in my London home, but I got to Surrey as often as possible to see my mother. Jokes and teasing aside, we were pretty close, and she’d never really gotten over my dad’s death, so she’d taken Dylan’s abandonment of the family pretty hard.
Not that anyone could claim that Mum was fragile, but she had been through a lot in the last five years.
She hugged me tightly before she stepped back. “Everybody will forget Dylan’s naked picture the moment one of the royals do something interesting.”
I chuckled, even though I wasn’t really in a laughing mood. “Let’s hope the royals aren’t in the mood to be well-behaved in the future.”
It was rather pathetic to be hoping for a royal scandal, but the British media was fickle. They’d drop the news about Dylan’s faux pas in a matter of seconds if someone in the royal family screwed up.
Mum nodded. “Something else will happen that makes the front page tomorrow, and the media will be one step closer to forgetting about today’s article.”
My mother had a strong backbone, and she always kept a stiff upper lip, but I knew that she was truly worried this time.
About me.
About Dylan.
About the reputation that generations of our family had tried so hard to keep squeaky clean and honorable over the years.
The Lancaster family was well-respected, and Mum valued not being in a position to encourage the gossips. So much so that she’d twisted herself inside out when she was younger to fit into my father’s world with as little censure as possible.
Deep down, I cared about family honor, too. I knew that it was probably ingrained into my DNA.
However, my first priority was the current generation of Lancasters, and specifically, my brother, Dylan.
I really wanted to reassure Mum that I’d figure everything out, and that she’d get her wayward son back soon, without further scandal.
Problem was, it was really hard to convince her of something when I wasn’t really sure what would happen myself.
CHAPTER 2
Nicole
MAYBE THERE’S A time in everyone’s life when they wonder about the wisdom of their career choices.
Unfortunately, I was currently having that moment on foreign soil, in the middle of Heathrow International Airport, while I waited in line to board my flight so I could get my ass back to California where I belonged.
My business was done in London, and I was leaving with the knowledge that I’d managed to completely bomb my attempt to acquire my first, very large international client here in the UK.
I probably should have let Kylie do this pitch. But my second-in-command had some important meetings scheduled with our US customers, so I’d actually volunteered for this disaster.
I sighed as the line to board my flight crept forward at such a slow pace that I swore I was never going to get to my seat.
Behind me, I could hear a frustrated infant wailing.
I’m right there with you, little dude. I want to get the hell out of England, too.
Okay, maybe it wasn’t exactly the end of the world if Ashworth Crisis Management didn’t acquire clients in London right now, but I’d really hoped we could expand.
Wait! Correction: It had always been my mom’s goal to go worldwide.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t my mother, and ACM wasn’t exactly flourishing and growing underneath my control.
I managed to smile weakly at the flight attendant as I finally boarded, trying to blow off my crappy mood, and not replay my London business failure over and over in my head.
Dammit! I’d been prepared.
I’d been ready.
I’d been completely certain of exactly what I was going to say to persuade Lancaster International that they needed a skilled crisis management team at their disposal.
Maybe it was a tough sell. Lancaster International had an entire department full of general public relations staff, but it wasn’t impossible. ACM was different, highly qualified to deal with emergency situations.
Which was exactly why I blew it. I’d had the chance to prove to Lancaster, in real time, exactly what we could do, but I hadn’t.
I’d maintained my confidence well…until the CEO of Lancaster had decided that last night had been an ideal time to make the tabloids explode with a naked picture of himself, and a bevy of nude females.
I hadn’t had time to actually see the article or picture. The story had broken approximately three minutes before my presentation.
I’d had to face an entire conference room of suits, every one of them looking at me expectantly, like I should be able to come up with a solution for their mega-disaster on the spot.
I couldn’t.
I hadn’t been prepared for that.
Yeah, I knew the basics about the Lancaster family, but since there had never been a whisper of scandal about any of them, I’d focused more on the company and its very long history of acquiring failing companies and making them lucrative again.
The opportunity to pitch to Lancaster International had come up without much notice, so I’d focused on what I could do for the company as I’d prepared a hurried, but what I thought was a thorough, presentation.
Nowhere in my research had I come across the information that one of the Lancasters was still young enough to have sex.
Apparently, the eldest Lancaster male was still young enough if he’d been in bed with several naked women.
I should have switched gears, and gone to the rescue to solve their problem. I’m a crisis manager. That’s what I do, for God’s sake.
I’d had nothing for them. Not a single suggestion. Not a word to say about handling something I wasn’t prepared to conquer. I’d been more focused on possible chemical spills, environmental hazards, sudden stock instability, etc.
How in the hell could I have known that one of the family members would suddenly do something to draw the attention of the entire country? Sure, I knew there was a Lancaster family behind the behemoth corporation, but I’d seen very little press about any of them while I was doing my research. The possibility of something like that happening hadn’t even been on my radar.
Lancaster International had a sterling reputation, and had maintained that stature for generations.
Stop stressing, Nicole. You can’t change something that’s already happened.
I rolled my shoulders, trying to release the tension built up there. Usually, I was the kind of woman who could blow off a failure and move forward, but this one was sticking with me. The humiliation was still too fresh.
Thank God. This stupid line is finally moving.
Some passengers with seats in the front had stored their bags, and moved out of the aisle. As I looked for my own seat, I told myself that I needed to stop tormenting my psyche with all of the things I could have said or done.