Reluctant Partners

by Kara Lennox

  Max just shook his head. “Whatever.” He lowered his voice. “Did you get our booth bunny outfitted?”

  Cooper nodded. “She’ll clean up nice.” More than nice, actually. Now that he thought about it, he wasn’t so sure he wanted hundreds of men ogling her, even if it did mean traffic for their booth.

  Though Allie had been on her own for a long time, he’d come to realize she wasn’t particularly sophisticated. She didn’t even know how to walk in high heels. His image of her as a femme fatale was wavering. He wondered how well she would handle the inevitable flirtations and outright come-ons she was bound to get.

  Of course, if anyone got too familiar and she was unable to discourage the jerk on her own, he’d be there to protect her. What worried him more was, what if she didn’t want his protection? She might view an all-expenses paid weekend in Houston as a chance to kick up her heels and have a wild night with some guy she’d never see again.

  The possibility made his blood boil.

  Oh, Lord, he was in trouble. Yeah, he’d found her attractive from the first minute he’d seen her, her green eyes shooting every kind of warning at him.

  But when he’d seen her in those new clothes-nothing even that overtly sexy-something in him had shifted. With a little polish, she would give Heather a run for her money. Even his mother would like her.

  Well, maybe not his mother.

  He’d booked a suite for himself and Allie at a small, historic hotel near the convention center. It had two bedrooms and two baths, so he wasn’t worried that she would object. But he wondered, now, if completely separate rooms wouldn’t have been a better idea.

  Maybe in separate hotels.

  Chapter Eight

  Allie gawked at the lobby of the Hotel Alexander as Cooper registered them. She knew she was acting like the rube she was, but honest to pete she’d never seen anything like this. With its ornate ceilings, inlaid marble floors and chandeliers, it reminded her of something she might have seen on that old show Dynasty when she was a kid.

  She remained mute as they rode up the gold-gilded elevator to the top floor, and her shock continued as the bellman opened the door to their suite. As she eyed the Oriental rugs and the heavy silk draperies and the coffee table made of some rich, dark wood, her first thought was that this room was fit for a honeymoon-lovers-not antagonistic co-workers on a business trip.

  Her second thought was that it must be costing Cooper a fortune.

  The bellman carried her small suitcase-borrowed from Miss Greer-to her bedroom and placed it on a luggage rack. He did the same for Cooper’s bags. Cooper tipped him and he disappeared.

  “What do you think?” Cooper asked, as if her approval meant something. “Nice, huh?”

  Allie sank experimentally into a tufted, antique-looking chair. “Uh, yeah. I know you’re more accustomed to luxury than me, but aren’t you the least bit worried about the bottom line? Trade shows are expensive, and, yes, we’ll probably get a few bookings from it, but enough to cover all this?”

  “Actually, Remington Industries owns this hotel,” Cooper admitted. “I can stay here for free.”

  “Ah.” That explained why he’d been treated like a major VIP the moment he’d walked into the place. “What else does this little family company of yours do?”

  He perched on the arm of the sofa and toyed with the tassel on one of half-a-dozen throw pillows. “It owns controlling shares of an amusement park and a commuter airline, a plastics factory, a chain of ice cream parlors-”

  “Does that mean we get free ice cream?” she asked hopefully.

  “If you want to drive a thousand miles to the northeast.”

  “Darn, I love ice cream. What else?”

  He shrugged. “Real estate development. We started out strictly manufacturing, but over the past fifty years we’ve diversified-makes us almost recession-proof.”

  “And you left all that to run a two-bit fishing charter business. I don’t get it.”

  “You’re not the only one,” he said with a grin. “My parents think I’ve lost my marbles. But I’m tired of corporate law. It’s just the same thing, over and over, trying to cover everyone’s butts and protect them from liability, then bailing them out when they get sued.

  “Besides,” he added, “I’ve advanced as far as I can. When my father retires as head of the legal department, my older brother will move into that job. I’m pretty much stuck doing what I’ve been doing for the past eight years. I can’t see that as my life for the next thirty years. Can’t do it.”

  Allie couldn’t blame him there. “What if you get tired of fishing?” she asked. “It’s not an easy life.”

  “No, I’m beginning to see that I’ve been a bit idealistic. But it’s a challenge. And it doesn’t have to be as hard as you’re making it. If we bring in enough business, we can hire staff and not get burned out. I have put some thought into this-it’s not a lark. I knew as soon as I set foot on the Dragonfly that I’d made the right decision.”

  That was the problem. She’d seen it, too-in his face every time he took the wheel. His love for the sea was real, if nothing else.

  She didn’t want to feel this way-sympathetic with Cooper. She wanted to keep hating him.

  He hadn’t visited Johnny when he was alive, she reminded herself. He let his uncle die with no family around him.

  She stood abruptly. “Well, we have a trade show to prepare for. What’s next, boss?”

  “INSERT ROD K INTO SLOT P-” Allie read from the directions for assembling their rented booth “-being careful to-”

  The top canopy suddenly came crashing down on Cooper’s head. He let loose with a few select curses while Allie struggled not to laugh.

  “-being careful to not let the thing fall on your head?” Cooper finished for her.

  The unassembled booth had been waiting for them when they arrived at the convention center. Cooper, who seemed to be a font of endless ready cash, had been willing to pay someone to put it together, but all of the booth company’s people were busy.

  “I think maybe this requires two sets of hands,” Allie said. She was trying to be helpful and cooperative. On the drive down, they had agreed to put aside their legal dispute during the course of the trade show: otherwise they would never accomplish what needed to get done. “I’ll get on the ladder and hold this part steady, and you can do the inserting of rods into slots.”

  When she realized what she’d just said, her face heated up and she cursed her redhead’s propensity for blushing.

  Cooper flashed her a grin. “Whatever you say.”

  With a bit more effort, some trial and error, and a minimum of mishaps, the booth came together. It was small and bare bones, but it would get the job done.

  Max had put together a video that would continuously play on a wide-screen TV in their booth; with Allie’s help he’d tracked down some footage one of the passengers had taken. The video also included interviews with Cooper and Allie as “co-captains,” something Allie had agreed to only grudgingly.

  Allie had only seen a rough cut of the video. Now, as she watched it in the booth, she was amazed at how professional the final result was. Background music, titles and graphics made all the difference.

  “Max spent a couple of years in film school before he decided to go into advertising,” Cooper said. He stood beside Allie watching the video.

  “He certainly has a lot of creative talent. It never even occurred to me to try something like this.”

  Max himself showed up later in the day, bringing printed brochures with him. Allie had been consulted on the copy for the brochures. She’d balked at first when the Remingtons wanted to offer gourmet lunch charters and the newly envisioned “champagne starlight” cruises. When the court ruled in her favor and the Remingtons returned to New York with their tails between their legs, how would she fulfill that level of service and luxury on her own?

  But Sara, who’d been hanging at the fringes of the planning sessions all week, had offer
ed to help her if needed. And, truth be known, the new ideas excited Allie. She missed the days when she and Johnny used to serve cocktails and a full-service, fancy lunch, and the Remingtons’ proposals were a step up even from that.

  Max had also brought a banner. The two cousins worked together to hang it, joking and laughing in a way that made Allie mildly jealous. Though she and Cooper weren’t arguing, the tension between them was tight as a fishing line pulling in a shark. Yet he wasn’t always the arrogant, entitled jerk his first impression might suggest.

  She found she enjoyed hearing him laugh, and she listened for it as she pretended to be busy pinning a navy-blue skirt around their booth.

  As a lure to get people to visit their booth, they were raffling away three free cruises, which would give them a mailing list.

  “Ow!” Damn it, she’d stuck herself with a pin.

  Cooper turned from his position on the ladder. “You okay?”

  “It’s nothing.” Though the jab was bad enough that she was bleeding. That would teach her to pay attention to Cooper’s butt instead of the task at hand.

  She went to her purse to find a tissue, and when that proved fruitless she realized she was going to have to make a trip to the ladies’ room.

  She turned and nearly mowed down Cooper.

  “What happened? You’re bleeding.”

  “I jabbed myself with a pin. It’s nothing.”

  To her surprise he pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and handed it to her.

  “Thank you.” She wrapped the hanky around her finger and squeezed to stop the bleeding. “I’ve never actually seen a person under the age of seventy carry a handkerchief.”

  “It’s an old habit. My mother is big on stuff like that. But see how handy I can be?”

  Handy wasn’t really the word she would use. Concerned would be more accurate, which didn’t jibe with the man she wanted to believe he was.

  “I need a Band-Aid,” she said. The injury was minor, and it had already stopped bleeding. But if she didn’t cover it, it would sting every time she picked something up.

  “Maybe they have a first-aid station somewhere. If not, I saw a drugstore a couple of blocks away.”

  “It’s not worth a special trip.” She spied a roll of masking tape and grabbed it. “This’ll do for now.”

  “You’ll get an infection and your hand will drop off.”

  “Cooper, get a grip. It’s a tiny pinprick.”

  “Just don’t want anything to happen to my partner.”

  She got an odd feeling in her chest, hearing the word partner. Johnny used to call her that, and it made her feel proud. But coming from Cooper…the feeling was altogether different.

  Much as she hated to admit it, she was having fun working on this project with Cooper. She enjoyed brainstorming and sharing problems and responsibilities with someone else. That was one of the things she missed about Johnny-having someone around to bounce ideas off of.

  Someone who listened, and actually valued what she had to say. Someone who cared if she hurt herself, even if it was only a pinprick.

  She’d spent far too much time alone the past couple of months, and it was time she faced facts: she couldn’t run the fishing charter business by herself. It was too much work for one person, too much responsibility, and it was also a bit dangerous.

  What if something happened to her when they were out to sea? What if one of her passengers had an accident or a heart attack? She couldn’t take care of a crisis and pilot the boat back to shore. And if she were incapacitated, her passengers would have to figure out how to navigate home or summon the Coast Guard.

  She needed a partner, and someone like Cooper would be ideal-if they weren’t enemies.

  Oh, sure, they were cordial now. But if he lost his bid to claim the Dragonfly-when he lost-he would be furious at her. He would never consent to buy into her business, no matter how much cash he had in his bank account. It was much more likely he would buy his own boat and compete with her.

  Besides, he already had partners, two cousins with whom he shared blood and a long history. He had no need for her.

  “Is Max staying for the trade show?” Allie asked, needing a distraction from her disturbing thoughts.

  “He’ll help us get set up in the morning,” Cooper answered, “but then he’s taking off. He’s on a hunt to hire a graphic artist. For this project he had to rely on a freelancer from New York, and the cost was astronomical.”

  “Too bad he can’t hire Jane,” Allie said quietly, so Max wouldn’t overhear, as she wrapped a piece of masking tape around her smarting finger. “She’s very talented. I think she worked as an artist before she got married.”

  Cooper laughed. “I’m sure that would go over well with Jane’s husband.” He looked around at their progress. “We’re in pretty good shape. Let’s knock off for dinner.”

  “I’m not really hungry,” Allie said, though her stomach felt like an empty cave. The truth was, she needed some time away from Cooper to regain perspective. To get angry with him again and remember all the reasons she despised him. “Besides, one of us ought to stay here and keep an eye on things. It would be a shame if that rented TV took a walk.”

  Later the convention center would be locked up and a security guard would patrol, but right now, the place was chaos.

  Cooper actually looked a bit disappointed. “Want us to bring you something back?”

  “Sure, a sandwich or something would be great.”

  She watched the two men walk away, wishing she could go with them but knowing it wasn’t a good idea.

  While they were gone, she arranged the life-size fish cutouts Max had found somewhere. By the time she was done, schools of smaller fish swimming through a sea of navy-blue satin were chased by bigger fish and even a shark. Their booth was going to look sharp.

  An hour later Cooper and Max returned, bearing a takeout bag that smelled heavenly.

  “Wow, look at that!” Max stared with exaggerated shock at their booth. “You’re really good at this, Allie.”

  “You think it’s okay? Everything’s easily movable if you want to change it.”

  “I wouldn’t change a single fin,” Cooper added.

  His approval warmed her from the inside out. She’d been hoping they would like her work. She wasn’t contributing a dime to this project, and she felt a little guilty that she would be the one to benefit from it. She wanted to do her part however she could.

  “Here, this is for you.” Cooper handed her a small plastic bag. Inside it she found a box of plastic bandages and a tube of antibiotic cream.

  “You act like I’ve severed a limb,” she said with a smile. “But thanks.”

  It had been a very long time since anyone cared about her well-being. Not even Johnny would have fussed over a small injury. Shoot, when she’d gotten a fishhook stuck in her hand he’d told her to push it through, snip it off, pour some peroxide over it and be done.

  She devoured her burger and fries while Cooper and Max put on the finishing touches. At one point Cooper’s phone rang, and though she tried not to listen, she gathered the caller was Cooper’s mother. He didn’t say much, just listened with a pained expression.

  It was kind of funny, thinking of Cooper as some woman’s little boy.

  At ten o’clock they were shooed out so the convention center could lock up.

  “Guess I’ll see you guys in the morning,” Max said as they exited the building and headed in the opposite direction from where Cooper’s car was parked.

  “Oh, he’s not staying at the hotel with us?” The suite was plenty big enough. If Max and Cooper didn’t want to share a room-and men were funny about that, even with two huge beds-one of them could sleep on the fold-out sofa in the living area.

  “He’s made his own arrangements, I guess,” Cooper said.

  Fabulous. She would be alone in a hotel room with a man who had ignited her fantasies all day long.

  A man she couldn’t touch with a t
en-foot pole.

  COOPER HAD NO PRAYER of sleeping. He’d punched his pillow into a hundred different shapes, added and subtracted blankets, even fixed himself a stiff bourbon from the hotel room’s minibar. But it was no use.

  Images of Allie would not leave him alone.

  At least on the boat, he didn’t have to look at her all day long. He could distract himself driving the boat or getting a drink for a passenger. But in the close confines of the booth, he’d been unable to avoid watching her.

  Thank heavens she’d worn long pants rather than those derelict short-shorts. But the faded denim had hugged her bottom as intimately as a lover, and every time she leaned over, Cooper’s mouth went dry. When she reached for something, the shirt rose, giving him a glimpse of her midriff and molding the fabric to her round breasts.

  To make matters worse, she’d been pleasant and cooperative the entire day. Under any other circumstances, he would actually like the woman.

  He had to remind himself over and over that she was the one who was trying to steal his inheritance. She was the one who’d buffaloed a sick old man into writing a new will.

  Of course she was charming and delightful. That was how women stuck it to men.

  It didn’t seem as if she were deliberately charming him. He was the one who’d suggested they put aside their differences temporarily, so they could survive the weekend and, more important, project an aura of unity to their potential customers.

  He’d never imagined cooperation could lead to such personal difficulties.

  Suddenly a deafening buzz nearly tossed him out of bed, and he realized it was a fire alarm.

  Hell. Seemed like every time he traveled, some joker set off an alarm and he ended up traipsing down umpteen flights of stairs to the lobby, only to discover it was a false alarm.

  He climbed out of bed, threw on the shorts and T-shirt he’d planned on wearing for a morning jog, and headed into the living area.

  Allie burst from her bedroom. “What’s going on? What’s happening?”