A Baby in the Bargain

Which was when that door opened again and out came Gideon Thatcher for the second time.

“Mr. Thatcher?” she said brightly.

The sound of her voice brought him to a stop. They’d never met so of course he didn’t recognize her; he merely looked at her quizzically. But after a split-second appraisal he smiled a reserved smile that kept his fairly full lips closed but turned up the corners of his mouth. His finely shaped eyebrows arched in interest. A flattering kind of interest that Jani hadn’t seen from a man in a while so it set off a little rush of satisfaction. Particularly when that interest was coming from someone this handsome.

He had a wide forehead; penetrating eyes she still couldn’t see the color of; a nose that was just long enough and just wide enough to suit his face; and a jawline that was well angled, chiseled and culminated in a squared-off chin that had a dashing off-center dent in it.

But she was gawking again…

“I’m Gideon Thatcher,” he confirmed as he came down the steps without touching the wrought-iron railing on either side of them.

Standing before her, he was at least eight inches taller than her five-foot-four height and now she could see that his eyes were green. An almost iridescent sea green, and gorgeous.

“I’m January Camden—”

Whoops. That was all it took to alter things.

Gideon Thatcher’s gorgeous green eyes narrowed at her, and his attractive face not only sobered, but went instantly hostile.

Jani pretended not to notice. “I’ve been trying to speak with you—”

“I don’t know why you’re here and I don’t care,” he announced unceremoniously in his deep voice. “I have nothing to say to any Camden, anytime, anywhere.”

Okay, not a warm reception.

What did you get me into, GiGi? she silently asked of her grandmother.

But within the Camden organization, Jani was in charge of public relations and marketing. Part of her job was to not get ruffled in the face of irate customers, vendors, clients and anyone else she needed to deal with. She had no idea why something about Gideon Thatcher was ruffling her a little on the inside but she hid it.

“If you could just give me a few minutes—”

“No matter what you Camdens have up your sleeve, I’m not interested. Regardless of how pretty a package they’ve sent to tempt me with.”

It took Jani a split second to realize that he was talking about her. Giving her a sort of compliment.

The problem was, in that instant of confusion, Gideon Thatcher stepped around her and was headed on his way.

“Please, if you could just give me a minute…” she beseeched, turning quickly to follow him.

Unfortunately when she did that, the strap on her purse caught on the end of the stair railing and broke. Her purse fell, spewing the contents across the sidewalk and even under the car parked at the curb, eliciting a loud gasp from Jani.

Gideon Thatcher paused and looked back.

As Jani began to gather her spilled belongings she could see enough peripherally to tell that he was aggravated. But rather than continuing on his way and leaving her to the mess, he muttered something under his breath and returned to help her pick things up.

While Jani snatched her wallet, cell phone and some other personal items, he went to the curb and leaned far over to reach what had slid under the car.

So You Want to Have a Baby—that was the name of the book she’d been reading while she waited for him. The title was in big black block letters that had jumped out at her at the bookstore. His gaze went to the cover, no doubt registering the title, as he handed the book to her.

Jani accepted the book, and quickly stuffed it into her purse. Then he gave her the compact and a tablet she’d been taking notes on as she’d read.

“Thank you,” she said, fighting the embarrassment of having him know what she was reading.

But she wasn’t about to address the topic with him and instead decided that the delay her spilled purse had caused was an opportunity she couldn’t let pass. It was as if fate had given her another chance to say what she’d come to say in the first place.

So she did. “We saw the article in the paper about all you’re doing to redevelop Lakeview and we want to fund a park in your great-grandfather’s name.”

A stillness seemed to come over Gideon Thatcher as he stared at her in disbelief. Then he shook his handsome head, and made a sort of huffing sound, practically scoffed at her.

“H. J. Camden used and betrayed my great-grandfather, and made it look as if my great-grandfather betrayed hundreds of people who trusted him,” Gideon Thatcher proclaimed. “He ruined the Thatcher name and turned Lakeview into something it never wanted to be. You have no idea what I had to do to convince Lakeview to give me—a Thatcher—this project. And now you not only think that I would let the Camdens anywhere near it, but you have the gall to believe that something as meager as a park would somehow make up for everything?”

“H.J. and your great-grandfather were good friends for fifteen years. I know things went bad but in some respects it wasn’t H.J.’s fault—he wanted to keep the promises he made—”

“I’m keeping the promises he made. H. J. Camden didn’t do anything for anyone but himself.”

Jani couldn’t deny that. And, as she stood there facing Gideon Thatcher’s scorn and contempt, she had to wonder if anything she offered would break through it.

But the family had vowed to explore all the ramifications of H.J.’s actions and in order to do that she had to get her foot in the door with this guy.

So she stood her ground, raised her chin proudly and said, “If not a park, then what?”

“You’re kidding, right? You think that anything—anything—can make up for what H. J. Camden did to my family?”

“I think that you see this only from your own perspective right now and that other factors went into what happened decades ago. But H.J.—my great-grandfather—regretted how things ended up. He regretted the loss of his friendship with your great-grandfather. He regretted that Lakeview was left a factory and warehouse town rather than the suburban dream he promised. And now that it seems as if you’re going to do so much of what should have been done then, we know that H.J. would want your great-grandfather honored by helping in some way.”

“Some token way—like a measly park?”

A park or whatever, Jani thought. She just needed to make enough of a connection with this man to get to know him, find out what actually happened to his family post-H.J. and learn if there were any other ways the Camdens could make up for the past.

“You were quoted in the newspaper saying something about a park in Lakeview,” she continued. “That’s the only reason we’re suggesting that. If there’s something else that we could do, something that you would rather have the Thatcher name on, we could certainly talk about it.”

“We could, could we?” he said sarcastically. “The high-and-mighty Camdens would allow that?”

She hadn’t said it that way and she certainly hadn’t meant it that way.

“Mr. Thatcher…” she said, hoping that calling him that would show her respect.

But that was as far as she got.

“Gideon,” he corrected as if she were insulting him in some way to use the formality, and Jani realized that she couldn’t win.

“Gideon,” she amended patiently. “We just want to do what we can to help Lakeview finally become what it should have, and we want to do it in the name of your great-grandfather.”

“It sure as hell wouldn’t be in the name of Camden.”

“Whatever we do can be absolutely anonymous. We aren’t looking for any kind of credit—”

“And you aren’t going to get any.”