To Woo A Wife

‘The blond Adonis,’ Jarrett continued harshly. ‘Whatever he’s worth, Abbie, I’m sure I’m worth more!’

‘I’m sure you are,’ she agreed soothingly, her bewilderment deepening. What blond Adonis? ‘It’s late, Jarrett—’

‘But it’s going to get a lot later for you, isn’t it?’ he bit out accusingly, glaring down at her. ‘Why do you do it, Abbie? Don’t tell me you actually enjoy it!’ he added disgustedly.

Champagne obviously didn’t agree with him; he wasn’t making any sense at all now. She gave a barely perceptible movement to indicate Tim should come and open the car door for her now. ‘I’m sure one of us is going to be suffering with a terrible headache in the morning,’ she told Jarrett lightly. ‘And it isn’t going to be me!’ she amended before climbing thankfully into the back of the white limousine.

Jarrett stepped forward and stopped Tim closing the door behind her. ‘Are you implying I’m drunk, Abbie?’ he growled.

‘I’m implying that one of us needs to sober up—and again it isn’t me!’ She nodded to Tim to close the car door, sitting back with some relief when, with one last scathing glare, Jarrett stepped back before turning on his heel and striding back into the hotel. In the direction of the bar, no doubt!

Abbie gave a weary sigh, relaxing back against the limousine’s leather upholstery. It had been a very long evening. And it wasn’t over yet...

Lights blazed in the chalet ski-lodge she had rented for her stay at Whistler, but thankfully not at the back, where Charlie’s bedroom was; her young daughter should have been asleep hours ago.

She nodded her thanks distractedly to Tim as she got out of the car, running lightly up the steps to let herself inside the lodge, going straight through to the lounge where she knew Tony would be waiting for her.

He looked up as she came in. He was sitting at a table working on some papers he had laid out there, the flames from the log fire giving his hair the colour of rich cream. ‘Everything okay?’ he prompted worriedly as Abbie stood in the doorway staring at him.

‘Fine,’ she replied. ‘Charlie?’

He gave an affectionate smile as he stood up. ‘Asleep. But looking forward to skiing in the morning,’ he added warningly.

Abbie smiled too now. Her daughter had been able to ski almost as soon as she could walk, and it took all of Abbie’s efforts to keep up with her. But Charlie never seemed to tire of skiing, making run after run.

However, it was something else that held Abbie’s attention now. Tony was blond and athletically built... Could he be the blond Adonis Jarrett Hunter had been so scathing about? Jarrett had left the table this evening soon after she had departed to make her ‘phone call’, returning only seconds before her; could he have seen her out in the lobby talking to Tony? And if so, what conclusions had he come to after seeing the two of them together?

She tried to think back to the strange conversation she’d had with Jarrett outside the hotel, something about ‘he obviously has money’, and that he—Jarrett—was ‘worth more’, and the night was going to be ‘a lot later’ for her, and she didn’t actually enjoy it—

Good God, Jarrett Hunter thought she was a—! Abbie began to laugh. He did! Jarrett thought she had been making an assignation with Tony, an assignation for which she was going to be paid!

Tony gave her a quizzical look as she continued to laugh, totally confused as to the reason for it. And, in the circumstances, Abbie wasn’t about to explain them, either!

Tony worked for her; he was part minder—which was why he had been in the restaurant at all this evening—and part personal assistant. He had worked for her for two years now, and never, ever had he even tried to step over their employee-employer relationship and into intimacy.

Abbie had never wanted him to, either. Oh, Tony was certainly good-looking enough, and at thirty he was close to her own age of twenty-seven, but, as she had stated only too clearly earlier, she didn’t have a sweet tooth!

Her husband had died two years ago, and since that time there had been no man in her life, not even on such a casual basis as the odd dinner. And that was the way she liked it, the way it was going to remain.

Although Jarrett Hunter obviously had her marked down as something else completely...!

She sobered slowly, shaking her head as Tony still looked at her questioningly. ‘It was just something that happened earlier,’ she said as she took off her coat and threw it over the back of a chair. ‘Did you get that information I asked for?’ she asked briskly.

‘It’s here.’ He picked up the file from the top of the table which he had been working on. ‘It isn’t complete yet, but the rest should come through some time tomorrow. But what we already have makes interesting reading,’ he informed her pointedly.

She nodded, taking the file when he held it out to her. ‘I’ll take it to bed with me.’

Tony grinned. ‘I’ve always admired the way you can be up half the night working, and then still emerge the next morning looking fresh as a daisy!’

Abbie grimaced. ‘Remind me of that tomorrow night after I’ve been skiing with Charlie all day!’

She left Tony chuckling to himself as she went down the hallway to check on Charlie before going to her own bedroom.

Charlie was fast asleep in her bed, a miniature version of Abbie, her long dark hair fanned out across the pillow, her tiny face angelic in the moonlight, one of her arms wrapped about the teddy-bear she always took to bed with her—Abbie forgot to pack that teddy at her peril! It had been mislaid when they’d been unpacking after a business trip a few months ago, and Charlie had been inconsolable until it was found again.