She could warn herself all she wanted about not getting too excited—but she still was.
When the plane landed—reasonably on time for once, she noted, hoping that was a good omen—she was debating whether to just rent a car and drive to Red Rock or splurge and have a shuttle service do the driving for her.
The latter would prove to be the more expensive route, because of the distance that was involved, but she really wasn’t too keen on driving by herself all that way. She was tired and the prospect of falling asleep behind the wheel was unnerving.
Maybe if she had a really strong container of coffee—
As it turned out, there was no need to debate the pros and cons of driving versus being driven, because, as she was weighing her options, she realized that she was being paged over the P.A. system.
Heading over to the customer service desk, she didn’t actually see Blake, she saw his smile. But she knew that smile even at this distance. It belonged to Blake. Blake was here! And he was walking toward her.
Reviewing their phone conversation in her head, she couldn’t recall him saying anything about picking her up at the airport. She knew where he was staying, thanks to the directions he’d texted to her on her phone. Scott Fortune had bought a ranch here and Blake was staying with him. Since, according to Blake, the company would be paying for her flight, she’d just assumed that she would wind up charging either the car rental or the shuttle service to FortuneSouth Enterprises. Never one to wantonly spend money, even if it was someone else’s, she was just trying to make the best decision.
Was Blake this eager to see her that he had driven over himself?
The pounding of her heart went up another notch.
The exhaustion that had been slowly laying claim to her completely vanished as Katie picked up her pace, all but breaking into a run as the distance between them shortened noticeably. The heavy suitcase became nothing more than an unwieldy pull toy in her wake.
“You made it,” Blake called out to her, obviously pleased at how quickly she’d managed to get here after he’d called her.
Katie beamed at him. “Nothing could have kept me away.”
“Good,” he pronounced with approval. “Then we can get right down to work as soon as you’re ready. Here, let me take that for you,” he offered, putting his hand over hers on the suitcase handle.
The brief contact still managed to steal her breath away, as it usually did. But what he’d just said pushed reality in, front and center.
“Work?” Her heart fell. Blake was still making noises like a workaholic. The hope that he would be just a little more laidback, a little more…personal…died a quick, bitter death.
Katie had a strange expression on her face. He took it to mean that she was experiencing a little jet lag. Maybe she did need to rest awhile, although he’d known her to work tirelessly when the occasion called for it.
“Yes. Work,” he repeated. “That’s the reason I sent for you. It was Wendy’s idea, really. She thought you could help me get my campaign underway.”
“Your campaign,” she repeated numbly. Was this why he “needed” her? To work on some marketing campaign? Here? She felt confused. Even so, she sensed her slim grasp on happiness slipping away as her heart constricted within her chest.
“Yes. My campaign,” he asserted, then added the damning phrase: “To win back Brittany Everett.” Not seeing her face all but fall, he laughed a little self-consciously. “I know it’s not exactly what you’re used to doing, but I thought that if I went about winning Brittany back the way we go about landing an account for FortuneSouth Enterprises, then I’m almost guaranteed to be successful.”
So this was what shock felt like, Katie thought. Shock, mixed with acute disappointment. Her pounding heart now felt like utter lead in her chest.
“And Wendy suggested you send for me to help you procure this woman?” she asked in disbelief.
“Not procure,” he corrected, bristling at the word she’d used. “That makes it sound sordid.” He didn’t want Katie starting out with the wrong idea about this. Otherwise, she’d be no help at all and, he had to admit, he had come to rely on her shrewd instincts pretty heavily these past two years. “Brittany and I had a connection in college.”
“Yes, I remember,” she answered grimly as they made their way down the escalator to the first floor.
There was deep regret in his voice as he concluded, “And then I didn’t follow through. I want to win her back. I’ll be taking her to the Valentine’s Day fundraiser in Atlanta in a few weeks. That’s when I intend to make my move.”
Were they talking about the same woman? As she recalled, the woman was a little too Scarlett O’Hara for her taste.
“Kind of hard to get close to someone with that kind of a throng surrounding her,” she recalled.
That, Blake thought, disturbed by Katie’s comment, was an unwarranted, uncalled-for assessment. “It wasn’t a throng,” he protested.
“Okay, a swarm, then. Or maybe ‘mob’ might be a better word to use,” she suggested crisply.
How could he? her mind cried. How could he think about getting together with a girl like that again? She’d never understood what had compelled him to get together with Brittany in the first place. Yes, she had what amounted to an almost-perfect body, but it was coupled with a completely imperfect personality for him.
They were outside the terminal now and approaching the valet’s booth. Blake glanced in her direction as he gave the valet his ticket.
“I’m sensing a little hostility here,” he noted.
“Just a little?” Katie muttered under her breath.
Blake cocked his head, bringing his ear a little closer to her. The noise level outside the terminal was even louder than it was inside, making it hard to maintain a conversation without resorting to shouting. And Katie hadn’t shouted. Had he not seen her lips moving, he wouldn’t have even been aware that she’d said anything at all.
“What did you just say?” he asked.
Katie was quick to shake her head. There was no point in arguing. “Nothing.”
Besides, what did she expect? she silently upbraided herself. For the world to suddenly change? For Blake to suddenly wake up, come to his senses and see what was right in front of him? A woman who was willing to love him, flaws and all, for the rest of his life—for the rest of her life.
Leopards didn’t change their spots and Katie couldn’t believe that in the interim years a girl like Brittany Everett would become more compatible with Blake.
What was wrong with him? she silently fumed.
The next moment, she redirected the question toward herself. What the hell was wrong with her? Had Blake ever indicated that he had feelings for her that went beyond a boss appreciating his employee’s work? Did he even indicate that he felt she went above and beyond the call of duty each and every time?
Well, that was her mistake, wasn’t it? She did so in an effort not just to seem indispensable to him, but to have him suddenly look at her, really look at her and see her for the first time. See how good she was for him—not just for the company, but for him—and then maybe, just maybe, that could lead to something more.
The word more however had no meaning here—unless it was to indicate that she doubted if Blake could be more wrong in his choice of a future wife, which was where this whole stupid “campaign” was clearly going.
She couldn’t do this, she thought. She couldn’t go through with this. She couldn’t be his master strategist, his Cyrano, to help him land a woman who would ultimately stomp all over the heart he was planning on serving to her on a silver platter.
Katie began to voice her protest, but then, before even a single word managed to come out, she changed her mind.
Blake was going to go through with thi
s with her or without her and if she protested, he might just view it as being a case of sour grapes. But if she was there, at his side, helping him with this awful campaign, maybe it would finally hit him that she had all the virtues and assets that he, in his delusion, thought that Brittany possessed.
And, she added silently, if this all blew up on him, she’d be right there to help him pick up the pieces.
She’d be privy to every detail of his plan and with it all laid out for her, she would know how best to ruin his plans. And by ruining them, she would be able to ultimately save the man from embarrassment and making the mistake of a lifetime—if not the century.
And if, at the same time, she could get him to see that it was her all along who he should have been with, well, so much the better.
“Look, if I’m asking too much,” Blake was saying, apparently having second thoughts about the wisdom of asking her to help, “then maybe you should—”
“It’s not that you’re asking too much,” she said, cutting him off. “It’s just that, well, I’m not sure if I’m exactly the right person for the job. This is a little different than the usual campaigns we work on.”
“Of course you’re the right person for the job. I mean, this is about what appeals to a woman. Brittany’s a woman and so are you, right?”
She looked at him, a little stunned. “Is that a question?” she wanted to know. “I mean, really?”
“No, no, of course you’re a woman. That’s what I’m counting on.”
He was either being exceedingly simpleminded—or insulting. She wasn’t sure which bothered her more. “That all women are alike?”
He couldn’t really explain why, but he had the feeling he was in over his head—and drowning. What was needed was a time-out so that he could gather his thoughts together and begin again.
Blake was more than certain that Katie was the right woman for the job. After all, someone as attractive as she was probably had guys making a play for her all the time. What sort of things made her reactions positively? That’s what he needed to find out. He just had to find the right way to phrase this so she wouldn’t think that, well, he was coming onto her. Because he wasn’t. Even if, sometimes when she looked at him, he’d find something stirring deep inside of him. That was just a basic, physical thing, nothing more.
Taking a breather, Blake pulled himself back and refocused.
“Tell you what,” he proposed. “Let’s get you over to Wendy’s. She’s dying to see you.”
At least someone was, Katie thought.
Chapter Three
“Oh my God, just look at you,” Katie cried as she walked into Wendy’s bedroom.
After everything she’d heard about Wendy going into premature labor, Katie had expected to find her friend pale and languishing in bed. Instead, Wendy looked just the way she always did: bright and animated, and very, very pretty.
Wendy’s eyes crinkled the moment she heard the sound of Katie’s voice. She shifted in bed, excited to finally see her old friend.
“I know, I know, I’m as big as a house,” she lamented, only half kidding.
“I was going to say glowing,” Katie corrected tactfully. Granted, Wendy looked a bit larger than she had the last time they’d seen one another, but nowhere near Wendy’s self-deprecating description.
“But you were thinking that I looked as big as a house,” Wendy prodded. There was no way anyone walking into the room could miss this “bump,” which was currently the biggest thing about her.
Katie knew better than to argue. No one won arguments with Wendy. “Not a house,” she insisted. “Maybe a little cottage.” She held up her thumb and forefinger, keeping them about an inch apart.
With a laugh, Wendy held out her arms to her friend. Katie had always had a way of making her feel instantly better. Now was no exception. “Come here and give me a hug,” she implored.
It was all the invitation that Katie needed. Bending over, she embraced Wendy, giving her a heartfelt squeeze and holding on tightly for a moment. She really was very happy to finally see her.
“God, I’ve missed you,” she said fiercely, then, as she stepped back, she added in a lower, embarrassed voice, “I’m sorry I couldn’t come to the wedding.”
Wendy waved away the apology. “Being best friends means never having to say you’re sorry,” she said as if that was a given between them. And then she gave Blake an accusing look. “I know my slave-driving brother left you to hold down the fort.”
“I take exception to the term slave driver,” Blake protested. “And what can I say?” he added with a careless shrug. “Katie happens to be very good at her job.” And because she was, he had been able to fly to Red Rock for an extended week to attend his baby sister’s wedding along with the rest of his family.
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe you could have said, ‘Hey, Katie, since my sister’s your very oldest, dearest friend, forget about the fort.”
“It wasn’t the fort that needed holding down,” Katie told her. “We had a last minute problem with a customer demanding changes to a contract that was going out and someone in marketing was needed to handle it. I knew Blake didn’t want to miss your wedding, so I volunteered to stay behind and deal with the client,” Katie told her. “It was kind of my anonymous wedding present to you.”
“And in a way, it turned out for the best,” Blake pointed out. “If she’d come to the wedding, Katie would have been struck at the airport like the rest of us—and who knows? Maybe she would have even gotten hurt. The way I see it, maybe staying behind to deal with the client and smooth things out saved Katie’s life.”
Wendy rolled her eyes at his comment. “You’re really reaching there, Blake.”
Katie was nothing if not a born mediator and now was no exception. She sidelined any further discussion about something that couldn’t be changed by redirecting the conversation to the present. “Speaking of the tornado, is Javier doing any better now?”
“He’s finally conscious. It was touch and go for a while and I know Marcos was really worried that his brother might not come out of his coma.” She pressed her lips together. “We still don’t know how extensive the damage to his spine and legs really is. Right now, he can’t move them, but the doctor said this could just be due to some swelling along his spinal cord. Once that goes down, he should be able to walk again.” The key word here, she added silently, was should.
As if reading her unspoken thoughts, Katie said firmly, “Yes, he will.” Like Wendy, she believed in positive thought, taking it a step further. Positive thoughts yielded positive energy.
Wendy beamed. Though far from a negative person herself, there was something exceedingly uplifting about the upbeat tone in her friend’s voice. She caught Katie’s hand in hers for a moment and just held on.
“God, but it’s going to be good having you around,” she said with feeling.
“Speaking of which,” Katie said, looking at Blake, “you haven’t told me where I’m going to be staying. I’d like to drop off my things—”
“At Scott’s,” Blake surmised, mentioning where he was currently staying. At the same time, Wendy was saying something entirely different.
“Why, here, with me of course.” How could Blake even think she’d have her friend staying anywhere but with her? “Katie’s going to be staying at my house,” she said, reinforcing her initial words. “It’ll make visiting so much easier.”
He didn’t get it. Sure, she and Katie were friends, but he was family. He and Wendy shared the same blood. This wasn’t making any sense.
“She stays here but you just threw me out?” he protested.
“I didn’t ‘throw’ you out,” Wendy tactfully pointed out. “I ‘moved’ you out. There is a difference, and it’s because you were hovering over me all the time.
Besides—” she looked at Katie again, so thrilled that she had actually made it out here “—Katie and I have a lot of catching up to do.”
Blake looked both hurt and insulted before he managed to hide it. “And you and I don’t?” he asked.
“There’s not all that much catching up to do, Blake,” she said tactfully, and then reminded him, “You’d only been gone from here a little more than a week before you came back, remember?”
Still, he was family and Katie wasn’t. “Not the point.”
Wendy sat up a little straighter and caught his hand. “You know I appreciate you coming back out here again to keep me company, Blake, I just don’t need to see you 24/7,” she told him. She tried to sound as kind as she could, then quickly added, “And I won’t be seeing Katie 24/7, either, because you’re going to be working the poor girl to death most of the time.” Switching gears, she looked at her friend and warned, “Don’t let him work you to death, you hear? I don’t care if he thinks he is your boss.”
“I don’t think I’m her boss,” Blake pointed out. “I am her boss.” What was that old saying? he tried to remember. Something about a prophet never being honored in his own town.
Caught in the middle, Katie thought it prudent to come to Blake’s defense. “He’s not a slave driver, Wendy. As far as bosses go, Blake’s pretty good.”
Blake inclined his head. “Thank you.” And then he looked at his sister. “At least someone around here appreciates me.”
Slanting a glance at Katie, Wendy smiled and shook her head, amused. Obtuse, that was the word for it, all right. “You, big brother, don’t even know the half of it.”
He had no idea what Wendy was referring to and chalked it up to the fact that pregnancy and the influx of all those extra hormones were making his little sister say some very strange things these days. Even more so than normally.
Maybe it was time to retreat for a little while. After all, it wasn’t as if he didn’t have things to do that would keep him busy.
“Yeah, well, I tell you what, I’ll let you two catch up a little, the way you want, and I’ll swing by Scott’s place to check into a couple of things.” He deliberately struck a courtly pose as he asked, “Will it be all right with you, your highness, if I come back here in, say two hours, and collect my marketing assistant?”
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