“Bridget and I are in town and thought we’d swing by.”
“Sure, I’d love to see you. Are you coming by now?”
“In about an hour. I have a couple of things I want to talk to you about.”
“Uh-oh. Am I in trouble?”
He chuckled. “Not that I know of. Are you?” For a moment, his tone was stern, and I felt like a little boy. One who’d been caught stealing cookies from the kitchen. Not that I’d ever done that—repeatedly. My parents had died in a plane crash when I was nine, and my grandparents had taken me in.
We talked for a few more minutes, and then I hung up and hit another button on the phone. “Mona, book a conference room for 11:00 to noon.”
“Yes, sir.”
It would be good to see my grandparents, but it would take a chunk out of an already busy day. If I didn’t want to stay here half the night, I’d need to get a lot done before they came. That meant skipping my morning trip to the lobby—unfortunately. The thought of not seeing the shapely chai-tea-loving brunette until Monday was an unpleasant one. Still, work came first. And second. And third around here.
I was still working an hour later when I heard someone clear his throat.
Looking up, I grinned. “Hey, Grandpa.”
The old man smiled at me. He was looking good—still tall and slim despite his years. And dressed impeccably in a three-piece suit. Though he occasionally dressed more casually at the house, he’d never let himself be seen here without a suit. “Working hard, I see.”
“That beats ‘hardly working.’ That’s definitely not how Grants operate.”
“Indeed it’s not.”
“Where’s Grandma?”
“She’s upstairs.”
“Upstairs? I booked a conference room.” The conference rooms were down the hall, not upstairs.
He chuckled. “I countermanded your order. Your grandmother wanted to see Newton, so we booked the executive dining room.”
I groaned. Newton was the head chef and had been at the company nearly as long as my grandfather. If Newton was cooking, that meant we were having a long, formal, sit-down meal. Exactly the kind of thing I didn’t have time for.
My grandfather seemed to be aware of my thoughts. “It won’t take more than an hour. I know you’re busy. But we have some important things to discuss.”
He clapped me on the back as we walked toward the elevator, and then he launched into a discussion of a baseball team I hadn’t had time to follow in years. My mind was on what he’d said before that, though. What important things was he here to discuss? Nothing new was happening that the company. We weren’t scheduled to have a board meeting for another month, so we didn’t need to prepare for that.
But every time I tried to ask, grandfather mentioned a new pitching prospect or a player who was on the disabled list. Finally, I sighed in defeat and asked an inane question about the team’s playoff chances. Grandpa would tell me what was on his mind when he decided to, and not one moment earlier.
A delicious smell permeated the air outside the dining room. Roast beef, if I wasn’t mistaken—my grandfather’s favorite. I stepped inside and spotted Newton setting up covered dishes on the far counter. He was almost as old as my grandfather, yet he was dressed in chef’s whites that looked freshly ironed and immaculate. No wonder he and my grandfather had always been friends. My grandfather went over to chat with him, and I turned to my grandmother.
“Darling,” Grandma said, and she rose to meet me.
I took half a step toward her, did a double-take, and nearly stumbled.
What.
The.
Hell?
Seated on the other side of my grandmother was a very familiar-looking brunette. The brunette, in fact. The one from the 10:30 coffee cart trips. She’d been half hidden from view when I first came in, but now she pushed her chair back and stood up next to my grandmother.
My pulse quickened even if as my brain struggled to look for a logical explanation for why she was here. She was looking at me anxiously, and I realized that this was the closest I’d ever been to her. From this distance, I could see that her eyes were a vivid green, a green so bright I was surprised it hadn’t been visible from across the lobby. Her skin was flawless, and her lips were a perfect pink. The wavy, light brown hair looked the same as it had from afar, swirling around her shoulders and framing her face.
As I continued to look at her, she flushed, and her hand crept up her button-down blouse and found the pendant. Just before her fingers closed around it, I saw that it was heart-shaped. Again, I wondered who had given it to her. Whoever it was had chosen the perfect chain length—the pendant nestled quite nicely at the top of her cleavage.
But none of that explained why she was here.
“Darling,” grandmother said again, and I stepped to her, giving her a hug. She barely came up to my chest which gave me an even better opportunity to view the brunette. She was still clutching her pendant, but she was looking down at the table now. Her green eyes were hidden by long lashes.
I pulled away from my grandmother and patted her on the shoulder. After a few seconds of trying to find a diplomatic way to ask about the brunette, I settled on, “You didn’t tell me we’d be having company.”
“Well, it’s a special day, dear.” For the first time, I noticed that my grandmother was wearing a peach-colored suit, her good pearls, and low heels. Clearly she had dressed for the occasion—whatever it was.
“It is?”
“Of course,” Grandpa said, striding to the table from where he’d been catching up with Newton. Then he turned to my grandmother. “You didn’t tell him, did you?”
Grandma smiled. “Of course not. It’s for you to tell.”
I looked back and forth between them, but the brunette kept catching my eye. She offered no clues about why she was here, but I couldn’t stop looking her way.
Grandpa grinned at me. “For a while, I thought this day would never come, but it’s time.” He glanced at me and then grandmother and the brunette. What the fuck was going on? And how was she involved?
“Time for what?” If someone didn’t give me some concrete information soon I was going to stab something. Maybe the roast beef, maybe not.
Grandfather grinned at me, as he paused for dramatic effect. “I’m going to be stepping down as president of Grant Industries.”
My breath caught in my throat, and my heart started hammering in my chest. “Do you mean—.” I almost couldn’t get the words out. I didn’t want to jinx it.
“It’s time, son. Time for you have free rein.”
Holy shit. The old man had finally caved? “Thank you,” I said, pumping my grandfather’s hand up down. “You won’t be sorry. I won’t let you down.”
“I know you won’t,” grandfather said, and the sincere look in his eyes made me feel like a million dollars. Or a billion, actually, since I’d soon be completely in charge of a billion-dollar corporation. “You already run almost everything. This’ll just make it official.”
“I won’t let you down.” I was still shaking his hand.
“I know you won’t, son.”
My grandmother reached out to squeeze my arm. “I’m proud too, Ethan. This is everything we ever wanted for you. Leading our family corporation. Carrying on the Grant family name.”
Suddenly, I couldn’t stop smiling. This was really happening. I was finally going to be the president of the company. I bent down and kissed her on the cheek. “I’ve been a Grant for over thirty years, Grandma.”
“And soon we’ll have a new Grant in the family.”
My smile froze on my face as I looked down at her stupidly. For a minute, I thought she meant she was pregnant, but that idiotic thought vanished as soon as it arrived. But what on earth did she mean?
She laughed at the look on my face. “I know it’s not official yet, but we couldn’t wait to meet her.” Grandma reached out and clasped the hand of the woman next to her. The brunette looked up at me, her
face as puzzled as my own must be.
“Don’t be mad, son.” Grandpa clapped me on the back again. “When Kate stopped by the other day, we saw how special she was. Something you’ve always known.”
“Who?” This conversation made no sense whatsoever.
“Kate,” Grandma said, squeezing the brunette’s hand. “Your fiancée.”
Five
Ethan
What?
“Here, have a seat, Newton is ready to serve the lunch.”
What?
“Sit down next to Kate, Ethan.” At Grandma’s words, I looked over at the brunette who was staring at my grandmother in shock. That made two of us.
“Excuse me, Mr. Grant.” The older man in the chef’s whites was standing right beside me, holding a carafe of coffee.
Numbly, I stepped out of the way and sat down next to the brunette. Kate, my grandmother had called her. Well, at least I knew her name now. Though nothing else made sense. I placed my napkin on my lap, some distant corner of my mind recognizing the absurdity of focusing on table manners when the world had apparently gone temporarily insane.
Looking over, I saw that both my grandparents were chatting with Newton as he poured the coffee. That gave me a few precious seconds to try to figure out what was going on. “Why do they think you’re my fiancée?” I whispered urgently.
“Why aren’t you telling them I’m not?” she hissed back. For a moment, we just stared at each other—utter strangers, but both equally perplexed.
Her green eyes bored into me. This was absurd. Time to get over the shock and clear up this misunderstanding.
My grandfather smiled at us and lifted a crystal water goblet. “I know this moment calls for champagne, but we’ll save that for the engagement party. I don’t drink during the day anymore. But I’m so pleased for you both.”
Grandma picked up her water glass too, and held it aloft, looking at us expectantly. Kate didn’t pick up her goblet. She raised an eyebrow at me.
My mind was still reeling, but I had to set the record straight. “I think there’s been some mistake.”
Grandma laughed. “Oh, I know you two aren’t officially engaged. But you said yourself that it was being discussed. So it’s not like we’re ruining a big surprise here… are we?” She trailed off at the last moment and looked concerned.
“No, but—”
“Good,” Grandma said, looking relieved. Since we hadn’t picked up our glasses, she clinked hers against my grandfather’s and then took a sip. “Maybe it is premature to talk about an engagement party, but there’s so much to do. Choosing the venue. Making a guest list. Once we met Katie, it seemed silly to wait any longer. It’s obvious you two are crazy about each other.”
What exactly was she judging that on? The fact that we were both sitting here looking as perplexed as hell? But I seized on something my grandmother had said, trying to get some clarity. “When did you meet her?”
“Oh, don’t be mad. I know you were waiting to introduce her to us, but then they sent her over to the house the other day.” Grandma smiled as if this were the most fortunate coincidence in the world.
Forget clarity, I’d just be grateful for some sanity. “Who sent her over?”
“Henderson in Accounting,” my grandfather chimed in.
A small fraction of truth was emerging from the confusion. I’d always wondered what department the brunette—Kate—worked in. It seemed unusual for a young member of a department like Accounting to be sent to deal with my grandparents, but perhaps she just delivered some paperwork to them. “And she introduced herself as my fiancée?”
“Of course not!” Kate sputtered, and I looked over to find her glaring at me. Funny how before today, I hadn’t known what color her eyes were. Now I not only knew their hue, but I also knew what they looked like mad.
“Of course not,” Grandma echoed. “But I took one look at her, and I just knew.”
“How?”
“From your description, of course.”
“What?” Baffled, I glanced over at Kate and saw that she was clutching her pendant again. It was blue, just like I’d mentioned to someone the other day… and then it dawned on me. The pendant. I’d told them about her habit of touching it when I was on the phone with them the other day. And about her hair. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
But still, that was a pretty big leap for my grandparents to take. There were many beautiful women with bronze waves out there. Though I had to admit that up close, Kate’s beauty was overwhelmingly apparent. Too bad I was in no position to appreciate it at the moment. Plus, she was glaring at me again, apparently taking my grandmother’s words as some kind of proof that I was in on this whole deception. I turned back to my grandmother. “I didn’t tell you very much.”
“You didn’t have to, dear. I just knew.” I groaned inwardly. My grandmother had come from Ireland when she was a little girl. She’d always felt that her powers of intuition were stronger than the average American’s, though I’d never been sure how she’d come to that conclusion. But it was entirely possible that she thought she’d picked up on subtle signs. “Plus, there was the way she spoke about you.”
Or maybe not so subtle signs. This time it was my turn to stare at Kate. “You talked about me?”
“No,” she said, her green eyes wide. “I mean, yes, they asked me a few questions about you, but I didn’t say anything about an engagement.”
“You didn’t have to, dear. That lovely blush when you said he was handsome confirmed it for me.”
“What?” She said I was handsome? Despite the circumstances, I couldn’t help but grin. Especially when I saw the blush my grandmother had just referred to appear on Kate’s face. God, she really was gorgeous. And the flush of her cheeks plus the way her pink cupid’s lips hung open in shock made her look absolutely adorable.
“I just—they kept asking about you, and I just—” she faltered, and I raised an eyebrow at her. Even if they had been grilling her about me, there were a lot of things she could have said. Everyone at the corporation knew me—even if I didn’t know all of them. She didn’t have to say something about my looks, yet apparently she had.
Suddenly, she pursed her lips together and took a deep breath in through her nose. As if she were steeling herself up for something. “I’m sorry, but that is not the main issue here. I’m afraid there’s been some kind of misunderstanding.”
“Told you, Bridget. Told you we should’ve waited for him to introduce us to her. You would’ve done it soon, right, Ethan?” Grandpa took a sip of his coffee while he stared at me.
“Well, I—” It was high time to end this comedy of errors. Kate had stepped up to the plate and struck out, so now it was my turn. “What happened was—”
But my grandfather spoke over me. “Of course you would’ve. You’ve wanted to be the president of the company since you were five years old. Don’t see much point in waiting now that you’ve found the right woman. So I thought we could announce it at an engagement party. Host it at our place—maybe do it the right before the board meeting, so we can start talking about the transition of powers.”
Shit. Suddenly it all made sense—or it mostly made sense. This was why he was finally willing to name me as president. Because he thought I’d found myself a bride. Fuck. For a moment there, I’d thought that he’d actually come to his senses and seen what a damn good job I’d been doing. But no, it was all about her. Kate. If they hadn’t gotten the mistaken idea that she was my fiancée, Grandpa wouldn’t be making this offer now.
Damn.
“A little over a month from now,” my grandfather was saying. It took me a moment to tune back into the conversation and realize that he was telling Kate when the next board meeting would be.
“But I’m only here for two more weeks,” Kate said, and then she flushed again. “Not that that matters, because, you see—”
“Two weeks?” My grandfather was frowning at Kate in confusion, but everything was suddenly very clear to m
e. As long as he thought Kate was my fiancée, he’d turn the company over to me. If he knew she wasn’t, it might be years before he named me president.
Reaching over, I picked Kate’s hand off the table, and held it in both of my own. “She means after two weeks, she’s going to come work for me as my personal assistant. She’s been afraid to tell you because she thought you might not approve.” The lie came smoothly to my lips, but part of me wondered why she’d said she was only here for two more weeks. Was it just to get my grandparents to back off?
Grandma beamed at Kate. “Don’t you worry, dear. Why, I was Walter’s secretary when I first met him. I know that those folks in Human Resources frown on this kind of thing nowadays, but where else are young people supposed to meet? Ethan spends every waking moment in this building. I knew he had to have met you here—where else would he meet someone?”
Another piece of the puzzle fell into place. That was another reason why they’d jumped to the conclusion that Kate was my beloved.
Grandma suddenly seemed worried that she’d offended Kate. “I mean—obviously, he would’ve fallen in love with you no matter where you two met. But if he’d ruled out workplace romances, the two of you never would’ve gotten engaged.”
“But we’re not engaged.” Kate wore a look of triumph, having finally gotten a chance to say what she’d been trying to for the last ten minutes.
But Grandma just smiled. “We know. Ethan explained that he hadn’t popped the question yet. Maybe you think we’re jumping the gun, but when you get to be our age, you realize that life is short. If you’ve found the right person, why wait?” She gave my grandfather a loving look. “Besides, the engagement party’s a month off. Ethan’s busy, yes, but I’m sure he can find some time to propose in a whole month. In fact, I’d be honored if you two would consider my engagement ring…”
Abruptly, Kate set her napkin on her plate. “I’m sorry, but this is insane.” I glared at her, but she paid me no attention as she spoke to my grandparents. “You’re nice people, and that’s a lovely offer about your ring, but this is insane.”
Mr Right Stuff Page 3
