Big-city Bachelor

“You sound as if you’re still very close to your family.”

“Oh, yes. We’re not blood relatives, but we’re still close.” Her gaze strayed back to the photo of the twins. “You’re very fortunate to have two sons. They look like fine children.”

“Thank you.”

Suddenly she realized what should have been obvious at her first glance of Alex’s children. It had taken two people to produce those boys. That meant they had a mother, too.

She glanced at the large, capable-looking hands that clasped his coffee cup. There was no sign of a gold band on any of those long fingers, but that was no guarantee these days.

Was Alex married?

Not that it should make one whit of difference to her, of course. So it was simply polite curiosity, from one business partner to another, that prompted her to ask the next question. “Does your wife take care of the children while you work?”

“Excuse me?”

“As a day care provider myself, I was simply wondering who’s taking care of Jason and Daniel.”

“My housekeeper, Mrs. Gray. She’s been with us for the past few months.”

Simple curiosity, she told herself again. “I know several working couples who would prefer to have someone in their home like that.”

“Mrs. Gray certainly keeps things running smoothly.”

“What kind of work does your wife do?” she asked, abandoning her attempts at subtlety.

“I’m not exactly sure what Tiffany does these days. Right now she’s in Europe.”

Well, that answered her question. Sort of. “I see.”

“We divorced three years ago, Lizzie. She’s on her honeymoon with her new husband.”

She felt a blush warm her cheeks. Darn. He’d probably known what she was angling to find out all along. “I’m sorry.”

He lifted his shoulders in a shrug that would appear casual if it weren’t for the way his knuckles whitened on his coffee cup. “These things happen. One learns from one’s mistakes.”

She felt a stirring of sympathy for him, coupled with a strange urge to reach out and cover his hands with hers. Instead, she placed her empty cup on the table beside her and laced her fingers in her lap. “So,” she said in a blatant attempt to change the subject, “how did you get into the advertising business, Alex?”

The flash of white knuckles disappeared as if it had never been. His charming smile was firmly back in place. “The art of persuasion has interested me from the time I finished college. After my first position with an advertising firm evaporated when the company failed, I decided to establish my own agency.”

“Is that when you met my uncle?”

“Yes, we met through a mutual acquaintance. Roland and I formed a partnership and the rest, as they say, is history.”

She suspected there was probably a lot more to the story, but before she could form her next question, there was a quiet knock on the open door.

Alex glanced over his shoulder, then rose to his feet. “Hello, Jeremy.”

The man who walked into the room looked exactly as Lizzie would have expected from hearing his voice on the phone. At least this wasn’t a surprise, she thought wryly.

Jeremy Ebbet was a few inches short of six feet and a few pounds shy of filling out the shoulders of his pinstriped suit. His hair was dark blond and thinning and his face bore the long-suffering worry lines of a farmer in a drought. After shaking hands with Lizzie and exchanging a few stilted pleasantries, he sat on the edge of the chair beside Alex, set his briefcase on his knees like a grasshopper with a wheat husk and clicked open the lid.

“We appreciate your willingness to clear up this situation so promptly, Miss Hamill,” he said, adjusting his steel-rimmed glasses with a poke of his index finger.

Alex crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his chair while he listened to Jeremy set the second phase of their plan into motion.

As Alex had advised him, Jeremy emphasized how Roland hadn’t been involved with Whitmore and Hamill for years, and how the company had been running profitably under Alex’s sole control. Lizzie nodded, already prepared for this by the carefully chosen comments Alex had made during their tour.

“Your uncle was in the process of negotiating the sale of his shares when he met with his tragic accident,” Jeremy said, withdrawing a sheaf of papers from his briefcase and passing them to Lizzie. “Here’s a copy of our offer.”

She nibbled on her lower lip as she concentrated on reading, drawing Alex’s attention to her mouth yet again. Her generous, ready-to-break-into-a-smile mouth. Alex had been distracted by it unexpectedly throughout the course of the afternoon. Especially when it had curved with a touch of wistful sweetness while she’d been looking at the picture of his sons.

Damn. She might be going about it in a completely different manner, but if he didn’t maintain control of his thoughts, in her own way Lizzie might prove to be as disruptive to the smooth course of his life as her uncle had been.

Yet another reason to close this deal and get her on a plane back to Packenham Corners. No, Junction. Whatever.

“As you can see,” Jeremy continued, “we have substituted your name for Roland’s, since you are now the sole owner of his fifty percent.”

She stopped nibbling and pursed her lips in a whispered whistle.

The pucker made Alex think about kissing. He shifted in his chair and focused on her hand, the one that would hold a pen.

“Is that what my shares are worth?” she asked in a voice that approached a squeak.

“It’s an excellent offer,” Jeremy said.

“Lord love a duck.”

“Excuse me?”

“I had no idea.” She looked up, turning toward Alex. “This is so fast. I just found out I own half the company, and now you want to buy me out?”

Alex wrenched his gaze from her mouth and met her eyes. “It must be overwhelming for you, but I’m sure you see that it would be the best solution for everyone.” He paused a moment before adding the final nail. “It’s what Roland would have wanted.”

“But I had thought that…I mean, when you arranged for me to come all the way out here…” She trailed off, shaking her head as she looked at the paper in her hand. “Do you mind if I take this back to the hotel with me?”

“Go ahead,” Alex said. “Take all the time you want to consider it, Lizzie. I don’t want you to feel pressured.”

“Thanks. I need to think about this.”

Alex pushed back his sleeve and checked his watch. “Let’s continue this discussion tomorrow. In the meantime, why don’t we grab dinner and then catch a Broadway show? I understand this is your first visit to New York?”

She folded the offer and slipped it into her purse, then smiled and nodded her head.

Like taking candy from—

Rising to his feet, Alex refused to listen to the nagging little voice. He also refused to acknowledge the tug at his pulse as he noted the way his partner’s plain navy blue skirt molded delectably curved thighs as she shifted to stand up.

And the way her lips softened with her smile.