The Real Deal

by Lucy Monroe

  The sobering thought pierced the sweet bubble surrounding her. If she was pregnant, she had every intention of staying that way. She didn’t see abortion as an option for birth control, no matter what the rest of the country thought. She could never get rid of Simon’s baby.

  For a few sweet seconds she considered what it would be like to be married to Simon and pregnant with his child. As long as she was daydreaming she might as well put a toddler on her lap and serious dark haired little boy on the seat beside her. It was positively medieval, but she would love four children . . . with Simon as the father.

  “Amanda?”

  She snapped out of her reverie.

  Simon’s head was turned toward her from the front. “Eric asked how soon you would have to head back to California.”

  She couldn’t help feeling the answer should have been of more interest to Simon than Eric, but it wasn’t her lover who had brought it up.

  “I . . . . There is no set time. Upper management really wants the merger. I’m doing my other work remotely, so it’s not a problem for me to stay.” Well, other than a lack of clothes. Maybe she would call Jillian and ask her to FedEx some things up from California.

  Her business suits just didn’t fit her current lifestyle with Simon.

  “There must be some kind of deadline,” Eric probed.

  She turned her face away and looked out the car window. “I’m sure there is, but I don’t know what it will be.”

  She didn’t want to leave and talking about it depressed her, but Eric was right. Her boss was bound to have some cutoff point at which he’d call her back to California.

  She began to doubt that belief as the next week progressed. Daniel had been extremely affable when she made her less than encouraging report on Monday regarding the merger.

  She’d had the opportunity to discuss the merger with Eric while Simon was busy playing with his nephew. Eric had reaffirmed his interest in the proposal. However, he’d made it clear that if Simon stayed opposed to it, he would withdraw his support rather than allow a family war to start over the issue.

  Which was just as she’d suspected. Yet when she’d told Daniel, he had responded as if it were a minor consideration, not the major setback it was. He had told her to keep working on Simon, but she’d gotten the distinct impression something was going on she didn’t know about.

  However, she’d gleaned nothing from the remainder of their conversation and her carefully worded questions.

  Tuesday, she had accompanied Simon to Brant Computers. He had wanted to meet with his design teams and had invited her along. He’d made it a point to introduce her to several Brant Computers employees. The difference in how he related to them and the way Extant’s Executive Management Team related to the workforce was a revelation.

  He’d left her in the company of an older woman who worked in the sustaining group during his meeting. After they left the company, Simon had asked her how she would feel if that woman were one of the ones forced out of a job by the merger.

  She’d been forced to acknowledge: one, it was all too likely and two, she’d feel awful.

  “She’s worked for us since her husband died of pancreatic cancer fifteen years ago, leaving her a widow with two teenage children. I couldn’t sleep at night if she had to start working at a fast food place because we let her go.”

  Simon’s words still echoed in her mind and she had begun to see his adamant refusal to consider the merger in a different light. He wasn’t a quirky genius who didn’t understand the business world well enough to function efficiently in it. He was a deeply caring man who took the plight of his company very personally and, in his mind, his employees were the company.

  Yet, he continued to discuss the finer points of her proposal with her. He made it a point to ask her at least one question a day, or bring up an argument that she was forced to parry. She didn’t know if he did this as a sop to his conscience because of his promise to Elaine, or if he just wanted to remind Amanda why she was there.

  Even if that wasn’t his intention, it worked. She never forgot that she was a temporary aberration in Simon’s life, not a permanent fixture. The issue of her possible pregnancy had not come up again and Simon had been scrupulous about protection since that time in the shower.

  Part of her was terrified she would end up pregnant. What did she know about being a decent and loving parent? A single one at that. But there was this teeny-tiny person inside her that craved having someone who belonged to her, someone to whom she could belong.

  She ignored those desires while trying to understand her boss’s almost complete about-face. He was way too understanding about her lack of success with Simon and then today, she’d gotten an out-of-the-office response in reply to her e-mail asking him a question about something else.

  It gave her a bad feeling.

  She was afraid he had gone behind her back to talk to the other shareholders. What really preyed on her mind was the idea that she should warn Simon and Eric of the possibility. She owed Extant Corporation her loyalty as an employee and telling Simon and Eric anything would be tantamount to revealing confidential information. On the other hand, she was terrified her boss would start that family war both she and Eric were so intent on avoiding.

  And if he was pursuing the other shareholders, he was violating his agreement to let her handle the merger negotiations at this point. She sighed as she stepped on a small dead branch that crackled under her feet. She felt torn apart by her divided loyalties and the impermanence of her association with Simon.

  The watch on her wrist started to vibrate. Simon had given it to her on Monday. Both he and Jacob could buzz her within a mile radius via the small two-way radio that was part of the watch just like Simon’s.

  She lifted it and pressed a small button on the side. “Yes?”

  “You got a visitor, missy.”

  Daniel was here! It had to be. Who else would come to see her? “I’m heading back now.”

  She’d been exploring the woods surrounding Simon’s home. She loved the tall spindly trees that swayed like hula dancers when the wind gusted and the way their sparse branches let sunlight through, casting a dappled pattern onto the forest floor.

  She approached the house from the front. The yellow Mustang convertible did not look like something her boss would rent. He drove a white BMW. It wasn’t flashy, but it screamed status seeker, from the polished silver door handles to its shiny black wheels.

  She jogged up to the house and went in through the front door. She could hear voices from the great room, but the words were indistinguishable. However, as she drew closer to the room, she could tell one of the voices was a woman. Definitely not Daniel. Maybe Elaine had come to visit.

  She’d been really friendly the previous Saturday, especially after Simon had made it clear he and Amanda shared more than a business relationship. Amanda had thought it odd later that neither Eric, nor Elaine were concerned she was attempting to manipulate Simon with sex.

  They obviously didn’t see her as Mata Hari material either.

  Jacob said something and the woman laughed.

  Jillian.

  Amanda burst into the great room just as Jacob started laughing right along with Jillian. Dour-faced Jacob laughing?

  “Jill! What are you doing here?”

  Jillian spun around to face Amanda. “I came to surprise you.” And with her characteristic grin she flew across the room to give Amanda a hug. “I checked in to the hotel and then came right over. You wouldn’t believe this guy who works at the ferry. I asked for directions and he starts pumping me for information like he’s the CIA or something.”

  Amanda laughed. “I’d believe you, trust me.”

  “He didn’t even recognize me.”

  “Most people don’t and that’s how you like it, so don’t whine.”

  Jillian dressed conservatively with her hair kept in an elegant up-do for her role on the soap opera, whereas in real life she tended to wear clothes that
would look jarring on Madonna and let her hair riot around her head in a mass of auburn curls.

  Jacob was back to looking dour. “I recognized her right away.”

  “You charmer, I think I’ll keep you.”

  Red burnished Jacob’s cheekbones and Amanda just about fainted. The man was definitely starstruck.

  “Can I get you two some refreshments?” Jacob asked, at his polite best.

  Amanda stifled a giggle at the amazing change in him. “Sure. I’ll take Jill out to the deck. Do you know if Simon plans to surface soon?” It was just going on lunchtime and he’d come out to share it with her every day so far this week.

  “As I have said in the past, Ms. Zachary, Mr. Brant is not a submarine.”

  “Be nice to me, or I won’t let Jillian talk to you.”

  Jillian laughed and patted Jacob on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. Her bark is much worse than her bite. She hasn’t muzzled me in a year at least, but I do want to meet your boss. Will he be down for lunch?”

  “I believe so. He has discovered an ongoing and sufficient motivator for leaving his lab in the middle of the day.” He gave Amanda a significant look and it was her turn to blush.

  Because while it was true that she and Simon shared lunch every day, it was also true that that wasn’t the only thing they shared in the middle of the afternoon.

  Jillian’s brow rose. “Interesting. You two will have to be more circumspect now that I’m here, though. I’m very impressionable.”

  “You’re impossible,” Amanda replied. “Come on. Let’s go out on the deck.”

  They were seated at the table, sipping freshly brewed ice tea with a twist of lemon when Jillian turned to Amanda, her face more serious than Amanda had ever seen it. “Tell me about this guy you’re sleeping with. Are you pregnant yet?”

  Chapter 16

  Amanda’s tea went down her windpipe and she started choking.

  Jill jumped up and pounded her back. “I didn’t mean to kill you with the question.”

  Amanda tried to wheeze out an answer, but she couldn’t make her voice work.

  Jill stood back. “Oh, hell. It’s already happened hasn’t it? I knew it! You’re such a babe in the woods with men. What did he do, tell you not to worry, he’d pull out?”

  Amanda’s face felt sunburned and her throat hurt from coughing. “It wasn’t like that. Sit down, please.”

  Jillian shook her head, her red hair waiving wildly. “I’m going to kill him.”

  “Jill.” Amanda reached out and grabbed her friend’s flailing arm at the wrist. “Stop it. I’m not pregnant.”

  “Are you sure about that?”

  At the sound of Simon’s voice, Jillian spun around, ripping her arm from Amanda’s grip. “You jerk! I suppose you don’t think anything of—”

  Amanda’s hand on Jill’s mouth cut her off. She’d jumped up from her seat the minute Jillian started in on Simon. “Calm that Irish temper down or I’m going to end up eating your words and being humiliated in the process.”

  Jillian’s eyes narrowed, but she nodded. Amanda moved her hand and turned to see Simon’s reaction to her friend’s outburst. He wasn’t looking at Jill.

  His entire attention was on Amanda. “I thought your period wasn’t due for another week.”

  If her face had felt sunburned before, it now felt like she’d sustained a third-degree burn. “It’s not.”

  “Then how can you be sure you aren’t pregnant? Did you take a test?”

  The only thing needed to make this farce more embarrassing would be for Jacob to make an appearance. “No. How could I? I doubt your local store even carries them.”

  He smiled cynically. “Don’t be so sure about that, but if you didn’t take a test, you can’t know. Yet, you told your friend you’re not pregnant.”

  “All right!” She glared at both Jillian and Simon. “I should have said I don’t think I’m pregnant, okay?”

  Jillian opened her mouth to say something and Amanda forestalled her. “Before you go off again, it’s not Simon’s fault.”

  “Oh really?” Jillian was at her sarcastic best. “Are you saying you had sex with someone else?”

  Even the thought of another man touching her like Simon had made her sick to her stomach. “No.”

  Simon looked at Jillian. “It is my fault. I’m the one who forgot protection.”

  “And I made you forget it.” She was still a little awed by that fact. Not a rational reaction, she knew, but when a woman had spent her whole life being told she didn’t measure up in the female stakes, it was definitely a natural one.

  “You sound proud of yourself,” Jill accused.

  “I noticed that too,” Simon agreed laconically.

  Amanda felt attacked from two sides even though, logically she knew that in their own way both Simon and Jill wanted to protect her. “How do you want me to sound? Ashamed? I left my hair shirt in California along with any false front for emotions I don’t feel.”

  “Are you saying you want to be pregnant?” Jill practically shrieked in astonishment.

  “Lunch is served.” The addition of Jacob’s voice to the melee was more than Amanda could handle with equanimity.

  She turned on the housekeeper cum security expert with blood in her eye. “Discretion is the mark of a proper butler.”

  “I was being discreet. I didn’t mention that pregnant women need to keep up their strength, did I? Didn’t comment on the fact that a woman pushing thirty and a man already there should be a little more savvy about birth control. Now that would have been indiscreet.”

  Simon choked on something that sounded suspiciously like a laugh and Amanda wanted to hit him.

  Jillian was busy nodding her head vehemently. “You took the words right out of my mouth. They’re both old enough to know better.”

  “Twenty-six is not pushing thirty,” Amanda informed them all loftily. As topics for conversation went, her age outdid pregnancy by a wide margin.

  She spun on her heel and went back into the house.

  “Where are you going?” Simon demanded from behind her.

  “Jacob said lunch was served and as he so delicately pointed out, if I am pregnant, I need to keep up my strength.”

  “Uh oh . . . .” Jill’s singsong voice followed her. “I know that tone. She’s really miffed. Simon, you don’t have a big screen television, do you?”

  “No, he doesn’t, but he does have a collection of katanas that would make admirable gardening implements.” Amanda didn’t bother turning around when she made the threat, but she knew the people still on the deck could hear her.

  “What’s a katana?” Jill asked.

  “A Korean sword.” Surprisingly, it was Jacob who answered. “The boss is partial to his collection. They’re all one of a kind and some are over a hundred years old.”

  “And no way are you using them to dig in the garden, even if you are pregnant with my baby.” Simon’s voice whispered in her ear as he leaned around her to pull a chair out from the dining table for her to sit in.

  “That is not something I want to discuss right now.” She let herself be drawn into the chair and scooted up to the table.

  Jacob and Jillian came into the room.

  “You’re eating with us, aren’t you?” she asked Jacob, thinking an obviously starstruck fan would thwart Jillian’s inevitable attempt to grill Amanda over the possible pregnancy.

  His poorly disguised fascination with Hollywood would make an ideal topic for the lunch table.

  One gray brow rose in question. “You want me to eat with you? Thought you’d be embarrassed talking about the baby in front of me.”

  “We are not going to discuss babies or the possibility of a pregnancy,” she said repressively.

  “We’re not?” Jillian asked tauntingly.

  “No,” Amanda replied firmly as Simon took the chair kitty-corner to hers. “You can tell us all about the show. Are you going to end up married to your love interest?”

&nb
sp; The look she gave Jillian told her friend to go with the flow or else.

  Jillian went, but with a disgruntled look.

  Simon wasn’t surprised when Jillian came to find him in his gym. Amanda was working on an emergency e-mail she’d received from Extant Corporation and it was the first time Jillian had had all day to corner him alone.

  “So which one of these is over a hundred years old?” she asked pointing to the wall on which his katana collection hung.

  He indicated one near the center. “That one is actually three hundred years old.”

  “Wow. If something’s more than ten years old in Hollywood, it’s considered an antique.” Her eyes were focused on the sword in question with definite awe.

  He smiled and moved into his form.

  She turned her head toward him, her expression set. “I’m worried about Amanda.”

  He liked her directness.

  “Me too,” he admitted as he pivoted on his foot for the next step of his form.

  That seemed to surprise her and she idly fingered the handgrip on one of the swords. “She’s not very experienced around men. I don’t think she’d like me telling you that, but you should know.”

  “She told me I’m the only lover she’s had besides that bastard she was married to.”

  Jillian laughed. “He’s a bastard all right and you probably don’t know the half of it, but I’m glad she told you she doesn’t sleep around.”

  “She told me.” And he’d liked hearing it. He went through his entire form in a series of rapid movements that left a light sheen of sweat on his skin.

  When he stopped, Jillian was eyeing him speculatively. “Are you just playing with her?”

  “What is this, a rendition on the ‘what are your intentions’ theme?” He grabbed a small towel and swiped at his face. “Isn’t that something parents are supposed to ask?”

  Jillian crossed her arms and glared at him. “Maybe it is, but Amanda’s parents are dead losses where she’s concerned. They were rotten to her growing up and completely wrote her off when she left Lance.”

  “They don’t believe in divorce?” he asked, curious about every nuance of Amanda’s life.