by Alyssa Dean
“Maybe you should have tried harder,” Brandy suggested. “It sounds to me as if this guy just wants to get you into a bedroom! Conning you into pretending to live with him. Really!”
“Getting me into a bedroom is the farthest thing from Josh’s mind,” Amanda assured her. “And it’s not as if I’m really going to be living with him. He told me quite specifically that I didn’t have to move in.” She felt a small burst of feminine pique at that. He hadn’t even tried to talk her into moving in. Not that she would have done it, but...
“That was big of him,” Brandy grunted. “Look, Amanda, I do understand why you’re doing this. And I certainly appreciate what it could do for our business. But you didn’t have to go to these lengths to do it. As it turns out, I managed to get a little business for us myself this afternoon.”
“Oh?”
“Yes, I...uh...” Brandy looked a little sheepish. “I agreed to do Harvy Denton’s office party for him.”
Amanda was astonished by that. “You what?”
“He called again while you were out, and I decided the only way to get rid of him was to see him again.”
“You should have waited for me, Brandy. I...”
“I was pretty sure I could handle Harvy. And nothing happened.” Brandy’s lips flickered into a smile. “He had his receptionist stay in the room with us the whole time. I stood at the door. Harvy stood at the far end of his office, with his hands held up in front of his chest. It looked as if he was afraid I’d attack him!” She shrugged. “He apologized...again! Then he asked me if we’d consider handling the Denton Christmas party.”
“And you said yes?” Amanda exclaimed. “I thought you weren’t going to have anything to do with the guy:”
“I wasn’t.” Brandy looked guilty. “But he seemed so...pathetic, Amanda. And we do need the business.”
“See,” Amanda said. “You’re doing the same thing I’m doing.”
“Am not,” Brandy said. “This is strictly a business deal. I’m not getting involved with the guy.”
“I’m not getting involved, either,” said Amanda. She thought about Josh’s slow, sexy smile and drew in a breath. Brandy was right. The last thing she wanted to do was get involved with Josh Larkland, in any way, shape or form. He was too attractive—and he seemed to be able to talk her into anything. He also had heartbreaker written all over him. From the sound of things, he hadn’t had a serious relationship in his life, and Amanda wasn’t dumb enough to think he’d start with her. The only reason he was going through this charade was because of his business. “This is strictly a business deal, too. We’re just pretending to be involved. And it’s only going to be until Christmas.”
“Just be careful,” Brandy warned. “You don’t want to find a broken heart in your stocking Christmas morning.”
IT WASN’T A BROKEN HEART Amanda was worried about a couple of days later.
It was a lump of coal.
She walked along between Marilla and her husband Tom, feeling worse and worse with each step. It wasn’t because of the cat show they were attending, although she had discovered that an hour of looking at cats was more than enough. It was because she felt so immensely, immensely guilty.
It was a familiar feeling. Amanda had felt that way when she’d had lunch with Edwina, and yesterday when she’d had tea with Josh’s aunt Judith. Today it was stronger than ever.
If she’d had any sense, she would have said no when Marilla called this morning and invited her attend the cat show with them. “I’m sure you’ll enjoy it,” Marilla had assured her. “Besides, it will give us a chance to get to know each other.” Amanda hadn’t been able to think of a reason to refuse.
Now she wished she’d tried harder.
They stopped beside a cage holding two fluffy silver animals. “These are excellent Persians,” Marilla advised. “Aren’t they lovely?”
“Spectacular,” Amanda said. She glanced around the crowded auditorium. “I had no idea there were this many different kinds of cats in the world.”
“There are hundreds of species,” Marilla announced. She took Amanda’s arm. “I’m so pleased that Josh met someone like you, Amanda.”
“Are you?” Amanda said. She wasn’t. As a matter of fact, she was beginning to regret she’d ever laid eyes on the man.
“Yes. That’s what we all want for Josh. For him to settle down—and raise a family.”
“A family?” Amanda repeated. She closed her eyes and issued a fervent prayer that Marilla wouldn’t suggest this to Josh. He might tell her that kids were on their way, just to make his relatives all happy. Then he’d expect Amanda to produce a few—all before Christmas! “We aren’t even close to the family stage,” she said.
“I’m sure it will come up.” Marilla squeezed Amanda’s arm. “You know, Amanda, there are times when Tom and I find Josh a little intimidating. Don’t we, Tom?”
“We certainly do,” Tom said.
Since Tom had spent the entire afternoon agreeing with Marilla, Amanda wasn’t too surprised at his response. However, she was surprised by Marilla’s comment. Amanda didn’t consider Josh intimidating. Insensitive, yes. Intimidating, no.
“Intimidating?” she asked.
“Sometimes. He’s so...clever. Not that we’re not clever, but...well, he’s clever in a different direction. Isn’t he, Tom?”
“Sure is,” Tom said.
“He’s always been like that,” Marilla confided. “Not that I know him that well. There’s quite a few years between us, so we didn’t really grow up together. When Dad married Edwina, I was already away from home, taking my veterinary assistant course.”
“Oh.” Amanda blinked. So that’s what she did.
“I did used to take care of him sometimes, though. He used to come and stay with me when Dad and Edwina went off for a holiday.” She chuckled. “He was very fond of that Sphinx cat I had. His name was Fitzgerald, but for some reason Josh called him Fluffy.” Her face curled into confusion. “I never did understand it, because that particular breed is completely hairless.”
“Really?” Amanda said, trying to repress a smile.
“We lost poor Fitzgerald last year. He contracted a serious case of pneumonia and we just couldn’t save him.”
“Oh,” Amanda said faintly. “I’m...um...terribly sorry.”
“It was a tragedy,” Marilla agreed. “But now we have Algonquin. I’m not sure Josh has ever met him. We don’t see much of him these days.” She patted Amanda’s arm. “Of course, now that you’re part of his life, I’m sure we’ll see him a lot more.” They paused beside another cage. “Look at this Burmese. Doesn’t it just take your breath away?”
“Definitely,” Amanda said.
She’d never felt like such a low-life in her whole life.
JOSH WALKED into the lobby of his office the next afternoon to find Mable standing beside a fully decorated Christmas tree that seemed to have materialized in the corner opposite her desk.
“Has that always been here?” Josh asked as he stopped to admire it.
“No,” said Mable. She adjusted an ornament. “We’ve never had one in here before. I have suggested putting one up a few times but you usually say something touching and Christmassy like ‘Over my dead body.”’
“Oh,” Josh said. “Well, I didn’t know it would look this attractive.” He glanced over at Mable. “Did you put it up?”
“I helped,” Mable said modestly. “But Amanda did most of it.”
“Amanda?” Of course, Amanda. He’d thought he’d caught a whiff of her perfume when he’d stepped off the elevator. He smiled. He should have known his Christmas elf would be behind a Christmas tree. He glanced down the hall. “Where is she?”
“She just left.” Mable returned to her desk. “I must say, I’m glad I called that executive services company. Amanda is exactly what we need around here.” She frowned up at Josh. “That doesn’t mean I like what you’re doing with her.”
Josh grimaced. He’d told
Mable about his arrangement with Amanda, on the off chance that his business acquaintances would ask her about it. Mable didn’t approve, and she’d been very vocal about it. “I’m not doing anything with her. As a matter of fact, I’ve hardly seen her.” That was certainly true. He hadn’t seen much of Amanda at all these past couple of days. He knew she’d been working with Mable on making arrangements for the office Christmas party, but she seemed to come and go when he wasn’t around, or had been too busy to notice. He had spoken with her a few times on the phone, to pass on social arrangements, or to check on her Christmas present progress. That wasn’t strictly necessary, since his family kept him up to date on her activities. “I just had tea with Amanda,” Aunt Judith had enthused. “I do like her, Josh. And I love the towels she has in her bathroom.”
“Amanda came to the cat show with me,” Marilla had informed him this morning. “She’s thinking of getting a Siamese.”
It seems the only person who didn’t see Amanda was him. “You don’t think she’s...avoiding me, do you?” he asked Mable.
“I have no idea,” said Mable. “But I wouldn’t blame her if she was. I’d avoid you if I were her.”
“You would?” Josh didn’t understand that. “Why?”
Mable gave him an impatient look. “Well, you haven’t treated her very nicely, have you? First you con her into doing your Christmas shopping for you. Then you con her into pretending she’s you’re girlfriend. She’s probably wondering what else you’re going to try to con her into.”
Josh stroked a hand around his chin. “What does that mean?”
“You’re telling people that you two are living together. She might think that you’re planning on...taking advantage of the situation.”
“Taking advantage of the situation?” Josh blinked a few times. “Me?”
Mable smiled slightly. “She doesn’t know you very well.”
“That’s for sure,” Josh grumbled. And if she kept avoiding him, she’d never get to know him very well.
He wandered into his office and dropped into a chair. Come to think of it, Amanda had said something about this being a business relationship. At the time he hadn’t been sure what she meant. Perhaps she had been warning him not to take advantage of the situation. Of course, he’d never do anything like that. A brief memory of that kiss they’d shared flashed through his mind. He wouldn’t mind repeating that experience though.
Mable had made another good point. He had used a pretty underhanded technique to get Amanda to act as his girlfriend. He couldn’t really blame her if she was annoyed with him about that. However, he could make up for that by giving her a hand with this personal stuff.
He picked up the phone. Hadn’t Shelby mentioned something about a party tonight? They could go to that. He could get started on this personal business right away.
AMANDA WAS STILL FEELING depressed that afternoon when Brandy rushed into her apartment. “You will never believe what just happened,” Brandy exclaimed as she threw off her coat.
Amanda eyed her with some alarm. “Oh, no. Don’t tell me another guy tried to jump you?”
“No,” said Brandy. “No one tried to jump me. I’ve just met with Harvey McCormick’s secretary’s assistant.”
“Harvey McCormick’s secretary’s assistant,” Amanda repeated. She smiled vacantly at Brandy, and returned to studying her gift list. “How...nice.”
“It’s not just nice, Amanda. It’s fabulous!”
“Is it?” Amanda considered the names in front of her. “Do you think a tie is a personal gift for a man?”
“It depends on the man. Don’t you know who Harvey McCormick is?”
“No,” said Amanda. “How about if the man is an uncle?”
“Then a tie is fine,” said Brandy. “Amanda, Harvey McCormick is the president of the NorthRim Oil and Gas Company.”
“Is he?” Amanda wrote “tie” beside Frank’s name. “That explains why his secretary has an assistant. I think Josh’s uncle Frank needs a new tie. The one he was wearing the other night was really old-fashioned. And it was so...blue.” She tapped her pencil thoughtfully against the paper. “On the other hand, maybe all investment counselors wear old-fashioned blue ties. Do you know any?”
“Not on purpose.” Brandy reached over and pulled the pencil out of Amanda’s hand. “Will you pay attention here? I just met with the assistant to the secretary of the president of the NorthRim Oil and Gas Company. She wants to arrange a little function they are having for some of their corporate pals.”
“Ah,” said Amanda, her mind still filled with gift ideas. “That’s...great.”
“Great?” Brandy gave her a look of total disgust. “It’s...incredible. Amanda, Harvey McCormick’s idea of a ‘little function’ is two hundred people.”
Amanda eyed her warily. “Do we have to get them Christmas presents?”
“No, we don’t! We just have to organize it.” She grinned practically from ear to ear. “And they’re not just any people. They’re important people!”
“Are they?” said Amanda. “Well, that’s...great.”
Brandy peered into her face. “It could just be my imagination, but you don’t seem to be sharing my enthusiasm here.”
“I’m enthusiastic,” Amanda assured her. “I’m happy we’re getting the business, but—well, there’s just so much to do. I’ve lined up the caterers for Josh’s office party. I’m working on getting the entertainment. I’ve got the decorations ordered—along with a few Christmas trees and ornaments. I’ve phoned all over the city for that Halsone for Aunt Mimi and I’ve thought up a billion reasons why Josh can’t go anywhere.” She grimaced at the stack of invitations sitting on the sofa beside her. “I think that’s the hardest part. I mean, how many ways are there to say, ‘He never leaves his office’?”
“I thought he was supposed to leave his office,” Brandy complained. “Isn’t that the whole point of this?”
“He can’t possibly go to everything.” Even if he could, Amanda strongly doubted that he would. “Besides, he is coming to Shelby’s with me tonight.” She’d been a little surprised when Josh had called and suggested they go, although she suspected he was just trying to finish off his obligation to “give her a hand with the personal stuff.” “And before you say anything, I am not, repeat not, getting involved. It’s simply a business function.”
“Sure,” Brandy said.
“It is,” Amanda insisted. She gave Brandy a hopeful look. “Why don’t you come with us? I’m sure Shelby wouldn’t mind. And I could use the moral support.”
“I can’t,” said Brandy. “I’m busy this evening.” She looked down at her hands. “I’m...um...meeting Harvy for a drink.”
“Harvy?” Amanda studied Brandy’s rather sheepish demeanor. “You mean...Harvy Denton?”
“Uh-huh.”
“I thought you weren’t going to have anything to do with him.”
“I’m not,” Brandy assured her. “But I’ve talked to him a couple of times at his office...and so far he’s behaved himself. So when he suggested we get together to have a drink, I said yes, just to see what he’d do.” She raised an eyebrow. “However, I plan on making it clear that I have no intention of crawling into bed with him.” She sighed. “That will probably convince him to leave me alone.”
“Sounds like a fun evening,” said Amanda. “At least a lot more fun than trying to force Josh Larkland to find out anything personal about his relatives.”
“What?”
“Let’s be realistic here, Brandy. I might get Josh to one or two family get-togethers at the very most. And the possibility of him coming up with something personal about his relatives is slim to none. If he manages to discover their ages and occupations, I’ll be surprised.”
“So will I, but I didn’t think you felt that way.”
“I didn’t,” said Amanda. “I thought all I had to do was get Josh together with his family a little more. Now I’m starting to wonder if I even should be doing it.�
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“Oh?” Brandy blinked a few times. “What brought this on?”
“I was at a cat show with Marilla last night.”
“Ah, a cat show.” Brandy snapped her fingers. “Maybe I should have sent you to one of those before you went into Josh’s office.”
Amanda ignored her. “Marilla told me that she used to baby-sit Josh when he was younger. Now she hardly ever sees him.” She gave Brandy an anguished look. “So far, every single one of his relatives has told me the same thing. They’re all crazy about him, but they just don’t see him anymore. And they’re all so eager to meet me and they just hope that now he has a relationship he’ll spend more time with them.”
“So?”
“So he doesn’t have a relationship! He’s hired me, and I blackmailed him into spending a little time with his family. If this doesn’t work, they are all going to be really disappointed, and I’m going to feel terrible.” She sighed. “I don’t know what possessed me to take a job as a Christmas, elf in the first place.”
AT FIVE O’CLOCK, Mable walked into Josh’s office and came to a full stop in the doorway. “What happened in here?” she asked.
Josh took a look around. His computers were switched off, the test equipment was put away, and his papers were neatly stacked on his desk. “Nothing,” he said. “I’m just leaving.”
“You’re leaving?” Mable checked her watch. “But it’s just five o’clock.”
“I know,” said Josh. “I have to leave now. We’re going to. Shelby’s tonight, and she lives miles away from the city. I have to go home, change, and pick up Amanda—and a map.”
“Shelby?” Mable repeated. “You mean, your sister Shelby? The one who teaches at the university?”
“Uh-huh,” he said, looking quizzically at Mable. So that’s what Shelby did. He’d known it had something to do with children.
