Marie shrugged, a flicker of a shadow crossing her face. "I've learned you sometimes need to be firm in order to make yourself heard."

Like when you had no parents to protect you, or when you were from the lower class and working among those who thought themselves better than you by right of birth, or when you were a beautiful woman who was interested in advancing, not because of her looks, but because of her work ethic and her contributions to the company.

She shook her head, "Not by reciting Shakespeare on bended knee, I hope."

In her books, that was hardly evidence of charm.